CHINA'S "NIMITZ" UFO/UAP EVENT
A 4 June 2021 South China Morning Post (SCMP) news report, against the backdrop of the US news of a UAP/UFO task force, and China’s own existing AI mediated UFO/UAP handling system for such reports, describes a case that could be classed as China’s “Nimitz” (or even the remarkable 1968 “Minot” case, which managed to escape the conflicted gaze of the controversial Condon committee). It was a case I had been exploring for a long time. While the SCMP report suggests it was “China’s only officially confirmed sighting”, I was not sure that was the case.
The 2004 Nimitz incident, particularly US Navy Commander David Fravor’s encounter with the so-called “Tic Tac” UFO, personally sighted and confirmed through multiple sensor equipment and platforms, was a game-changer. An excellent example of the stunning potential for serious examination of UFOs or UAP events is the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU) report on the case, “A Forensic Analysis of Navy Carrier Strike Group Eleven’s Encounter with an Anomalous Aerial Vehicle,” authored by Robert Powell, Peter Reali, Tim Thompson, Morgan Beall, Doug Kimzey, Larry Cates, and Richard Hoffman.
The 2004 Nimitz event was a primary stimulus for change, and yet
it was hardly the first remarkable US military aircraft encounter that remains unexplained. One of the best
is covered in another striking study, “Investigation of UFO Events at Minot AFB on 24 October 1968,” compiled by Thomas Tulien, which included a B-52 crew and radar scope imagery. The event and evidence are striking, occurring in the immediate wake of the formal end of the USAF commissioned University of Colorado “scientific” UFO study. Had this case been properly revealed and studied by authorities, particularly the Condon Committee, it would have been impossible to sustain the controversial conclusions made by the Condon Report, particularly that UFOs have no scientific merit. It was yet another lost opportunity to be added to the long and sorry list of lost opportunities brought about by the “taboo” status of the UFO mystery. Now that “taboo” has been under serious assault since 2017.
The Chinese “Nimitz” style case occurred on 19 October 1998 in the vicinity of Changzhou Air base (also spelt Cangzhou) in Hebei Province. There were a number of striking events around the time, and local reporting perhaps, added to the confusion, or it was researchers “lost in translation.” I had thought coverage of the events in 1998 suggested that one of witnesses was the acknowledged father of China’smilitarised drones, ZhaoXu (or Yan). Zhao did indeed witness a UFO/UAP during 1998, but his story was mixed in with the 19 October 1998 Changzhou narrative, by a local journalist reflecting on the 1998 wave of striking cases, in a story that appeared in the Wuhan Evening News of 25 October 2010, more than a decade after the range of events presented by the journalist.
the acknowledged father of China’s militarised drones,
Zhao Xu (or Yan)
Zhao’s sighting appears to have occurred on 6 August 1998, at the remote northern China Badan Jaran Desert Air Force test base, in Lanzhou province on the border with Inner Mongolia, during testing for China’s first “supersonic” drone (UAV-unmanned aerial vehicle), apparently based on a modified J-711 fighter. A large number of defence and scientific personnel were present. Just as the test drone was about to take off from the south to north runway, “two huge fire masses” descended from the sky. Apparently, Xhao Xu calmly requested personnel from the observation tower to come down and film the phenomenon. Just as the cameraman was stumbling down, “the two fireballs took off again.” “These two big fireballs had several radiating beams from the inside out, without any sound.”
The Chinese “Nimitz” case occurred over a
military airbase at Changzhou in Hebei province on 19 October 1998. The base commander Colonel Li denied his J-6 interceptor pilot’s request to fire on the UFO/UAP.
A Chinese friend translates the 2010 Wuhan newspaper story
and draws her impression of the object and its deployment of “solid light”
I was most fascinated by the commander’s statement, based on the observation of members of the J-6 crew, Hu Shaoheng and Liu Ming, about strange “light projections” from the “short-legged mushroom” shaped object: “Surprisingly, these two light beams of light were not as we normally see light beams, as has been according to the distance and spread, but as two light-emitting entities, sticking out from the bottom of the UFO ending on a certain length. At least today, we have not got control of this sort of light technology.”
This detail emerged in early March 1999, when a journalist interviewed Commander Li. He said that about 160 people witnessed the UFO on the night of 19 October 1998. Commander Li was deeply impressed with the whole incident. However, I had only encountered it in reporting from October 2010, not in the original contemporary reporting from November 1998.
Here was a striking example of what has been referred to as “solid light” – a recurring aspect of many cases worldwide, which would be an extraordinary scientific breakthrough if we could work it out.
Given the significance of 1998 Changzhou incident, the story of its documentation should be elaborated upon.
The story of the Changzhou event appears to have been first reported in the Hebei Daily, soon after its occurrence, on or about October 22, 1998, and then was carried in Baokhan Wenzhai, the Chinese weekly news magazine and the Hong Kong Standard of November 4, 1998.
“On Monday, October 19, 1998, four military radar stations in Hebei province, China, reported the presence of an unidentified blip hovering above a military flight training school in Changzhou. Once authorities determined that the intruder was not a military or civilian flight, Colonel Li, the base commander, ordered a Jianjiao 6 jet fighter to take off and intercept the UFO. At least 140 people on the ground saw the object. To observers at the base, the UFO first appeared to be "a small star" and then grew larger and larger, perhaps as it descended to a lower altitude, the report said. They described an object with a mushroom or jellyfish shaped object with a bottom covered with bright, dangling lights.
