Les soucoupes volantes existent (1950)

Par Donald Keyhoe (Fawcett Publications 1950, New York) traduit en français (Correa 1951, Paris).

Chapitre 2

Cela fait plus de 2 ans depuis la mort intriguante du capitaine Thomas Mantell.

Mantell died mysteriously in the skies south of Fort Knox. But before his radio went silent, he sent a strange message to Godman Air Force Base. The men who heard it will never forget it.

It was January 7, 1948.

Crowded into the Godman Field Tower, a group of Air Force officers stared up at the afternoon sky. For just an instant, something gleamed through the broken clouds south of the base.

High above the field, three P-51 fighters climbed with swift urgency. Heading south, they quickly vanished. The clock in the tower read 2:45.

Colonel Guy Hix, the C.O., slowly put down his binoculars. If the thing was still there, the clouds now hid it All they could do was wait.

The first alarm had come from Fort Knox, when Army M.P.'s had relayed a state police warning. A huge gleaming object had been seen in the sky, moving toward Godman Field. Hundreds of startled people had seen, it , at Madisonville, ninety miles away.

Thirty minutes later, it had zoomed up over the base.

Colonel Hix glanced around at the rest of the men in tower. They all had a dazed look. Every man there had seen the thing, as it barreled south of the field. Even through the thin clouds, its intermittent red glow had hinted at some mysterious source of power. Something outside their understanding.

It was Woods, the exec, who had estimated its size. Hix shook his head. That was unbelievable. But something had hung over Godman Field for almost an hour. The C.O. turned quickly as the loud-speaker, tuned to the P-51's, suddenly came to life.

Captain Mantell to Godman Tower . . . Mantell to

The flight leader's voice had a strained tone.

I've sighted the thing! he said. It looks metallic- and it's tremendous in size !

The C.O. and Woods stared at each other. No one spoke.

The thing's starting to climb, Mantell said swiftly. It's at twelve o'clock high, making half my speed. I'll try to close in.

In five minutes, Mantell reported again. The strange metallic object had speeded up, was now making 360 or more.

At 3:08, Mantell's wingman called in. Both he and the other pilot had seen the weird object. But Mantell had outclimbed them and was lost in the clouds.

Seven minutes dragged by. The men in the tower sweated out the silence. Then, at 3:15, Mantell made a hasty contact.

It's still above me, making my speed or better. I'm going up to twenty thousand feet. If I'm no closer, I'll abandon chase.

It was his last report.

Minutes later, his fighter disintegrated with terrific force. The falling wreckage was scattered for thousands of feet.

When Mantell failed to answer the tower, one of his pilots began a search. Climbing to 33,000 feet, he flew a hundred miles to the south.

But the thing that lured Mantell to his death had vanished from the sky.

Ten days after Mantell was killed, I learned of a curious sequel to the Godman affair.

An A.P. account in the New York Times had caught my attention. The story, released at Fort Knox, admitted Mantell had died while chasing a flying saucer. Colonel Hix was quoted as having watched the object, which was still unidentified. But there was no mention of Mantell's radio messages - no hint of the thing's tremendous size.

Though I knew the lid was probably on, I went to the Pentagon. When the scare had first broken, in the summer of '47' I had talked with Captain Tom Brown, who was handling saucer inquiries. But by now Brown had been shifted, and no one in the Press Branch would admit knowing the details of the Mantell saucer chase.

We just don't know the answer, a security officer me.

There's a rumor, I said, it's a secret Air Force missile that sometimes goes out of control.

Good God, man! he exploded. If it was, do you think we'd be ordering pilots to chase the things ?

No - and I didn't say I believed it. I waited until he cooled down. This order you mentioned - is it for all Air Force pilots, or special fighter units ?

I didn't say it was a special order, he answered quickly. All pilots have routine instructions to report unusual items.

They had fighters alerted on the Coast, when the scare first broke, I reminded him. Are those orders still in force ?

He shook his head. No, not that I know of. After a moment he added, All I can tell you is that the Air Force is still investigating. We honestly don't know the answer.

As I went out the Mall entrance, I ran into Jack Daly, one of Washington's veteran newsmen. Before the war, Jack and I had done magazine pieces together, usually on Axis espionage and communist activity. I told him I was trying to find the answer to Mantell's death.

You heard anything ? I asked him.

Only what was in the A.P. story, said Jack. But an I.N.S. man told me they had a saucer story from Columbus, Ohio - and it might have been the same one they saw at Fort Knox.

I missed that. What was it ?

