Several years ago I was invited to speak at a retreat for UCLA graduate students working on their Phd degree by my friend Dwight Schultz. Schultz had been invited by a friend of his that was a Dean at UCLA and he described the event as the graduate students exploring career opportunities. Schultz and I were asked to speak Friday evening during a break in the program. The subject we talked about was on the reality of the UFO subject and Paul R. Hill’s book “Unconventional Flying Objects, A Scientific Analysis.” During this presentation the grad students were shown the STS 48 video, the July 1952 Washington D.C. overflights were described, and then Paul Hill’s bio was given with his very impressive background. Hill’s book had just then been published, and within the UFO research community a number of researchers were astounded by what it said and the author who wrote it. During the presentation one of the audience was a science professor who took issue with the overall subject. He regarded the subject as nonsense and then was confronted with Hill’s book and who Paul R. Hill was. This recently immigrated professor from South Africa expressed great disdain (and how much was show for the graduate students is unknown) and arrogance toward the subject. When Schultz offered him his copy of Hill’s book, and asked him if he would read it the professor refused to even accept it to read the cover. That answered my question about minds open to new possibilities. Most of the students were stunned by his attitude.
So who was Paul Hill and why isn’t his book required reading? Another question is simply this, when one can even find Hill’s book for sale why is it always found in the New Age or the occult section of a book store and not in the science section? The short simple answer is because it is about UFOs.
Hill was born in 1909 and died in 1990. He was truly one of the giants of American aviation and should be credited with helping win World War Two. Hill designed the aerodynamic prototype design of the Republic P47 Thunderbolt fighter. This air superiority fighter plane, armed with 8 .50 caliber machineguns and its heavy armor, had a 10 to 1 kill ratio over enemy aircraft. Known as the “Jug” this aircraft could achieve 430 mph in level flight, and no enemy aircraft could get away from it in level flight or even by diving. Hill conducted this work while employed by NACA. (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics NACA was the forerunner of NASA.) Hills biography is impressive. From 1936 to 1939 he was a Professor of Aeronautics, Polytechnic College of Engineering, in Oakland California. In July of 1939 Hill joined the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, under the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and then its successor the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
In 1952 Hill made history of a sorts, even though his name was unknown. In Edward Ruppelt’s seminal book, “The Report On Unidentified Flying Objects”, An Ace Book, by arrangement with Doubleday & Co., copyright 1956. Ruppelt described the case involving Paul R. Hill during the time period of the Washington D.C. overflights in July, 1952.
July 16, 1952
“Two nights later there was another sighting in exactly the same area but from the ground. At 9:00 PM a high-ranking civilian scientist from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Laboratory at Langley AFB and another man were standing near the ocean looking south over Hampton Roads when they saw two amber-colored lights, `much too large to be aircraft lights’, off to their right, silently traveling north. Just before the two lights got abreast of the two men they made a 180 degree turn and started back toward the spot where they had first been seen. As they turned, the two lights seemed to jockey for position in the formation. About this time a third light came out of the west and joined the first two; then as the three UFOs climbed out of the area toward the south, several more lights joined the formation. The entire episode had lasted only three minutes.” Ruppelt ended this rendition by stating “And last, but not least, the man from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was a very famous aerodynamicist and of such professional stature that if he said the lights weren’t airplanes they weren’t.”
Hill recounts his sighting in ”Unconventional Flying Objects” as the starting point for his interest in the phenomenon. Hill said “My sighting was investigated by Project Blue Book, classified as unknown, and given first public mention by Major Edward Ruppelt on pages 157-58 in his Report on Unidentified Flying Objects.” Because Hill was fascinated by the maneuvering of the objects he witnessed, he began experimenting with tilt-to-control maneuvers in a project involving rocket-supported experimental platforms.
Later Hill was to view the famous Tremonton, Utah UFO movies of maneuvering disks in slow and stop motion. He said he could see the circular platforms and the edge-on fade-outs as well as the elliptic in-between on banking turns. However when he mentioned this extracurricular work to his colleagues at NACA he ran into a huge road bump. He said “I was prevented from making any pronouncements about this application of my work by official NACA policy. That policy was that flying saucers are nonexistent. The NACA Director, Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, made a public pronouncement to the effect at about that time, and I had been instructed by my superior in official channels that my name could not be used in connection with my sighting or in any way that would implicate the NACA with these objects. NACA research officials were all scientists with management training in which the necessity for unambiguous policy had been emphasized.” Any hope that when NACA became the now ubiquitous NASA was soon dashed. According to Hill ”When the name of the organization was changed from NACA to NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the same officials remained in Charge, and one could notice no change in policy. The only difference was that individuals were going into space; when astronauts sighted unknowns in space, a grounded official couldn’t rationally contradict them. But they could shut them off the air.”
It seems that Hill described long term official NACA and then NASA policy regarding the UFO subject. Paul Hill dissected with a scientific scalpel the operational characteristics of UFO performance. To show upper end speed within the Earth’s atmosphere he used a multiple radar case that was given to Major Donald Keyhoe by the then Air Force public relations officer, Mr. Al Chop. This famous case involved a B-29 bomber flying at 18,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico, December 6, 1952. Several groups of 4 blips were tracked by the aircraft’s main radar scope, the captain’s scope and the navigator’s scope. These blips were tracked at 5,000 mph plus! Then the aircraft tracked a huge blip (mothership?) and the smaller blips “merged” with the larger one. The “blip” then left, climbing straight up, at 9,000 mph plus. As Hill noted “5,000 mph is too slow for meteroroids, several course changes were made, the objects were observed coming head-on and following, two instances of acceleration were noted, meteors don’t rendezvous!” And with observations like that the skeptics arguments would be demolished.
