The Smoking (Anti-Aircraft) Guns (of Los Angeles, 1942)

Here are some images I took of some of the original newspapers from the event...

The Long Beach Independent claims 2 waves of planes:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/fb4e02810045.jpg[/atsimg]

An important note when viewing the next two images, the UFO itself did not return fire on our AntiAircraft Batteries. The only weaponry observed during the battle were our own AntiAircraft Defenses...

An L.A. Resident's Home took damage in the Battle, pictured here:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6171aef00867.jpg[/atsimg]

Another Resident's Car was damaged in the Battle:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/39e38631308f.jpg[/atsimg]

A Blackout Violator was Jailed, underlying the severity of the event:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cde403299fdd.jpg[/atsimg]

Here are two images of one poster, depicting instructions from the Army on what to do in the event of an Air Raid. The first picture is the top of the poster, the second pic is the bottom:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3b7564b527b5.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/fa16d4691dfe.jpg[/atsimg]

A Blackout Drill was ordered (Seattle Times), and news of the drill was printed here in this paper. This helps to illustrate that drills were advertised to the general public, and that actual events (involving live gunfire over the city, as in this event) were surprise affairs...:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5d7d1d7d9bd7.jpg[/atsimg]

The Los Angeles Examiner reports on the U.S. Army's verification that the object was classified 'unidentified':
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/59dac2d23fcd.jpg[/atsimg]

Here is a close up on the date from that paper:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/853657dd4369.jpg[/atsimg]


Okay everyone, that's about all the brainpower I can muster for the evening I'll likely be back online tomorrow with more on the Searchlight beams, and on the Small and Big AA Guns! I appreciate your patience, as all of this takes a while to post...

-WFA

I just can't stop myself! LOL I should go to bed, but I was thinking about the point I was trying to make with the jailed blackout violator above, and the severity of the event.

It made me recall some of the reports of deaths during the event. So I dug out the selected portion of text from the NY Times, February 26th, 1942 (an article I had handy), and here is the brief section from the report on the fatalities:

"Sergeant Engelbert Larson, 59, of the Long Beach Police Department was killed as he was driving to headquarters for air raid duty. His car was in collision with that of Thomas King of Long Beach. Both machines were traveling without lights.

Mrs. Beulah Klein, 48, of Arcadia was killed when the family automobile, driven by her husband, was in a crash with a milk truck during the blackout.

A California State Guardsman, Henry B. Ayers, 60, died of a heart attack while the anti-aircraft barrages were continuing. He was driving a truck loaded with ammunition.

Several other persons were treated in the metropolitan area for minor injuries."


Okay, now I'm going to bed. Really this time. For certain.

LOL Night All!

-WFA

i think its ridiculous that w f a is getting zero response
the man has gone over the call of duty with his research

and is providing more than enough substance to investigate the case with and a load of nostalgic material

he should be praised for it


ps....
i think that your thread is kind of hidden in the ufo board may be a reason why no1 is seeing it..
maybe ask an admin to bump it up to new topics or something?
as it is really important

far more important than your average `haunted swings` thread

I'm personally bumping this thread because I believe it should be at the top. This is one mystery that needs to be solved and WFA has put an incredible amount of personal time and effort into setting the scene and finding the truth!

Kudo's my man!

I really enjoyed viewing your new additions WFA. I can almost imagine being there myself. Personally I think it's a shame that the story is being explained away as Japanese aircraft.. I mean... where's the debris? Surely there's no terrestrial craft that could survive such a bombardment?

All that ordinance fired and yet, there's not a sliver of wreckage to show for it.

It's these old cases that I find the most interesting.. well before Aliens/UFO's became thoroughly entrenched into our folklore and media... and just as importantly, well before the days of Photoshop. Combine this with the very serious circumstances of war and we can basically rule out any form of hoax from the get go! If there is a hoax in play, it's the 'official' explanations IMHO!

IRM

[edit on 10/3/09 by InfaRedMan]

Our War Of The Worlds. The best UFO picture ever!

I do love this one: reply to post by Nohup
...you had me for a few seconds nohup

I could never get why the BOLA got a backseat in ufology. This was staring everyone in the face. It was same period as Roswell, so then do we believe what others tells us more than we do our own eyes?

I have never seen a documentary on this yet proof on BOLA makes other cases look weak. Maybe i love it so much due to the reason for not being so "commercialized" Let the truth be told.

I must applaud WFA again.

Thanks guys! It's nice to see this work appreciated, and it's nice to know I'm not the only one with all of this data anymore

Next up, I've got images of the Searchlight Beams, many images in fact...

