Curiousities

The Cape Kennedy-Kecksburg UFO Connection

Kecksburg Part 1
Foreword: Please keep in mind that as you read this account of what happened at Kecksburg in 1965 that I have recounted it as accurately as possible from memory and I have drawn some of the information presented here from my notes that I kept. I vow that I was there when it happened and the parts of my information in regard to the investigation I made are accurate. I was assigned to investigate what came down there along with another NASA highly technical director. We were in charge of making a technical photographic assessment of what happened on December 9, 1965 in Kecksburg, PA.  A UFO was reported to have crashed in the woods there by the local witnesses who saw it land. An investigator from Greensburg showed up named John Murphy. He was the news Director of Radio Station WHJB who took photos and recorded eyewitness accounts of the people of Kecksburg on audio tape. They told him what they saw. He made his own on-site investigation of it. He did view the U.S.S.R. Venera 3 MV-4 Venus. It was a cone-shaped capsule which was a maneuverable lander.  It was a few years after his investigation when he was killed after being struck by an unknown driver while vacationing in California. It was a hit-and-run case that has remained unsolved.  There was another radio host from KQV in Pittsburgh, Mike Levine, who reported over the radio what their investigator saw.

The Kecksburg volunteer fire members were on the scene before other higher authorities were called in. They had located the spot where it went down and had taken a look at what crashed in the woods. You could safely say there were multiple eyewitnesses to verify the object had crash landed in Kecksburg on the 9th of December, 1965. Although when the object was loaded onto a flat-bed truck and removed from the scene, the “official” story was that nothing had been recovered from Kecksburg. The government agencies that were present to investigate what went down in the woods was the Pennsylvania State Police, NASA, DoD and the NSA. Please continue reading this eye-witness report to understand how the object has evaded the scrutiny of many investigative efforts that could definitely identify what exactly it was that landed at Kecksburg December 9, 1965. I was sworn to secrecy until now. Here is the truth about the Kecksburg object from my perspective. I was officially there through my
work in the ONI and at NASA within hours after it landed in the woods.

In November, 1965 NASA Scientists, Engineers and Technicians of Cape Kennedy, Florida were preparing two powerful modified manned Gemini Titan II ICBM rockets for two separate record setting missions to be launched within days of each other. They were going to be launched from the same pad—Complex 19 where I was assigned. This feat had never been attempted, especially with two manned spacecrafts. It was an amazing mission and undertaking to all of our Cape launch crews.

The rendezvous of two manned NASA Gemini capsules was not the initial Atlas mission planned by the U.S.A.F. and NASA concerning the GT-6 and GT-7. The GT-6 was to have been launched earlier to dock with an orbiting Atlas Agena on October 25, 1965. But the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle (GATV) launched by a modified Atlas ICBM failed to reach orbit. This
caused NASA, U.S.A.F., Martin Marietta, the makers of the Titan II, and McDonnell Aircraft makers of the Gemini Capsule combined management team to completely scramble the U.S. Space Program Launch schedule. It threw all of us into a guessing game as to what was next in our race with the Soviet Union Manned Space Program which was earnestly in progress in the U.S.S.R. We had some problems to solve and we were confident that we would succeed.
James Webb, the NASA Administrator in Washington D.C., assured President Lyndon B. Johnson that the NASA /Military Industrial Complex team was at the Cape considering a very bold mission to correct the earlier failure of the Gemini Atlas Titan Vehicle (GATV) Launch. Johnson
heard the unique proposal and understood the bold plan. He gave Webb his Presidential approval. We were “Go” at launch pad 19!

Back at the Cape, Joseph Verlander, Martin Titan Gemini Program Director for the Titan II, informed all of us at the Launch Complex 19 and the Gemini Launch Engineering Group of Walter Kollasch, Chuck O’Neal, Joe Hadlow and myself in Building 1605, that December would be a
challenge which was never before faced by any launch crew at Cape Kennedy. We were going to make history. Mean while Joe Verlander was meeting with Colonel John Albert, Commander of the U.S.A.F. Gemini Division of the 6555, which was the Cape U.S.A.F. Aerospace Wing, Walter Burke and John Yardley of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation and other NASA managers were also in attendance. They all gave their “Go” for the effort to get the U.S.A. back on track in the manned exploration of
space.

GT-7 was launched on December 4, 1965 with two astronauts, Frank Borman, Commander, and James Lovell, Pilot, flying their first mission for the United States. They were to be joined in space by Mercury
Astronaut veteran, Wally Schirra, Commander, and Tom Stafford on his first flight as Pilot in the GT-6A (a new mission designation). It was to be launched December 12, 1965. We were planning a space spectacular by having the two Gemini Capsules rendezvous in space and attempt an intricate and dangerous series of orbital adjustments to fly next to each other on a very close approach. This had never been attempted before. Four NASA astronauts and their lives could be at stake if there were the slightest mistake made while in a close orbit like this.

This was not a circus stunt typical of some Russian missions earlier. It was a very important demonstration of our ability to control two space craft’s within a very close range of each other. This capability would have to be perfected to eventually send our Apollo Astronaut crews to the moon,
land them, and then return the crew safely to earth. To accomplish all of this advanced technology, all personnel involved were honed to a sharp edge of accuracy, and trained to a highly proficient discipline required in each aspect of the mission preparation and launch.

On December 4, 1965; shortly following the launch of the GT-7, I had broken away from my usual duties during a late lunch break and driven over to the Gemini Mission Control Building to listen to the direct commentary up and down link from the GT-7 astronauts. I heard exchanges of conversation between Borman and Lovell with Astronaut Alan Bean who was assigned as Cap Com (Capsule Communicator) at the Cape Kennedy Air Force Station. They were already on orbit and were awaiting the second crew to be launched for the rendezvous with them in space. I was a friend of Alan and knew he would not mind my short term presence. However, John Yardley, a top Gemini Program Manager was staring over at my area and I wondered if he might say, “Clark, scram!” Alan said a few comments to me and realizing this astronaut knew me had apparently calmed Yardley down about my presence there.

