Case · UFO Afrinews No 22, July 2000
Alleged Kalahari UAP shoot-down of 7 May 1989 (Van Greunen hoax)
1989 ยท Kalahari desert, just inside the Botswana border, 80 km north of the South Africa/Botswana border, Botswana
What was reported
The alleged 7 May 1989 shoot-down of a UAP over the Kalahari, just inside Botswana, resurfaces twice in this issue. Hind states she is entirely sure James van Greunen fabricated it and that Friedman, Hesemann and David Powell saw through it, though queries still reach her eleven years on. Prier Wintle's review of Tony Dodd's book recounts Dodd's version: an anonymous July 1989 letter, then a photocopied 'SAAF briefing document' from Van Greunen describing the frigate Tafelberg radioing an object at 5746 knots, Mirages scrambled from Valhalla, 'Squadron Leader' Goosen firing a Thor 2 laser, a crash 80 km inside Botswana, two surviving humanoids and a Wright-Patterson retrieval. Dodd says an SA intelligence officer confirmed it and Goosen admitted firing, but Captain Dave Jacobson denied any incident, Valhalla is an administrative base, and Van Greunen's 'wife' later claimed he had been shot for treason.
What Hind made of it
Hind is one hundred percent sure Van Greunen set up the whole story; the editors call Dodd's chapter the biggest load of codswallop they have heard, noting Dodd was 6000 miles away while Afrinews worked with SAUFORS, David Powell and Air Force officials on the spot. Wintle adds that no top British investigator believes it except Dodd.
Explanation offered
hoax by James van Greunen, a known sensation seeker; Captain Dave Jacobson said no such incident occurred; Mirages cannot take off from Valhalla; Goosen too junior; document full of errors and mixed units; Dodd's colleague posed as 'General Brunel' to get Goosen's confirmation
In their words
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I am absolutely one hundred percent sure that James van Greunen ... set up the whole of the alleged UFO crash
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it's the biggest load of codswallop we've ever heard
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Be extremely careful with what you are doing. We can stop you if we want to. Be very, very careful in future
Cross references
- Tony Dodd, Alien Investigator (Headline, 1999), chapter 2
- Jenny Randles, UAP Retrievals
- SAUFORS
- Tucson, Arizona lecture, May 1991
- Mr Nice and Mr Nasty, Holiday Inn, Tucson
Source
Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 22 (July 2000), spread 10-11, 22-24
In the archive
This case became a story on this site.
