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Retired Air Force Major Claims Alien Was Killed At Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

Wreckless

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In new book, retired Air Force major claims alien was killed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst

ERIK LARSEN | ASBURY PARK PRESS | 23 hours ago

Was an alien shot and killed in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey?

A new book, titled “Strange Craft: The True Story of an Air Force Intelligence Officer’s Life with UFOs,” claims that a military police officer shot an extraterrestrial being at Fort Dix in the early morning hours of Jan. 18, 1978.

In the book by author John L. Guerra and published by Bayshore Publishing Co. of Tampa, Florida, retired Air Force Major George Filer III — a decorated former intelligence officer for the 21st Air Force, Military Airlift Command at the adjacent McGuire Air Force Base — recounts the extraordinary tale from America’s disco age.

Filer, now 84 and living in Medford with his wife, Janet, said what has been an urban legend first promulgated by UFO enthusiasts since the early 1980s is indeed true. That’s because he was there and wrote a top-secret memo about it, he said.

In the freezing winter darkness of that day in January 1978, a bipedal creature, described as about 4 feet in height and grayish-brown in color, with a “fat head, long arms and slender body,” was shot to death with five rounds fired from a service member’s .45-caliber (military issue M1911A1) handgun.

As Guerra explains it in his book, the soldier had originally been in a police pickup truck, driving through the wilderness of the base in pursuit of a strange, low-flying aircraft that had been observed passing through the military installation’s airspace about 2 a.m. that morning.

About an hour into the drive, the soldier became aware — in typical, horror movie fashion — that the craft, oval-shaped and radiating a blue-green glow, was hovering directly over his vehicle.

That’s when the “creature” emerged from the shadows on foot, revealing itself to the soldier by stepping into the beams of the vehicle’s headlights where the panicked MP drew his weapon, ordered the alien to freeze, and he fired.

According to the retired major as told in the book, the alleged alien succumbed to its gunshot wounds on the Air Force side of what is now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County; its remains giving off a foul-smelling, ammonia-like stench.

Later that morning, a cleanup crew from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio — headquarters of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center — flew in to retrieve the body, behaving as if the creature was, well, not entirely alien to them.

The Asbury Park Press reached out to the Air Force at the Joint Base for comment about this story, but never heard back.

Filer, who has most recently served as the state director for an organization called MUFON (the Mutual UFO Network, which catalogs and investigates UFO sightings throughout the United States), never actually saw the dead alien. However, Filer said he knows for a fact that the story is true. It should be noted that Filer has claimed to have seen UFOs throughout his entire life, starting when he was 5 outside his boyhood home in Illinois.

On that January morning in 1978, Filer said he arrived on base before dawn to prepare his daily 8 a.m. intelligence briefing for his superior officers. In the book, he explains that when he arrived, security at the base had been tightened and he personally observed the emergency response in the aftermath of the incident. He also said he interviewed some of the witnesses from the scene for a report on what happened that he was required to file. However, he was denied access to and was never cleared to see photos that he said were taken at the scene.

https://amp.app.com/amp/2194355001
 
Wonder if that sparked a diplomatic incident, unbeknown to us all?
He murdered that alien.
 
Filer himself has been publishing UFO material for many years.

I think I used to read his reports on the Rense site. Odd to think I once browsed that daily, along with pravda, ananova etc. etc.

The new book, I see is by another author citing Filer. It is unclear if this is a new interview, though it is implied. Had Filer saved this case or was it featured in his own writings?

"It should be noted that Filer has claimed to have seen UFOs throughout his entire life, starting when he was 5 outside his boyhood home in Illinois."

:rolleyes:
 
That alien was technically trespassing.
 
Wonder if that sparked a diplomatic incident, unbeknown to us all?
Wouldn't it be ironic if, 40-odd light-years away from us, an extraterrestial armed response was immediately dispatched in response to the death of their fellow traveller, from more than 400 trillion kilometers away?

And they will be arriving here around Xmas 2019.....?
 
