Ben Rich, Lockheed Martin and UFOs
Ben R. Rich, brilliant scientist, aeronautical engineer and Father of Stealth is more of an enigma now than he was during his lifetime. He is most noted for designing a stealth fighter-plane that flew undetected by radar and for his role as the second director of Lockheed Martin’s top-secret Skunk Works program. Born in 1925, Rich passed away in 1995 with controversy still brewing among his friends, critics and those who heard him speak publicly about whether or not he believed in UFOs and extraterrestrials.
Many questions remain unanswered. Was there a Ben Rich deathbed confession where he admitted that he knew that extraterrestrials and UFO visitors are real? Did he publicly mean it when he claimed that, “We now have the technology to take ET home,” or was it a joke? Is there credibility to other statements attributed to him in which he allegedly claimed technology learned at Roswell was used to influence the development of top secret U.S. aircraft? Are the alleged communications from Rich to his friend John Andrews credible?
With Rich’s last breath, definitive answers to these questions were lost forever.
Ben Rich and Skunk Works
Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Projects (ADP), known officially as Skunk Works, was a secret aeronautical research facility in Burbank, California. The founder and first director of Skunk Works was Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, who was the designer of a U.S. spy plane called the U-2. Ben Robert Rich joined Skunk Works in 1954 and helped design various aircraft, including a prototype that could reach speeds more than 1,300 mph. He became the second director of Skunk Works, holding that position from 1975 until his retirement in 1991.
Who Runs the SSP? Watch this full-length episode of Cosmic Disclosure…
Rich was best known for his design of the first operational stealth aircraft, which are aircraft that are undetectable by radar. According to one source, “Nearly all of the programs he worked on began as top-secret projects…that were tested at the infamous Area 51 in Nevada, focus of much UFO lore.”
Rich received many awards through the years, including the award from the Department of Defense for Distinguished Public Service. After his retirement, he continued to speak around the country on the achievements of Skunk Works. Some believe things he said at those public events support his belief in UFOs and ETs. Others say he was only “joking” with some of his comments. There are also letters he wrote to a friend and evidence of an important phone conversation he had just a few days before his death; both shed light on his UFO and ET beliefs.
Communications Between John Andrews and Ben Rich
John Andrews was a Lockheed engineer and personal friend of Ben Rich. Andrews expressed his own personal opinion that UFOs existed in a letter he wrote to Rich, asking Rich to share his own opinion. Andrews claimed that Rich responded that he believed “there are two types of UFOs, the ones we build, and the ones they build…I am a believer in both categories. I feel everything is possible. Many of our man-made UFOs are Un-Funded Opportunities.” Rich underlined the “UFO” in “Un-Funded Opportunities,” but gave no explanation.
Rich continued, stating that most “biomorphic” aerospace designs were inspired by Roswell spacecraft. Rich wrote that he believed the American public “could not handle the truth” about UFOs and ETs. However, he changed his mind toward the end of his life and felt that keeping the secret could be more of a danger to “citizens’ personal freedom under the United States Constitution than the presence of off-world visitors themselves.”
Ben Rich’s Standard Speech: True Comments or Jokes?
During a 1993 Alumni Speech at UCLA, Rich stated: “We already have the means to travel among the stars, but these technologies are locked up in black projects and it would take an Act of God to ever get them out to benefit humanity…Anything you can imagine, we already know how to do.” At the end of the speech, Rich said, “We now have the technology to take ET home.”
Critics say that Rich either did not make the comment about taking ET home or he was not serious if he did say it. They point out that Rich first used that statement to conclude his speech in 1983, shortly after the Steven Spielberg film E.T.: The Extraterrestrial hit the big screen. The comment at that time was made as a joke and received a positive audience response, so he continued to use it.
Critics discount the reports of two reputable witnesses at the 1993 speech who spoke with Rich after the speech was over. Jan Harzan and Tom Keller, both engineering alumni of UCLA and UFO enthusiasts, caught up with Rich after his speech and asked him to explain his “taking ET” home comment. The following oft-reported exchange occurred.
Harzan reported that Rich said, “We know how to travel to the stars. We found an error in the equations and it won’t take a lifetime to do it.”
Harzan laments that Rich “didn’t say what the equations were,” so Harzan pursued questioning Rich on “the workings of interstellar propulsion systems.”
Rich turned to Harzan and asked, “How does ESP work?”
Harzan replied, “I don’t know. All points in space and time are connected?”
Rich said, “That’s how it works.”
According to Harzan, Rich then turned and walked away. Harzan interpreted Rich’s comments to mean that U.S. scientists are aware of the existence of “interstellar propulsion technology” which involves a known set of equations. Critics say it was just Rich’s way of continuing the joke.
Ben Rich’s “Deathbed Confession”
James Goodall, aerospace journalist and an in-demand public speaker, became friends with Ben Rich. Goodall states that he spoke with Rich about 10 days before Rich died. The conversation took place over the phone while Rich was in the USC Medical Center in Los Angeles where Goodall claims that Rich said, “Jim, we have things out in the desert that are fifty years beyond what you can comprehend. If you have seen it on Star Wars or Star Trek, we’ve been there, done that, or decided it wasn’t worth the effort. They have about forty-five hundred people at Lockheed Skunk Works. What have they been doing for the last 18 or 20 years? They’re building something.”
