Case No 21 · UFO Afrinews No 4, March 1991
Further Report on the Alleged Botswana/South African UAP Border Crash
1989 ยท Botswana/South African border, Kalahari Desert, Botswana
What was reported
Hind extends her Afrinews 3 report on the alleged May 1989 crash. She repeats that James van Greunen hoaxed the story but never denied something might have fallen on the border. Van Greunen has left South Africa and was last seen in Cairo with a German girlfriend; two numbers for him ring unanswered. On a page of his alleged 'hieroglyphic' writing David Powell found a Pretoria number, engaged once but otherwise unanswered, and Hind is tracing a London number from the same sheet. GMC's 'fireball' has been redated to 1988 and detached from the story. Irene Granchi's CISNE sent testimony from a Brazilian Marine photographer, which Hind dissects. A USAF reply printed in the Journal of UFO Investigation says the object crashed through 'advanced composites fatigue'. Names in van Greunen's documents were borrowed from Elizabeth Klarer's friend Major Fielding, Bill Spaulding, his pilot friend Greef and ex-SAAF pilot Shickerling.
What Hind made of it
Van Greunen hoaxed the story and Hind is sure he will be involved somewhere along the line whatever the outcome; if anything fell on the border it was more likely space debris from a foreign satellite or the remains of a secret weapon that South Africa wanted to retrieve before someone else got there, and certainly not a spacecraft with two fighting aliens. She doubts the truth will ever be known.
Explanation offered
Space debris from a foreign satellite, or the remains of a secret weapon; a USAF letter says the object was not brought down by South African forces but crashed through 'advanced composites fatigue': 'A satellite in trouble?'
In their words
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I'm quite sure that Van Greunen will be involved somewhere along the line.
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Our contacts advise that the object in question was not brought down by South African forces, but crashed due to 'advanced composites fatigue.'
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it certainly was not a spacecraft with two fighting aliens inside!
Cross references
- UFO Afrinews No 3 (June 1990)
- Afrinews No 3, page 7, item (c)
- 04-13-2 GMC fireball redated
- 04-13-3 Brazilian sergeant's testimony
- The 'Crem Alphabet' analysis, this issue p.24-29
- Elizabeth Klarer's 1957 experience
- Journal of UFO Investigation (USAF reply to Harry Harris)
- Bill Knell of New York ('Bill Nell' in Afrinews 3)
Source
Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 4 (March 1991), spread 13-14
In the archive
This case became a story on this site.