They sighted the thing at the Air Force field outside of Columbus. It was around sundown, about two after that pilot was killed in Kentucky.

Anybody chase it? I asked.

No. They didn't have time to take off, I guess. This I.N.S. guy said it was going like hell. Fast as a jet, anyway.

Did he say what it looked like ?

The Air Force boys said it was as big as a C-47, said Jack. Maybe bigger. It had a reddish-orange exhaust streaming out behind. They could see it for miles.

If you hear any more, let me know, I said. Jack promised he would.

What do you think they are ? he asked me.

It's got me stumped. Russia wouldn't be testing missiles over here. Anyway, I can't believe they've got anything like that. And I can't see the Air Force letting pilots get killed to hide something we've got.

One week later, I heard that a top-secret unit had been set up at Wright Field to investigate all saucer reports. When I called the Pentagon, they admitted this much, and that was all.

In the next few months, other flying disk stories hit the front pages. Two Eastern Airline pilots reported a double-decked mystery ship sighted near Montgomery, Alabama. I learned of two other sightings, one over the Pacific Ocean and one in California. The second one, seen through field glasses, was described as rocket-shaped, as large as a B-29. There were also rumors of disks being tracked by radar, but it was almost a year before I confirmed these reports.

When Purdy wired me, early in May of '49, I had half forgotten the disks. It had been months since any important sightings had been reported. But his message quickly revived my curiosity. If he thought the subject was hot, I knew he must have reasons. When I walked into his office at 67 West 44th, Purdy stubbed out his cigarette and shook hands. He looked at me through his glasses for a moment. Then he said abruptly:

You know anything about the disks ?

If you mean what they are - no.

He motioned for me to sit down. Then he swiveled his chair around, his shoulders hunched forward, and frowned out the window.

Have you seen the Post this week ?

I told him no.

There's something damned queer going on. For fifteen months, Project 'Saucer' is buttoned up tight. Top secret. Then suddenly, Forrestal gets the Saturday Evening Post to run two articles, brushing the whole thing off. The first piece hits the stands - and then what happens ?

Purdy swung around, jabbed his finger at a document on his desk.

That same day, the Air Force rushes out this Project Saucer report. It admits they haven't identified the disks in any important cases. They say it's still serious enough - wait a minute - he thumbed through the stapled papers - 'to require constant vigilance by Project "Saucer" personnel and the civilian population.'

You'd think the Post would make a public kick, I said.

I don't mean it's an out-and-out denial, said Purdy. It doesn't mention the Post- just contradicts it. In fact, the report contradicts itself. It looks as if they're trying to warn people and yet they're scared to say too much.

I looked at the title on the report: A Digest of Preliminary Studies by the Air Materiel Command, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, on 'Flying Saucers'.

"Have the papers caught it yet?" demandais-je à Purdy.

You mean it's contradicting the Post ? He shook his head. No, the Pentagon press release didn't get much space. How many editors would wade through a six-thousand-word government report? Even if they did, they'd have to compare it, item for item, with the Post piece.

Who wrote the Post story ?

Purdy alluma une cigarette et frowned out again at the sky scrapers.

Sidney Shallett - and he's careful. He had Forrestal's backing. The Air Force flew him around, arranged interviews, supposedly gave him inside stuff. He spent two months on it. They O.K.'d his script, which practically says the saucers are bunk. Then they reneged on it.

Maybe some top brass suddenly decided it was the wrong policy to brush it off, I suggested.

Why the quick change ? demanda Purdy. Let's say they sold the Post on covering up the truth, in the interests of security. It's possible, though I don't believe it - they could simply have fed them a fake story. Either way, why did they rush this contradiction the minute the Post hit the stands ?

Something serious happened, I said, after the Post went to press.

Oui, mais quoi ? dit Purdy impatiemment. C'est que nous devons trouver.

Est-ce que la first piece de Shallett mentionne la mort de Mantell ?

Explains it perfectly. You know what Mantell was casing ? The planet Venus !

C'est la réponse du Post ? dis-je, incrédule.

C'est ce que l'astronome sous contrat avec l'Air Force a dit à Shallett. J'ai vérifié auprès de 2 astronomes ici. Ils disent que même lorsque Vénus est à pleine magnitude il est difficile de la voir de jour même lorsque vous la cherchez. Elle n'était qu'à la moitié de sa magnitude ce jour-là, et était donc practiquement invisible.

Comment l'Air Force peut-elle s'attendre à ce que quiconque croie cette réponse ? dis-je.

