God’s Celestial Ambassador: The Life and Times of Dr. Frank E. Stranges - Part XV
By Raymond A. Keller, PhD, a.k.a. “Cosmic Ray,” the author of the international awards-winning Venus Rising Series, published by Headline Books and available on Amazon.com, while supplies last.
Venus Rising: A Concise History of the Second Planet
Final Countdown: Rockets to Venus
Cosmic Ray's Excellent Venus Adventure
Lady Columba Venus Revelations
Flying Saucers and the Venus Legacy
On the Lecture Circuit
In the latter half of the 1950s and the early 1960s, there was a lot of confusion about UFOs among the populace at large. To illustrate this point, in one of his lectures promoting his 1959 Flying Saucerama book, given in 1960, Dr. Frank E. Stranges quoted the definition of “flying saucer” as given in the American Everyday Dictionary, Jess Stern, editor (New York City, New York: Random House, 1955), as “Any of the various shaped planes or missiles allegedly flying at high speeds and altitudes.” The reluctance of the “powers-that-be” to attribute any extraterrestrial or supernatural point of origin to the flying saucers was apparent, and seemed to be gaining steam through the perpetuation of the skeptics’ point of view in the mass media, even so far as affecting the process of defining the term “flying saucer” or “UFO.”
There seemed to be a reluctance in the scientific community to attribute anything extraterrestrial or supernatural to the appearance of flying saucers in our skies, at least so far as most scientists in the United States academic establishment were concerned. While the first Soviet satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched in October 1957, followed by our own American satellite, Explorer 1, at the end of 1958, there is no doubt that these scientific marvels would never have been possible without having had the nightmare technology of guided missiles in both of these militarily powerful countries to build on. In any event, the secrecy surrounding the development of the guided missiles, together with the ensuing step of launching satellites, helped to propagate the widespread popular conviction that true manned spaceflight was just around the corner. And surely, many reasoned, we must be going into space for more than catching a fleeting glimpse at the twinkling stars. Perhaps this race for outer space was inspired by a sure knowledge that there are other intelligent beings out there, just waiting for our arrival to join the galactic club of space-faring civilizations. After all, that was the message being delivered to us all by the flying saucer contactees.
Dr. Stranges, in the course of giving his Flying Saucerama lectures and book promotion, had been well aware of the efforts of spokespeople from the scientific establishment to temper the enthusiasm for an extraterrestrial hypothesis for flying saucers and to explain away UFOs, well before the Sputnik or Explorer satellites had even been launched, as issued in statements like the following from Jonathan Norton Leonard, the science editor of Time magazine, in his 1954 best-selling book, Flight Into Space: The Facts, Fancy and Philosophies (New York City, New York: Random House), page 46: “Each (guided missile) test range or development center is a source of rumors that spread like ripples, gradually losing with distance any content of accuracy that they may have contained. The flying-saucer hallucination may be attributed, in part, to the public’s conviction that all sorts of strange objects are flying through the sky. In this belief the public may be right. It is likely that some missiles are already flying fast enough to shine in the dark. They may have colored exhausts, and they may fly very differently from conventional aircraft.”
Dr. Frank E. Stranges informed his audience, “Whether or not the military is willing to admit their presence, ‘flying saucers’ are with us, and have been for many, many years. Astute men of authority have gone on record as being among those in the world that have admitted the presence and reality of the unidentified flying objects. Men such as Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, who said, ‘Flying saucers are real. Too many good men have seen them, men that do not have hallucinations.’”
The Reverend Doctor Stranges also quoted Henry J. Taylor (1902-1984), a respected American author, economist, radio broadcaster and former United States ambassador to Switzerland. Taylor had gained wide recognition as a European foreign correspondent for the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain during World War II. Due to his objective reporting, the American public was apt to pay attention to his opinions on controversial subjects arising later during the 1950s and 1960s. According to Dr. Stranges, Taylor asserted to him, regarding the flying saucer phenomenon, that, “I was actually stumped by the conflicting reports of eye-witnesses, until I found that there are two mysteries in our skies, instead of one. One mystery involves our development of secret weapons; but the other is not revealed by an ‘Earthly interpretation.’”
From the British Isles, Air Chief Marshall Lord Dowding, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force, has declared, “I am convinced that these objects do exist. They are not manufactured by any nation of this Earth.”
In 1960, however, Dr. Stranges pointed out that, “The United States Air Force, to this date, has denied the very existence of flying saucers. Therefore, the term ‘unidentified flying objects’ has been introduced and carried through. They evidently are not too certain as the whys and wherefores; or are they?”
On Research of Major Donald E. Keyhoe, USMC, Retired
The evangelist, an active member and Southern California advocate for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), headquartered in Washington D.C., noted that this organization’s director, Major Donald E. Keyhoe, USMC, Retired, as a result of his and his NICAP’s rigorous investigations into the UFO enigma, probably provided the public with more accurate UFO information than anyone else or any other group, civilian or government, on the planet. Keyhoe has come to the conclusion that flying discs actually change colors in the sky and states, “During day-time periods, scores of metallic-looking discs have been seen to change color during maneuvers. One typical report, in 1950, described an encounter near Lewisburg, West Virginia. Two round, silver discs had approached the city, then swung into a tight, fast circle. As the maneuvers began, both turned orange-red. When they straightened, reduced speed, the orange quickly faded and the discs resumed their normal, silvery color.”
