A UFO
PHOTOGRAPHED with a Polaroid camera through the windshield of Rex
Heflin’s truck on Myford Road near Tustin’s Lighter Than Air Base in 1
965
Years ago, when tales of ghosts and hauntings
titillated Tustin residents, encounters with “the woman in white” or “a boy
with marbles” were either believed or scoffed at. Now we have accounts of
unidentified flying object sightings in Tustin and some people believe every
word while others are skeptical.
The first sighting of importance took place
at about 12:30 p.m. August 3, 1965. Rex Heflin, a California highway
maintenance engineer, was traveling near the Lighter Than Air Base hangers
in Tustin when his radio quit. Then, through the windshield he spotted a
strange object crossing the sky at low speed. Curious, he took four photos
of it with his Polaroid camera. The first three photos showed a disk shaped
craft, but in the fourth only a black ring remained.
The photos were analyzed by several groups
including the National Investigations Committee Aerial Phenomena (NICAP).
Some felt the fourth photo was taken at a different time than the first
three. However, later analysis suggested the four photos were taken in the
same sequence. The overall consensus authenticated the photos and concluded
the craft likely emitted some sort of exhaust before disappearing. The
electrical interference added to the credibility of the sighting. The radio
began to work after the craft departed and later examination showed it was
in proper working order.
Despite the results of these investigations,
many continue to claim the sighting was a hoax. Elaborate stories were
created to explain how the manifestation was achieved.
The latest report of a UFO sighting in Tustin
was made to the National UFO Reporting Center in February 2006. The person
who claimed the sighting was unsure of the exact date, but remembered it
took place just after dark and the craft— a transparent milky lime green
football—appeared to be over Tustin, hovering in the sky, moving south.
Another report from Tustin came a month later
on March 13, 2006. The sighting of a boomerang with one white light on each
of the three corners moving southwest toward the ocean lasted three to four
minutes.
Two sightings took place in Tustin in April,
2004. The first, April 14, described as a gray circular object about 40 feet
in diameter with lights around the outer edge, appeared at 9 p.m. in an
unpopulated area and never moved, just hovered silently. The second,
reported to the National UFO Reporting Center as taking place on April 19 at
4 a.m., described a sphere with a soft orange luminescence heading towards
the Cleveland National Forest.
A sighting on August 17, 2003 over Tustin was
described to the National UFO Reporting Center as two equally spaced bright
white lights that appeared and disappeared. Other sightings were reported
from Tustin in 1976 and 1977, but none have created the doubt of that early
sighting by Rex Heflin. The four Polaroids although they have been described
as some of the best ever pictures of visiting spacecraft” have never really
been explained and are still maligned by those attempting to prove they are
part of a hoax.
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