It was during the second orbit of GT-7, I had heard Borman make a startling comment. He said, “Cap Com, we have a bogey at 10 o’clock high!” I immediately thought I had heard wrong. Alan Bean also questioned it and instantly said, “?” Borman repeated, “We have a bogey at
10 o’clock high!” Alan Bean looked a little surprised and said, “Gemini 7, is it a booster rocket . (Titan II second stage rocket) or is it an actual sighting?” Then James Lovell replied, “We have several actual sightings!” The comment by Lovell where he emphasized the words “several
actual sightings” was a key comment in identifying UFOs. We had not as yet hidden such sightings behind a designated title of”IFAs” or In Flight Anomalies (in-flight malfunctions, UFOs, etc.). The code “In Flight Anomalies” (IFAs) designation was introduced during the era of the
Space Shuttle Program. My job years later at launch pad 39 A and B at Kennedy Space center was to track the IFAs while on duty in the Launch Control Center (LCC).  My ears and the ears of all personnel in
the Cap Com area perked up with this transmission from Borman that the GT-7 crew had sent. I thought, my God, am I hearing of a sighting of several UFOs in real-time? Could this be possible?
It was then I heard Bean again question the crew in an uplink, “GT-7, what is the estimated distance and size?” Lovell replied by stressing, “We also have the booster in sight!” With this comment it verified UFOs were being observed, whether alien or otherwise. My reaction was WOW they are tracking the booster and other unidentified objects. I was in anticipation of other exciting comments when I heard another statement come from one of the engineers at his launch control center, “We have got some UFOs!” This was not a good comment to make with U.S.A.F. and NSA
officers who were only a short distance away. It was then that NASA Astronaut Alan Bean muted out the open system commentary up and down link being received through the S-Band Transponder
System. It originated from the Gemini 7 crew aboard and on orbit. I supposed Alan had received orders through his headset from NASA top management or even possibly from Colonel John Albert, U.S.A.F. Chief of the Gemini Launch Vehicle Aerospace Division 6555th Wing, to immediately
mute communications from being heard by all at the cape and keep it exclusively between the Gemini’s crew and Cap Com.

I realized that the National Security clamps were in place through the military, DoD, NSA, etc. and additional revelations were now shut off. I had hopes that my friends at mission control would inform me later of what transpired after I left. At this point, I took leave voluntarily from
the mission control area so as not to damage my future welcome at this facility. I waved a quick good-bye to Alan Bean and then I returned to the Gemini-Titan Complex 19. My head was still  swimming with the astounding data I had the privilege to overhear. I was not sure who would
believe me about this information. I kept it quiet and then finally released it, after I figured out a way to securely get it to Major Donald Keyhoe and NICAP headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Our National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena NICAP Unit-3 was under my direction. And eventually we had 21 members. Each had a very important position within the group at the Cape. One was the Chief of NASA Astronaut Medical Operations, Flight Surgeon, Dr. Norman W. Pincock.  Another member was Astronaut Medical Technician, John T. Teegan of the NASA Launch Site Medical Operations Office. Several were scientists from disciplines such as Physics, Mathematics and Aerospace Engineering, it included me with Wiley Robinson and John Hudden. There  was also a couple of very important Technical Secretaries.  Many of the NICAP incidents involving NASA astronauts that were later released by Donald Keyhoe had initially been gathered by NICAP Unit-3 at
Cape Kennedy.

The only agreement I insisted upon from Major Keyhoe was that the members of NICAP Investigations Unit-3 must remain anonymous with NICAP, Washington D.C. Headquarters.  Except for mentioning me
by name in his book, “Aliens from Space”, Donald Keyhoe honored that request from me. Other than this mention in the book he wrote I believe he did not mention me or the NICAP UNIT-3 again as he had
been asked not to do. My website: www.stargate-chronicles.com had not been created on the Internet  at the time this book by Major Donald Keyhoe was published. I used the website to inform the world of
the involvement I have had in this part of the UFO/ET investigative work through NICAP UNIT-3. This work was done while I was in the ONI and assigned to NASA at the Kennedy Space Center from 1958-
1992. Several days prior to the liftoff of GT-6A scheduled for December 8, 1965 it was Chuck O’Neal, launch operations manager, who assigned me and my very good friend, another very intelligent Aerospace Engineer, Walter W. Kollasch, (now deceased) to assist in making certain that several modifications to the Titan-2 erector and especially the Gemini spacecraft white room service platform were totally functional. We had to make sure it could be hermetically sealed and as biologically clean as possible. A final inspection by NASA managers, U.S.A.F. Captain Gentile and Joe Hadlow,
who was the Senior Gemini launch site engineer, were made and they gave us a “Go” for launch with the critical event of the overall launch sequence having been accomplished. We all took a great sigh of relief for getting this done properly which then allowed us to proceed with the planned duel launch which had never before been attempted by NASA.

At approximately Noon on the afternoon of December 9, 1965 I was summoned to go to the Military Operational Phone System (MOPS) phones. It was my responsibility to design these phone stations onto  each level of the Titan l l launch tower. They were located outside the Crew White Room on the Gemini-Titan service tower. The incoming call was from a friend of mine with the alias name of “Sam” who was an expert for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). He was an expert electronics engineer and a very knowledgeable person concerning the worldwide space tracking  network managed for NASA and the United States Air Force by his company. He was calling from a facility we called Tel -2, which was one of our large dish -shaped tracking antennas which were located about three miles from our launch complex that was on the ICBM row. Sam was excited as I answered him on the phone. He said, “Clark, we are monitoring the GT-7 flight on orbit and all is going well so far other than those unknown objects witnessed by Borman and Lovell during orbit. I am sure you are aware of them by now.” He continued, “But, NORAD and the DoD are now taking command  over tracking other objects that are up there with our guys and they’re apparently at a distance from the GT-7 orbital path. Everyone here was taken by surprise when they initially showed up over
the Pacific Ocean and it’s anybody’s guess what they are. I’ll call you later with an update if any arise. Oh, by the way, they don’t think it has any connection with the earlier bogey reported by Borman and Lovell.” I then asked him to see whether NORAD had made any indication that it conceivably was a Soviet craft launched without prior announcement and reported by our intelligence network in the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, and Office of Naval Intelligence (CIA, NSA, ONI). I also asked him to pick up any unusual jargon, acronyms, slang, etc. and to call me when he had a break. Then I returned to my mission prep assignments at the Titan-II Gemini  complex 19.