“The crew of the Jianjiao 6 interceptor consisted of a pilot and a radar officer. The two officers said "the object clearly resembled depictions they had seen in foreign science fiction films. When they got within 4,000 meters (13,200 feet) of the UFO over Qing county, it abruptly shot upward, easily evading subsequent attempts to get closer. It appeared to be toying with the fighter by repeatedly outdistancing it and then reappearing right above it, the report said. The pilot requested permission to fire on the UFO with the plane's automatic 20mm cannon. He was denied permission to shoot by ground control and was told to continue to pursue and observe the object. The pilot broke off pursuit at an altitude of 12,000 meters (39,600 feet) when the jet began running low on fuel. The UFO then disappeared before two more modern (Chinese fighter) planes could arrive in the area.”
A AFP (Agence-France Presse) story followed on 5 November, 1998:
“SHANGHAI -- (Agence France Presse) The air force had a prolonged up-close encounter with a UFO last month that one fighter pilot described as "just like ones in foreign movies," a government-controlled newspaper reported Thursday.
“A Hebei Daily report -- carried in the news digest Baokan Wenzhai -- gave a detailed pilot's account of an aerial cat-and-mouse game played between the object and a jet fighter ordered to intercept it.
“At least 140 people on the ground also saw the object, it said.
“An editor with the Hebei Daily said the events took place on Oct. 19 and were still being investigated by local government departments.
“The newspaper's report and military sources quoted show an openness that contrast sharply with Washington's notorious secrecy on the topic of unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
It said the encounter began when four different radar stations in northern Hebei province picked up an unknown moving target in airspace directly above a military flight training base near Changzhou city.
“To observers at the base, the UFO first appeared like "a small star," and then grew larger and larger, perhaps as it descended to a lower altitude, the report said.
“They described an object with a mushroom or jellyfish-like dome with a bottom covered with bright, dangling lights.
“A base commander surnamed Li reported to his superiors, who ordered a Jianjiao-6 armed interceptor airborne to pursue the object once checks showed no other civilian or military aircraft in the area.
“The two pilots aboard said the object closely resembled depictions they had seen in foreign science fiction films.
“When they got within 4,000 meters (13,200 feet) of the UFO over Qing county, it abruptly shot upward, easily evading subsequent attempts to get closer.
“It appeared to be toying with the fighter by repeatedly outdistancing it and then reappearing just above it, the pilots said.
“The report said a request for permission to fire on the UFO with an onboard cannon was denied by ground command at one point.
“The interceptor was eventually forced to return to base after it ran out of fuel at an altitude of 12,000 meters (39,600 feet). The UFO then disappeared before two newer-model planes could get airborne, the article said.
“While China's racy tabloids often run stories of strange phenomena alongside celebrity-gossip and crime stories, UFO reports are seldom carried by more official papers like the Hebei Daily.”
The testimony of Commander Li, was even aired in Susan Hiller’s celebrated “Witness” art installation, which originally appeared in London in 2000.
A review of Witness from the The Sunday Times of London, dated 4 June 2000, by Waldemar Januszczak, revealed: “When you first walk in, all you hear are waves of whispers. As your eyes grow accustomed to the dark, you see that these are emerging from a forest of 500 loudspeakers suspended from the roof. Moving from speaker to speaker, from testimony to testimony, you listen in on a mass human exodus from sense and factuality.”
“Witness” was aired in Sydney in 2002. I remember going along to see it, and was very impressed with it. However, Commander Li’s testimony, as one of the voices, was “lost” to me in the extraordinary rising and falling testimony in Hiller’s wonderful art installation.
It was described in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper review of 17 May 2002:
“This suspended field of audio speakers, a starry night Van Gogh would have loved and understood, soaks the listener in a shower of tales of alien visitations, UFO sightings and weird paranormal experiences. Once you get the gist, even the foreign-language narratives - Spanish, Dutch, German, Chinese and so on - sound intelligible.”
The testimony (as presented in the “Witness” installation):
“I am Colonel Li, Commander of the airbase in Changzhou, where the military flight training academy is located. On October 19, 1998, four radar stations in Hebei Province reported the presence of an unidentified “blip” hovering over the academy. After ascertaining that that the intruder was not a military or civilian flight, I ordered a Jianjiao 6 jet fighter to take off and intercept the UFO. At least 140 people on the ground saw the object. To observers at the base, the UFO first appeared to be a small pointed star, and then grew larger and larger, perhaps as it descended to a lower altitude. Witnesses described an object with a mushroom-shaped dome on top and a flat bottom, covered with bright, constantly-rotating lights.
“The crew of the Jianjiao 6 interceptor consisted of a pilot and a radar officer. The two officers reported that the object clearly resembled depictions they had seen in foreign science fiction films … When they got within 4,000 metres of the UFO over Qing county, it abruptly shot upwards, easily evading subsequent attempts to get closer.
“The crew reported that it appeared to be toying with the plane by repeatedly outdistancing it and then reappearing right above it. The pilot requested permission to fire on the UFO with the plane’s automatic 20 mm cannon. I denied this permission to shoot, and told him to continue to pursue and observe the object. The pilot broke off pursuit at 12,000 metres when the plane began running low on fuel. The UFO then apparently disappeared before I could order additional planes to be sent to the area.”
But what of the “solid light” element? That apparently emerged in early March 1999, when a journalist interviewed Commander Li. It was clear that Li felt the UFO incident had made a deep impression on him. Without access to the original 1998 local reporting, it cannot be confirmed that the “solid light” was widely reported back then. For the moment that coverage can only be ascertained as coming from the Wuhan Evening News, dated 25 October, 2010, with some connection with a Technology Daily publication. I captured the content using Chinese language connections, then had it translated through Chinese contacts and also Google Translate. The content address no longer exists, but various copies have intermittently appeared in the Chinese internet environment.
So, China’s official UFO/UAP report, touted as it’s “Nimitz” event, also had a striking “solid light” element – a remarkable event – one that needs further research and documentation.
posted by Bill Chalker at 6:44 PM
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