The Moon & Venus Bisected by a Searchlight:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9b786b89d649.jpg[/atsimg]

Searchlights situated inside the Battery:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a74afac65444.jpg[/atsimg]

Searchlights behind hillside:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5233a0b58460.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b0ca1eab7c62.jpg[/atsimg]

Searchlight beam on trees. Please note, that the beam of light does NOT pass through solid objects:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4569db944481.jpg[/atsimg]

Searchlight beams penetrating smoke (from the fireworks show) easily. Please note that Fog/Smoke does NOT keep the beam of light from passing right through:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/667a3c76c889.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/feb7a64aea6a.jpg[/atsimg]

Images taken during the 'Air Raid' Reenactment:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1ed3eb82218a.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6ade5b9a44a8.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3353f7506be1.jpg[/atsimg]

Okay gang, that's all I have time for at the moment. I'll likely be back online this afternoon though, and hopefully I get to posting the pics of the AA guns

Thank you all sincerely for your support! It was a wonderful feeling to wake up this morning and see active interest in this case once again!

-WFA

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
I mean... where's the debris? Surely there's no terrestrial craft that could survive such a bombardment?

All that ordinance fired and yet, there's not a sliver of wreckage to show for it.

Exactly, and that's my next point When I post the pics of the AA guns later today gang, well, they are just amazingly huge! No human made pllane could withstand such bombardment. 1 (count it) that's right 1 shell of this size would take out any human craft in the blast zone. The vessel from the Battle of LA withstood over 1400 of these shells before flying off over the ocean.

It's one of the best reasons IMHO that the craft couldn't have been from Earth. Thanks for pointing that out IRM!

-WFA

thank you for all the information WitnessFromAfar

@+

reply to post by WitnessFromAfar


What a wonderful thread! Thank you so much for taking the time and investigating this very interesting early case. The best thing it has going for it is that it happened way before the UFO craze started. I am still digesting all the information, but it is worth it.

reply to post by kidflash2008
Great thread. He says 1,400 shells and this ship still was fine. Surely this was a real UFO?

Thank you all for your kind words!

Here are some images of the smaller AA guns. I'll post the Big AA Guns in a separate post when I have time...

A Machine Gun Embankment protects the Mobile AA Gun Platform from ground assault:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e1d1bf4b3033.jpg[/atsimg]

Here is the entire Mobile AA Gun Platform (Gun, Searchlight, Generator, etc.):
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/71492fd9e51b.jpg[/atsimg]

A Smaller Mobile AA Gun from Ground Level:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e633ae2cd0cb.jpg[/atsimg]

A Slightly Larger Mobile AA Gun, from the side:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/101badbb59eb.jpg[/atsimg]

The Same Gun, from the front:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e6d005652d53.jpg[/atsimg]


Okay, there you go! I'll try to post on the Big 12 Inch Guns later today if I have the time. If not then tomorrow for sure.

As you can probably tell from even these smaller cannons, a plane, balloon (or anything else made by Humans in 1942) would not stand up to a direct hit. In the LA Times photo, we have evidence of not only several direct hits, but flak surrounding the entire area in the sky.

Nothing was shot down. There were reports of a downed plane, that were then discounted when Firemen arrived on scene to find no crash site.

The shells fired by the larger guns (12 inches in diameter at the back end) were as long as my arm, and wider than my thigh. They were meant to explode upon impact (I deduce this because upon first hand inspection, there did not appear to be a timer mechanism within the shell).

For easy reference, the 12 inch shell (used in the larger AA Guns featured in my next post) is posted again here:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bc656013d518.jpg[/atsimg]

-WFA


... more to come as time allows ...

reply to post by kidflash2008


Thank you kidflash2008. I'm not sure that we've met formally, and I just wanted to say it's an honor to have you here participating in the thread. I've read several of your posts in other threads of late, and I'm excited to see you applying your mind to this, one of the greatest mysteries of our time.



-WFA

Originally posted by ufoorbhunter
reply to post by kidflash2008

 

Great thread. He says 1,400 shells and this ship still was fine. Surely this was a real UFO?

I'd go one further, and say that we can now (from the evidence presented in this thread) conclusively state that nothing made by Humans in 1942 (or dare I say today) could have performed in the manner observed by this craft. Mass Halucination is just a silly concept when we've got the US Army issuing radar returns on the craft, etc. The same goes for the smoke/fog theory (since I've now demonstrated that the Searchlights did indeed penetrate smoke and fog, and the lights do not penetrate the object in the photo).