Later, Sam called again. He said, “These damned objects have not been recognized as anything of ours or Russian, at least not officially! Although they admitted that the Cosmos ‘96 is on orbit and it was identified as a failed Venera Venus Planetary mission. It was reported it had apparently
experienced a malfunction on orbit a few weeks ago. They did verify again the earlier sighting of the bogies by Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. It appears that the NORAD evaluation noted the bogies could be the remnants of the same U.S.S.R. Venera objects or at least similar and are still under study. They were not calling them UFOs—at least not with that terminology. And get this: they’re now being tracked proceeding over what appears to be Western Canadian airspace. The main segment is flying as if under some type of orbital flight control. It’s anyone’s guess what
this orbital object might be.”

We exchanged a few comments on the GT-6A mission launch preps and I told him I was nearing the end of my shift. I told him I would stop by at his RCA Tel-2 station for a personal update on my way home. My workday ended at 5:00 P.M. and my route home took me near the Tel-2
tracking station where I met Sam outside the security checkpoint. As he approached me I could see he was excited. He exclaimed, “Buddy you’ve got to hear this! The larger remnant of those things up there appears to have the unique technical capability of slowing down and speeding up
along with being able to alter its course on orbit. It actually changed its direction when it appeared to possibly be preparing to descend.” I was surprised and also excited to hear this, but what hit me was that it was observed to possibly be preparing to descend. Neither the U.S. Space
Program nor that of the Soviet’s Space Program; as far as we were aware, had a maneuverable and what we assumed was an unmanned satellite. Or was it unmanned? The Russians had lost on orbit Cosmonauts earlier during their space flight missions. This was something very special and important to stay on top of while the strange craft was still being monitored. NASA needed the advanced capability demonstrated by this object they were tracking for the future landing on the moon scheduled to begin on July 20, 1969 with the launch of a manned Apollo 11 mission eventually launched with Astronaut Neil Armstrong and Astronaut Buzz Aldrin landing on the moon while Astronaut Michael Collins would be
remaining on orbit around the moon.

Then Sam said he heard a lot of NORAD chatter (communications) exchanged and some strange jargon. As the object began to approach a suspected landing or crash site on earth, the NORAD group began to transmit in code. Sam did say that he caught a few bits and pieces of their coded voice transmissions and thought he heard a garbled comment of “Group Alta or Ultra” and what appeared to be a possible location of “D.C.” was allegedly mentioned.

He said he heard just a few minutes later at about 4:40 or 4:50 P.M., “Impact-Object down”, and some garbled data along with some commentary about a military deployment for a recovery. Sam
said,” The world tracking net indicated it fell somewhere east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in a small town named Kecksburg.”  I asked, “Where?” He repeated, “Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.” I said, “My God, that is my birthplace!” My reaction was, “Wow!” I still maintain contact with the expert UFO investigators in the area. God knows how excited I was to hear him say this to me. My belief that extraterrestrial life is visiting our planet was generally known throughout the space community on and off the property of the Cape.

As I prepared to drive home, I was planning what my next action would be. I thought a call to my friend, Robert (Bob) Schmidt, an avid and intelligent UFO investigator, amateur astronomer, optics expert, writer and NICAP member would be my first source. He could perhaps drive to the location of the objects impact. I located a phone at the North NASA Security Badge Office and placed a call to Robert Schmidt. I assumed he would be on top of the incident from the start. Bob answered the phone and as I had expected, he was monitoring the crash of the UFO in Kecksburg, which is a small town near Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He explained he had the flu and could not drive the approximate 40 miles to the crash site. He said he had heard the term; crashed UFO, in Kecksburg by the news announcer, Mike Levine, on radio station KQV in Pittsburgh. This caught his total attention. One of the field reporters at KQV travelled to Kecksburg and reported what he saw to Mike Levine. Levine said that a military officer in charge at the Kecksburg recovery operation stated to his field reporter that they had a UFO on the ground in that area. Schmidt said he continued to monitor the events all day and the term UFO was never heard again. He said he found the initial use of the term UFO unusual, especially with the almost instantaneous military security curtain that was apparently in place. It was an urgent  military response. The word UFO was absolutely not in the U.S. Military or NASA vocabulary. This was a  word that is considered absolutely taboo! The term, UFO, was rarely used to calm a public outcry as to
what was building at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania. At times it has been used by NASA and the Military to hide the actual cause of an incident such as this one happening in Kecksburg. Especially so if our latter
investigative efforts would reveal this craft to be an errant U.S.S.R. nose cone of an ICBM craft they manufactured. We just were not sure what we would find there. This was not what the NASA, NSA, DoD, ONI and other military agencies recovering this object found. It was not a warhead loaded onto a maneuverable craft that they could guide at will into a U.S.A. target.

