firedocs media/politics article
Section: TWA 800 : A deliberate mystery?
NAVY MISSILE DRONE DEBRIS FOUND AT TWA CRASH SITE?
(c) 07/28/97 Ian Williams Goddard
The Southampton Press [1] reports that on May 13th, Long
Island resident Dede Muma accidently received a fax from Teledyne
Ryan Aeronautical [2] that was intended for the FBI's office in
Calverton, Long Island. The fax indicates that parts of a U.S.
Navy missile target drone, a BQM-34 Firebee I [3], may have been
found in the wreckage of TWA 800.
The reason that Muma accidently received the fax, which she
passed on to the Southampton Press, was probably because her fax
number is 369-4310, while the FBI's number is 369-4301. About the
fax, the Southampton Press states:
Official documents faxed mistakenly to a Riverhead
resident...show that the Federal Bureau of Investigation...was
investigating whether pieces of debris found among the wreckage
of TWA Fight 800 were the remnants of an aerial target drone used
by the U.S. Navy...
The fax shows a diagram of what appears to be a missile, along
with a breakdown of its tail section and a parts list...
The object shown in the fax was identified this week by Jane's
Information Services in Alexandria, Virginia as a Teledyne Ryan
BQM-34 Firebee I, an air or surface- launched recoverable aerial
target.
The targets are used all over the world, including within the
military "warning areas" that come as close as
about 10 nautical miles off Moriches Inlet in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Navy practices shoot- ing down drones within the warning
areas.
Ms. Muma said she called the FBI when she received the [Firebee]
fax... Ms. Muma was told to "send it along to them, [the
FBI] and destroy the original." She said she asked what
would happen if she didn't do so, and was told "we'll
have to investigate you."
The source of the fax, Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical of San Diego,
CA, manufactures Firebee drones for the Navy. The
"Firebee fax" Muma received was sent from Erich
Hittinger of Teledyne to FBI agent Ken Maxwell, who was to pass
it on to a Teledyne Ryan representative at the FBI's Long Island
office, Walt Hamilton.
Hittinger of Teledyne Ryan told the Southampton Press that the
FBI contacted them to ask if orange pieces of debris found at the
TWA 800 crash site were from one of their Firebee drones, which
are also orange [3]. Hamilton was then flown from San Diego to
the FBI's Long Island facility to examine the suspected Firebee
debris. According to Hittinger, Hamilton concluded that the
orange metal "wasn't from our Firebee," which
suggests that it was from someone's Firebee, but not ours.
Question: If your business depended upon government contracts,
would you be inclined to prove that the government, your
employer, killed people? It could prove to be a fatal business
decision.
WITH NAVY DRONE DEBRIS IN HAND
In early May 1997, while the FBI had pieces of debris that they
suspected came from a U.S. Navy missile-drone, what was the FBI
telling us? FBI Director Louis Freeh was telling us it looks like
the crash "was a catastrophic mechanical
failure." [4] FBI agent James Kallstrom was saying:
"We see no evidence of a piece of shrapnel from a
missile or a warhead going through the plane." [5]
On May 12th Newsday [6] reported that with no evidence of a
missile or foul play, the FBI was planning to end its
investigation by early August. Clearly, as we have already seen
with the cover- up of the explosives residue [7], there is no
correlation between the FBI's public-relations front and the true
story behind the scenes.
Rather than telling the truth that they suspected a Navy
missile-drone was involved, the FBI was pushing
"mechanical failure" while simultaneously
intimidating Dede Muma with threats of an invest- igation against
her for refusing to destroy her errantly acquired evidence of
U.S. Navy culp- ability in the downing of TWA Flight 800.
HEAVY MILITARY AIR TRAFFIC
The skies off the Long Island shore on July 17, 1996 were filled
with aircraft. Not only were several Air National Guard aircraft
in the air, and not only was a high-speed vehicle heading toward
TWA 800 as reported by eyewitnesses, radar, and a satellite, but
a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion was flying almost directly above TWA 800
when the accident occurred.