Purdy shrugged. Ils contestent que c'était Vénus dans ce rapport. Mais c'est ce qu'ils ont dit à Shallett - que tous les officiers de l'Air Force, les pilotes, la police d'état du Kentucky et plusieurs centaines de personnes à Madisonville ont pris Vénus pour un disque métallique de plusieurs centaines de pieds de diamètre.

Je me demande comment Shallett a cru çà.

Je ne pense pas qu'il l'ai cru. Il dit que ce n'était pas Vénus, que ce devait être un ballon.

Quelle est la réponse de l'Air Force ? demandais-je à Purdy.

Regarde le rapport. Ils disent que quoi que Mantell ait pris en chasse - qu'ils qualifient d'"objet mystérieux" - reste non identifié.

Je jetais un ?il dans le rapport de cas, à la page 5. Il citait le rapport de Mantell par radio selon lequel la chose était métallique et de taille énorme. Lié à la mort de Mantell était le rapport de Lockbourne (Ohio), qui le liait avec ce que Jack Daly m'avait dit, plus de 1 an auparavant. Je lisais le rapport :

Le même jour, environ 2 h plus tard, un phénomène dans le ciel fut vu par plusieurs observateurs au-dessus de la base aérienne de Lockbourne, à Columbus (Ohio). Il fut décrit comme "rond ou ovale, plus grand qu'un C-47, et se déplaçant à un niveau constant plus vite que 500 miles/h". L'objet was from the Lockbourne observation tower for more than 20 minutes. Observers said it glowed from white, to amber, leaving an amber exhaust trail five times its own length. It made motions like an elevator and at one time appeared to touch the ground. No sound was heard. Finally, the object faded and lowered toward the horizon.

Purdy appela sa secrétaire, qui m'apporta une copie du 1er article du Post.

Vous pouvez avoir une copie de ce rapport de l'Air Force à Washington, me dit Purdy. C'est la seule que j'ai. Mais vous trouverez la même réponse pour la plupart des cas importants - les observations à la base de Muroc, les rapports de pilotes de lignes, les disques qu'a vu Kenneth Arnold - ils sont tous non-identifiés.

Je me souviens du cas de Arnold. C'était la 1ère observation.

Vous avez des contacts à Washington, continua Purdy. Commencez au Pentagone. Ils savent que nous travaillons dessus. Sam Boal, le 1er homme sur ce travail, a été là 1 jour ou 2.

Qu'a-t-il trouvé ?

Symington lui a dit que les soucoupes étaient bunk. Le secrétaire Johnson admit qu'ils avaient des clichés - nous avons entendu parler d'une photographie secrète prise à Harmon Field, dans le Newfoundland. The tip said this saucer scared hell out of some pilots and Air Force men up there.

Un major took Boal to some Air Force colonel and Boal asked to see the pictures. The colonel said they didn't have any. He turned red when the major said Symington had told Boal about the pictures.

Did Boal get to see them ? I said.

Non, grunted Purdy, and I'll bet twenty bucks you won't, either. But try, anyway. And check on a rumor that they've tracked some disks with radar. One case was supposed to be at an Air Force base in Japan.

Alors que j'étais sur le point de partir, Purdy me donna une synthèse des rapports d'observations.

Certains ont été publiés, certains ont été dénichés par nous, dit-il. Nous avons eu des choses confidentielles de pilotes de lignes, il est assez évident que l'Air Force a essayé de les empêcher de parler.

Très bien, dis-je. I'll get started. Maybe things aren't sewed up so tightly, now this report is out.

Nous avons découvert des choses sur un projet "Soucoupe", dit Purdy. Qu'il s'agisse d'une couverture ou d'une véritable enquête, beaucoup de hush-hush y est associé. Des astronomes et des astrophysiciens travaillent pour eux, aussi des experts en fusées, des analystes techniques, et le Renseignement Spécial de l'Air Force. On nous a dit qu'ils pouvaient demander de l'aide à n'importe quelle agence du gouvernement et je sais qu'ils utilisent le FBI.

It was building up bigger than I had thought.

Si la sécurité nationale est impliquée, dis-je à Purdy, ils peuvent nous faire taire rapidement.

S'ils me disent de le faire, OK, dit Purdy. He added grimly, Mais je pense qu'ils font une grave erreur. Ils pensent probablement faire ce qu'ils faut. Mais la vérité pourrait sortir de la mauvaise manière.

Il est possible, pensais-je, que les soucoupes appartiennent à la Russie.

Si ça se révèle être un missile soviétique, count me out, said. Nous aurions le Pentagone et le FBI à nos basques.

Très bien, si c'est la réponse. He chuckled. But you may be in for a jolt.

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