Brief comments to be added on this individual.
As noted in Part 3 of Isaac Koi’s “Best UFO Cases” article (i.e. in the Part entitled “Existing lists by various individuals”), one of the members of the Condon team, Roy Craig, has referred to Dr James McDonald having a list of his selection of the “best” cases. Roy Craig’s book includes the following two references to such a list:
(a) Roy Craig stated that “[Dr James E McDonald] kept a list of the ten or twenty ‘best cases’ which indicated to him that something strange was observed. He discussed those cases in detail at numerous talks to groups of fellow scientists and to political leaders” (see Footnote 3.37).
(b) Roy Craig referred to the endless sparring that would occur if investigators pursued Dr James McDonald’s “twenty best UFO cases”, commenting that “As soon as the investigator showed several of the twenty to have no merit, those were simply dropped from the list and replaced with different cases” (see Footnote 3.38).
I have read quite a bit of McDonald’s material on UFOs, some of which is not easily obtainable and not referred to very often in other UFO literature. However, I have not seen any list within that material which is expressly labelled as referring to the “best cases”.
On the positive side, I have found a numerous different lists within McDonald’s material on UFOs which refer to various different cases. Those lists include:
(a) a list of 41 cases within McDonald's written testimony submitted to a congressional hearing on 29 July l968, i.e. the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Astronautics’ “Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects”, chaired by Congressman J Edward Roush (available free online at Footnote 3.24). However, those lists do not appear to represent an attempt to identify the 41 “best” cases. Instead, those 41 cases comprise several shorter lists addressing, for example, claims that astronomers do not report UFOs and claims that pilots do not report UFOs (see Footnote 3.24). In a letter dated 2 April 1971, McDonald himself referred to the relevant discussion as relating to “over 30 selected UFO cases of scientific significance” (see Footnote 3.39).
(b) A relatively long chronological list of “some UFO cases of interest”, containing approximately 125 cases, dated 13 March 1967 (see Footnote 3.40).
(c) A of “Some Illustrative UFO Reports”, containing a numbered list of 10 reports, to “bring out” the allegedly “essential similiarity” of UFO reports from around the world (see Footnote 3.41).
(d) A numbered list of 18 cases “selected for a variety of reasons” (see Footnote 3.42).
After fairly intense efforts, the closest I have come to short lists of the cases which McDonald viewed as the “best” were, ironically, found in the most easily obtainable of the numerous sources I examined, i.e. in “UFO’s: A Scientific Debate” (1972), edited by Carl Sagan and Thornton Page.
That source contains two relatively short lists by McDonald which appear to reflect his views of the best cases, firstly, considered by the Condon report to be explained, and, secondly, those considered by the Condon report to be unexplained:
(a) Firstly, McDonald has listed several cases considered explained in the Condon Report which McDonald regarded as “both unexplained and of strong scientific interest” (see Footnote 3.43):
(1) Flagstaff, Arizona, 20 May 1950
(2) Washington, D.C., 19 June 1952 (Case 8 in Isaac Koi's “Top 100” article)
(3) Bellefontaine, O., 1 August 1952
(4) Haneda AFB, Japan, 5 August 1952
(5) Gulf of Mexico, 6 December 1952
(6) Odessa, Washington, 10 December 1952
(7) Continental Divide, N. M., 26 January 1953
(8) Seven Isles, Quebec, 29 June 1954
(9) Niagara Falls, N. Y., 25 July 1957
(10) Kirtland AFB, N. M., 4 November 1957
(11) Gulf of Mexico, 5 November 1957
(12) Peru, 30 December 1966
(13) Holloman AFB, 2 March 1967
(14) Kincheloe AFB, 11 September 1967
(15) Vandenberg AFB, 6 October 1967
(16) Milledgeville, Ga., 20 October 1967
(b) Secondly, McDonald has listed several cases “conceded to to be unexplainable in the Condon Report and containing features of particularly strong scientific interest” (see Footnote 3.44):
(1) Utica, N. Y., 23 June 1955
(2) Lakenheath, England, 13 August 1956 (Case 21 in Isaac Koi's “Top 100” article)
(3) Jackson, Ala. 14 November 1956
(4) Norfolk, Va., 30 August 1957
(5) RB-47 case 19 September 1957 (Case 63 in Isaac Koi's “Top 100” article)
(6) Beverly, Mass., 22 April 1966
(7) Joplin, Mo., 13 January 1967
(8) Donnybrook, N. D., 19 June 1966
(9) Haynesville, La., 30 December 1966
(10) Colorado Springs, Colo., 13 May 1967
Web Resources
{text}
Book References
For discussion of James E McDonald see the following:
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Year |
Discussion by:
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No. of Pages |
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Andrews, George C in his “Extra-Terrestrials Among Us” (1986) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 151-153, 158-159 (in Chapter 5) of the Llewellyn softcover edition, at pages 169-172, 178-179 of the Llewellyn paperback edition. |
5 |
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Berliner, Don with Galbraith, Marie and Huneeus, Antonio in their “UFO Briefing Document : The Best Available Evidence“ (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 192-193 of the Dell paperback edition (Part 3:Quotations, section entitled “Scientists”). |
2 |
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Binder, Otto in his “What we really know about Flying Saucers” (1967) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 197-198 (in Chapter 16) of the Fawcett paperback edition. |
2 |
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Blum, Ralph and Blum, Judy in their “Beyond Earth: Man’s Contact with UFOs” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 100-101 (in Chapter 9) of the Bantam paperback edition (with the same page numbering in the Corgi paperback edition). |
