|
HITS AND MYTHS IV
Continuing the examination of some common myth-understandings. Laurie Eddie (Investigator 211, 2023 July) UFO'S: Belief: The first modern sighting of UFO's was in 1947. Facts: The modern UFO phenomenon is generally considered to have begun on the 24th June, 1947 [*1]. While flying a CallAir A2 monoplane, Kenneth Albert Arnold, an experienced pilot, reported an unusual sighting near Mt. Rainier in Washington State, USA. Flying in a clear sky with a light wind, he was heading towards Yakima in the same state when, in the distance, he saw a bright flashing light, like sunlight reflected off a mirror. Fearing it could be another aircraft close by, he scanned the skies but all he saw was a DC-4 about 24 km away, behind him and to his left. Then, about 30 seconds later, he saw a series of bright flashes in the distance to his left, north of Mt. Rainier which was some 32-40 km away. Thinking they might be reflections on his canopy he rocked the aircraft from side to side, removed his spectacles then, after opening his side-window, he realized the reflections were coming from some form of flying objects passing in front of Mt. Rainier. They appeared to be in line and, his first though was that it was a flock of geese, flying in an echelon formation, weaving from side-to-side. However, due to their height, brightness and apparent very rapid speed, which he estimated to be some 1,650 mph, (2,660 kph), he discounted this idea. Thinking they might be some sort of new jet aircraft, he looked more closely and, unable to see any sort of tail, he thought they might be some new type of military aircraft. Landing in Yakima at about 4:00 p.m., Arnold related what he had seen to a friend Al Baker, the airport’s general manager, and other airport staff. Although Baker did not believe his story, one of the staff apparently phoned ahead to Arnold's next destination, an air-show at Pendleton, Oregon that Arnold had seen some strange new aircraft. After arriving in Pendleton Arnold took the time to study his maps in more detail and discussed his sighting with other civil and military pilots. Arnold was interviewed on the 25th June by reporters from United Press and the East Oregonian, which published an account describing the objects as flat and shiny, like a pie-dish, somewhat bat shaped, with a peculiar erratic flapping or weaving motion, like the tail of a large kite. One of the reporters, Bill Bequette, used the term "flying disc" on the 28th, and very soon, thereafter the term "flying saucer" [*2] began to be used. Later evidence suggests this term did not originate with Arnold but came from various newspaper editors. Years later Arnold insisted he had been misquoted; he claimed what he had said to the reporters was, "… they flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water." So what were these objects, these so-called "flying saucers"? Arnold initially estimated their size to be 18 m. (60 ft.), but, ten days later, he increased this to 30 m. (100 ft.). Although he estimated they had been 32-40 km. away, it appears the objects were much smaller, and much closer, and that, rather than some form of alien craft, what he saw was a flock of pelicans. On the 12th July, 1947, the following story appeared in the British Columbian newspaper, A veteran
Northwest pilot who has flown over the Pacific northwest's flying
saucer country for 15 years today took all the glamor out of the
mystery of the flying discs. All that people have been seeing he said
are pelicans. Or maybe geese or swans.
Captain Gordon
Moore disclosed that he and his co-pilot, Vern Kesler, were saucer
hunting last Wednesday on a regular flight between here and Portland,
Oregon. Kesler was sure he had seen some flying saucers on July 2, and
the pilots were armed with movie cameras and binoculars for another
encounter.
"Suddenly we spotted nine big round discs weaving northward two thousand feet, (6,000 m.) below us," Moore related.
"We investigated and found they were real all right – real pelicans." [*1] Although
the Roswell "UFO material" was actually found by rancher W.W. Brazel on
14th June, 1947, he did not report his findings to authorities until
7th July, 1947, and the first media report appeared in the Roswell
Daily Record on the 8th July.