It was absolutely part of a U.S.S.R. acorn–shaped nose cone of the failed 3 MV-4 Venus Venera Space Probe. The acorn-shaped nose cone orbital launch platform was blown into many smaller pieces by an explosion and was torn apart in orbit. The Venera payload was an advanced Soviet interplanetary spacecraft and had a capability to be landed by remote control, when it reached Venus. As an attempt to recover it after the failed mission to fly to Venus, it instead was remotely controlled upon re-entry of earth to Kecksburg, PA. It was controlled by the U.S.S.R. to land safely in a sparsely populated area. The U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. had agreed to return any recovered space vehicle debris to each other respectively for their space property. The U.S.S.R. had previously retrieved and returned an Apollo test capsule which was the BP-1227 that they securely held at the Murmansk Military Base and was brought back by the U.S. Navy to the U.S.A. This recovered Venera Soviet craft was very important to NASA/ DoD and would not be returned. In doing so, the U.S.A. had broken their pledge to the U.S.S.R. We needed this advanced technology in our race with them to be the first to land on the moon and return safely
home. Our Nation is no angel on earth when such advanced German technology was recovered and used to land our Apollo missions on the moon. The USA/NASA had no choice, but to keep it to Top Secret about this recovery of a Soviet failed mission on its way to Venus when something went wrong before it left on orbit of earth.

Bob intelligently assessed that the term UFO may have been another unique method to use a “decoy word’ to cloak the actual event. Using the word UFO would remove any possible suspicion by the public that it may have been an aerial event that the Soviets were testing for a potential delivery of a weapons system. Could our enemies in the U.S.S.R. have been using an intrusion of our air space for a possible orbital warhead test? Although it was determined after further investigation by our military and other agencies charged with the security of the U.S.A. to
exclude this possibility of an errant Soviet Union SS-6 (an R-7) ICBM. It was not likely this was the scenario behind the supposed UFO that landed in Kecksburg, but always a possibility with the cold war dangerously in progress during that period of our history in 1965. This was still held as a public fear since the Cuban missile crisis had only been resolved two years prior in 1963 and the space race was in such a heated competition between the Soviets and the U.S.A.  We won the race of being the first to successfully land men on the moon and return them safely home, but the
achievement was made by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins for all of the at least five star races now on earth. Who were brought to this planet as a way to colonize their species to another rare globe we call our planet, earth.

Soon thereafter, I was approached by the North security gate guard of NASA as I began to leave for home. He was a friend of my family from Pittsburgh and held a position as a Pan Am security guard named Vince McGourty (Who is now deceased). He told me I needed to return to my office area at NASA as soon as possible (ASAP). He said that a high NASA Security Manager (who is now deceased) had summoned me to return there. I wondered why.

When I arrived at the NASA Headquarters building I found out what he wanted. I was met there by a good friend of mine. He was a high NASA Technical Director. He will remain unnamed although he passed away years ago. This is to protect his wife who may still be alive or other family members who may be reliant on his retirement and health benefits. He said, “Clark, get your winter coat, hat, high boots, sweat shirts, heavy socks, gloves, NASA hard hat and two pair of your NASA white coveralls.
Immediately call your wife, tell her you have been assigned an important job on the GT-6A mission. Say nothing else, OK?” I agreed. I called my wife and said I will be home tomorrow afternoon for sure. She said OK. I said I loved her and the kids. She responded with a similar comment. The high NASA Technical Director then made a statement to me that will always remain in my memory. He said, “We are flying to a small town in Western Pennsylvania.” I quickly asked whether it is Kecksburg. He looked surprised and said, “My God, what a mind you possess, Clark. Yes; it is Kecksburg, how did you know?” Then he smiled. I quietly said,” Yahoo, I am going to go to a UFO crash site in my own backyard of Pennsylvania. He said, “NASA knows it is near your birthplace.”  I said,” Yes, sir, I was born and raised in Pittsburgh which is very close to Kecksburg, PA. Sir, I know much in this area of expertise.” He shook his head in amazement and said, “Yes, we all realize that.”

We both were taken to the Cape Kennedy aircraft skid strip, in other words, the airport runway. We boarded a small plane. It was a NASA twin-engine Lear Jet aircraft that could carry 6 people. It had a two person crew, the pilot and co-pilot. We took off at great speed. We arrived shortly afterward at about 6:50 P.M. in Westmoreland County Airport which is in Greensburg, PA. It was dark when we arrived.  This was before it got renamed the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. A military car and driver
was awaiting our arrival to take us where we needed to go.

In a very short time, we arrived in the town of Kecksburg. I recall my astronaut watch read about 7:10 P.M. (plus or minus a few minutes). We observed some military actions closing off certain streets.  We arrived at the Fire Station and a person named James Mays introduced himself as the Assistant Volunteer Fire Chief (now deceased) and another man, a volunteer fireman, who said hello. I was wearing my NASA hard hat and he said he obviously recognized us as NASA. Then a person who said he
was from Washington D.C.  and was also a member of National Security Agency (NSA), asked us both to follow him. He did not give his name to us. We did not ask him to do so. We donned our NASA white cover-all suit, boots, gloves, etc. in a nearby shed and were ready for an experience of a lifetime.  I had an early version of the future NASA Moon camera, a Hasselblad, with me. We used it for extensive photo coverage. My NASA partner and I were both taking important written notes to preserve our visit. We also recorded notes on two small GE tape recorders we had brought with us to use while there. We used various methods that included hand written notes, drawings, photographs and audio tape
recordings as a means of securing our history for the DoD, NASA and a special group of scientists that I would later be informed were called MJ-12. At that time I was not aware of this group, but in later years I met a group called MJ-12 (if it exists) several times on their visits to KSC. They were:

‱         Lloyd V. Berkner
‱         Detlev W. Bronk
‱         Jerome C. Hunsaker
‱         Dr. Donald A. Menzel
‱         Dr. Vannevar Bush
‱         Dr. Luis Alvarez

I quietly asked my partner why I was chosen to accompany him on the mission. He said, “Clark, NASA secretly recognizes you and others as the NICAP UFO experts and with your overall knowledge of space science and our rockets; and those of the U.S.S.R., NASA was informed by several German scientists that you would be the best choice of anyone to send on such an important trip.” He smiled. I was proud to hear his comments to me.  At Kecksburg we followed the NSA person and were introduced to two members of the U.S. Army. One was a bird Colonel and one was a single star general. No names were exchanged during this entire event. My partner and I wore our NASA name badges and no one had to guess who we represented. We entered a U.S. Army vehicle, drove about a mile and then got out and walked a wooded trail until we came upon a growth area of large trees. I immediately said to my partner,” Look sir, there are trees that have been damaged, broken from above.”  Then all of a sudden there it was, not too deeply dug into the soil. It was among downed trees and was a large craft of as yet unknown national origin. It was in view for all to see. It was about the size of a small compact car. I was ready to photograph it when all of a sudden an armed guard said stop. The NSA person said it is okay. The Army guard stepped back and saluted the two DoD officers after this intervention from the NSA officer. I began to photograph the
craft.

