James McDonald
James E. McDonald was a physicist from the University of Arizona who began studying the strange phenomenon in the Earth's atmosphere. As early as 1952, McDonald began searching for supporting evidence that the Earth was being invaded by aliens from another planet. According to McDonald, these other-worldly beings were harmless but could be studied through the unusual phenomenon in the Earth's atmosphere.
James E. McDonald was a physicist from the University of Arizona who began studying the strange phenomenon in the Earth's atmosphere. As early as 1952, McDonald began searching for supporting evidence that the Earth was being invaded by aliens from another planet. According to McDonald, these other-worldly beings were harmless but could be studied through the unusual phenomenon in the Earth's atmosphere.
In Tucson, McDonald was very outspoken in his efforts to keep missile testing far away from his hometown. McDonald made public statements pleading with the government to avoid consideration of using the United States Air Force Base positioned within less than five miles from Tucson. His efforts were successful, and government officials chose Vandenberg Air Force Base for testing the missile defense system. At the time, however, the tests were concealed from the public.
Vandenberg AFB began a top-secret program testing missiles that could intercept and destroy incoming attacks. They also trained staff during a seven-week missile school. As a classified project, McDonald did not have access to the data produced by the missile testing, including any missiles that would have been detonated in the intercept program.
When two mysterious cloud formations moved across northern Arizona, McDonald mistakenly thought the clouds were the result of a UFO encounter. He began his quest to study the cloud formations for evidence of alien life traveling across Arizona in spaceships. His initial report was a teaser, having just enough information to spawn off a much larger investigation. He declared that the cloud formation was unusual and that additional investigation was required.
In the initial report, McDonald was concerned that he could find no missile launch corresponding to the February 28 event. After Vandenberg AFB released information concerning the top-secret program, McDonald issued a second report explaining multiple reasons why this cloud could not be considered an unidentified flying object and moved onto many other unexplainable cloud formations. William Branham, however, maintained that the February 28, 1963 Mystery Cloud was the result of seven angels sent to relay to him the "revelation" of the Seven Seals described in the Book of Revelation.
On February 28, 1963, an Atlas-D missile (an intercontinental ballistic missile) was launched. According to military specifications, the Atlas missile's warhead was over 100 times more powerful than the bomb dropped over Nagasaki in 1945. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM-65_Atlas#Atlas-D_deployment
On the same day, according to Vandenberg AFB's launch history, a PGM-17 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile was launched. The specific type of Thor missile launched was a TAT (Thrust-augmented Thor) which includes three Castor solid rocket strapon boosters—each providing 53,000 lbf (236 kN) thrust. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_(rocket_family)
James McDonald's fame quickly began to spread after his initial report was published in science magazines in 1963. Though some magazines did not publish his second report explaining the scientific explanation of the cloud formation, he was called to speak concerning alien life invading planet Earth at several conferences. In fact, his research data was so popular that it began to worry government officials that these unexplained phenomena were actually an alien invasion. McDonald was called to speak at the United Nations.
McDonald was not so popular in the community of scientists, however, and was considered to be a student of "fringe science". Other scientists began examining McDonald's findings to disprove his UFO research. Some claimed that McDonald's motivation for his research was financially motivated.
McDonald was ridiculed by others in the scientific community after the United States Government chose a panel of non-government officials to produce an unbiased report, overturning McDonald's claims of alien life on Earth. Their findings were submitted to government officials, and McDonald was called to speak before the United States Congress in 1968. It would be McDonald's last major speech concerning "little green men" flying around in UFOs. In 1971, McDonald committed suicide.