[*2] The media description of "saucer" shaped objects appeared to have a major influence on subsequent reports. Note: In 1952, along with pulp magazine publisher Raymond Palmer, Arnold released a privately published book, The Coming of the Saucers, a Documentary Report on Sky Objects That Have Mystified the World. It's contents were described by one journalist as being straight out of pulp fiction. HELEN OF TROY: Belief: The face that launched a thousand ships. Fact: A well-known quotation from The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, a 1604 play by Christopher Marlowe, reads as follows, Was this the face that launched a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium (Act V, Scene 1). This reference to "a thousand ships" is at odds with the Catalogue of Ships mentioned in the original source, Homer’s Iliad, (Book 2: 2,494-2,759), "Now will I tell the captains of the ships and the ships in their order". (2,494). Homer mentions twenty-nine contingents under forty-six captains; of these one hundred ships were sent by Agamemnon, fifty by Achilles, and eighty brought from Crete by Idomeneus. Overall, these references suggest that, all together, 1,186 Greek ships assembled at Aulis in Boeotia, before setting sail for Ilium (Troy). SPITFIRE –V– HURRICANE: Belief: During WWII most enemy aircraft were downed by Spitfires. Fact: During WWII, the Supermarine Spitfire was perceived by the public to be a much more glamorous and successful fighter aircraft than the Hawker Hurricane; despite this, the Hurricane downed the greatest number of enemy aircraft. For instance, during the Battle of Britain, of the 656 enemy aircraft shot-down 55% were downed by Hurricanes, compared to 45% by Spitfires. The fact that Hurricanes downed more enemy aircraft than other fighters and ground defences combined, may have been due to their greater numbers. There were 32 Hurricane squadrons, (384 aircraft, a squadron comprised twelve aircraft), and only 19 of Spitfires, (228 aircraft). Furthermore, where possible, the Hurricanes were primarily directed against slower enemy bombers, while the Spitfires often dealt with their fighter escorts. NB: The existence of the Spitfire owes much to British philanthropist, Lady Lucy Houston. In 1931 the Air Ministry not only refused to fund the Royal Aero Club's development of a new British entry in the Schneider Trophy, but also forbade the use of aircraft flown in the 1929 race. Lady Houston donated £100,000 to Supermarine to develop the S.6B, which eventually led to the development of the Spitfire. TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA: Belief: The title refers to the depth of the sea. Fact: Although the author Jules Verne called this novel, Vingt mille lieues sous les mers, (Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas), some editions incorrectly used the title, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, this latter title suggesting the depth to which the Nautilus submarine ascended beneath the sea. As a Frenchman Verne would have used the French "league" which is equal to 3 Imperial miles, or 4.82 kilometres, however, when multiplied by 20,000 it provides a figure of 96,400 kilometres. Given that the deepest known ocean depth, the Challenger Deep, is only 10.98 kilometres, this would have been an impossible depth. In fact, "20,000 leagues" does not refer to ocean depth, but rather to the distance travelled under the sea by the Nautilus. This misunderstanding apparently originated from an English rendition of the novel in 1873 by Reverend Lewis Mercier. While omitting much of the original text, and containing hundreds of errors, it became the standard text for English versions. One of his errors was to mistranslate the novel's title, and afterwards various publishers erroneously used the title, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. For example, although the first American edition, printed in Boston in 1872, had the title, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea on the front cover, the inside title page read, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. A 1954 Disney film of the story was also incorrectly titled, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. NEANDERTHALS: Belief: Neanderthal remains were first found in Germany in 1856. Fact: While it is generally believed that the earliest remains of Homo neanderthalensis ever discovered were those found in the German, Neander Valley in 1856, Neanderthal remains had actually been found eight-years earlier in Gibraltar; however, dismissed as a mere curiosity at that time, they lay unidentified for a number of years. Found amongst limestone rubble being quarried in the Feldhofer Grotto, a cave in the Neander Valley, in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Neanderthal bones comprised the top of a skull, two tibias, arm bones and a few smaller bones. The quarry manager initially thought they were the remains of a cave bear, however, he asked Johan Fuhlroth, a local schoolteacher, and a student of Natural Science, to examine them. Believing them to be an unknown species of human, he named them "Neanderthal" (from Neander, "new man," and "thal,” "valley"). Fuhlroth took the bones to Hermann Schafthausen, Professor at Pathology at the Bonn University, for verification. He agreed they were from a primitive, and probably prehistoric species, and, in 1857, they announced their existence. Although only a teacher, in 1859 Fuhlroth was allowed to publish a short paper in the Proceedings of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, where he claimed the bones were evidence of the existence of a previously unknown species of human. Fuhlroth faced strong opposition from academics, especially from the distinguished Pathologist Rudolf Virchow. After examining the bones in 1872, he claimed they were those of an abnormally deformed and injured adult male, possibly a Cossack Russian, who