Ben Rich was a brilliant engineer whose contributions to the aerospace industry are still out of this world. His inquisitiveness continued throughout his life. Even critics who question whether he made some of the comments attributed to him believe that, at a minimum, he believed in “the existence of other intelligent life in the universe” even though he thought it likely to be distant and definitely mysterious.
Want to learn more about Ben Rich and his role in deep space exploration? Be sure to view the latest episode of Deep Space: Secrets of Anti-Gravity.
Want more like this article?
Don’t miss Deep Space on Gaia for more on the long and hidden history of Earth’s secret space program.
About the Author
Are Humans Being Recruited for Breakaway Civilizations?
Did you ever wake up in the morning and feel like something was off-kilter? Perhaps you were worried about finances or visiting in-laws. However, if you were a breakaway civilization recruit your waking moments might be more like this:
You feel like you were asleep forever, but the clock says it is just a few hours later than when you went to bed. Maybe you just had an incredibly long and detailed dream. After several flashbacks or moments of déjà vu, you recall that you were a member of a Secret Space Program (SSP) and spent years living on Mars as part of a human colony. You remember stopping by the moon for a short time when going to or coming from Mars.
People are recruited for these colonies, known as breakaway civilizations when their particular skills are needed in a new civilization. Explore how breakaway civilizations may be essential for the future of humanity and potential recruitment criteria for colonists.
Breakaway Civilizations; An Off-Planet Solution?
In the early 1940s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became concerned that a catastrophic event would require the movement of large masses of people away from areas of destruction. The problem became more dangerous when FDR discovered there was no one place on the planet that could accommodate such large groups. He even explored the idea of digging tunnels and underground shelters. These plans seemed unworkable, so he explored the idea of developing off-planet solutions, like establishing colonies on the Moon, Mars, or Venus.
Hackers Uncover Evidence of Breakaway Civilizations
There is strong evidence that breakaway civilizations have existed on the moon and Mars for many years. Two independent computer hackers accessed government computers and found reports indicating there were colonies on the moon and Mars. One hacker, Matthew Bevan, accessed the files in the early 1990s. The other one, Gary McKinnon, accessed records in the early 2000s.
Breakaway Civilizations: Recruitment
There are three recruitment categories for Breakaway Civilizations:
- Some recruits are made
- Some recruits are asked
- Some recruits are taken
1. SOME ARE MADE
Randy Cramer believes he was designated to be part of the SSP and go to Mars prior to his birth. He had no choice and was predestined to be a Breakaway Civilization participant.
2. SOME ARE ASKED
Laura Magdalene Eisenhower, great-granddaughter of President Eisenhower, has shared her experiences of being actively recruited to go to Mars. Eisenhower felt she had been targeted before she was born, but it wasn’t until she was a single mother with twin boys that she was asked. She turned down the “opportunity,” but she has provided details of the attempt that was made to get her to join the project.
3. SOME ARE TAKEN
David Paulides heads a group of retired police officers and others who are experienced Search and Rescue experts (SAR). Their mission is to investigate the thousands of reports every year of missing persons. Paulides documents the mysterious disappearances of people around the world. He says these people are “brilliant scholars, athletes and stellar people.” They suddenly disappear under questionable circumstances.
Development of Technology Supports The Existence of Breakaway Civilizations
There is evidence that technology for space travel now allows people to travel from Earth to the moon or Mars without traversing the distance between the places. This technology involves teleportation or some type of secret portal. When you consider all the advancements that have been made in technology that we use in our daily lives, it makes sense that similar advances would be made in the technology used for space travel.
We have gone from fax machines to scanners and email. From landlines to cell phones. We have gone from the original computer that was the size of a large closet to handheld devices with many more available functions. So, isn’t it possible that space travel technology would also experience such advancements, including how to travel in space by teleportation through portals or some other equally fast way?
Mind Control Devices: Project MK-Ultra
The CIA is known for several mind control programs. Project MKUltra, a secret CIA project designed to test the effect of drugs on humans, was conducted on unwitting subjects from 1953 to 1964. During the program, experimenters gave test subjects drugs that caused them to have hallucinations and other adverse reactions. Other drugs erased memories of time and events.
In 1976, the U.S. Senate investigated the MKUltra program. Senators were shocked by some of their discoveries. For example, Congress learned that the secret program was designed to discover drugs that could help people “withstand privation, torture and coercion during interrogation and so-called brain-washing” and other drugs “which will produce amnesia for events preceding and during their use.”
Using these drugs, along with technology learned from aliens, explains why Randy Cramer and the other whistleblowers would at first have no recollection of their trip. Other drugs to reverse memory loss along with therapy allowed them to recover their memories. Some people view the concept of breakaway civilizations as a “pipe dream” shared by a few folks who are trying to bask in their 15 minutes of fame by telling their incredible stories of life on Mars. What do you think? Share your comments below.
Want more like this article?
Don’t miss Deep Space on Gaia for more on the long and hidden history of Earth’s secret space program.