The foul smell from the body sounds like X Files when the aliens, that looked like humans, got injured, only that smell killed you.
Well, when they get here Ermintruder, hope they stop and think, unlike we do, and try and sort us out, chances are they will probably be slightly annoyed and i do not blame them
 
...in January 1978, a bipedal creature, described as about 4 feet in height and grayish-brown in color, with a “fat head, long arms and slender body,” was shot to death with five rounds fired from a service member’s .45-caliber (military issue M1911A1) handgun.

The service handgun for the USAF in 1978 was the Smith and Wesson Model 15 Combat Masterpiece revolver, chambered in .38 Special.

On a less objective note, l have shot with members of the armed services from both the UK and USA.* l have never seen a serviceman capable of hitting a target as described above with five rounds from a .38, much less the hard-kicking .45 ACP.

*I have never shot beside top-tier units, e.g. UKSF etc.

maximus otter
 
The service handgun for the USAF in 1978 was the Smith and Wesson Model 15 Combat Masterpiece revolver, chambered in .38 Special
My immediate reaction on reading this was to think....'that's odd: any USAF sidearm I've ever seen has indeed been a holstered 1911 Colt 45' (ie a warfighting gun). And to also think: 'hmm......a 38 Special is more of a classic Police weapon'.

Yet funnily-enough...when I re-read that article you've cited, it seems as if what they're actually talking about is USAF Police dog training units, losing their 38 Specials. And indeeed, there's a loose back-reference to the rest of the USAF having supposedly lost theirs, back in 1992.

My theory is that the USAF will almost-certainly still have had Colt .45s on standard issue (alongside 38 Specials) within the time-period quoted for the alleged incident (in some ways mirroring the parallel use in the UK military of the Browning 9mm SLP alongside the 'mess Webley')

So that element of the claim doesn't necessarily detract from its possibile reality.

But I totally agree with your point:
l have never seen a serviceman capable of hitting a target as described above with five rounds from a .38, much less the hard-kicking .45 ACP
.....even someone that had the upper body strength of a weightlifter is never going to put 5 rounds into an active target, unless the suspect has mounted them. People often have no idea of the recoil to expect from pistols (I found it bad enough on the range, but if you're moving and unbraced, it'll send you into the next county)
 
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Wouldn't it be ironic if, 40-odd light-years away from us, an extraterrestial armed response was immediately dispatched in response to the death of their fellow traveller, from more than 400 trillion kilometers away?

And they will be arriving here around Xmas 2019.....?
Erm, no. The home system would need to be twenty light years away for the message to get there and back in that time. Delta Pavonis is at the right distance.
 
My immediate reaction on reading this was to think....'that's odd: any USAF sidearm I've ever seen has indeed been a holstered 1911 Colt 45' (ie a warfighting gun). And to also think: 'hmm......a 38 Special is more of a classic Police weapon'.

My theory is that the USAF will almost-certainly still have had Colt .45s on standard issue (alongside 38 Specials) within the time-period quoted for the alleged incident...

I took a look at a relevant page on the 1911 forum, and here are a few of the most directly apposite comments:

"In the early 80s, the Zoomie Police were carrying .38 spls."

"I was in the [USAF Security Police] 74-78 and we were told that the USAF went to .38's in the 60's."

"I was in from 1977-2003. All I ever saw, pistol wise were, 38's and later [9mm Beretta]."

"I was a SP and armorer in the early 80s stationed at Nellis. I recall some PJs that were there for training and they had 1911s, they were kept in our armory for the duration of their stay. Other than that the only handguns we had in the armory were S&W Model 15s. [PJs are USAF Special Forces]."

"I was Air Force Security Forces from 1982 to 2005. I was on EST (SWAT), and various other tactical team over that time and never laid eye on a 45. When I first came in we had S&W 38's."

"As noted above, by and large, the AF switched to the S&Ws, usually Model 15s, in the late 1960s."