When Paul Hill recounted his own sighting to his supervisor at NACA he was asked “What had you been drinking?” Hill shut up and went to the ATIC Office to report his sighting. And until his death in 1990 he never went public with his research or findings. If I were to level any criticism at Hill it would simply be the fact that even though his book was written by 1975 he would not allow the manuscript to be published until he passed on. What a devastating ally he would have been to confront the naysayers. Well Paul Hill is gone but his work lives on. If you have not heard about this book or read it I very strongly recommend you get a copy and read it. Then you might ask the bookstore employee’s why it is in the new age area of the bookstore and not the scientific section.
So who was Paul Hill and why isn’t his book required reading? Another question is simply this, when one can even find Hill’s book for sale why is it always found in the New Age or the occult section of a book store and not in the science section? The short simple answer is because it is about UFOs.
Hill was born in 1909 and died in 1990. He was truly one of the giants of American aviation and should be credited with helping win World War Two. Hill designed the aerodynamic prototype design of the Republic P47 Thunderbolt fighter. This air superiority fighter plane, armed with 8 .50 caliber machineguns and its heavy armor, had a 10 to 1 kill ratio over enemy aircraft. Known as the “Jug” this aircraft could achieve 430 mph in level flight, and no enemy aircraft could get away from it in level flight or even by diving. Hill conducted this work while employed by NACA. (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics NACA was the forerunner of NASA.) Hills biography is impressive. From 1936 to 1939 he was a Professor of Aeronautics, Polytechnic College of Engineering, in Oakland California. In July of 1939 Hill joined the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, under the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and then its successor the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
In 1952 Hill made history of a sorts, even though his name was unknown. In Edward Ruppelt’s seminal book, “The Report On Unidentified Flying Objects”, An Ace Book, by arrangement with Doubleday & Co., copyright 1956. Ruppelt described the case involving Paul R. Hill during the time period of the Washington D.C. overflights in July, 1952.
July 16, 1952
“Two nights later there was another sighting in exactly the same area but from the ground. At 9:00 PM a high-ranking civilian scientist from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Laboratory at Langley AFB and another man were standing near the ocean looking south over Hampton Roads when they saw two amber-colored lights, `much too large to be aircraft lights’, off to their right, silently traveling north. Just before the two lights got abreast of the two men they made a 180 degree turn and started back toward the spot where they had first been seen. As they turned, the two lights seemed to jockey for position in the formation. About this time a third light came out of the west and joined the first two; then as the three UFOs climbed out of the area toward the south, several more lights joined the formation. The entire episode had lasted only three minutes.” Ruppelt ended this rendition by stating “And last, but not least, the man from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was a very famous aerodynamicist and of such professional stature that if he said the lights weren’t airplanes they weren’t.”
Hill recounts his sighting in ”Unconventional Flying Objects” as the starting point for his interest in the phenomenon. Hill said “My sighting was investigated by Project Blue Book, classified as unknown, and given first public mention by Major Edward Ruppelt on pages 157-58 in his Report on Unidentified Flying Objects.” Because Hill was fascinated by the maneuvering of the objects he witnessed, he began experimenting with tilt-to-control maneuvers in a project involving rocket-supported experimental platforms.
Later Hill was to view the famous Tremonton, Utah UFO movies of maneuvering disks in slow and stop motion. He said he could see the circular platforms and the edge-on fade-outs as well as the elliptic in-between on banking turns. However when he mentioned this extracurricular work to his colleagues at NACA he ran into a huge road bump. He said “I was prevented from making any pronouncements about this application of my work by official NACA policy. That policy was that flying saucers are nonexistent. The NACA Director, Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, made a public pronouncement to the effect at about that time, and I had been instructed by my superior in official channels that my name could not be used in connection with my sighting or in any way that would implicate the NACA with these objects. NACA research officials were all scientists with management training in which the necessity for unambiguous policy had been emphasized.” Any hope that when NACA became the now ubiquitous NASA was soon dashed. According to Hill ”When the name of the organization was changed from NACA to NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the same officials remained in Charge, and one could notice no change in policy. The only difference was that individuals were going into space; when astronauts sighted unknowns in space, a grounded official couldn’t rationally contradict them. But they could shut them off the air.”
It seems that Hill described long term official NACA and then NASA policy regarding the UFO subject. Paul Hill dissected with a scientific scalpel the operational characteristics of UFO performance. To show upper end speed within the Earth’s atmosphere he used a multiple radar case that was given to Major Donald Keyhoe by the then Air Force public relations officer, Mr. Al Chop. This famous case involved a B-29 bomber flying at 18,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico, December 6, 1952. Several groups of 4 blips were tracked by the aircraft’s main radar scope, the captain’s scope and the navigator’s scope. These blips were tracked at 5,000 mph plus! Then the aircraft tracked a huge blip (mothership?) and the smaller blips “merged” with the larger one. The “blip” then left, climbing straight up, at 9,000 mph plus. As Hill noted “5,000 mph is too slow for meteroroids, several course changes were made, the objects were observed coming head-on and following, two instances of acceleration were noted, meteors don’t rendezvous!” And with observations like that the skeptics arguments would be demolished.
When Paul Hill recounted his own sighting to his supervisor at NACA he was asked “What had you been drinking?” Hill shut up and went to the ATIC Office to report his sighting. And until his death in 1990 he never went public with his research or findings. If I were to level any criticism at Hill it would simply be the fact that even though his book was written by 1975 he would not allow the manuscript to be published until he passed on. What a devastating ally he would have been to confront the naysayers. Well Paul Hill is gone but his work lives on. If you have not heard about this book or read it I very strongly recommend you get a copy and read it. Then you might ask the bookstore employee’s why it is in the new age area of the bookstore and not the scientific section.