 

My NASA associate and I took many notes. It was approximately 10-12 feet long and about 6-7 feet wide in diameter. I had used my sharp pocket knife in an attempt to scrape a small sliver of the craft for later laboratory analysis at the NASA Value Analysis Lab at the Cape. I tried several times to obtain a metal sample. I failed in doing so. The armed U.S. guard asked me, “What are you doing?” I stopped my efforts. The metal was not bronze, but was the color of dark bronze. It may have been made from titanium or even a metal not as yet known. I could not prove it, but my knife blade was dulled after trying to scrape a sample from it, whatever it was. I photographed a band that stood out from the main body of the craft and that circled the diameter of it. There were strange symbols that were possibly writing. It was not Egyptian hieroglyphs or any other language I was aware of. I sketched the symbols in my notes and I photographed them, too. I said to my NASA team mate, “It is like unintelligible child-like scribble, sir.” He agreed.

More than 47 years have passed since the incident happened. I cannot recall what all of the various scribble -like writing on the craft was made like. I did not know at the time and I will not guess now as to what language they were representative of or what even the scribbles on it appeared to be representing. Some may have questions on why I have not released the Kecksburg chapter earlier. My answer to them is I voluntarily kept quiet about my being there because of a high secret security
clearance I held for my work at NASA. See the final page for a more detailed description of what I saw. A more detailed description and explanation may be seen on my final page of this chapter in Part 2.

Despite the possibilities discussed of what it was, it seemed easier to explain away this incident publicly as a laughable UFO landing to the media because it also served to keep everyone misinformed of what
was really going on in the woods of Kecksburg, PA. This object being called a UFO was used as a type of a cover story to keep secret what had happened. This illusion or lie was created by the National Security
Agency, Department of Defense and NASA to allow our team to work to resolve this incident in the best interest of public safety.  I was a member of this team who went along with the illusion of it being called a UFO. As an expert in recognizing all types of aerial craft, it was apparent immediately to me what it was. I explained to the other members of this team what we were looking at was possibly the U.S.S.R. made acorn-shaped craft. I had prior knowledge of what to look for from the German engineers at NASA.

 

It was the same one that had been reported as failing in orbit on their launch to Venus of this space probe. This is what we were looking at in the woods of Kecksburg; I had no doubts about that. It was launched to be used for exploring that planet, but went off course and landed here in my backyard of Pennsylvania.

 

So calling it a UFO was proper. We did not think that announcing it as a UFO would cause much public alarm. The possibility existed it may be a terrible threat of a Soviet nosecone with a nuclear warhead. This possibility of its origin would have raised public alarm at what had been discovered. The public would laugh off a UFO crash without a doubt, but not an enemy ICBM warhead threat! Remember that only two years prior; we were locked into a possible nuclear eruption of WWIII caused by the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. The world was still psychologically on edge over that extremely dangerous threat to global peace. I was deeply involved with this threat when at Patrick AFB we went on DEF CON -3 on October 22, 1962. This was during my assignments with the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI).  The confrontation with the U.S.S.R. during the short-lived duration of the John F. Kennedy Presidency ended horribly with his assassination on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.

My father, Clyde C. McClelland, had a high NASA clearance for the DoD and U.S.A.F. nuclear storage areas maintained at the Cape. He heard that we were planning to place nuclear warheads on several ICBMs and IRBMs had the ships of the U.S.S.R. carrying rockets to Cuba not been turned back there. I was aware that two, three or more U.S.S.R. submarines were off the coast of Cape Canaveral armed with nuclear tipped torpedoes. We came very close to WW l l l in 1963. This ends part 1 of 2.

The Cape Kennedy-Kecksburg UFO Connection:
Part 2

In 1965 we had an orbital mission in progress to work on at NASA. When the Cuban Missile Crisis ended in 1963 we felt relief by the decision made by JFK and Khrushchev. It allowed us to go back to work with our mission plans. We all drew a breath of relief over this decision. WW l l l was delayed for the time being and we had hopes it would never happen.

Soon after our return to Cape Canaveral from Kecksburg in the early hours of December 10, 1965 we attempted a launch of GT-6A on December 12th, 1965. A last second malfunction with an errant umbilical disconnect occurred. It was the critical quick thinking of Astronaut Wally Schirra that
saved the day with his instantaneous decision to not launch and to abort the Gemini Capsule escape away from the top of the Titan II rocket booster. It would have been quite a jolt to Wally and his team mate Tom Stafford to undergo prior to main engine ignition and lift-off of the large
booster rocket had they remained on top the malfunctioning rocket. Thankfully to him a disaster was avoided and did not occur. That would have caused our Gemini Program to be thrown into a seriously long delay. As it happened, the launch was “scrubbed” a split second before a launch-
commit and we lucked out of a potentially threatening and possibly disastrous situation! Wally and his swift decision making made him the “miracle” man of the day. We all thanked Wally in our own way inwardly for his action to save the mission.

