Portuguese / Spanish UFO Research.

Thought this was a pretty great interview between Richard Dolan and Francisco Mourao Correa exploring Portuguese UFO (OVNI) sightings and the attitude of the country's Military towards the subject.

Portuguese Military: Shocking Candor about UFOs.

Francisco Mourao Correa is an experienced researcher of UFOs, and is the leader of Exopolitics Portugal. Here he discusses incredible UFO encounters from Portugal's history, especially during the Cold War era, and describes the attitude toward UFOs by the highest echelon's of Portugal's military. This includes the former Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Air Force, General Tomás Conceição e Silva. The conversation closes with a discussion on the need for evidence-based ufology and the preservation of our precious history in understanding this phenomenon.

Quite a few bizarre incidents being discussed including a 1957 military case during flights between Spain and Portugal where a very strange object which changed shape and colour was seen in the vicinity of the aircraft (one of the witnesses went on to become the Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Air Force).

Also a 1959 school UFO sighting witnessed by Professor and students (schoolyard covered in 'angel hair' but samples destroyed in fire) and a pretty crazy 1970's aviation case where a 'disc with small windows' caused a pilot to scream at the ground radio operator, his instrument panel to go haywire and the aircraft nearly crash (power outage reported at same time and area).

There's also this intriguing comment made back in 1976 by General Carlos Castro Cavero (Spanish Air Force) about an 'international exchange of data'..

"Everything is in a process of investigation both in the United States and in Spain, as well as in the rest of the world... Look, as a General, as a military man, I have the same position as the one officially held by the Ministry [of Defense]. Now, from a personal position, as Carlos Castro Cavero, I believe that UFOs are spaceships or extraterrestrial craft...

The nations of the world are currently working together in the investigation of the UFO phenomenon. There is an international exchange of data. Maybe when this group of nations acquire more precise and definite information, it will be possible to release the news to the world."

"I myself have observed one [UFO] for more than an hour... It was an extremely bright object, which remained stationary there for that length of time and then shot off towards Egea de los Caballeros, covering the distance of twenty kilometers in less than two seconds. No human device is capable of such a speed."

General Carlos Castro Cavero ,Spanish Air Force - From a 1976 interview with journalist J.J. Benítez.

"La Gaceta del Norte" newspaper, Balboa, Spain, June 27, 1976


link

.and in this interview Colonel Julio Vucetich (director of Peru's Department of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena Research) also describes his country having international meetings about the UFO investigative office to 'coordinate and exchange information' (and states that France, Italy and Spain are the most advanced).

Also, as Isaac Koo explains in this thread, Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos has given his permission for CUFON to host his Spanish / Portuguese research after being scanned by Sweden's AFU:

Catalogue Of 200 Types Of UFO Events In Spain And Portugal

"As a compilation of unexplained sightings, this work is impeccable. A very large majority (67%) of the cases are first-hand reports; all known mis-identifications, hoaxes and the like have been eliminated. We are left with that amazing collection of two hundred unexplained events, documented from the actual words of the witnesses--real men and women who are alive today in Spain and Portugal and have experienced these extraordinary events".

Jacques Vallee


PDF File:

Catalogue Of 200 Types Of UFO Events In Spain And Portugal

Section on Spainish policy found in the (awesome) book 'UFOs And Government'.

Excerpt:

UFO Secrecy And Disclosure In Spain


Links:

Spain's UFO Wave: 1973-1974

The Many Sightings Of The 1995 Galicia UFO Wave

Spain: Government Dossier on the Villalón de Campos UFO (1968)

Submitted sightings reports: Spain / Portugal


ATS Threads - Portugal:


The UFO/UAP sighting of the Portuguese Air Force pilot Julio Guerra back in 1982.