"During years I served in the USAF in the late 60s and early 70s the only sidearm I ever saw the SP guys carry were S&W revolvers."


https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=378074

Is it an absolute 100% impossibility that an airman engaged on security duties on a USAF airbase in 1978 might carry a 1911A1 in .45? No. Is it vanishingly unlikely? IMHO, yes.

maximus otter
 
Ebu, ok, but....
would need to be twenty light years away for the message to get there and back in that time
Does this scenario then envisage a message being received after 20-odd years in propagation at Delta Pavonis, immediately followed by a light-speed retribution return flight?

As opposed to a 40+ year message transit time, followed by the near-instantaneous interstellar matter-transportation of a bereved parent....

an airman engaged on security duties on a USAF airbase in 1978 might carry a 1911A1 in .45.....vanishingly unlikely? (IMHO)
Hmm...intriguing.

https://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?557969-side-arms-of-the-USAF#/topics/557969?page=3

One of my cousins was an AP as was her husband. Both told me they carried M1911A1's from 1970 to around 1978 when they were exchanged for Ruger Security-Six's....He said the Ruger's were pulled and S&W M19's were issued around 1981 or so but the males then started being issued M1911's again in 1982

I'd be still be keeping my chips on the table as a 50/50 bet, re the purported sidearm being a potential Colt .45 But we tilt at windmills.

Now, if only we had some decent alien autopsy pictures....

Ooh...good choice, thanks->->->->->->
Delta Pavonis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Pavonis
has been identified by Maggie Turnbull and Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute as the "Best SETI target" among the 100 closest G-type stars
 
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I'm aware of the Tarter and Turnbull list. Unfortunately some of these stars have been eliminated because of the presence of planets of the wrong type; Delta Pav is not one of them.
 
...Is it an absolute 100% impossibility that an airman engaged on security duties on a USAF airbase in 1978 might carry a 1911A1 in .45? No. Is it vanishingly unlikely? IMHO, yes.

Your assessment is entirely reasonable for any ol' AFB in CONUS as of 1978. However ... McGuire AFB is something of a special case that affects the odds. More on that later ...

But first ... I need to point out that the S&W .38 revolvers were indeed the standard issue sidearms for base police for a long, long time. The everyday carrying of these revolvers was only guaranteed to occur among ordinary base police personnel. Security guards responsible for manning / covering mission-critical and classified facilities, plus all personnel from certain specific security units (e.g., Special Investigations) were issued combat-grade sidearms such as the Colt M1911. Additionally, even regular base police were free to carry alternative sidearms if approved and at their personal expense.

Now back to the specific case of McGuire ...


... I'd be still be keeping my chips on the table as a 50/50 bet, re the purported sidearm being a potential Colt .45 But we tilt at windmills. ...

As of 1978 the facility in question was McGuire AFB - a freestanding facility owned and operated by the USAF, bordering and largely surrounded by the large and venerable Fort Dix Army base.

This airbase began in the 1930's as part of the Army base. The original name of the airfield was Fort Dix Army Air Base, and it was an integral component of the larger Army base.

Fort Dix Army Air Base was shuttered a couple of years after WW2, then was reopened in 1948 as a separate facility turned over to the new USAF and renamed McGuire.

Any veteran Army personnel who passed through the USAAF to USAF transition in 1947 would have been carrying Army sidearms (i.e., .45's). Furthermore ...

Fort Dix was - and still is - mainly a training, materiel, and staging base, with lots of shooting ranges and other combat simulation facilities. My point is that if there were any US military base overstocked with craploads of M1911's from the late 1940's onward it was Fort Dix. Insofar as the new McGuire AFB facility almost certainly adopted tons of equipment from its former Fort Dix / Army incarnation, it's no stretch to suspect the new USAF base's security personnel were issued .45's.

It's therefore no stretch to suspect the newly-arrived .38 revolvers in the 1950's weren't universally issued and / or carried by McGuire's own USAF security personnel - either at their initial introduction or the following decades.

Anyway ...

This particular incident resulted in one of the most tenuous stories one could investigate. The various reports allegedly originating with eyewitnesses are overwhelmingly 2nd- or nth-hand retellings, they're fragmentary (i.e., no single witness to the entire storyline), and they don't always match on the details.

Among the ambiguities most relevant to the firearm issue ...

How many people from how many different law enforcement / security organizations were involved in this incident?

The most common storyline starts with a New Jersey officer (most often cited as a state trooper) asking permission to enter McGuire to continue a pursuit already in progress. I've yet to see an account that explains whether the NJ trooper was ever allowed on the base, much less whether he was present when the intruder was gunned down. I have no idea what such a civilian officer may have been carrying as a sidearm.

The only organization consistently cited as having personnel involved was McGuire's own base police, who presumably would have had only .38's but could easily have been carrying .45's (see above).

Then there's the more serious-grade Blue Beanies who shouldered the regular base police aside and cordoned off the scene. It they were from AFOSI (as some accounts allege) they may well have been armed with something heavier than a .38.

Another angle that can't be positively ruled out is the possible presence of Army security personnel. McGuire was surrounded on 3 sides by Fort Dix. If the NJ trooper's pursuit had already crossed into Army territory, one might wonder whether Army security personnel (who'd certainly have been carrying .45's) had joined the chase.

The whole story is a mess, and this messiness is a bigger issue than what calibre pistol(s) gunned down the alleged intruder.
 
I don't want to reignite the US shooting thread but, as Mr Otter says, hitting a target five times is hard at the best of times, let alone with what is apparently a difficult gun to control.

This article analyses hit rates of US police forces over a few years, with the highest 48% by LAPD in 2016 likely to have been an outlier. Thirty-per-cent (give or take) is probably nearer the average for hitting a target. That USAF man should have joined the US Olympic shooting team!

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-...e-7-10-police-bullets-miss-their-mark-gun-co/
 
I grew up near Fort Dix & MAFB and also trained on base in the 80's and 90's. The book mentions that an MP (Military Police) from Fort Dix was involved. The two bases share a common border. The Army sidearmat the time was a M1911A1 pistol and didn't change until 1984 when the Beretta M9 pistol started to replace it. Fort Dix was an open base in the 1980's. Police could just drive on. The FBI even had a firing range that we used. MAFB was always a closed facility. No one could get past the gate guards w/o approval. MAFB was totally fenced in and patrolled. Fort Dix was wide open with a civilian gun club even on-site.
 
Here's Filer's account in his own words.
https://ufology.fandom.com/wiki/George_A._Filer_III
To me the most significant part of the story is this;
Later that morning, I was told that they decided not to brief it in the standup briefing, so I didn’t actually brief it.
So in fact Filer has almost no first-hand involvement with this case; he didn't see the alien, he didn't see the photos, and the briefing he was supposed to give didn't take place. No-one else knows anything about this event, it seems.
I wonder if he was the victim of a wind-up.
Alternately, the military policeman with the unfeasibly accurate aim might have had some sort of breakdown, and only Filer took him seriously.
 
I don't want to reignite the US shooting thread but, as Mr Otter says, hitting a target five times is hard at the best of times, let alone with what is apparently a difficult gun to control.

This article analyses hit rates of US police forces over a few years, with the highest 48% by LAPD in 2016 likely to have been an outlier. Thirty-per-cent (give or take) is probably nearer the average for hitting a target. That USAF man should have joined the US Olympic shooting team!

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-...e-7-10-police-bullets-miss-their-mark-gun-co/

Unless it was incapacitated by the first shot and the cop kept shooting it, perhaps after moving closer. I'll bet the hit rate climbs to 100% from a foot and a half away.
 
FWIW ... This 1985 NICAP report:

http://www.nicap.org/reports/fortdixSYM.htm

... represents the most detailed and substantive account of the incident I've seen.

Unfortunately, the report contains more about the strange machinations involved in contacting the alleged witness than details about the incident itself.
 
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