2 |
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Boyd, Robert D in his “International Who’s Who in Ufology Directory” (1988) at pages 10-12 of the PMT Publishing softcover edition. |
3 |
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Campbell, Steuart in his “The UFO Mystery Solved” (1994) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 179 (in Chapter 12) of the Explicit Books softcover edition. |
1 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 363-372 (in an entry entitled “McDonald, James Edward (1920-1971)”) of the Visible Ink Press softcover edition. |
10 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: 1st edition: Volume 3 – High Strangeness” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 292-302 (in an entry entitled “McDonald, James Edward (1920-1971)”) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. |
11 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning - 2nd edition” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) in Volume 2:L-Z at pages 592-599 (in an entry entitled “McDonald, James Edward (1920-1971)”) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. |
8 |
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Craig, Roy in his “UFOs – An Insider’s View” (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages xvi (in the Preface), 188 (in Chapter 11), 247-249 (in Chapter 15) of the UNT softback edition. |
5 |
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Darling, David in his online encyclopedia, “The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy and Spaceflight” (2003) in the entry entitled “McDonald, James”. The relevant entry is available online at: “http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M/McDonaldJ.html |
1 |
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Davidson, Keay in his “Carl Sagan: A Life” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 226, 227 (in Chapter 8) of the Wiley softcover edition. |
2 |
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De Herrera, John in his “The Etherean Invasion” (1978) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 33 (in Chapter 2) of the Hwong softcover edition. |
1 |
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Dean, Jodi in her “Aliens in America” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 39-40, 44 (in Chapter 1), 229 (in the Notes) of the |
4 |
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Dick, Steven J in his “Life on Other Worlds“ (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 154-155 (in Chapter 5) of the |
2 |
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Dick, Steven J in his “The Biological Universe” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 293-294 (in Chapter 6) of the |
2 |
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Dolan, Richard M in his “UFOs and the National Security State: Volume 1: 1941-1973” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 399 (in Chapter 7), 407-408, 421-422 (in Chapter 8), 478-481 (in Chapter 9) of the Keyhole softcover edition, at pages 305-306, 313-314, 326-327, 380-382 of the 2002 revised Hampton Road softcover edition. |
9 |
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Druffel, Ann in her “Firestorm : Dr James E McDonald's Fight for UFO Science” (2003) generally, particularly at pages 1-592 of the Wild Flower Press softcover edition. |
592 |
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Edelson, Edward in his “Who Goes There?” (1978) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 76 (in Chapter 7) of the NEL paperback edition (with the same page numbering in the NEL paperback edition combining this book and Chris Boyce’s “Extraterrestrial Encounter). |
1 |
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Edwards, Frank in his “Flying Saucers – Here and Now!” (1967) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 188-192 (in Chapter 9), 239-241 (in Chapter 11) of the Lyle Stuart hardback edition, at pages 112-115, 147-149 of the Bantam paperback edition. |
7 |
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Emmons, Charles F in his “At The Threshold: UFOs, Science and the New Age” (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 60 (in Chapter 4) of the Wild Flower Press softcover edition. |
1 |
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Extracts from relevant FBI documents at http://www.cufon.org/cufon/fbimcdon.htm |
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Flammonde, Paris in his “Ufo Exist!” (1976) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 17 (in Chapter 1), 362-364 (in Chapter 18) of the Ballantine Books paperback edition. |
4 |
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Fowler, Raymond E in his “Casebook of a UFO Investigator” (1981) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 17-21 (in Chapter 2) of the Prentice-Hall hardback edition. |
5 |
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Fowler, Raymond E in his “UFOs: Interplanetary Visitors” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 107-109 (in Chapter 8) of the Exposition Banner hardback edition, at pages 103-106 of the Bantam paperback edition. |
3 |
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Friedman, Stanton in his “Flying Saucers and Science : A Scientist Investigates the Mysteries of UFOs” (2008) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 51-52 (in Chapter 1), 205 (in Chapter 8) of the New Page softcover edition. |
3 |
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Friedman, Stanton in “The UFO Report 1991” (1990) (edited by Timothy Good) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 153 (in Chapter 7) of the Guild Publishing hardback edition. |
1 |
