Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:56:32 -0400 (EDT)
To: nicap@insightbb.com
Subject: Questions for MANTELL Doubters
From: Brad Sparks



Questions for MANTELL Doubters

1. Where was the Skyhook balloon located? (If you do not know then how can you "know" that Mantell chased a Skyhook balloon to his death?)

2. Did you know that the General Mills Skyhook balloon Flight B was tracked for over three hours from its launch site in Minnesota then it passed almost directly over St. Louis at about 7:30 AM the morning of Mantell's chase and that it was on a consistent southeast heading (since passing Iowa), at a speed of about 27 mph?

3. Did you know that the Skyhook Flight B continued on this SE course at about 27 mph until it then passed west and south of Nashville, Tenn., where it was seen by numerous people using binoculars and telescopes and from aircraft sent up after it, and even famed astronomer Carl Seyfert tracked it by telescope from Vanderbilt Observatory?

4. If you look at the attached Skyhook Flight Path Map do you see where the Skyhook balloon was located in Tennessee at the time of Mantell's crash in Kentucky at 3:18 PM? How far was the Skyhook from Godman Tower then? How far was the Skyhook from Mantell when he crashed?

5. How far away can a 70-foot Skyhook balloon be seen with the naked eye in daylight? Ever hear of Minimum Angle of Resolution (MAR) in human eyesight, physiological optics? (Standard 20/20 vision is 1 arcminute MAR, which translates to a 70-foot object at 45.6 miles -- this involves simple high-school math.)

6. If the Skyhook balloon was over 140 miles from Godman Tower then how could Tower personnel have seen it and how could Mantell have chased it if he could not even see it? If Mantell crashed nearly 60 miles from the Skyhook balloon then how could he have even seen it at his closest approach??

7. Can you see a 70-foot object at 140 miles away? Can you see a 7-foot wide truck from directly behind on a freeway at a straight-line distance of 14 miles? (The 1/10 scaling is so simple you won't even need a calculator to get it.) Try it sometime.

8. How far would Mantell have flown in his nearly straight line course at ~300 mph for the ~20 minutes after he flew over the Godman Control Tower until his crash at 3:18 PM? This is simple arithmetic. Where approximately would that put Mantell's crash on a map? (This is to provide a common-sense reality check on where Mantell was located during and at the end of his chase so you can believe that his location is 100% certain and he didn't have time to fly around on wild zigzags all over the State of Kentucky.)

9. If Mantell somehow did get close enough to the Skyhook balloon to see it with his naked eye to chase it, wouldn't he have had to fly directly over Nashville, Tenn., and then would have crashed in Tennessee instead of Kentucky (Franklin, Ky.)? Why didn't numerous people watching the balloon see and hear Mantell and his wingman flying over and chasing after it in their F-51 fighters?

10. What is your response to the AF accident report stating that Mantell had oxygen equipment on board -- public AF assertions to the contrary notwithstanding?

11. Was Mantell reckless and irresponsible for going to 20,000+ feet "without oxygen" if in fact he had oxygen on board or thought he did?

12. What is your response to Project Sign's internal classified documents stating in Oct-Nov 1948 that the Mantell case was "unexplained" and not Venus or any other IFO explanation such as balloon?

Brad Sparks





http://www.nicap.org/images/MANTELL-SKYHOOK_MAP-Flt_B-Jan6-7-1948-c.png