[meteorite-list] OT: Hunting the Harper - Part #4

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat Feb 26 07:01:34 2005
Message-ID: <20050226120132.79670.qmail_at_web51703.mail.yahoo.com>

Hunting The ZEL: Part #4
A Tale of Desert Adventure, Crashed Airplanes, and a
Search That Would Never End
 
by Curtis Peebles
© Copyright 1999


 - The ZEL F-100 Crash Site -

The F-100 had hit the ground flat and right side up.
No impact crater was visible. The plane's nose had
been pointed towards the northwest when it hit. There
were two main areas of debris, one from the cockpit
area, and the other from the aft fuselage and engine.
Surrounding these two areas was a circular pattern of
fragments extending perhaps 20 to 30 feet away. As we
had expected, the main debris field was about the same
size as the airplane.

Contrary to what one might assume, the debris was not
simply shredded aluminum. In the cockpit debris were
found colored plastic fragments, a switch cover marked
"jettison", a large amount of glass and plastic from
the windshield, various pieces of the instruments, and
also the remnants of 1950s vintage electronic
components. This was not simply a pile of aluminum,
but the remnants of a complex, structured object.

The other area of debris was from the aft fuselage and
engine. Among the parts found here were a burned Pratt
& Whitney engine placard, and an inspection port cover
with the words "Pylon Ejection Breach Access" painted
on it. Nearby was a section of wire-wrapped hose.
Several of the pieces, including the inspection port
cover, had part numbers.

While we collected the debris, Lunsford photographed
us with my camera, and Merlin and Tschida returned
with the vehicles. Merlin dug in the area of the
engine debris with a gardening tool. The surface of
the ground was discolored, and, as Merlin dug down, he
came across burned dirt which still smelled of jet
fuel after 40 years. It is probable that we were, in
fact the first to visit the crash site in 40 years.
There was no evidence of recent digging, and the
surface debris did not seem to have been disturbed. We
spent about an hour at the site, then loaded the
trophies of the hunt and headed back.

The debris was formally identified by the part
numbers. They indicated it was from an F-100D, the
same model as that lost in the crash. We also found
two pieces of the plane's skin that were covered with
black paint and narrow white stripes. This pattern was
unique to the specific F-100D which was lost. It
covered the plane's underside, and the left sides of
its fuselage and the vertical tail. (The vertical
tail's right side was painted dayglow orange, and this
is visible in the overhead shot.) Lunsford's account
of the ZEL's discovery was printed in the November 23,
1998 issue of the Dallas Morning News, and was
subsequently carried by other papers.

ZEL's Implications For Roswell
It was the Roswell Incident which set all this in
motion, and it is to Roswell that we must return.
Having searched the desert, I can say with assurance
that if an alien spaceship really did crash in New
Mexico, or anywhere else on Earth, there will be
debris. It is not possible to clean up every trace.
The experience of the ZEL search, however, also points
out the difficulties of finding it. We had photos and
press accounts of the crash, which limited the area we
had to search. Despite this, and the care with which
we made the search, it was chance which finally led to
success. We walked through the general area of the
crash three times - first when we crossed the fence
heading east, second when Moore and I walked back to
the fence and Merlin and Tschida returned to the
vehicles, and finally when we went to see what
Lunsford had found. It was not until he found that
first fragment that we knew we were close.

It is an entirely different matter if, as with
Roswell, all you have is something as vague as 175
miles northwest of Roswell. Even if debris from a UFO
was there, a person could spend a lifetime searching
for it and never find it. Even with a more specific
crash site (and there are now 6 at last count), there
are problems.

We had photos, but it was not until we found the ZEL
F-100 did we realize how they had led us astray. Based
on the photos, we were looking for a site with rolling
terrain. We kept looking for a rise. When we finally
found the site, the ground was as flat as a pancake.
The rolling terrain was an illusion created by the
poor quality of the images. Additionally, there was
more brush at the site than appeared in the overhead
shot. It had grown in the 40 years since the crash.

But if you should go looking for the debris of a
crashed UFO at Roswell, I do have one final bit of
advice.

Don't go looking in June....

(The End.... for now;-)
Received on Sat 26 Feb 2005 07:01:32 AM PST