I'd go one further to say that while still Unidentified (making it a UFO) it's certainly been confirmed not to have been anything made by Humans (in 1942).

Apply Occam's Razor here (Yes, that's right Skeptics, the simplest solution to this question).

In my view, the simplest solution (given that we know that the environment for life exists in the habitable zones of other stars) is that another civilization from another planet orbiting another star whose technology far surpasses our own buzzed over the city of Los Angeles, CA on February 24th, 1942.

That's my theory at least.

I must admit that Nohup (my favorite Skeptical sparring partner) has another theory that fits the observed evidence of the event. His theory is that the object could have been a time ship from a future Earth. While his theory is not directly disputed by the observed evidence, I personally find the Extraterrestrial Ship Theory more probable than the Time Ship Theory, simply because we know that the environment for other civilizations exists. We do not know if it is truly possible to travel backwards in time.

So yes, not only was this a 'real UFO', IMHO the best Theory going that fits the observable evidence is that it was an Alien Spaceship from another world.

Thanks for joining in the thread!

-WFA

reply to post by Plusthon


You are very welcome Plusthon, I want to let you know that I fully intend to get back to our earlier conversation about the math involved in the event. I just want to finish my pictoral report on the Re-Enactment first. Thanks for being patient

By the by, I saw that you posted some images of newspapers from the re-enactment, did you make it there? I didn't get to meet you I don't think, if you were in attendance... At any rate, great to have you participating here. I'm excited to get back to that Math, and I'm glad I'm not the only one! LOL

-WFA

I'm working on math problems and position of objects. But I have a lot of work.

I think I have progressed well, but I have not finished.

I will expose to all (when I finished) and see if I am not mistaken and if there are data that are false
I do not have all the data, but together we will complete.

Okay! I'm excited! Here's my image presentation on the Big 12 Inch AA Guns!


A pole for loading the 12 Inch Shells into the cannons (required several men to use):
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/89928a543cc0.jpg[/atsimg]

Down the Barrel of the 12 Inch Gun:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1e9724124398.jpg[/atsimg]

Army Personnel Loading the 12 Inch Gun (Note, for over 1400 Shells to have been fired, and each reload to be accomplished, this event MUST have lasted at least an hour, which is consistent with reports from the day):
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4fc958e2668f.jpg[/atsimg]

Another image of loading:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6e67cc9eb82a.jpg[/atsimg]

The gun itself (the caption features the new wheels used to transport the guns through LA):
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/619095825463.jpg[/atsimg]

Here is an image of the 12 Inch Gun firing:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/174444d8717c.jpg[/atsimg]

Alright! There are a few pics I'd like to post here that didn't really fit into any of the categories above...

This was the sign for the Shell Room we visited inside the Battery:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1d3aef4cc606.jpg[/atsimg]

And this looked to be an original fuse box from when the Battery was in active service:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/91e0fdc346fc.jpg[/atsimg]

This ends my image presentation on the Re-Enactment of the Battle of LA, February 28th, 2009, at Osgood Battery (now Fort MacArthur Museum) in San Pedro, California.

Hopefully throughout the week I can get to work on solving for some of our missing variables (mentioned in the initial post in this thread). Finally, after 12 pages of in depth research, experimentation and analysis, we are very close to having some solid answers.

Thanks to everyone for your help so far, I look forward to cracking these puzzles with you soon!

-WFA

reply to post by WitnessFromAfar


I am open minded about the ET hypothesis, and I can be skeptical of many of the claims in most of the threads. However, there are some cases that not only have some good witnesses, but have really good photographs and other evidence to back them up. This case is one of the best ones out there, as it does have one of the better photographs printed, and in a major newspaper on top of that!

It is good to ask the questions, and try to get the answers. And in your case, the research and hard work is paying off. Unlike Roswell, the government has not given many different answers and has basically ignored this case, hoping the public will too.

[edit on 3/11/2009 by kidflash2008]

I've had a chance now to learn how to upload video to the ATS media portal.

Here is a 2 part video segment on the operation of the Searchlights:

Part 1 -




-WFA

Part 2 -


-WFA

[edit on 12-3-2009 by WitnessFromAfar]

WFA

You have continued to provide outstanding information in this thread.

So much so that I felt it necesary to use this thread as an example in the Top ten conspiracy theories of all time thread.

The images of the searchlights taken at the re-enactment are superb and shed so much more light (no pun intended but you can giggle if you like) on the subject and its importance.

Well done and congrats on an incredible effort in the building of this thread.