In the article from last week, we have included retired captain Mihai Barbutiu’s testimonies on two dramatic encounters he had, as a military pilot, with unidentified flying objects. Below, we reproduce two other such encounters, as close as possible to the story he told us last spring, in Arad.
In 1958, Barbutiu, who was 29 years old, was moved to Timisoara, to the hunter interception regiment. Here, he held various positions, until he was appointed squadron commander. As a squadron commander, in 1966 or 1967, he attended a night flight, from Cluj to Oradea, in a group of two supersonic MIG 19, one seat each.
At one point, he saw in front of him a bright object that wasn’t visible on radio locator. He could see his colleague, Gheorghita, on the radar, but not the object. He asked him through the radio if he sees something. Gheorghita answered he sees an object with the naked eye, but sees nothing on the radar.
Then, the command post station, located on the ground, got involved in conversation, asking them what they are seeing. Barbutiu told it’s an object they can’t see on the radar, but they can see it with the naked eye. Actually, they were unable to see what it was… All they could see were just some position lights, flashes that had been lighting alternately: red in the upper part, green at the bottom.
It could not be mistaken for an airplane. At the position lights of the airplanes, these colors are on the same level and intensity. At the extremities of the wings, they aren’t so strong and have other shades. Here there were some extremely bright lights. It was a unique type of green, different from the raw green of the grass, while the red was a very dark red. And if it was a plane, it had to be seen on radar…
After they landed, they made a small investigation… Barbutiu said he was called to Bucharest, where he gave a statement that they will not disclose and say anything. “Back then, there were stricter secrets than now, military secrets.”
Observations from the plane
The next incident was about a month later in the same year, also at night and also with two planes. In the area – west of the country – was a compact mass of clouds, from 6,500 to 10,500 meters.
They were flying with two MiG-19 at 12,500 meters. His teammate, Dumitru Raducanu, was a soundly Oltenian from Targu Carbunesti, an exceptional pilot and colleague. They were performing an intercepting exercise, a routine flight for fighter pilots. His colleague was the target, the “criminal plane”, as they say, and Barbutiu was the hunter. Directed by the control point from the ground, he went around the target, intercepted it, after which both they both flew in formation and they came home, on Timisoara airport.
Above the clouds, the Moon was “like a cartwheel”, said Barbutiu. “The light was so strong, that you could even read… We didn’t need board appliances as we could see everything by the naked eye”. At one point, the pilot saw an unidentified flying object right in front of him, by the naked eye and at a fairly large distance.
He hasn’t said anything, because he knew what happened to him when he was with Gheorghita… He thought that “people from the control point will say that Barbutiu is seeing something again”. He was waiting for his colleague to talk. Raducanu also noticed that and sent him a message: “Boss, you see that target in front of us?” Barbutiu replied: “There’s nothing, man, there’s nothing”… But his colleague continued: “Come on, boss, can’t you see it? It’s there, right in front of us, and it’s huge!”
Of course, the control point from the ground took notice immediately and asked: “What’s there? What do you see?”. Barbutiu, as the troop commander, reported it’s an unidentified object. The ground radars only saw the two planes. Then, the control point asked them to try to force the intruder to land. Barbutiu avoided, claiming that he has too little fuel, but Raducanu should try. Raducanu, who was a Major at the time, was ordered to bring him from landing and fire a warning shot, as stated in the provisions for interception of an unidentified object, or a lost foreign aircraft.
Although in the same time Barbutiu is ordered to come to the landing, says that curiosity led him to go first and take closer look to the object. Just as he later recounted: “When I passed under it, what surprised me was that ten or fifteen seconds I stood in the shadow cone thrown by the object, from the moonlight…
Meanwhile, I felt an <
The lower side – red, but an extremely dark and intense red. And on top – green, a unique and unearthly green and an extremely powerful flash, like a lightning. On the object, various irregularities or asperities were observed… even places where smaller vessels were coming out from. I knew about Russian, American and of all states appliances, but I didn’t know about something like that. Then I thought it’s an object from another planet. So I saw with my own eyes, nobody told me about it.”
Ultimately, he inclined the plane and began the descent. He went into the clouds and came out at about 6,500 meters, having Salonta his right side, Arad right in front, and Timisoara further.
Raducanu, according to the order, said he armed his cannons and he’s getting closer to the object, preparing to shoot a volley of warning, for the object to follow him. But while he was reporting that, he said suddenly: “Oops!”. The target has disappeared. There’s no object. At the hearing of all this, Barbutiu started laughing. But when he coincidentally looked back, he saw that the object was in his troop. Then – he honestly confesses – he was just terrified. He wasn’t laughing anymore.
Later, he said that aviators are also scared of things, they’re also human. You couldn’t know his intentions. But he automatically reported by the station that that object was in his right side. He was immediately ordered to try falling behind it and arm the cannons, to make the object come to landing.
The pilot said he understood, but now he was admitting honestly: “I said to myself that, given that these guys possess such an advanced technique, if I arm the cannons now and shoot, the projectile might explode in the barrel. And then I said to myself that I could arm the cannon down on the ground, as I’m getting close, because they basically couldn’t control me when I armed the cannon.”
He performed several tight maneuvers, but he realized he was unable to fall behind the object, as the intruder had always remained in the same position towards the plane. But at one point, the object has made a turn and began to ascend toward Serbia. Barbutiu was reflexively following the object, starting to ascend, almost without realizing…
Object from another planet?
From Timisoara there only were glimpses of clouds; and when the pilot reached 10,000 meters and looked down, he was over Belgrade. He could see the Danube winding in the moonlight. It was in good relations with Yugoslavia and there was no problem… As he was commenting now:
“They were passing on our territories and we didn’t say anything. And we were also passing on their territories. At these high speeds, passing 40-50 kilometers is like you were walking ten steps. When you make a 1000 / kph turn, you can realize how big the radius is.”
The object continued to fly further. Barbutiu reported he has no fuel and is returning home. The bulb lighted, showing that he was at the limit. He made the turn and came to the airport. He had the impression that the object followed him and led him to landing. He couldn’t specify if it was the same ship or another smaller ship, as the visibility was not as good close to the ground. But he says there was something there.
Barbutiu said he took some photos while he was following the object. All planes had a photo gun, to assess the effectiveness of firing in terrestrial or aerial targets. “You had to bring a picture, as a proof that you caught it.
” Once landed, he told the foreman in charge of these photos to develop the film and to make a copy, so he can have it the next morning. But the next morning, the master told him that the counterintelligence office came, took him away the box with the undeveloped film, so couldn’t make any copy. Since then, no one knew anything about those pictures…
Mr. Barbutiu concluded by saying: “That was all. We gave a statement that we won’t talk, won’t tell… That was the way to deal with this kind of things back then. Just like today, actually”. Further, the retired officer wanted to add some comments on what happened to him, saying:
“I understand that they keep secret such encounters, because they don’t want people to know that we are not unique here in this universe, and we are visited by extraterrestrial beings, alien ships that come to Earth and control our space air. There certainly are some response and actions from the authorities, not to arouse fear and adverse actions in humans. That is the main cause. Can you imagine what would happen if people would know that this kind of objects are teeming among us? But people already start getting used… by all that is shown on TV.”