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Fuller, John in his “Aliens in the Skies” (1969) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 64, 88-95 (in Chapter 2) of the Putnam hardback edition. |
9 |
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Glenday, Craig in his “The UFO Investigator’s Handbook” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 108 (in Chapter 5) of the Running Press softcover edition. |
1 |
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Good, Timothy in his “Above Top Secret” (1987) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 365-366 (in Chapter 15) of the Sidgwick & Jackson hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Guild Publishing hardback edition and the Grafton paperback edition). |
2 |
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Good, Timothy in his “Beyond Top Secret” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 438, 440 (in Chapter 17) of the Sidgwick & Jackson hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Pan paperback edition). |
2 |
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Greenwell, J Richard in “The Encyclopedia of UFOs” (1980) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 222-223 (in an entry entitled “McDonald, James E[dward]”) of the NEL hardback edition. |
2 |
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Hall, Michael David and Connors, Wendy Ann in their “Captain Edward J Ruppelt : Summer of the Saucers - 1952” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 97, 108 (in Chapter 3) of the Rose Press softcover edition. |
2 |
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Hall, Michael David in his “UFOs : A Century of Sightings” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 164 (in Chapter 4), 288 (in Chapter 7) of the Galde Press softcover edition. |
2 |
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Hall, Richard in his “Uninvited Guests” (1988) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 167-168 (in Chapter 11) of the Aurora Press paperback edition. |
2 |
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Hansen, Terry in his “The Missing Times : News Media Complicity in the UFO Cover-Up : News Media Complicity in the UFO Cover -Up” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 189, 205-206 (in Chapter 5) of the Xlibris softcover edition. |
3 |
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Harbinson, W A in his “Projekt Saucer” (1995) at page 241 (in Chapter 12) of the Box Tree hardback edition. |
1 |
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Harris, Paola in her “How does one speak to a ball of light?” (2007) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 33-39 (in Section 1) of the Author House softcover edition. |
7 |
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Hynek, J Allen and Vallee, Jacques in their “The Edge of Reality” (1975) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 193 (in Chapter 7) of the Henry Regnery hardback edition. |
1 |
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Hynek, J Allenin his “The Hynek UFO Report” (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 28 (in Chapter 3), 103 (in Chapter 5) of the Barnes & Noble hardback reprint (1997) at pages 38, 112 of the Dell paperback edition (with the same page numbering in the Sphere paperback edition). |
2 |
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Hynek, J Allen in Paola Harris’ “How does one speak to a ball of light?” (2007) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 33 (in Section 1) of the Author House softcover edition. |
1 |
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Jacobs, David Michael in his “The UFO Controversy in America” (1975) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 219-222 (in Chapter 8), 260-262 (in Chapter 9) of the Indiana hardback edition, pages 194-197 and 231-233 of the Signet paperback edition. |
7 |
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Keel, John A in his “Disneyland of the Gods” (1988) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 29 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “A Short History of Boobery”) of the I-Net softcover edition. |
1 |
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Kinder, |
2 |
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Klass, Philip J in “UFOs – The Public Deceived” (1983) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 39-40 (in Chapter 4) of the Prometheus softback edition. |
2 |
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Klass, Philip J in “The UFO Invasion” (1997) (edited by Kendrick Frazier, Barry Karr and Joe Nickell) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 34-40 of the Prometheus hardback edition (part of Chapter 2 at pages 29-43, “The Condon UFO Study”). The relevant chapter is a reprint of an article in the Skeptical Inquirer 10, number 4 (Summer 1986). |
7 |
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Klass, Philip J in his “UFOs – Identified” (1968) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 183-193 (Chapter 17 generally, “Dissenting Scientist”), 287-289 (in Chapter 24) of the Random House hardback edition. |
14 |
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Knight, David C in his “UFOs: A pictorial history from antiquity to the present” (1979) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 170 (in Part 4) of the McGraw Hill hardback edition. |
1 |
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Lawson, Alvin H in “Thesis Antithesis” (1975) (edited by A D Emerson) at page 52 (in Part |
1 |
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McCathy, Paul E in his Ph. D thesis “Politicking and Paradigm Shifting: James E McDonald and the UFO Case Study” (University of Hawaii, 1975), available free online at [insert link to Project 1947 website] |
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McDonald, Betsy in Paola Harris’ “How does one speak to a ball of light?” (2007) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 33-39 (in Section 1) of the Author House softcover edition. |
