The Trent and Heflin pictures still intrigue me, but the object in the Trinidade photos is so indistinct in the clouds or fog that it has always been difficult for me to put the hoax idea completely out of my mind. Others have debated this for years. The fact that fundamentalist skeptics think the Trent incident was a hoax, and their calesthenics to prove it gives me more faith in their authenticity.

I don’t know if somone is presently doing a re-analysis of the Heflin sequence, but Ann Druffel, Bob Wood, and Eric Kelson did about three years ago. My doubt was further destroyed by their resulting report.

The reason I didn’t put them in as important dates for the list is that they (and other photo cases) taken as a group affected Ufology and the general public’s views on the UFO subject. Individually, I’m not sure that they qualify.

I’ll also put in a plug for January 16, 1958 - the date of the Trindade photos.

Lastly, how about August 3, 1965 - the date for the Rex Heflin photos? By the way, is the new analysis of those photos due out this year?

S

Happy Birthday, Paul!

Good case, but not the sort that changed people’s or Ufology’s perception of the phenomenon. Like RB47, it would be nice to include it, but it’s not as history-changing as the others. I think, anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions. This is the sort of information and discussion I wanted to see with these posts. The list was concieved with Ufology, the public, and the listed events/dates effects on the opinion and awareness of both. I included the Airship wave as #1. As Ufologists are generally an insular group, this locked out the Fortean Society, even though they would have much to learn from their bretheren.

The others you mention I thought would not have had as much of an impact on awareness when the phenomemon is taken as a whole. This is why I really didn’t worry about anything from the Bible, “flying shields” of the Romans, etc.

I didn’t know about the 1909 flaps!

I guess, from a purely historical point of view, if you are going to go with “years,” as opposed to specific dates, per se, I would have to see the following added to a more comprehensive list:

1) 1896-1897. Airship Wave. The events actually began in 1896, and there’s no reason to have the contemporary media and popular ufological practice of acting like this was something that only happened in 1897 become part of such a thoughtful list, right?

2) 1905 Welsh Revival UFO events.

3) 1909 New England & New Zealand UFO flaps.

4) Charles Fort books and influence of Fortean Society. Often forgotten, but these had a large impact in bridging the study of the subject from 1910 to the beginning of the 1940s.

5) Foo Fighters and Ghost Rockets - 1940s.

Enough of my outsider insights, so to speak.

Best wishes and it is a good exercise,
Loren

Your suggested list includes MY most important dates. Not THE most important, and I’m dumb enough to think that there’s a difference.