On December 15, 1965, GT-6A was finally launched successfully and performed the first rendezvous within feet of another orbiting space craft, the GT-7. The American Spirit once again prevailed as we saw the safe return of both crews following this magnificent triumph in Space
history. Yet the question of what Astronauts Borman and Lovell saw on orbit still remained a mystery.
What were the unknown objects they had seen? We were left to wonder, was it the several segments of the failed Soviet Venera Venus spacecraft? This and other information of a deep and serious nature is lost in the Archives of U.S. Federal Agencies, NASA, and Department of
Defense top secret vaults they maintain. Even through the Freedom of Information Act one would have a difficult time getting in any readable form what I am telling you here have happened during the Kecksburg incident in 1965. It is beyond your capacity to understand it.

What happened there is still mainly for most an on-going UFO mystery to present date: December 9, 2012. It has persisted to be an incident unsolved as far as answering with certainty of what crashed there 47 years ago to date. The leading authority concerning this case is a friend of mine, from Greensburg, PA., whose name is Stan Gordon. Stan pursued his investigation with hopes of proving the object to be an Alien Starship from space (out there). It was not. Believe me, Stan, I wish it were the
case. Stan has accomplished a remarkable job of investigation, research, analysis, and plain grit on this Kecksburg case. He deserves credits for his long, exhaustive efforts. Stan has informed me he will continue to pursue his beliefs. I support his efforts in doing so.

I am now presenting my own conclusions which are drawn from my own personal experiences at Cape Canaveral in Florida and while at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania on December 9, 1965. These conclusions are
based in facts I found to be true as a result of our NASA on-site investigation at the Kecksburg crash site. They are included here to inform those who were not there as to the actual facts I found in
person that prevent this assumption about it being an alien craft and help prove why this theory is not true. It was not a landing caused by an alien space vehicle from another star system. It was manufactured in the U.S.S.R.

On the day when the Kecksburg Incident happened, I was informed by ONI that the Soviet Union had made an earlier statement that was confirmed about its failed Venera 3 MV-4 Venus Spacecraft that was launched on November 16, 1965 from the U.S.S.R. Baikonur Launch site. They reported that it had experienced a damaging failure of the support Venera platform on orbit. It was an important mission to the planet Venus designed for a soft landing attempt on the surface of that planet. The 3 MV-4 Mission had an explosion on orbit and the interplanetary effort was lost. The mission designation was immediately changed to be called the Cosmos ’96. That was the normal practice of the U.S.S.R. It was a
Kremiln political order to “save face” and not have to admit that their rocket science was faulty and other than perfect. After all, communism from their view point was far superior to any democratic system on earth. This was according to Khrushchev, Stalin, Lenin, Marx, etc. The world would later learn of their mistaken political folly with the orchestrated fall of communism witnessed by the world when the Berlin wall was taken down in the year of 1989 during the Reagan Administration.

At Cape Canaveral our RCA worldwide tracking experts and my friend Sam witnessed the many segments of the orbital launch platform for the Venera (later called the Cosmos ‘96) as it re- entered the atmosphere of earth above Canada, Michigan and Ohio. Finally, the 3 MV-4 Acorn was guided into a soft landing in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania on December 9, 1965.  It was trailing a few large segmented pieces due to the explosive destruction of the craft orbital platform during atmospheric decay. The consequential break-up through the extreme heat and speed of travel through the atmospheric friction of earth ended this mission, but not in the usual method of a dying craft speeding through the upper atmosphere of earth. RCA engineers told me that the Venera Venus Lander lagged behind the many pieces of the orbital launch platform. The Venera appeared to be mysteriously adjusting its eventual reentry through the atmosphere of earth. Yes, it was
under the control of the U.S.S.R. Mission Flight Control. This object was controlled by the technical expertise of the Soviet Space Advanced Technology Division and very heavily influenced by German
intellect from World War I l. These scientists went to work in the U.S.S.R. following the war. Just as many of our German scientists at NASA did when World War l l ended. Dr Wernher von Braun, Dr. Kurt Debus, and many more scientists from the German occupation of Hitler ended up here after the war.

The Venera Venus 3 MV-4 Acorn was not part of the initial reentry above Canada. It remained lagging behind on orbit a considerable distance behind the orbital launch platform pieces and did not decay at the same rate as those earlier segments of the overall space craft debris. It is reported the 3 MV-4 Acorn segment re-entered the atmosphere at approximately 4:40-4:50 P.M. E.S.T. This was the same time of the object that impacted Kecksburg according to the RCA Tel- 2 crew at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Various reports by many Canadian and other sources of eye witness accounts confirmed this observation by the RCA Tel -2 crew, although some of the earlier Canadian and other eye witness reports were attributed to a meteoric event or phenomenon taking place above Canada on
the day of reentry of Cosmos ‘96. There were Canadian reports that confirmed they observed meteors at about 4:45 P.M. E.S.T.  This was approximately the same time the Cosmos 96 was reported to have
re-entered the atmosphere. It was then shortly thereafter it made a soft landing in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania according to NASA/ DoD/RCA sources and were capable of tracking it there.
When I arrived on the scene that same day; in the evening, I can assure you that the acorn-shaped nosecone is what I witnessed and photographed lying in the woods at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania on December 9, 1965.

The Venera Venus 3 MV-4 was not part of that initial reentry above Canada. These were pieces of the orbital launch platform observed as meteors. If it was this acorn segment of the intended Venus Lander then it may have had the remaining technically advanced and continued
capabilities to be remotely controlled from the U.S.S.R. Or it could have been a mission control ship at sea used and guiding it to a safe and soft impact through the atmosphere of the earth as it had been engineered to do after traveling a great interplanetary distance to Venus. It was
maneuvered into reentry position by a Reaction Control System (RCS). Unseen small outer rockets that may have been hidden behind protective openings for the safety of their important use were evident as
inside tightly opening seams on the outer panel of the craft I saw in Kecksburg. These rockets could be used to assist in landing the probe on Venus and used for re-entry when the mission failed, consequently, landing in Kecksburg under controlled descent.