Furthermore, several mysterious small aircraft fitting the
profile of target drones were also seen in the area. Not only did
Linda Kabot photo- graph what seems to be a drone missile [8],
but the Long Island newspaper The Independent [9] reported that
witnesses saw a "smaller plane" flying near TWA
800 at crash time. Indeed, a Firebee drone looks like a
"smaller plane."[3]
Even more, as I watched CNN on the night of the crash, a pilot
was interviewed who said he saw what looked like a
"stunt plane" crash into TWA 800. A Firebee
looks like a "stunt plane," and alas, it seems
that they may have found parts of this "stunt
plane" in TWA 800.
Yet more, the Boston Globe [10] reported that in addition to
seeing "a brilliant flare-like glow that streaked toward
the plane," witnesses also saw "a low-flying
aircraft without lights cruising off shore." Could that
aircraft without lights have been one of the aerial target
drones, perhaps Firebees, launched from Wallops Island on July
17th? [11] Drones can fly for hundreds of miles.
That there was such heavy military air-traffic on July 17 should
not be a big surprise because there was a massive offshore
military war-game called "Global Yankee '96"
[12] underway at the time. Virtually all the military assets in
the air around TWA 800 that evening, including the Air National
Guard aircraft, where scheduled to be involved in
"Global Yankee '96." [13]
With such heavy military air-traffic and wargames in the area
around TWA 800, which was on the "Betty track"
(a safe route around active naval exercise zones), is it a
surprise that over 150 witnesses saw TWA 800 being hit by a
missile-like projectile? Is it a surprise that parts of a Navy
missile-drone may have been found among the debris of TWA 800? I
would dare to say that it is not a surprise.
REFERENCES
[1] THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS: Fax Gives Glimpse of Crash Investigation. By W. Michael Pitcher, July 24, 1997. URL: http://www.shpress.com/news/STORY03.htm
[2] Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical: http://www.tdyryan.com BQM-145A: http://www.tdyryan.com/M350/default.htm Kabot missile? http://www.tdyryan.com/MALD/default.htm Explosives: http://www.tdyryan.com/Ordnance/ordnance.htm
[3] BQM-34F Firebee Drone: http://www.webexpert.net/rosedale/twacasefile/firebee.html
[4] "Meet the Press." NBC television program, May 4, 1997.
[5] REUTERS: FBI: Mechanical Fault Likely Caused TWA Crash Monday May 5 7:00 AM EDT. http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/special/twa/twa.186.html
[6] NEWSDAY: Investigative Shift. By Lauren Terrazzano, May 12, 1997. http://www.newsday.com/jet/cras0512.htm
[7] URL: http://www.erols.com/igoddard/coverup.htm
[8] URL: http://www.erols.com/igoddard/kab-dir.htm
[9] THE INDEPENDENT: TWA Flight 800, Hundreds Witness Explosion. By Kari-Lisa Brangan, July 24, 1996. URL: http://www.peconic.net/independent/07249604.htm
[10] THE BOSTON GLOBE: U.S. Agents Hear of Flash Before Plane Exploded. By Pamela Ferdinand, July 24, 1996, A18.
[11] The NASA facility at Wallops Island, VA, is used by the DoD to launch target drones for the <B>Navy</B>. Keith Kohler keith.kohler@gsfc.nasa.gov, Wallops Island representative told TWA 800 researcher Michael Davias cintos@snet.net that several aerial target drones were launched on July 17, 1996.
[12] http://www.webexpert.net/rosedale/twacasefile/yankee.html
[13] http://www.webexpert.net/rosedale/twacasefile/newsfour.html
Visit these pages and copy their contents:
http://www.ang.af.mil/angrc-xo/xoom/aargy96.htm
http://www.ang.af.mil/angrc-xo/glbynk/partcpnt.htm
http://www.rl.af.mil/Lab/C3/current-events/gy_rap1.jpg