Case UFO Alfena, Oporto, Portugal 1990

Hundreads of people see ufo's in portugal in the 50's

Fatima UFO coverup... proof that aliens are associated with religion

Was the Fatima Miracle a Mass UFO Sighting


Spain:


Mass Sighting Over Spain In1968

1918 Spanish Newspaper UFO Story

1730 Spanish (Spain) Document - UFO Sighting Discussion

Jets Scrambled over Spain as UFO Reported

cosmic theater 1980 cadiz spain

a astronaut near a flying bell gerena spain 1978: humanoid encounters

CIA official documents (FOIA) reports: Flying Saucers above Spain and North African skies.

Ye, we have a few interesting cases.

a reply to: ArMaP

Yes Indeedy mate and there are some threads added on some of the more puzzling ones - Francisco Mourao Correa goes into some detail in this presentation about official pilot reports, object descriptions and newspaper articles on the 1957 military case (see 9:50) - he also produces the microscope photos involved in the 1959 Angel hair case (see 16:10) although one of the commentators in this doco does suggest it may be baby jellyfish sucked up by waterspouts.

Also when it comes to Spain I've got one or two mates convinced they've witnessed very strange USOs - not much out there on the subject but below is a relevant article.

The waters of the Western Mediterranean, while not as mystery-prone as the legendary Atlantic, have nonetheless been a source of enigmas. In the 1960s, Spanish ufologist Antonio Ribera posited the existence of a “triangle” between Mount Canigó in Spain, the Balearic Islands, and North Africa, with the Sea of Alborán – the body of water between Spain and Morocco – being the main scenario for these events.

Ships and Saucers: UFOs at Sea

Cheers.

Good work Karl,the juicy part is the international exchange of data part

who,where,how,when.Seems like the iberian peninsula has a lot of sightings

One important thing to remember is that both Portugal and Spain were under a dictatorship for many years and both made a move to democracy in the 1970s, Portugal with the Carnation Revolution in 1974 and Spain with the death of Franco in 1975, so both countries had a new way of looking at things at the end of the 1970s, when there were many sightings.

a reply to: IMSAM

The international exchange of UFO data which isn't in the public domain has always interested me as well mate (and probably everyone else on these boards) and there are a few statements here made by folks such as Chilean General Ricardo Bermúdez and NATO's Yves Sillard which are pretty curious - the post above also contains a statement by Jacques Vallee which may well be relevant.

As for who, where, how and when then I guess it all comes down to speculation but I'd wager the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence are involved somehow.



a reply to: ArMaP

Good call ArMaP and one of my amigos actually remembers Franco's tanks driving down the road - interesting that it's said the General also had a UFO experience (link) and there also exists reports from the Spanish Civil War back in the 1930's.

Located at a considerable distance, and at an altitude of 200 meters, the soldier saw an object resembling “a Mexican hat” the color of flat aluminum. The sun’s rays, reflecting off its surface, enabled him to see that it was a metallic device. It flew slowly as it approached the witness’s position. It was then that he was able to observe it with greater detail:

“Seen from below, its shape was exactly that of a cartwheel. In its center, from where the spokes emerged, it had what looked like a photo camera lens and gave a sensation of depth.”

When the object approached even closer, passing almost directly overhead, the soldier was even able to make out some curved black windows which appeared on the side of the remarkable “Mexican hat”. The following is a transcript of an interview with the ABC Andalucía newspaper:

UFOs Over Spain During The Civil War.

Did some more digging on the exhange of data between goverments part

My research led me to a letter by olavo t fontes.Sadly i cant find the letter verbatim as of now but heres a snippet


"They told me that all governments and military authorities throughout the world know that flying saucers exist and that they are craft from another planet. They have absolute proof of both things"


They refers to the brazilian navy,supposedly there was or is an exchange of data between brazil-usa




More interesting tidbits


"All military authorities and governments throughout the world are informed about the Situation. There is an exchange of information through intelligence services, and top-secret military conferences are held periodically to discuss new developments on the subject."

“The Brazilian Navy, for example, receives monthly classified reports from the U.S. Navy and we send back to them any information available here.”
“A similar contact exists among our Army and Air Force and several (similar) military organizations in other countries.”