Apparently the rockets were activated by mission control in the Soviet Union and/or remotely from their tracking ship at sea. It was definitely an expertly managed reentry as it came through the atmosphere of
earth. This may have been done in an effort to land as far away from a populated area as possible. If so, little or no damage from impact was sustained as witnessed at the Kecksburg forest recovery site, which
was pure luck. The witness accounts gathered by Stan Gordon indicated it approached at a slow speed and apparently was capable of directional changes. Very little damage to the craft was reported when the witnesses briefly saw the craft resting at its landing site in Kecksburg. DoD, NSA, and our team representing NASA confirmed it was amazingly hardly damaged. A point to consider concerning Soviet Space science is that the U.S.S.R. had many very advanced German scientists. These scientists chose to
go to the U.S.S.R. over going to the U.S.A.; after WW II, as a destination for relocation. Yes, the U.S.A. received a large number of those Germans, but, the U.S.S.R. also had their share of German expertise following the war, too. The die Glocke was shared technology in the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A.

From what I recall during that day of activities at Cape Canaveral and at the Tel- 2 tracking station with Sam, the NORAD Space Defense Command in Colorado was very much aware of the Venera 3 MV-4 Acorn configuration and its apparent planned and maneuvered re-entry over
parts of Canada, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Eventually that segment finally landed near the town of Kecksburg. The quick response of the military recovery group on site at Kecksburg is absolute proof of NORAD having a projected and possibly an estimated impact target site throughout there- entry track of the 3 MV-4 Venera – Cosmos ‘96 vehicle over the Pacific Ocean and onward. I suspect it is possible that as the U.S.A. NORAD facility was tracking it from Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado that they were informed by the U.S.S.R. of the orbital position of the Cosmos ’96. It is also possible that they informed them of its directional heading and of a possible or eventual re- entry landing near Kecksburg
Pennsylvania on December 9, 1965. This was done to expel any threats associated with a possible Soviet
Nuclear warhead that may be heading for the U.S.A. This action by the Soviets would be necessary to allay any fears of a potential threat that might otherwise have initiated WW l l l.

To indicate how the public is kept out of the “real” news loop, did any of you notice the Matt Drudge news site on or about March 9, 2003? Matt had a brief news article posted indicating that a North Korean rocket nosecone had been reported as recovered in Alaska. How many of you
read or saw that post? It was only briefly on his news site and I did not find it on any other major news source. Who or what Federal Agency (NSA) ordered it removed? Was it the Pentagon, NSA or the
both? Realize that you are basically kept entirely in the dark for national security reasons. It has been a normal practice at least as far back as the beginning of our National Space Program and for many decades before where it involved the Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb development, secret
aircraft manufacturing and the Roswell crash along with other recoveries kept secret. Not one of the major news corporations such as CBS, NBC. ABC, CNN, etc. have as far as I know ventured to report this type of news to the public when it was happening. A good reason why may be so
they can maintain the secrecy about how taxpayers fund black projects, but they cannot be informed about them in order to protect the interests of National Security.

Following the swift NSA, USAF, US Army military recovery of the object at Kecksburg, it was placed under a large tarpaulin and taken by flatbed truck with a military escort to an Air Force base in the area of Columbus, Ohio. Stan Gordon did later identify the base where it was taken to
be that of Lockbourne Air Base. I verify that statement by Stan to be true. It went from Lockbourne to right-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. This base was the home of the Air Materiel Command and of the legendary Hanger 18 where alien craft have been reported to have been
seen stored. Wright Field was later named Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1947. It has been and most probably still is a major receiving hub for Black Project Operations to this very day. A friend of mine, Lt. Colonel Robert Collins, who worked at WPAFB has disclosed in his book “The Black World of UFOs: Exempt from Disclosure” much about the underground laboratories located below the sprawling base at Dayton, Ohio. He is a very articulate Author, Writer, Consultant and Editor whose disclosures in
his book agrees with my knowledge of this underground structure at WPAFB. There are many of these underground laboratories with ET storage units that contain secret facilities and ET corpses; as well as
their crafts, tucked away from prying eyes. Senator Barry Goldwater, whom also later became a Presidential candidate, was refused entry into these top secret ET storage units even though he had a Top Secret clearance with the military. Goldwater said to me”he was upset” with this military refusal.

A question about the US Army’s story of the so-called “accidental death” of General George Patton looms in my mind. Was it actually accidental? I do not believe it was based on the fact of him sending Nazi General Kammler to the US who had intimate knowledge of the Die Glocke Project being conducted in Germany prior to the war ending. Kammler ended up being sent to WPAFB. And with this scientist in place there, this was what led up to the Venera 3 MV-4 also being sent there for inspection after it was recovered in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania on December 9, 1965. This has proven to me a probable cause to think that General Patton’s “accidental death” was not so accidental. This assumption lends credence to
an interest of the Americans in not having a witness as to where Kammler went. I saw both the Nazi General  Kammler and Knemeyer in the office of Kurt Debus in 1969. Kammler did not die in WW11. He was brought to the United States with the assistance of our great US General George Patton. It was General Patton who had him brought here under a false name and delivered to WPAFB along with the Top Secret device called Die Glocke (the Clock). This was a Top Secret Antigravity Device and possibly a time machine of Nazi Germany.

The Kecksburg Acorn object was dissected and researched for re-entry capabilities, heat shield, propulsion, engine, crew spaces, and other advanced technology with a fine toothed comb. A former high ranking German scientist and expert fighter pilot, Siegfried Knemeyer, former RLM the Third Reich Aviation Ministry Chief was assigned with and many others to Wright Field advanced research for back-engineering and for their expertise following arrival in the U.S.A.  He and Dr. Wernher von Braun and their Paper Clip group of scientists arrived in 1946. He was a respected scientific colleague of those Germans at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Wright Patterson Air force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and those who worked along with me at Cape Canaveral, and the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Dr. Alexander Lippisch and Dr. Hans Amtmann were both initially involved with developing the Vertical Take-Off Landing (VTOL) and they were also Delta-Wing Aircraft pioneers in Germany.  Note our
delta wing aircraft in the USA after WW 11 was designed by them.

