A conversation class on

“The truth is out there”

Discuss your opinions about UFOs, the opinion of
a former astronaut, and then uncover the “truth”
about a top-secret government program.

The Sightings
Watch a video and then discuss the following questions
in pairs. Do you think UFOs exist? Why or why not? If
you do believe they exist, where do they come from?
If you don’t believe UFOs exist, how do you explain the
“sightings” of them over the years in multiple locations in
the world?

A Conspiracy Theory
Watch a video showing unidentified aerial phenomena,
opening the possibility of UFO’s existing along with aliens.
After having heard the perspective of a professional in
the realm of science that has been to outer space, does
this change your view of UFOs? Why or why not? Do you
think that there is a government conspiracy to hide the
truth from us about UFOs? If so, what do you think the
government is hiding and why would they be doing this?

Classified Information
Read a brief article about a top-secret U.S. government
program and then discuss the following questions in pairs.
Do you think that the government really discontinued
their program, or is that just what they want us to believe?
Do you think this program explains a lot of UFO sightings?
How do you feel about your tax dollars being used to
develop something like this? Why do you think that
the government would release this formerly classified
information to the public?

Vocabulary Further Reading:

Paranormal: A general term that designates experiences that lie outside the range of For more information about the theme
normal experience or scientific explanation. of the class visit: http://www.latimes.
Extraterrestrial: Any object or being beyond the planet Earth. com/entertainment/la-mag-april052009-
Area 51: A suspected secret government military base believed to be located in a backstory,0,5104077.story
remote desert area in the Western part of the United States where aliens might have
visited Earth or secret government experiences have taken place on experimental
aircraft. Its existence has never been officially confirmed by government officials. On your own:
Conspiracy: An agreement between people to deceive, mislead, or defraud others of Watch the movie Close Encounters of the
their legal rights. Third Kind.

MARCH 2021 - #2

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 DECLASSIFIED AT LAST: AIR FORCE’S SUPERSONIC
FLYING SAUCER SCHEMATICS
Officially, aliens have never existed but flying saucers very nearly did. The National Archives
has recently published never-before-seen schematics and details of a 1950s military venture,
called Project 1794, which aimed to build a supersonic flying saucer.

The newly declassified materials show the U.S. Air Force had a contract with a now-defunct
Canadian company to build an aircraft unlike anything seen before. Project 1794 got as far
as the initial rounds of product development and into prototype design. In a memo dating
from 1956 the results from pre-prototype testing are summarized and reveal exactly what the
developers had hoped to create.

The saucer was supposed to reach a top speed of “between Mach 3 and Mach 4, a ceiling
of over 100,000 ft. and a maximum range with allowances of about 1,000 nautical miles,”
according to the document.

If the plans had followed through to completion they would have created a saucer, which
could spin through the Earth’s stratosphere at an average top speed of about 2,600 miles
per hour. Wow. It was also designed to take off and land vertically (VTOL), using propulsion
jets to control and stabilize the aircraft. Admittedly the range of 1,000 nautical miles seems
limited in comparison to the other specifications – but if you’d hopped on the disk in New York
it could’ve had you in Miami within about 24 minutes.

annex A
Este material é propriedade da UPTIME FRANQUIAS. Não pode ser reproduzido ou copiado sem prévia autorização, sujeito às penalidades da lei.

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 *Klimas, Liz. See The ‘Suprising’ Recently Declassified Images of the Military’s Supersonic
Flying Saucer Design. (October 8, 2012). www.theblaze.com. http://www.theblaze.com/
stories/see-the-surprising-recently-declassified-images-of-the-militarys-supersonic-flying-
saucer-design/

The document also hints that the product development seemed to be going better than
planned; “the present design will provide a much superior performance to that estimated at
the start of contract negotiations.”

It begs the question – why was the project dropped? Why aren’t wars being fought with flying
saucers? The cost of continuing to prototype was estimated at $3,168,000, which roughly
translates to about $26.6 million in today’s money and wouldn’t have been an insane price
for such advanced technology. The problem with the other flying saucers developed under
the same program (see video) is pretty clear. They didn’t get anywhere near 100,000 feet in
altitude, more like five or six if you were lucky – so the military finally pulled the plug in 1960.

annex A
Este material é propriedade da UPTIME FRANQUIAS. Não pode ser reproduzido ou copiado sem prévia autorização, sujeito às penalidades da lei.

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CLUB | IN CLASS GUIDE
NOTES