“Here in Brazil only the persons who work in the problem know the real situation: Intelligence officers in the Army, Navy and Air Force; some high-rank officers in the High Command; the National Security Council and a few scientists whose activities are connected with it; and a few members of certain civilian organizations researching military projects.” "


Bold emphasis mine,I assume all military authorities around the world dosent refer to say uganda or zulu kingdom,but more to the big players(usa-russia-china-brazil etc).As to who these guys are its impossible to find currently,the only way to know for sure is to dig to foias in these countries.Assuming there is a paper trail which i doubt,But in any case interesting stuff.


Olavo t fontes letter is hard to come by and so far i cant say i found the whole thing,also i cant say whether fontes is ok or not at this point

Here is the letter in biblioteca peiades


www.bibliotecapleyades.net...



But i still dont know what to make of this fontes guy,he was the one who broke the itaippu story(two brazilians zapped by ufo) which is peculiar to say it gently,In any case hope these be of help

a reply to: IMSAM

Really do appreciate the legwork mate and that's a pretty interesting read right there.

Dr. Olavo T. Fontes, of Brazil was a prominent UFO researcher in the 1950’s. He was one of the best informed civilian UFO researchers of the 1950’s and he died an untimely and suspicious death from a fast acting cancer while he was still in his 30’s. He died several years after he was threatened by two intelligence agents from the United States that gave him the briefing I discuss in this article.

Nick Redfern states here that just days before the threats Fontes completed the prep for an extensive document on the Villas Boas incident (which he speculates was gov/mind control op) and there's a vid here with Dr Fontes discussing it.

Also read that Fontes was the Brazilian APRO representative and Richard Dolan also makes some really interesting comments in this vid about Steinman's book featuring Fonte's letter -don't really know what to make of his claims mate but always best to wear those scepticals, did see some of the doctor's research posted over at Project1947 though..


Report No 1


and Kev Randle also makes some comments about the Itaipu case here and here.


Suppose all that should have been posted over on the Brazilian thread (link) but below are some other relevant Spanish reports from a week after the Kenneth Arnold sighting.

Spain: When UFOs Came to Montequinto
By Jose Manuel García Bautista


It was on June 24, 1947 when American pilot Kenneth Arnold saw those strange flying shapes over Mount Rainier, giving rise from that moment on to the age of 'flying saucers'

The phenomenon's arrival in the Spain occurred a month later, in July 1947, when two news items were reported by the Spanish press. The first of these was in the locality of Balazonte (Albacete) and the second in Azpeitia (Guipuzcoa).

The accounts state that several farmers working their fields witnessed a dark object fly noiselessly and slowly over their heads, being similar to a "derby hat". The sighting occurred at 19:00 hours. The mysterious object was seen in various localities of the province of Albacete, with all descriptions of it in agreement: an object that did not glow at all presented the stereotypical shape of a UFO.

On July 15, 1947 the second sighting in the Spanish peninsula took place in Azpeitia (Guipuzcoa). On this occasion, there were six witnesses to the strange object that passed before them. It was very bright and left a wake in its path. The mysterious object appeared about to land on a nearby hillside, but immediately rose into the air.

The object was dubbed the "Azpeitia Saucer", and as it rose into the air, it issued flashes of light "that caused all surrounding valleys to light up as if it were broad daylight."

The object was also seen in other localities of the Basque Country, such as Fuenterrabía. There was a growing number of witnesses whose testimony accrued around the incipient 20th century phenomenon..


(Further reports at link)

link

Cheers.

Spanish UFOs 1968 -1975

youtu.be...

originally posted by: ArMaP
Ye, we have a few interesting cases.

Hi ArMap am trying to find any info on the 1957 aircraft UFO encounter involving Captain Tomás Conceição e Silva (who then went on to become Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Air Force).

Francisco Mourao Correa discusses it very early on in the Dolan interview and it truly does sound like an impressive one - no worries if not but are you aware of any English language links on the case?

a reply to: karl 12

After a quick search I haven't found any, but I'll look for it.

a reply to: ArMaP

Very much appreciated mate.