There were many others who were involved with the development of our space program such as, my friend, Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, designer of the Mars Mission ion drive engine, Dr. Walter F. von Axster, rocket engine expert, Mars Mission, my friend, Dr. Konrad Dannenburg, ion drive space craft engine, my friend, Dieter Grau, V-1, V-2, Saturn V, expert engineer, my friend, Dr. Georg von Tiesonhauser, Director of the Advance Space Study Group, my friend, Dr. Ernst Steinhoff, Chief Scientist, United States Rocket Test Center, White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico, my friend, Dr. Kraft Ehricke, Designer of the Outpost Space Station now known as the I.S.S. now on earth orbit, Dr. Ernst Geissler, Lunar Orbit
Rendezvous expert, Dr. Gerhard Reisig, Guidance and Control, Dr. Albert Zeiler, Director of the Saturn V mechanical systems, Rudolph F. Hoelker, Chief Astrodynamics and Guidance, Saturn V Program, a
periodic associate, Arthur Rudolph who did worked on the Die Glocke (Bell) advanced zero gravity projects with S.S. General Heinz Kammler for Germany in Poland, and with Dr. Kurt Debus, Director of KSC, the Saturn V Lunar Landings of the Apollo Program and the landings on the moon, and on the team that dissected the recovered Soviet failed Venus 3 MV-4 probe while at Wright-Patterson AFB. It was/is an important prize to fall into the hands of the U.S.A. I was told by KSC Germans that those scientists listed above have also been consulted and assisted in the back engineering of the Venera 3 MV-4 Acorn Space Vehicle (the Die Glocke) at WPAFB after its recovery on December 9, 1965. It was held for many
more years in research by my other German associates and my friends. Yes, I said “my friends.” All the scientists in this extensive list of names and who were mentioned above are now deceased. I have out lived all of them to tell you the facts about this otherwise secretive history of how our space program developers used these famous scientists to win the race to be the first Nation from earth to land on the moon on July 20, 1969 and how because of their expertise in rocket sciences this happened to allow the U.S.A. to win the” Space Race.”

Any person who wishes to question my background here, I ask one question? Were YOU there with me? Of course you were NOT.  Open my website at:  www.stargate-chronicles.com . Open my listing with
many photographs showing several of these German Scientists who personally autographed photos to me.

 

The U.S.S.R. was not without its own German scientific team similar to Dr. Wernher von Braun and his Paper Clip Team. On October 22, 1946 the 177 volunteer German scientists, engineers and technicians were transferred to the N11-88 Unit of the Soviet Union rocket development team. The KSC German scientists, engineers and technicians informed me of these facts. They were directed by, Helmut Grottrup, who was an intelligent former co-worker of Dr. von Braun at Peenemunde. Grottrup also spent time with von Braun in prison after having been accused of possible treason by S.S. Reichfuher, Heinrich Himmler. Hitler released them to continue work on the V-1, V-2, and the Die Glocke “Bell” project. Grottrup, Dr. Kurt Magnus, Dr. Oswald Putze and others worked directly for the Soviet rocket genius, Sergie Korolev, who is credited with placing the first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, into earth orbit in1961.
One of the most interesting aspects of the case about the mysterious Kecksburg recovery that has been kept from the public was not directly associated with the recovered vehicle itself. It has to do with the possible connection of the engineering used in this probe as it relates to the Die Glocke “Bell “project that was underway in Germany before the end of the WW11 era. The German group of scientists who went to the U.S.S.R. had knowledge of the Die Glocke (Bell) craft. This Kecksburg case also holds intrigue and mystery surrounding what it was that Astronauts Borman and Lovell saw and was reported by them as “unknowns”. Were they actually “UFOs”?  Or were they several parts of the debris left behind during the explosion of the Venera 3 MV-4 Soviet craft and its launch platform bound for Venus? Only NASA, the DIA, NSA, NRO or ONI can directly answer that question.
In conclusion about the Kecksburg object, it is safe to say it was not of alien origin, as I and my NASA Associate has proven with the investigation made of it on the same day it landed. We both were and sent there to investigate and document what we saw. The object we observed while there, and in our opinion; we would learn a few years later, was possibly designed with advanced technology associated with the “Bell”- Die Glocke project of Nazi Germany. I worked with former German scientists who had worked on the Die Glocke “Bell” project for Adolph Hitler. We were all located at the Kennedy Space Center and at Cape Canaveral, Florida. I also

worked with some scientists who were scattered throughout the United States in various industries. Our NASA extensive report with many of our Kecksburg photos and the detailed written report of my NASA Director and I were never released for your tax paying knowledge. I made several efforts to read our report and view our U.S.S.R. Venera photographs (Die Glocke), but was told “that report, the photos and the two tape recorders have all been lost.”  Please believe me readers, NASA said that the original Apollo 11 ladder photos were also “LOST” a few years ago.

What?  The NASA/DoD/NSA cannot lose such evidence. It is, in my opinion, buried in the same large storage vault as where the lost Ark of the Covenant was taken into. You can see depicted where this vault is by viewing the great movie of the past called “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”  The movie star and fine actor, Harrison Ford, played a lead part in it as the character of Indiana Jones. Please realize, that Hollywood films do at times tell the truth. Open your minds humanity. You are being drastically lied to 24/7.
Clark C. McClelland, ScO, NASA Space Shuttle Fleet, Kennedy Space Center, Florida 1958 to 1992.

Buy Staargate Chronicles here:http://www.lulu.com/shop/view-cart.ep;jsessionid=F0E347C8C703FCB16D772E79C513EDA2

Review Overview

User Rating: Be the first one !

National UFO Center

Web Development Director for National UFO Center, WaterUFO.net and Earth Changes Media UFO Researcher

Related Articles

Back to top button

Adblock Detected

Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker