YouTube video · UAP Gerb · 12 January 2024
The Alien and UFO Obscure Oddities Iceberg (Level 1)
An early entertainment-format video walking the first tier of a Reddit 'iceberg' chart. Most entries are pop culture, which Gerb himself dismisses and which the db skips. The entries with case value are McMinnville 1950 (with Hartmann's positive Condon analysis), the Phoenix Lights and Governor Symington, the Navy videos, Eric Taber's Area 51 egg-craft memorandum, and the 1952 Washington wave that led to the Robertson Panel.
Timeline
On the recordWitness testimonyAlleged / one person's word
People across the timeline · click a name or a dot
Click a person to follow their thread.
11 May 1950
McMinnville photographsPaul and Evelyn Trent photograph a metallic disc at their farm.
1967-68
Hartmann's Condon analysisThe Condon astronomer finds the photos consistent with a large artificial disc.
19-20 Jul 1952
Radar targets over WashingtonSeven objects on Washington National radar; jets scrambled.
26-27 Jul 1952
Second Washington waveAn airline crew sees lights while National and Andrews radars track them.
2007
Symington: 'I'm a pilot... it was bigger than anything'Gerb dates his CNN piece 2017; the db has his public statement in 2007.
The claims, checked
On the record (7)
Condon astronomer William K. Hartmann wrote that this is 'one of the few UFO reports in which all factors investigated, geometric, psychological and physical, appear to be consistent with the assertion that an extraordinary flying object, silvery, metallic, disc-shaped, tens of meters in diameter, and evidently artificial, flew within sight of two witnesses'.Condon Report.analysisWilliam K. Hartmann (Condon Report)
The disc's underside is brighter than the shaded side of a nearby oil tank, which atmospheric extinction would explain if the disc were farther away, and which argues against a small model on a string.Hartmann's photometric argument, as Gerb retells it.analysisWilliam K. Hartmann (Condon Report)
The three Navy videos (FLIR, GIMBAL, GOFAST) were released through Elizondo and Mellon and published by the New York Times.Published December 2017.firsthandNew York Times (Dec 2017)GIMBAL and GOFASTLuis ElizondoChristopher Mellon
The CIA acknowledged Area 51 in 2013 through a FOIA release.Official acknowledgement.firsthandCIA FOIA release (2013)Area 51 and S-4
At 23:40 on 19 July 1952 controller Edward Nugent saw seven objects on the Washington National radar, and tower controllers saw a hovering light that left at great speed.In the Air Force files on the Washington wave.firsthandWashington National controllers (Air Force files)Saucers over the Capitol
On 26 July a National Airlines crew saw erratic lights above them while National and Andrews radars tracked targets; jets from New Castle found nothing before running low on fuel.In the Air Force files and the press.firsthandAir Force files and pressSaucers over the Capitol
The CIA's Robertson Panel followed, to 'strip the unidentified flying objects of the special status they have been given'.Robertson Panel report, 1953.firsthandRobertson Panel report (1953)The CIA's Robertson PanelSaucers over the Capitol
Witness testimony (2)
Paul and Evelyn Trent saw a slow metallic disc near their McMinnville, Oregon farm on 11 May 1950, and Paul took two photographs of it.No record for this case yet.firsthandPaul and Evelyn Trent
Gov. Fife Symington saw a large, silent, delta-shaped craft with 'a very distinctive leading edge with some enormous lights' over Phoenix and rejected the flare explanation.Named, firsthand.firsthandGov. Fife SymingtonThe Phoenix Lights
Alleged / one person's word (7)
The Phoenix sightings were flares and formations of A-10 aircraft.Natural cause proposed, not demonstrated; it does not cover the governor's account of one large craft.analysisofficial accounts (as summarised by Gerb)The Phoenix Lights
Part of the GIMBAL video is still classified and shows the object with other craft in a V formation.Said by the pilots and by Mellon.secondhandNavy aircrew → Christopher Mellon → UAP Gerb → told itGIMBAL and GOFASTChristopher Mellon
GIMBAL is a distant jet or a glare artifact of the targeting pod.Natural cause proposed, not demonstrated; the pilots describe an object holding against strong winds.analysisMick West (as summarised by Gerb)GIMBAL and GOFAST
Eric Taber's memorandum for record to AARO says his great-uncle, head of security for a radar cross-section team at Area 51, told him the base held an intact egg-shaped craft found in the Nevada desert, and gave him a project patch.Named, but hearsay from a dead relative.secondhandEric Taber (memorandum for record to AARO)Taber's great-uncle → Eric Taber → AARO → told itArea 51 and S-4
The Area 51 egg-shaped craft resembles the craft Weygandt describes in Peru.Gerb's comparison.speculationArea 51 and S-4The crashed egg in Peru (Weygandt, 1997)
President Truman made personal calls to his Air Force aides about the sightings.Widely reported.secondhandpress accountsWhite House staff → press accounts → told itSaucers over the Capitol
The Washington wave led directly to decades of stigma around UFOs.Gerb's reading.speculationThe CIA's Robertson Panel