UFOs Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record (5 page)

On the pictures, however, the bright “spotlights” on the UFO, which to the viewers’ eyes had looked much, much brighter than the lights on the airplane, were hardly discernible. The triangular shape of the UFO, clearly visible to the naked eye, was also lost on the film. At the same time, the airplane lights came out brighter than those of the UFO, appearing just the way they had looked from the ground, even though the UFO was much closer to the observers than the airplane. Laboratory experiments show that this was likely due to the effect of infrared light around the UFO, which can cause even such an object to disappear altogether in a photograph. This could be one reason why so few usable pictures were received by investigators during the Belgian wave, and why bona fide UFO pictures are not as common as one might expect.

Witness drawings have an important role to play, encapsulating details imprinted in the memories of observers immediately after their sightings. Investigators can then make comparisons between renditions made in different locations at different times, or by multiple witnesses to the same event from different vantage points—all by people who don’t know each other. “The day will come, undoubtedly, when the phenomenon will be observed with the technological means necessary that won’t leave a single doubt about its origin,” General De Brouwer commented recently, with assurance. In the meantime, something physically, technologically real, yet completely unknown to any of us, repeatedly inserted itself into the skies over Belgium. We don’t know where it was from, where it was going, or why it was there. But the fact of its existence is remarkable enough and a sufficient challenge to those of us below, unable to do a thing about it.

CHAPTER 2

The UAP Wave over Belgium

by Major General Wilfried De Brouwer (Ret.)

O
n November 29, 1989, when I was Head of Operations of the Belgian Air Staff, a total of 143 sightings were reported in a small area around Eupen, Belgium, thirty kilometers (nineteen miles) east of the city of Liège and eleven kilometers (seven miles) west of the German border. Some reported sightings were witnessed by more than one person, which means that at least 250 people described extraordinary UAP activity, with most reports occurring after sunset.

The weather was clear with open skies and good visibility. Two federal policemen, Heinrich Nicoll and Hubert Von Montigny, made the most important report. At 5:15 p.m., while patrolling on the road between Eupen and the German border, they saw a nearby field lit with such intensity that they could read the newspaper in their car. Hovering above the field was a triangular craft with three spotlights beaming down and a red flashing light in the center. Without making a sound, it moved slowly toward the German border for about two minutes and then suddenly turned back toward the city of Eupen. The policemen followed. Other independent witnesses reported that they saw the strange object along the same road. It remained over the town of Eupen for approximately thirty minutes and was seen by numerous additional witnesses.

Drawing of sighting by two witnesses near Lake Gileppe, from the side and from underneath
. SOBEPS archives

A witness in Eupen also drew the craft from two perspectives
. SOBEPS archives

The object then proceeded to Lake Gileppe, where it remained immobile, hovering for approximately one hour, while Nicoll and Von Montigny sat in their car on a nearby hill and witnessed an extraordinary spectacle. The craft repeatedly emitted two red light beams with a red ball at the spearhead of both beams, in the horizontal plane. Subsequently, the beams disappeared and the red balls returned to the vehicle. A few minutes later, another cycle started, each cycle lasting several minutes. Hubert Von Montigny said it was like a diver shooting an arrow from an underwater gun that slows down at the end of its trajectory and is subsequently retrieved by the diver.
¹

But there was more to come. Suddenly, at 6:45 p.m., the policemen saw a second craft, which appeared from behind the woods and made a forward tilting maneuver, exposing the upper side of the fuselage. They described a dome on the upper structure with rectangular windows, lit on the inside. It then departed to the north. About forty minutes later, at 7:23 p.m., the first craft stopped emitting the red light balls and departed to the southwest. The two policemen, who were in radio contact with their dispatch, learned that another UAP had been reported in the north of Eupen, and they drove to an observation point, south of the highway E 40. From that position, they saw the UAP moving to the village of Henri-Chapelle, where two of their police colleagues, Dieter Plummans and Peter Nicoll (no relation to Heinrich Nicoll), saw the craft approaching from the direction of Eupen.

Plummans and Peter Nicoll stopped their car near a monastery, when they observed the craft with three very strong spotlights and a flashing red central light, at a distance of 100 meters (300 feet) and an estimated height of 80 meters (250 feet). The craft was immobile and silent, but it suddenly transmitted a hissing sound and reduced the intensity of the lights. Simultaneously, a red light ball came out of the center and headed straight downward, not far from their position.

The policemen were both terrified. The light ball turned from its vertical path into a horizontal path, and disappeared from view behind some trees. The craft moved then right above the police vehicle and headed to the northeast. They followed it for approximately five miles until they lost sight of it. Nevertheless, their colleagues Heinrich Nicoll and Hubert Von Montigny—the two policemen to first observe the objects a few hours earlier—could follow its movements from their position south of the highway.

In total, thirteen policemen reported seeing the craft at eight different locations in the vicinity of Eupen. Many civilians also saw the objects. For example, a family of four driving on a highway west of Liège saw a rectangular platform above them, made visible by the highway lights. They reported that it slowly passed overhead at a low altitude, with a spotlight in each corner.

Sketch by a mother who observed a craft while on the highway with her family
. SOBEPS archives

A total of seventy reported sightings made on November 29 were fully investigated and none of these sightings could be explained by conventional technology. Considering that approximately one person out of ten makes the effort to report their experience, the team of investigators and I estimate that more than 1,500 people must have seen the phenomenon at more than seventy locations from different angles during this afternoon and evening.

After the initial sightings on November 29, a series of sightings took place on December 1 (four observations) and December 11, 1989, when twenty-one witnesses reported similar descriptions of a triangular craft.

On December 1, air weather forecaster Francesco Valenzano and his young daughter, walking at the Square Nicolai in Ans, near Liège, saw a large slow-moving craft approaching at low altitude. The craft made a tour of the square without making any noise and when it passed directly over their heads, Valenzano noticed a delta shape with three lights in a triangular position and a red rotating light in the middle that was positioned lower than the belly of the craft.

Valenzano’s drawing included red and blue lights on the leading edge and four lights underneath
. SOBEP archives

On December 11, a twelve-year-old boy, along with his parents, grandparents, and sister, witnessed a similar-looking craft in the vicinity of their home for approximately fifteen minutes. It was at first immobile, and then started moving toward their house to pass vertically overhead. The boy’s drawing shows a frontal view (bottom right), a view when it was almost overhead (bottom left), and a view when it was fully overhead (top). The different shapes could explain why some witnesses reported a craft that was not triangular. Indeed, the drawing shows that the perception of the shape can vary depending on observation angle and altitude.

About fifteen minutes later, a similar craft was observed approximately 97 kilometers (60 miles) more to the west, and several subsequent reports followed. At 6:45 p.m., Colonel André Amond, a civil engineer of the Belgian Army, was driving with his wife when they both saw three large light panels and a red flashing light at their right. He was driving faster than the craft, but when they stopped and got out of their car to observe the phenomenon, the light panels caught up and turned toward them. Suddenly, they saw a giant spotlight, about twice the size of the full moon, which approached them to an estimated distance of 100 meters. The colonel’s wife was frightened and asked to leave. As he opened the car door, the craft made a very tight left-hand turn at a speed of approximately 10 mph and three other lights appeared at the underside of the craft, in a triangular form with a central pulsing light.

The craft from three angles, drawn by a boy in Trooze, near Liège
. SOBEPS archives