Anomalous Observational Phenomena: 11/06/22

Sunday, 6 November 2022

Aerial Encounters Over Austria.

Just in case anyone thinks that I spent 50 years only looking into Close Encounters of the Third Kind here is one of the air-intercept cases I covered back in the day. Three reports were written up for Flying Saucer Review only one was printed and it was heavily edited and photographs removed. So, here is that report taken from the book Some Things Strange & Sinister.

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It has to be said that,like the Royal Air Force,the Austrian Air Force have been quite helpful in supplying information. A captain in the air force drew my attention to this case even though it was “some time after the event” and, as it was addressed to me at the AOP Bureau address, it was looked into.

An AUA DC-9

At 19:05 hours,18^th March,1972,an Austrian United Airlines [AUA] DC-9 took off from Vienna Airport Schwechat. On board were some 35 passengers. The weather was clear as the aircraft flew at 6000 metres above Linz on the Vienna-Frankfurt run. The pilot was Alexander Raab and his co-pilot was a Mr Herold.

Herold was in contact with Linz Air Traffic Control when Raab looked up to see a strange object flying ahead of the DC-9. All instruments suddenly failed and the warning lights began flickering. Passengers also spotted the object and a certain degree of panic began.

The object was described as cone-shaped,whitish in colour with the underpart glowing an orange-reddish. For twenty minutes the object flew along with the aircraft before moving off to the west and eventually disappearing. The instruments began working normally.

Raab reported the incident to Linz ATC as it was occurring but their radar controllers,who also spoke to radar,got no radar contact. Luckily,Raab also informed ATC at Munich and Vienna –both reported radar contact with the object. There was an additional aspect to the incident as the object was sighted over Genf. The object was now undeniably real and Mirage interceptors were scrambled.

Dachstein Mts.

The Mirage jets made contact but,as they seemed to be gaining, the object vanished. Suddenly, however,the flight commander saw the object on his radar and for several minutes the object “played with them” until it finally disappeared.

Raab landed and made his report and the passengers went on their way. However, the Austrian writer Peter Krassa got wind of the story and, after many delays, managed to contact Raab and visit him. It seems that, four days after the incident, the 22nd, while at home, Raab’s phone rang and he answered to receive the following message from a man who did not identify himself:

“Mr Raab: please take note that our organization

is well informed about the UFO phenomenon. I

should advise you not to give any statements about

your experience to the public –it would be better

for you!”

The man then hung up. Raab assumed that this was an official warning and told Krassa: ”I have to say that this is what I have done since that day”.

The suggestion made by some researchers was that Raab had been threatened by the mythical “Men-in-Black”. However, it is far more likely that the message was a friendly warning to not draw too much attention himself –some pilots reporting UFOs to news media at this time faced problems at work.

Austrian Air Force Mirage

Certainly Raab never received an MIB visit. The Austrian Air Force were unaware of the phone call but were at a loss as to why anyone should threaten Raab; the opinion, in 1980, was that it may have been a friendly warning or, possibly, a hoax caller.

As will be seen from the diagram provided, the object was quite large and the cone-shape could well be an optical effect of the glowing object. The electrical effects seen when the object appeared “suddenly” are not uncommon and the engines [obviously] were unaffected.

I’d suggest that the initial AOP B/Austrian Air Force “Unidentified” tag be replaced with “UNP” [1 & 2].

It was approximately 15:50 hours, on the 7^th May, 1980, while flying a Dutch [KLM] airlines plane at 10,000 metres over the Dachstein Mountains, that Captain M spotted a grey “thing”, described as a dark grey ball, flying above him. Shaken, the pilot reported the incident to Vienna ATC.

Vienna ATC officers decided to alert the Austrian Air Force headquarters. Major Karl Schwarz was informed and ordered three Saab-Draken 105 to attempt an intercept in the hopes of identifying the ‘UFO’.

Entering the area,the pilots made visual-contact with the object and two tried to get closer. The object, however,”made some unsteady manoeuvres and made it impossible for the pilots to get closer. During these manoeuvres, the third intercepter pilot attempted to take as many photographs as with the gun-camera. The object suddenly took off at incredible speed.

The interceptors returned to base. The ‘UFO’ incident was, seemingly,”over"

At approximately 18:00 hours, a Lufthansa airliner over Dachstein observed ‘the same’ object. Vienna ATC was contacted and Major Schwarz ordered another intercept by two Saab-Draken. Although radar-contact was not made, having entered the area, the interceptor pilots made visual-contact. According to one of the pilots:

“We operated now at a height of 12000 metres. The “thing”

was flying very fast,and then very slow. It seemed to be

playing with us. The UFO was flying 3000 metres over us,

and although we tried all possible manoeuvres,we couldn’t

catch it.”

On both occasions, Oberst Karl Schaffer had informed the office of the Austrian President. It was revealed by the Austrian Air Force HQ that a “great deal of footage and many still photographs” of the object had been taken. It was later claimed that “the films are useless”. This seemed odd as the film and cameras used were top of the range for obvious military reasons. The problem seems to be that what was shown was a “grey ball” which, of course, is interesting but provides no information when it comes to identifying an intruder in your air-space. “Useless”.

After a month,it was revealed that Commander-in-Chief at military headquarters, Major Wolfgang Brauner,was of the opinion that the ‘UFO’ was “a simple balloon”.

This statement came about after Ufologists and news media demanded answers and had become,really,a nuisance. Colonel ‘K’ told me:”It was embarrassing. Pilots,both civilian and military,had seen the ‘UFO’. Our best aircraft could not catch it and we could not identify it. The ‘balloon’ conclusion was a personal opinion but it calmed things down”.

The original AOP Bureau conclusion was “Unknown”. Today,this would be changed to “UNP”.

These two cases were,in a way,outside our remit,however,they were fascinating and the camera footage convincing [3 & 4].

References.

[1] UFO OVER LINZ,AUSTRIA. AOP Bureau File ref. 180372/AF 0106

[2] Correspondence with Rainer Scheiblberger,1981

[3] DACHSTEIN UFO INTERCEPT. AOP Bureau File ref. 070580/AF 0107

[4] UFO News Bulletin,vol.2,no.4,1981:pp.1-2

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