In many textbooks, you can find a mention of the appearance in 1963 of an unidentified flying object off the coast of California, USA. This fact cannot be refuted, since this is practically the only case in the history of mankind when the appearance of a UFO was filmed.
But for many years it remained a mystery what this mysterious object was and for what purpose it appeared off the coast of the United States. Today, in the era of declassification of CIA and KGB documents, we can say with confidence that there are real grounds to assert that the object that rose from under the water and soared up into the sky did not come from distant space, but has a completely terrestrial origin. But is it?
The first evidence that the object seen and filmed is of a completely terrestrial origin can be found in a report from Richard Colen, then a local police sheriff's deputy. On that day, he was on duty and in his report to the management indicated that he managed not only to carefully examine the object, but also to film it. “This is definitely not a UFO. Outwardly, it is very similar to an airplane, so we can confidently assert its earthly origin, - Colin writes in the report.
Only after the shots with sensational content spread all over the world, and Colin's report only supplemented them, the United States government put forward an official version of the appearance of an unidentified flying object. "UFOs off the coast of California are nothing more than an example of secret developments of Soviet designers, and it was this device that the USSR military tested near Katolina Island," the White House press service said in response to numerous questions from journalists.
Charles Brown, an employee of the US Air Force Special Investigations Office in 1965-1983, said the following: “In my opinion, this speaks only about one thing - are we really lagging behind the USSR in science? No, I do not think so. Maybe in this case we are witnessing an oversight or flaw in intelligence? I'm sure of that. From the words of a person who took an active part in the investigation of the mysterious incident, it can be concluded that in the United States at that time everyone was sure that the appearance of the object was the intrigues of the USSR, and the main blame for the appearance of the Soviet object on its own shores was assigned to the intelligence department. …
In turn, the USSR reacted extremely calmly to all statements by the US government. There were no public speeches refuting the versions put forward by the political enemy, there were no ultimatums, everything indicated that all statements from across the ocean did not concern the Soviet Union at all. The information that secret development of completely new submarines is being carried out in our country has not been confirmed by the country's top leadership, but has not been denied either.
And now, when a significant part of the Soviet military archives has been declassified and has become available for review, researchers have been able to establish that the mysterious object that American sailors encountered in the waters of the Pacific Ocean could indeed be the latest development of Soviet designers.
Back in the 30s of the twentieth century, Soviet designers tried to build a unique structure - a flying submarine (LPL).
The chief designer of the military facility, unique in its technical characteristics, was Vasily Ushakov, a talented Soviet designer, whose name is associated with a huge number of developments in naval technical equipment for both military and civil purposes. According to the designer's idea, the LPL should in its shape resemble an airplane, the body of which is made of super-strong alloy. The LPL was supposed to rise to a height of 800 meters and, with the help of three engines, reach speeds of up to 300 km / h. It was assumed that the LPL would be able to travel huge distances through the air, and then plunge back into the water in a given square. Especially for this, the designers have provided pressurized compartments to hide the engines. It took only 90 seconds to switch from the flight mode and land on the water to the full immersion of the LPL.
"According to Ushakov's plan, his submarine, taking into account the fact that the plane flies faster," says Konstantin Kulagin, an expert historian of the USSR and Russian Navy, "must surface and instantly change its position by air, which is extremely beneficial in confrontation with the enemy fleet."
At the same time, Russian historians do not believe the version that it was Ushakov's LPL that surfaced off the coast of California in 1963. First of all, they point to the fact that there is no evidence that such an apparatus has ever been launched. It is obvious that Vasily Ushakov's grandiose project remained a project on paper.
But if in the USSR they could not build an aircraft capable of launching from under water, then American designers coped with this task, and, it should be admitted, very successfully.
In 1975, the American concern Lockheed Martin introduced the world's first flying submarine. The newest ship Carmoran was capable of taking off into the air from a depth of 150 meters and accelerating to 400 km / h and at the same time, thanks to the Stealth system, remain invisible to enemy radars. Due to its extremely low weight, the LPL performs maneuvers in the air that are beyond the control of even modern conventional fighters. Carmoran's primary mission is to conduct reconnaissance and transmit data to the main ship or to the main command center. To carry out reconnaissance on an unmanned vessel, there are all the necessary technical means, from video cameras to radio signal interceptors.
To date, the American LPL Karmoran is the only one in the world, but science is not standing still, and perhaps in the near future such devices will appear in service with the Russian army. Or maybe they already exist?
