 | |
| Author | Richard M. Garvin and Edmond G. Addeo |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science Fiction |
| Published | April 1969 |
| Publisher | Signet |
| Publication place | United States |
The Fortec Conspiracy is a 1968 science-fiction novel by Richard M. Garvin and Edmond G. Addeo about alien materials and bodies being studied at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. [1]
The Fortec Conspiracy explicitly quotes from the 1966 non-fiction book Incident at Exeter by John G. Fuller. In that book, Fuller writes: "There have been, I learned after I started this research, frequent and continual rumors (and they are only rumors) that in a morgue at Wright-Patterson Field, Dayton, Ohio, lie the bodies of a half-dozen or so small humanoid corpses, measuring not more than four-and-a-half feet in height, evidence of one of the few times an extraterrestrial spaceship has allowed itself either to fail or otherwise fall into the clutches of the semicivilized Earth People." [2] [3] : 58 [1] : 82
The book revolves around the Air Force's Fortec program, short for Foreign Technology Division, charged with studying and reverse-engineering other nations' technical advancements. [4] Barney Russom, the novel's hero, is told by military that his twin brother Bob, a Fortec researcher, has committed suicide. Skeptical of the story, Bob digs up his brother's casket, only to find the body of another man. [1]
Barney discovers that an alien vehicle has crashed in Norway and that the bodies of its occupants are being stored at Fortec on the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Barney breaks into Fortec and steals one of the aliens, escaping with it by car and plane. Barney, intent on telling the world the truth, is pursued on a cross-country chase. It turns out the alien harbors a deadly contagious virus. [1]
The back cover of the book explains: "Scientist Barney Russom was determined to find out the truth behind his twin brother’s reputed 'suicide', for he knew the Air Force was lying about the death. But he had no way of knowing the enormity of the lie until he penetrated FORTEC security and saw with his own eyes what the Government was hiding: five tiny coffins — and sealed within them, an alien disease that threatened to destroy the world." [3]
In 1974, science fiction author and UFO enthusiast Robert Spencer Carr began publicly claiming that alien bodies from a crash in Aztec, New Mexico were kept at "Hangar 18" at Wright-Patterson.
The Air Force publicly denied the claim and it was noted "that some elements of Carr's story were similar to... The Fortec Conspiracy". [5] [6] [7] Carr's tale of "Hangar 18" was adapted into a 1980 film. Folklorist Toby Smith noted the works' influence on the Roswell incident myth, arguing "The Fortec Conspiracy did nearly as much to churn the Dayton-Roswell rumor mill as Hangar 18". [1] : 82
Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is a 1995 pseudo-documentary containing grainy black and white footage of a hoaxed alien autopsy. In 1995, film purporting to show an alien autopsy conducted shortly after the Roswell incident was released by British entrepreneur Ray Santilli. The footage aired on television networks around the world. Fox television broadcast the purported autopsy, hosted by Jonathan Frakes, on August 28, 1995, under the title Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, and re-broadcast it twice, each time to higher ratings. The footage was also broadcast on UK's Channel 4, and repackaged for the home video market. The program was an overnight sensation, with Time magazine declaring that the film had sparked a debate "with an intensity not lavished on any home movie since the Zapruder film".
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) northeast of Dayton; Wright Field is approximately 8.0 kilometres (5 mi) northeast of Dayton.
UFO conspiracy theories are a subset of conspiracy theories which argue that various governments and politicians globally, in particular the United States government, are suppressing evidence that unidentified flying objects are controlled by a non-human intelligence or built using alien technology. Such conspiracy theories usually argue that Earth governments are in communication or cooperation with extraterrestrial visitors despite public disclaimers, and further that some of these theories claim that the governments are explicitly allowing alien abduction.
Grey aliens, also referred to as Zeta Reticulans, Roswell Greys or Greys, are purported extraterrestrial beings. They are frequent subjects of close encounters and alien abduction claims. The details of such claims vary widely. That said, Greys are typically described as being human-like with small bodies, smooth, grey-colored skin; enlarged, hairless heads; and large, black eyes. The Barney and Betty Hill abduction claim, which purportedly took place in New Hampshire in 1961, popularized Grey aliens. Precursor figures have been described in science fiction and similar descriptions appeared in early accounts of the 1948 Aztec UFO hoax and later accounts of the 1947 Roswell UFO incident.
