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sightings of mysterious celestial objects, finally started to worry the mil- itary authorities. In both camps, high-ranking officials of the intelligence services started to study these strange objects and investi- gation committees composed of mili- tary and scientific personnel were set up in various countries. They had a double purpose: first of all to determine the nature of these flying objects and then to see if they constituted a threat to the security of the nation. During World War II, the Allies, just like the Germans, noticed the presence of these enigmatic flying objects above their secret bases. The first reaction of each side was obviously to suspect espionage on the part of their enemy. In 1943, the English were the first to set up a special group to inquire into the question of these objects. They set up a small organisation to collect evi- dence. This was headed by Lieutenant General Massey, and was inspired by reports from a spy who, in fact, was a double agent operating under the orders of the Mayor of Cologne. He had con- firmed that the “Foo-fighters” were not German devices, but that the Germans thought that they were Allied weapons which, of course, the British knew was not so. Later in 1966, it was learned from the British Aviation Minister that pro- ject Massey had been officially classi- fied in 1944. Perhaps it was pure coin- cidence, but the double agent was denounced and executed at the begin- ning of that year. For their part the Germans did not remain inactive. In 1944, the Wehemacht asked Oberkommando of the “Luftwaffe (avi- ation)” to set up a centre to collect information on all the various sightings of these mysterious celestial objects. This was known as Sonderburo No 13, which until the time of the German defeat, scrupulously applied itself to its job. The short time that this commis- sion was in existence prevented it from coming to any definite conclusions, but it collected an impressive amount of information. The first sighting, studied by the Sonderburo, went back two years and came from a Hauptmann Fischer, an engineer in civil life. On March having been abducted onto a strange craft by two short beings in unidentifi- able space suits. Along with those reports, and research into related topics like atmos- pheric phenomena, some of the 3,500 CURO members nationwide are study- ing claims by Chinese mystics that they can locate UFOs or communicate with aliens. studies in China of ‘’fei die’’, which in Chinese means ‘’flying saucer’’. The society, known by its English acronym CURO, is engaged in research that spans the gamut from cold science to the weird and wacky, including efforts to speak to outer space without all the high-tech gadgetry employed by Westem researchers. ”°COne of our important missions is to establish a way for people on Earth to communicate with other planets with- out resorting to modern communica- tions methods’’ said Wang Changting, the research society’s affable director. Nearly 5,000 UFO-type sightings have been reported in China since the late 1970s, with all but around 200 later discounted as natural or man- made objects such as weather phenom- ena and aircraft. Some claim to use ‘’gigong,’’ a prac- tice that marshals the Chinese concept of life energy, to make contact, Although qigong is an accepted exer- cise discipline, adherents also make fantastic claims of supernatural powers or faith healing ability. Among other areas of research are theoretical and practical studies of space flight, the possibility of life on other planets, and the potential impact of UFOs on the Earth’s peoples. UFO research is taken seriously in China. Several years ago, a UFO sight- ing over an open air film show in rural south China sparked a stampede by panicked villagers that left two people dead and 300 injured. The Chinese military, which some- times scrambles air force jets to try to catch a glimpse of UFOs, conducts its own UFO studies and maintains con- tact with CURO researchers, Wang said. The unsolved cases include sightings of floating basketballs, orange-lit wash- basins and flying straw hats. Around 40 of those are the ‘’close encounters’’ variety, with reports of contact or kidnappings by vaguely described extraterrestrials. In one case, a teacher in eastern Tianjin reported seeing a shimmering ball overhead as he bicycled around a park at night. He lost consciousness and awoke the next morning at the park gate to find the time on his watch an hour behind the actual time. A month later, he suddenly recalled But not even scientists are immune to the more outlandish aspects of UFOs, he added, noting a report by a CURO researcher who claimed he had been “invited’’ aboard a space craft and taken = to a planet thousands ee Fz . of light years away. & This man was a Ne scientist, so we don’t believe that what he Pai 7a) told us is altogether nonsense,’” Wang said. ‘’But we can’t explain it.’’ HISTORY OF UFO’S DURING WORLD WAR II During World War II the accumulation of