Heflin Photos a Known Hoax?

This arrived today in my email from the UFO Updates Mail List

From: modernherbal@[address known]
To: [email protected]
Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2006 13:14:45 -0400
Subject: The Truth About the Heflin Photos


[Non-Subscriber Post]


The 'UFO' in the Rex Heflin photos is in fact a toy train wheel.
One of your Listers had it correct in a post recently.

May I suggest you contact the folks at Model Railroader or at
Classic Toy Trains? A good site is www.trainsmag.com Pay
special attention to model trains from the 1950s.

Another lister had it correct about the less-shown fourth photo.
Check out airshow photobooks from the 60's for donut holes ring
formations.

Put it this way- Rex enjoyed trains, models, and airplanes. He
also enjoyed having a little fun.

The truth has been known by a few folks in Santa Ana since it
all started. There are still a few old-timers left who could
still tell the whole story... but then again, there are those who
never want to "spoil a good story".

(You may post this to the List as Anonymous)

Could this be the break in the Heflin case? Or is this a hoax?
I shall endeavor to vette this source and would appreciate any help.

Not that Im aware of.

Here is some data on it.

www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk...

I believe its one of those cases where there is much debate over whether or not it is a hoax or not.

But i dont think its offically accepted as a hoax in general. Its still an open case.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk...

The object in those pics if turned uprigth would like a train wheel, with the thin lip fiting into the sleeper. Not being an expert but would a small train wheel look that big in the air ?

The Heflin photos are still up for grabs. Tim Shell posted a 3d breakdown here on ATS and on the Updates List. My interest is in tracing the anonymous poster and verifying his/her claims.
There is a strong opinion amoung the more respectable UFO folk that he may have hung some sort of model out the window before he snapped the pics. Dependent upon his location on the truck seat at the time it does seem likely.
There's circumstantial evidence pointing to his ability in modelling
Hmmmmmm.

edit: here's the Heflin 3D thread www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 6/13/06 by longhaircowboy]

longhaircowboy (or anyone), do you know what kind of van Heflin was driving? I've been following the current debates, but have yet to see this piece of the puzzle mentioned.

It may have been a Ford, based on the shape of the windows, but somewhere it is mentioned that Heflin 'slid across the seat', implying a bench seat, which sounds more like a Corvair.

The flange on the object is deeper than any standard model RR gauge (try to imagine what that track would look like ), unless perhaps the object is a steam locomotive guide wheel (which has a smaller diameter than say, a box car wheel, and a correspondingly deeper-looking flange), so it would more likely be from a toy than a 'model' train.

However, the proportions appear to closely match stamped-metal sliding door pulls: here's a page with several sizes and finishes:
www.doityourself.com...
The 3/4" size looks like a good fit:
www.doityourself.com...

Originally posted by rand
longhaircowboy (or anyone), do you know what kind of van Heflin was driving? I've been following the current debates, but have yet to see this piece of the puzzle mentioned.

It may have been a Ford,

Hi Rand,

Yes, it was a Ford.

The Condon Report states that Heflin was driving a "Ford van bus", citing U. S. Marine Corps G-2 Investigation Report, El Toro Marine Air Facility, 22 September 1965.

See the Condon Report ("Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects", Edward U Condon (Director) and Daniel S Gillmor (Editor) (1969)) at page 676 (in Section 4, "Case Studies", Chapter 3, "Photographic Case Studies") of the uncorrected version submitted to the Air Force (with the same page numbering in the 3 volume paperbound edition distributed by the National Technical Information Service, US Department of Commerce) at pages 437-455 of the Vision hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Bantam paperback edition).

The first of these editions has the same page numbering as the edition available free online at the following links:

ncas.sawco.com...

www.project1947.com...

Kind Regards,

Isaac Koi

Thanks Isaac ya beat me to it.
That said here's the latest from mr. x.

[Non-Subscriber Post]

The truth was posted on UFO UpDates a very long time ago - on
September 5, 1997! In a post by Stig Agermose entitled "Heflin's
Photos Draw Fresh Fire From Skeptics" he includes the text of a
July 22, 1997 article in the Orange County Register by reporter
Amy Wilson.

See:

www.virtuallystrange.net...

In this article, people who know it is a toy train part relate
that they have known this for a very long time, and that it was a
joke gone out of control. Unlike Anonymous me, one of these
people, a retiree in Menlo Park, is named and interviewed.

It amazes me that no one else on the List picked up on this at
the time and responded to Stig's post and that no one mentioned
the article in this latest discussion on Heflin.

Tim Shell is brilliant and resourceful. The black donut hole
formation speaks volumes that I speak the truth.

There have to be model train hobbyists on this List who can now
find the exact part that Rex used to create the 'craft'.

Of cousre we all know not to just take the word of any old anonymus right?

Personally, I think I've always been in the minority when considering these a likely hoax...

Something just looks too in focus given the camera used...

It looks more like a small object affixed to the window (and thus no wire, etc.)...similar to the likely method Meier might have used for his fakes... taking a model, affixing to glass, and holding up the glass with the model against a light sky background.

Originally posted by IsaacKoi
Yes, it was a Ford.
The Condon Report states that Heflin was driving a "Ford van bus"...

Thanks, Issac. I've haven't taken the time yet to thoroughly study the Condomn report (although what I've read so far seems a more perfect study in whitewashing than Tom Sawyer).

I've found most of the old Polaroids in my "collection", and a few seem to still work, and film is available (well, the modern replacement, anyway).

Next step: find a '65-era Ford van here in town.

There's a guy here in St. Pete who has one.
I'll see if I can have talk with him. What info should I get?

Originally posted by longhaircowboy
There's a guy here in St. Pete who has one [Ford van].
I'll see if I can have talk with him. What info should I get?

Well, I figure someone needs to sit in it for a few minutes, with a Polaroid camera -- actually it doesn't need to be a Polaroid, just something with an angle of view equal to or greater than 45 degrees (35mm lens on a 35mm camera would do nicely, or the equivilant digital system) -- and get a few carefully framed pictures of the windows.

I'm planning to try to build a rough digital model of a Ford van, use it to calculate Heflin's position(s) and the way he held the camera, then confirm it with the real thing. I figure it might help in the current debates to know for sure where the shots were taken. (Can you tell I'm somewhat bored? I have blimp material on order, but it won't be delivered for another few weeks.)

At this point, it would be nice to know, from someone who drives one regularly, if the center hump gets in the way of sliding across from seat to seat, and how easy it is to move from the driver's seat into the back, if necessary. I ask that because it appears to me that photo #3 may have been taken from an odd angle, about the position of the passenger's left shoulder, if you can imagine that, which would put the photographer either behind the seats or perhaps leaning across the hump supported on his right elbow.

Based on a quicky trial with later-model GMC, Chevy and Ford vans, which are not quite the same size, etc., I've got this far: