The Cash/Landrum UFO Case

[Comfortably Numb]

I certainly enjoy reading your posts! I look forward to more. I never expected to be a UFO researcher --the UFOs made me do it! :abduct:

That's very kind of you and sincerely appreciated. I'm actually pursuing some leads re UFO cases at present. Would like to think that at my age and experience now, if a case bothers myself because it's not credibly explained, I wouldn't be wasting time following up quite evident dead ends.

Like... 'flying saucers', for a start!

 

[kamalktk]

History Channel's UFO Hunters show covering the Cash-Landrum incident has been posted to youtube. Video is viewable in the US, not sure if it will be blocked in other countries.

Of note is them interviewing Colby Landrum, the young man involved (begins around 5:30 of the video).

 

[Paul_Exeter]

New in-depth interview with Colby Landrum:

https://lifeinjonestown.substack.com/p/the-last-living-witness?s=r

There is a curious reference to a hand-written note that refers to "100 helicopters":

"On the show, the retired Sarran restated the findings from his ‘82 verdict. “Twenty-three helicopters would be a real logistical operation, being so close to a major international airport,” he told UFO Hunters. Houston International, located less than 30 miles from the Dayton area, could offer no corroborating radar evidence of the event. Nor did flight records from any regional Army-connected facilities indicate they had birds in the air that evening.

When UFO Hunters confronted Sarran with his own handwritten notes, acquired through FOIA, which stated “100 helicopters – Robert Grey (sic) airfield, came in, for effect,” Sarran had no answer. “I …” he paused. “I have no idea why I might have wrote that down.”"

Does anyone have more information about Sarran and this note...?

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

New in-depth interview with Colby Landrum:

https://lifeinjonestown.substack.com/p/the-last-living-witness?s=r

There is a curious reference to a hand-written note that refers to "100 helicopters":

"On the show, the retired Sarran restated the findings from his ‘82 verdict. “Twenty-three helicopters would be a real logistical operation, being so close to a major international airport,” he told UFO Hunters. Houston International, located less than 30 miles from the Dayton area, could offer no corroborating radar evidence of the event. Nor did flight records from any regional Army-connected facilities indicate they had birds in the air that evening.

When UFO Hunters confronted Sarran with his own handwritten notes, acquired through FOIA, which stated “100 helicopters – Robert Grey (sic) airfield, came in, for effect,” Sarran had no answer. “I …” he paused. “I have no idea why I might have wrote that down.”"

Does anyone have more information about Sarran and this note...?

Thank you for that article, happy to see that someone is still looking into this case.
Most interesting are the 'Comments' below the article.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

That the road was immediately resurfaced, the County denied doing so and then a later core sample suggested it did indeed take place is a fascinating aspect of this case. It strongly suggests something did indeed take place and it wasn’t an outright hoax.

Where I live I quite often hear a solitary Chinook fly overhead and it is noisy and can be heard coming from miles away. Twenty-plus Chinooks would be deafening and yet they could hear the object bleeping and the helicopter noise is seemingly never mentioned

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

That the road was immediately resurfaced, the County denied doing so and then a later core sample suggested it did indeed take place is a fascinating aspect of this case. It strongly suggests something did indeed take place and it wasn’t an outright hoax.

Where I live I quite often hear a solitary Chinook fly overhead and it is noisy and can be heard coming from miles away. Twenty-plus Chinooks would be deafening and yet they could hear the object bleeping and the helicopter noise is seemingly never mentioned

What is your opinion? Do you think this was extraterrestrial, or a government experiment gone horribly wrong?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

What is your opinion? Do you think this was extraterrestrial, or a government experiment gone horribly wrong?

I’m torn. In many ways the object moves like some military black project, which Colby describes as like a blimp. So perhaps some sort of propulsion test gone awry.

Then you have the Rendlesham case and a lesser-known case in Portugal (source; Jenny Randles) taking place in the same timeframe , as if one object was responsible for all three. The Portugal case involved a very bright object emerge from the sea and cause burn injuries to the two witnesses that were not unlike those of Cash-Landrum

But the helicopters are a problem - there should be more witnesses to what would have been a tremendous racket heard far and wide. Could Colby have seen the same helicopters more than once? He describes their movement as if they were round up cattle. Or did he see black project drones and misjudge the size and distance?

 

[Carl Grove]

What is your opinion? Do you think this was extraterrestrial, or a government experiment gone horribly wrong?

My opinion is unchanged, it makes far more sense if this (and the Rendlesham case, both involving objects spewing material onto the ground, within a short time of each other) was a black project disaster. In his book on UFOs Col. Alexander goes out of his way to say how he personally checked on all the helicopters of that type in the air force and none of them were unaccounted for that night -- but is he also claiming to have access to the black projects that might have their own, for just this eventuality?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Link to a map of the incident:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&mid=1G95znR2ORXYHNNi2Hkk13uMKWAw&ll=30.003744921575983,-95.08966486303233&z=12

The fact this occurred relatively close to Houston raises an eyebrow…

 

[Paul_Exeter]

My opinion is unchanged, it makes far more sense if this (and the Rendlesham case, both involving objects spewing material onto the ground, within a short time of each other) was a black project disaster. In his book on UFOs Col. Alexander goes out of his way to say how he personally checked on all the helicopters of that type in the air force and none of them were unaccounted for that night -- but is he also claiming to have access to the black projects that might have their own, for just this eventuality?

I remember reading that the markings on the helicopters were incorrect, which suggests perhaps a hurried attempt to disguise them. But I still struggle with 23 helicopters, it would have sounded like ww3 and where were the downdrafts…?

 

[charliebrown]

Reading through these posts, it seems this was a military experiment gone wrong since this UFO was dependent on conventional combustion causing a conventional flame.

It is hard to sue the government for injuries.

In 1997 Walter S. Kasha tried to sue Area 51 for injuries, and the judge threw it out saying Area 51 did not exist.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

Reading through these posts, it seems this was a military experiment gone wrong since this UFO was dependent on conventional combustion causing a conventional flame.

It is hard to sue the government for injuries.

In 1997 Walter S. Kasha tried to sue Area 51 for injuries, and the judge threw it out saying Area 51 did not exist.

Isn't it dreadful that none of these poor people were allowed to have their day in court?

 

[maximus otter]

24 Chinooks = roughly two USAF battalions. That’s between 600 and 2,000 airmen. lt’s also - as has been pointed out upthread - an appalling amount of noise.*

It would be an insurmountable task to keep that lot secret, even in a vast territory like Texas.

*l was recently buzzed by two Chinooks. The noise would loosen the filliings in your teeth.

maximus otter

 

[Mythopoeika]

*l was recently buzzed by two Chinooks.

You really must stop trying to infiltrate military air bases. It can be hazardous.

 

[maximus otter]

A low pass by just two Chinooks. Note how early on the noise is detected by the onlookers:

maximus otter

 

[Carl Grove]

Reading through these posts, it seems this was a military experiment gone wrong since this UFO was dependent on conventional combustion causing a conventional flame.

It is hard to sue the government for injuries.

In 1997 Walter S. Kasha tried to sue Area 51 for injuries, and the judge threw it out saying Area 51 did not exist.

That shows how much judges know!

 

[EnolaGaia]

It is hard to sue the government for injuries.
In 1997 Walter S. Kasha tried to sue Area 51 for injuries, and the judge threw it out saying Area 51 did not exist.

It's Walter Kasza, he died prior to 1997, and the lawsuit in question was being pursued by his widow / survivors.

The subject of the lawsuit was claims made about health problems caused by the burning of toxic waste materials at Groom Lake. The suit and the debates over classified information concerned industrial waste and nothing to do with alleged UFOs or extraterrestrial technologies.

See, for example: https://lasvegassun.com/news/1996/oct/14/ex-workers-judge-ignored-area-51-evidence/

 

[Carl Grove]

It's Walter Kasza, he died prior to 1997, and the lawsuit in question was being pursued by his widow / survivors.

The subject of the lawsuit was claims made about health problems caused by the burning of toxic waste materials at Groom Lake. The suit and the debates over classified information concerned industrial waste and nothing to do with alleged UFOs or extraterrestrial technologies.

See, for example: https://lasvegassun.com/news/1996/oct/14/ex-workers-judge-ignored-area-51-evidence/

Agreed, but for a presumably intelligent man to claim that Area 51 didn't even exist, is ludicrous!

 

[Paul_Exeter]

A low pass by just two Chinooks. Note how early on the noise is detected by the onlookers:

maximus otter

Nice find.

Notice, too, the separation between the two. Have any Chinook pilots ever trained to fly with 22 other Chinooks in one area of airspace, whist ‘hunting for something by moving around as if they were herding cattle’…? I find it unlikely and potentially catastrophic. So it is possible they counted each helicopter more than once?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Edit:

on the other hand, it is a stupid thing to fabricate (23 helicopters) as it only serves to undermine the spectacular sighting of the object itself

 

[Carl Grove]

Nice find.

Notice, too, the separation between the two. Have any Chinook pilots ever trained to fly with 22 other Chinooks in one area of airspace, whist ‘hunting for something by moving around as if they were herding cattle’…? I find it unlikely and potentially catastrophic. So it is possible they counted each helicopter more than once?

I think, given the stress and obvious danger in the situation, it is more than unlikely that the witnesses were able to count exactly how many helicopters there were. "A lot," would probably be more appropriate.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I think, given the stress and obvious danger in the situation, it is more than unlikely that the witnesses were able to count exactly how many helicopters there were. "A lot," would probably be more appropriate.

Especially as it was at night

 

[Bigphoot2]

Nice find.

Notice, too, the separation between the two. Have any Chinook pilots ever trained to fly with 22 other Chinooks in one area of airspace, whist ‘hunting for something by moving around as if they were herding cattle’…? I find it unlikely and potentially catastrophic. So it is possible they counted each helicopter more than once?

The other factor is that the combined downdraft of all those big, powerful helicopters would really churn up the air and throw a lot of dirt and debris all over the place.

 

[GNC]

The other factor is that the combined downdraft of all those big, powerful helicopters would really churn up the air and throw a lot of dirt and debris all over the place.

Would the downdraft intensify the heat from the UFO on the ground?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Would the downdraft intensify the heat from the UFO on the ground?

Or blow it away…? Has anyone else in history ever seen 23 Chinooks in one place?

Perhaps the Chinooks were circling around the object, giving the impression there were more than there were. I doubt counting helicopters at night is an exact science.

 

[eburacum]

Since the sighting occurred on a road through a forest, I doubt that they could have seen more than two or three Chinooks at any one time. It is probably a mistake to assume they were reliable witnesses in regard to the number of aircraft.

 

[BS3]

I thought the witnesses originally stated that at least some of the helicopters were small, single rotor types?

However many helicopters they saw - and I do believe that they saw something, probably a military exercise connected to the Iran hostage situation, or a test of a failed idea for dealing with it - I'd suggest that a majority of them wouldn't have been CH-47s for all the reasons stated above. There might have been a couple of CH-47s, a larger number of small helicopters, and some very frightened witnesses, for example.

The Jerry McDonald sighting of the same evening is an interesting addendum.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I thought the witnesses originally stated that at least some of the helicopters were small, single rotor types?

However many helicopters they saw - and I do believe that they saw something, probably a military exercise connected to the Iran hostage situation, or a test of a failed idea for dealing with it - I'd suggest that a majority of them wouldn't have been CH-47s for all the reasons stated above. There might have been a couple of CH-47s, a larger number of small helicopters, and some very frightened witnesses, for example.

The Jerry McDonald sighting of the same evening is an interesting addendum.

I read about the Iranian hostage theory of Hercules (or Globemaster?) transport aircraft being transformed into VTOL aircraft with rocket boosters. The idea was that the large transport aircraft could land takeoff like a helicopter during a hostage rescue. Was this ever debunked…?

I think my reservation with this theory is that there are huge military ranges over which to test such top secret aircraft without any need to stray over public roads. However, it does tick the secrecy and cover-up boxes (including the mysterious road resurfacing ).

 

[BS3]

I read about the Iranian hostage theory of Hercules (or Globemaster?) transport aircraft being transformed into VTOL aircraft with rocket boosters. The idea was that the large transport aircraft could land takeoff like a helicopter during a hostage rescue. Was this ever debunked…?

"Credible Sport" - one of the things I was thinking of.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

"Credible Sport" - one of the things I was thinking of.

Some more on this from ‘Blue Blurry Lines’:

“However, there are very good reasons for thinking that the helicopters were real and were indeed ones belonging to the US military. This fact probably had to be covered up because this exercise required the very highest level of secrecy without which its whole purpose would have been lost. Only the helicopter crews and the senior officers who ordered the exercise would have had the slightest idea about its purpose.

To make any sense of the episode one cannot afford to ignore the grave international political situation that had consumed the attention of the United States, the President, and the US military for all of the year 1980. This was of course the Iran hostage crisis which blighted Jimmy Carter’s presidency and concentrated minds both in government and in the military to find some way of rescuing the 52 Americans who were eventually held for 444 days.”

Read on…

https://www.blueblurrylines.com/2015/04/cash-landrum-ufo-fresh-look-by-george.html