had died in 1814 when Russian armies had followed the remnants of Napoleon's army through Germany. He attributed the bent leg bones to rickets as a child, from arthritis, and frequent riding of a horse as an adult. The thick bony ridge of the skull cap he claimed was due to a combination of persistent frowning as a child, and powerful blows to the head, while his heavy bones he claimed, were the result of syphilis. Earlier, in 1848 a female Neanderthal skull had been found by workmen, in a cave in Forbe's Quarry, Gibraltar. Treated as a curiosity, in March 1848, it was shown to the Gibraltar Scientific Society by Lieutenant Edmund Flint. At that time, before the publication of Darwin's The Origin of Species, (1859), its significance was not fully understood. Although classified as, an "ancient human" who had died before the Great Flood, it was left to lie forgotten in a cupboard for some years. The publication of Darwin's book generated fresh interest in the examination of fossil remains, and, in 1862, the skull was examined by palaeontologists George Busk and Hugh Falconer. They gave a report to a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1864, but not realizing it was a Neanderthal, they suggested naming it Homo calpicus after Mons Calpe, the ancient name for Gibraltar. It was only later that the skull was identified a specimen of Homo neanderthalensis. Later, in 1926 archaeologist Dorothy Garrod found the skull of a Neanderthal child in Devil's Tower Cave, located some 350 meters from Forbe's Quarry; this skull was dated at 30,000 – 50,000 years old. MOTOR SCOOTERS: Belief; Motor scooters were a post-WWII innovation. Fact: A motor-scooter is a motorcycle with a floorboard for the rider’s feet, small wheels and a step-through design. Although the production of motor-scooters increased dramatically after WWII, the first motor-scooter, the German Hildebrand & Wolfmuller, was actually produced in 1894. Although a financial failure, others scooters, such as the French Auto-Fauteuil followed in 1908, and, in 1915, the American Moped, effectively a motorized scooter, began to be produced in New York. After WWI, an increasing number of British and American motor-scooters appeared, (the First Generation, 1915-1935), however, most were unstable or too expensive. A second generation of scooters, (1936-1968), saw more successful models including the American Salisbury Motor-Glide with an automatic transmission, and the Cushman Auto-Glide with a centrifugal clutch. One model, the Parascooter, was designed for military use; to be dropped with paratroopers, it was intended as a vehicle to convey communications from the front-line back to rear headquarters. After WWII former enemy nations were forbidden to manufacture military items, and some former vehicle and aircraft companies turned to scooters. In 1946 Japan began production of the Fuji Rabbit, and, in Italy, the Piaggio Vespa was released. Using aircraft design technology and materials, it quickly became popular in Europe. It was quickly followed in 1947 by the Innocenti Lambretta and soon scooters were being produced in Britain, Germany, the Eastern Bloc, India, China and Asia. BLOCKADES BETWEEN VICTORIA AND NSW: Belief: The Covid-19 epidemic was the first time Victoria stopped people from NSW entering their state. Fact: In past centuries, when the plague spread across Europe, it was common practice for armed locals to guard the roads leading into their villages and to refuse entry to any outsiders. In Australia, prior to the recent Covid-19 epidemic Victoria blocked the border, and refused entry of people from NSW on two previous occasions: • In 1919, during the Influenza epidemic, when some 40% of the population became ill, and some15,000 died;
• In 1937-1938, during a Polio epidemic. Australia recorded 4,565 cases of polio with 274 deaths. Long-term, it left many with damage to the nervous system then, years later, muscular degeneration, particularly of the legs, resulted in many victims suffering from various degrees of paralysis. During the Influenza epidemic, with no preventative vaccines or proper treatments available, authorities, and the general public were forced to resort to the most basic forms of defence. Authorities isolated and quarantined those infected, stressed personal hygiene, the use of disinfectants, and limited public gatherings. During the polio epidemic homes were fumigated, families were split up and individuals quarantined. In desperation, many parents resorted to hanging bags of camphor around their children’s necks to prevent infection. GIBRALTAR: Belief: Gibraltar is the closest point on the Iberian Peninsula to North Africa. Fact: The closest point on the Iberian Peninsula to North Africa is not Gibraltar; it is actually Punta de Tarifa, (Tarifa Point). A tiny island, it is the most southerly point on the Iberian Peninsula, and is located 14.3 kilometres from Morocco, whereas Gibraltar is 6 kilometres further north. PEANUT BUTTER: Belief: Peanut Butter was invented by George Washington Carver. Fact: It is often erroneously claimed that George Washington Carver "invented" peanut butter, however, this product existed long before 1916 when Carver published his book, "How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it For Human Consumption." A paste made from ground peanuts was known to the Aztecs and Incas and, by 1783, a related product known as pinda-käse, (peanut cheese), existed in the Dutch colony of Suriname; (the Dutch still refer to peanut butter as, pindakaas). Modern peanut butter patents were filed by: - • Canadian Marcellus Gilmore Edson, in 1884, using roasted peanuts;
• George Bayle began selling peanut butter snacks in 1894; • John Harvey Kellogg, in 1898, using boiled peanuts. Incidentally, peanuts, also known as Monkey Nuts, Groundnuts, or Goober Peas, are not nuts; along with peas and beans, they are legumes, members of the Leguminosae plant family |