Fortean Links

It was a cold wet August in 1989 and Chris Gibson was working hard on the Galveston Key oil rig in the North Sea just off the UK coast.

This wasn't Chris' only job. He was a 12 year veteran of the Royal Observer Corps - a quasi-military establishment made up of civilian volunteers trained in the recognition and identification of both allied and enemy aircraft. Chris' 12 year tenure in the ROC afforded him a reputation as one of the best.

Chris was used to being asked about aircraft, so when his colleague called him outside and pointed upwards he was expecting to see yet another British Tornado, or Swedish Saab Viggen. What he saw was far more amazing.


The first thing Chris spotted was the unmistakable profile of a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, the tanker was flanked by two USAF General Dynamics F-111 fighters.

But the aircraft which was formated to the rear of the tanker did not match any of the thousands of aircraft profiles known to Chris.

The craft was a huge black triangle, lit on each corner with a bright amber light. Chris immediately discounted the possibility of this being an F-117 Stealth Fighter, this aircraft had just been declassified and Chris had only recently familiarised himself with it.

For the first time in years, Chris had seen an aircraft that he could not identify, or explain.

This was not the only time that this aircraft, or something remarkably similar was seen over Northern Europe. On June 15th 1990 Mr J.S. Henrardi took a remarkable photo (left) of what appeared to be the same aircraft in the skies over Wallonia, Belgium.

This photo coincided with what has become known as the 'Belgian Flap' of sightings in the late eighties and early nineties.

Such sightings have caused the 'black triangle' to enter folklore in both UFO and military aircraft arenas, and has earned the covert craft the speculative name of 'Aurora', sometimes also know as the TR-3B.

So what is it?

Many theories abound, including the opinion that this is of alien origin. A more plausible possibility however, is that this aircraft is an above top secret military aircraft, developed under the US defence black budget. The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird for instance, was kept hidden from the public for many years before being declassified, as was the F-117 Stealth Fighter and the B2 'Spirit' Stealth Bomber.

Another school of thought exists along side these two black and white opinions - what if the 'Aurora' was a product of human endeavour, but developed using technology gleaned from contact with alien species and craft?

Certainly, the claims about the aircraft's performance (speeds up to six times the speed of sound for instance) are well beyond the capabilities of current aircraft, and if true point towards a quantum leap in both propulsion and materials technologies.

Perhaps time will tell, or perhaps the 'Aurora' will retreat back into the shadows. We shall see.

The video below is one of the best investigations into the world of the US black budget, and how it interacts with the UFO phenomena. Nick Cook, a defense expert for Janes' Defence Weekly delves deep into the many facets of the defence industry, UFO movement and secret government projects such as Remote Viewing and Anti-Gravity Propulsion.



Suggested Reading:
Hunt for Zero Point - Nick Cook
Aurora: Pentagon's Secret Hypersonic Spyplane - Bill Sweetman

VIDEO: Billion Dollar Secret