7 |
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Peebles, Curtis in his “Watch the Skies!” (1994) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 172-173, 176-177, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183-185, 186, 193-194 of the Smithsonian hardback edition, pages 207-208, 212-213, 216, 217, 218, 221-223, 225, 232-234 of the Berkley paperback edition (in Chapter 12, “The Condon Report”). |
14 |
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Peters, Ted in his “UFOs-God's Chariots?: Flying Saucers in Politics, Science & Religion” (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 71-72 (in Chapter 4) of the John Knox hardback edition. |
2 |
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Poundstone, William in his “Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 129, 131, 132 (in the chapter entitled “Ithaca 1968- |
3 |
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Quintanilla, Hector (Major) in his unpublished manuscript entitled “UFOs: An Air Force Dilemma” (copyright 1974) at pages 58-64, 89 of the manuscript, at pages 71-77, 102 of the NIDS pdf version available free on-line on various websites, including at the following link: http://www.projectbluebook.us/UFOs%20An%20Air%20Force%20Dilemma%20By%20Quintanilla.pdf http://www.nidsci.org/pdf/quintanilla.pdf
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8 |
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Rehn, K Gosta in his “UFOs Here and Now” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 51-61 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “Fresh Contributions from Scientists”) of the Abelard-Schuman hardback edition. |
11 |
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Ridge, Francis in his online “International Who’s Who in Ufology” (2004) at http://www.nicap.org/bios/mcdonald.htm |
1 |
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Sachs, Margaret in her “The UFO Encyclopedia“ (1980 (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 193-194 (in an entry entitled “McDonald, James Edward”) of the Corgi softback edition. |
2 |
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Sagan, Carl in his “The Demon Haunted World” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 97-98 (in Chapter 6) of the Headline softcover edition. |
2 |
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Saunders, David R and Harkins, R Roger in their “UFOs? Yes!” (1968) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 63-64 (in Chapter 5) of the Signet paperback edition. |
2 |
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Spencer, John and Spencer, Anne in their “Fifty Years of UFOs” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 84 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “1967-1977”) of the Boxtree hardback edition. |
1 |
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Steiger, Brad in his “Project Blue Book“ (1976) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 337-338 (forming part of Chapter 13) of the Ballantine Books paperback edition. |
2 |
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Story, Ronald in “The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 332-333 (in an entry entitled “McDonald, James E”) of the New American Library softcover edition, at pages 324-326 of the pdf edition (with the same page numbering in the Microsoft Word edition). |
2 |
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Story, Ronald in “The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 401-403 (in an entry entitled “McDonald, James E”) of the Robinson softcover edition. |
3 |
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Thompson, Richard in his “Alien Identities: Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Pheonemena” (1993) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 36-37 (in Chapter 1) of the GHP revised softcover edition. |
2 |
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Trench, Brinsley Le Poer in his “Secret of the Ages: UFOs from Inside the Earth” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 148-149 (in Chapter 23) of the Panther paperback edition. |
2 |
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Vallee, Jacques in Ann Druffel’s “Firestorm : Dr James E McDonald's Fight for UFO Science” (2003) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages xi-xiv (in the Foreword) of the Wild Flower Press softcover edition. |
4 |
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Vallee, Jacques in his “Forbidden Science: Journals 1957-1969.” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 186-187 (in Chapter 11, journal entry for 1966.0608), 193-194 (in Chapter 11, journal entry for 1966.0626), page 223 (in Chapter 12, journal entry for 1966.1007) of the North Atlantic Books hardback edition, at pages 192-193, 199-200, 228 of the 1996 abridged Marlowe paperback edition. |
5 |
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Vallee, Jacques in his “Forbidden Science : Volume 2 (Journals 1970-1979)” (2008) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 77, 82, 106, 110-111 of the Documatica Research hardback edition. |
5 |
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Von Buttlar, Johannes in his “The UFO Phenomenon” (1980) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 176 (in Chapter 15) of the Book Club Associates hardback edition. |
1 |
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Wilson, Colin in his “Alien Dawn” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 117 (in Chapter 4) of the Virgin softcover edition (with the same page numbering in the Virgin paperback edition). |
1 |
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Wright, Susan in her “UFO Headquarters” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 54 (in Chapter 3) of the |
1 |
Other Material