Also during March 1967 (most likely) was the occurrence of the “Cuban jet incident,” a story that years later fell into the hands of UFO researchers Stanton Friedman and Robert Todd, and was described at length by Fawcett and Greenwood, who labeled it “probably authentic.” The story, in summation, is as follows: Cuban air defense radar controllers reported an unidentified craft approaching Cuba from the northwest, moving at 660 mph and traveling at thirty-three thousand feet. Two MIG-21s were scrambled to meet it and were guided to within three miles of the object. At that point, the flight leader radioed in that the object was a bright metallic sphere with no visible markings. He was unable to establish radio contact with the UFO, and Cuban air defense ordered the object to be destroyed. The flight leader reported that his radar was locked and missiles ready. Seconds later, a wing-man screamed into the radio that the flight leader’s jet had “disintegrated.” The UFO then quickly accelerated and climbed above ninety-eight thousand feet, heading toward South America. The U.S. 6947th Security Squadron, centered at Homestead AFB, was monitoring the incident all the while and, as AFSS units were under operational control of the NSA, sent a report to Fort Meade. NSA then ordered the 6947th to ship all tapes and pertinent data to the NSA and to list the Cuban aircraft loss in squadron files as due to “equipment malfunction.” Friedman learned of the incident in 1978 through a security specialist stationed at Homestead AFB. After Todd learned of it shortly thereafter during the same year, he received an intimidating visit by the FBI at the behest of NSA.39
By April, just as the Colorado staff was ready for serious investigating, reports in America ebbed. Sightings of weird, close-range objects did continue, however. APRO, in particular, collected many reports of UFOs that hovered very low or landed in America and elsewhere. Some of these cases included multiple witnesses, EM effects, and ground traces.40
FALCON LAKE
The Colorado Project staff did not investigate many sightings that spring, either because the cases seemed too outlandish, or simply because the staff did not learn about them in time. The following report, however, did get an investigation, of sorts. On May 19, 1967, shortly after noon, Stefan Michalak, a fifty-two-year-old mechanic and quartz prospector, claimed to have seen two red, glowing objects flying at high speed while in the wilderness at Falcon Lake in Manitoba. They appeared to be disc-shaped as they became closer, and one of them abruptly stopped its descent to hover, then soon departed toward the west. Meanwhile, the other one landed. Michalak watched it from behind some bushes at a distance of about 160 feet. It was about thirty-five feet wide, ten feet thick, had a small dome on top that contained horizontal slits. As exotic as it looked, Michalak assumed it was an experimental American aircraft.
After thirty minutes of observation, a small door opened, showing a well-lit interior. Michalak then decided to approach it. At sixty feet distant, he heard voices which were somewhat muffled, in his words, “by the sounds of the motor and the rush of air that was continuously coming out from somewhere inside.” Still, one of the voices was discernibly more high-pitched than the other. Michalak called out, “Okay, Yankee boys, having trouble? Come on out, and we’ll see what we can do about it.” The voices did not respond. Michalak, who was multilingual, tried other languages: Russian, German, Italian, French, and Ukranian. Still no response.
Michalak decided to peek inside the craft. In his words:
The inside was a maze of lights. Direct beams running in horizontal and diagonal paths and a series of flashing lights, it seemed to me, were working in a random fashion, with no particular order or sequence. I took note of the thickness of the walls of the craft. They were about twenty inches at the cross-section.
As soon as he moved his head back, three panels closed off the opening. When he touched the highly polished craft with his glove, its rubber coating melted.
Almost immediately, the object began to lift and angle off the ground so that the bottom of the craft faced Michalak. He saw what looked like an exhaust system which was in the form of a grid with a uniform pattern of small circular vents. A blast of hot gas erupted from the vents, hitting Michalak in the chest and knocking him back. Tearing off his burning shirt, he saw the object ascend, clear the treetops, and head off to the west. It left a fifteen-foot circle.