The Roswell incident is a conspiracy theory which alleges that the 1947 crash of a United States Army Air Forces balloon near Roswell, New Mexico was actually caused by an extraterrestrial spacecraft. Operated from the nearby Alamogordo Army Air Field and part of the top secret Project Mogul, the balloon was intended to detect Soviet nuclear tests. After metallic and rubber debris was recovered by Roswell Army Air Field personnel, the United States Army announced their possession of a "flying disc". This announcement made international headlines but was retracted within a day. Obscuring the true purpose and source of the crashed balloon, the Army subsequently stated that it was a conventional weather balloon.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, six miles (9.7 km) northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world, with more than 360 aircraft and missiles on display. The museum is a central component of the National Aviation Heritage Area. The museum draws about a million visitors each year, making it one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in Ohio.
Hangar 18 is a 1980 American science fiction action film directed by James L. Conway and written by Ken Pettus, from a story by Thomas C. Chapman and Conway. It stars Darren McGavin, Robert Vaughn, Gary Collins, James Hampton and Pamela Bellwood.
Roswell is a 1994 television film produced by Paul Davids based on a supposedly true story about the Roswell UFO incident, the alleged U.S. military capture of a flying saucer and its alien crew following a crash near the town of Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947. Along with the Roswell crash, the film references prominent UFOlogy events such as Area 51, alien autopsies, the death of James Forrestal and Majestic-12.
Hangar 18 may refer to:
Kevin Douglas Randle is an American ufologist, science fiction and historical fiction writer and a military veteran. Within the UFO community, he is often regarded as one of the preeminent experts on the reported crash of a UFO near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947.
A flying saucer is a purported disc-shaped UFO. In science fiction, reported UFO sightings, and UFO conspiracy theories, they are typically piloted by nonhuman beings. The term "flying saucer" or "flying disc" can be used generically for a mysterious flying object. The term was coined in 1947 but has gradually been supplanted since 1952 by the United States Air Force term unidentified flying object (UFO), the downside of which being that, according to the term, absolutely anything can be a UFO. Early reported sightings of unknown "flying saucers" usually described them as silver or metallic, sometimes reported as covered with navigation lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly, either alone or in tight formations with other similar craft, and exhibiting high maneuverability.
The Day After Roswell is an American book about extraterrestrial spacecraft and the Roswell incident. It was written by United States Army Colonel Philip J. Corso, with help from William J. Birnes, and was published as a tell-all memoir by Pocket Books in 1997, a year before Corso's death. The book claims that an extraterrestrial spacecraft crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 and was recovered by the United States government who then sought to cover up all evidence of extraterrestrials.
Robert Spencer Carr was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy. He sold his first story to Weird Tales at age 15. At age 17 his novel, The Rampant Age, became a success resulting in a movie contract.
Karl Tomlinson Pflock was a CIA intelligence officer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration, strategic planner, UFO researcher, and author of both fiction and non-fiction. He was best known for his book Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe.
The Aztec, New Mexico, UFO hoax was a flying saucer crash alleged to have happened in 1948 in Aztec, New Mexico. The story was first published in 1949 by author Frank Scully in his Variety magazine columns, and later in his 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers. In the mid-1950s, the story was exposed as a hoax fabricated by two con men, Silas M. Newton and Leo A. Gebauer, as part of a fraudulent scheme to sell supposed alien technology. Beginning in the 1970s, some ufologists resurrected the story in books claiming the purported crash was real. In 2013, an FBI memo claimed by some ufologists to substantiate the crash story was dismissed by the bureau as "a second- or third-hand claim that we never investigated".
Barney and Betty Hill were an American couple who claimed they were abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural portion of the state of New Hampshire from September 19 to 20, 1961. The incident came to be called the "Hill Abduction" and the "Zeta Reticuli Incident" because two ufologists connected the star map shown to Betty Hill with the Zeta Reticuli system. Their story was adapted into the best-selling 1966 book The Interrupted Journey and the 1975 television film The UFO Incident.
John Olsen Lear, son of Learjet magnate Bill Lear, was an aviator who set multiple records, later flying cargo planes for the CIA during the Vietnam era.
The Roswell incident, a myth of a 1947 crashed flying saucer, has been widely featured in fiction.
The Roswell Incident is a 1980 book by Charles Berlitz and William Moore. The book helped to popularize stories of unusual debris recovered in 1947 by personnel of the Roswell Army Air Field.
In UFO conspiracy theories, "Hangar 18" is the name given to a building that allegedly contained UFO debris or alien bodies. The name was popularized by conspiracy theorist Robert Spencer Carr in 1974, who claimed the hangar was located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio; in actuality, it isn't named Hanger 18, it is Area B, Building 23.