Tales from Area 51*

Gallery Article by Alvis 3.1

 

What Santa was supposed to fly, 1947.

After WWII, Santa was looking for a newer form of transport other than reindeer or airplanes. A group of elves, who'd recently obtained some plans for an advanced technology far beyond that eras' capacity (a mystery still not explained) secretly built a new flying vehicle the likes that had never been seen before. Vaguely manta-ray shaped, it utilised a form of gravitational propulsion combined with flexing time and space with a poly-dimensional force effect outside of Einsteinian physics. And it glowed eerily from the bottom as well. Santa, while impressed with their diligence, was unsure if it would actually hold up to a one night workout, so he asked them to begin some test flights.

Beginning in the spring of 1947, several test flights were undertaken. While many countries had no idea anything odd was happening, the USA was very aviation conscious, and a spate of UFO sightings began to get the attention of the press and the military. Santa, wanting to avoid any accidental incidents, curtailed the test flights until the next holiday weekend was due, which was July 4th, traditionally one where strange aerial objects were often overlooked. Unfortunately, bad luck was to change that.

While on a high speed run over the American South-West on the night of July 4th, the new Santa X-1, flown by a test flight crew of four elves, ran flat out into a weather balloon from the Roswell Army Air Force base. Losing control momentarily, the vehicle slammed into the ground, killing all the occupants. Discovered several days later by hikers, it became the centre of international attention when the US Army Air Force announced it had found the remains of a captured Flying Saucer. (The odd metal foil often discussed was actually a mylar-type wrapping paper being flight tested as well) Once the news reached the North Pole, a telegram was sent to the Pentagon and a lid of secrecy was immediately clamped upon the whole event, with the remains of the ship and its unfortunate crew being flown back to the North Pole in a B-29. 

The rapidity of the cover-up unfortunately led to leaks and slip-ups, and a whole conspiracy theory industry has sprung up from this event. Oddly, the child-like alien appearance of elves only made the whole thing seem like it could have been space aliens after all...

*Area 51 is not a repository of things alien and weird. It is, in fact, where the paperwork for things weird and alien is kept.

The Model:
Basically the 1/48th scale Testors Roswell UFO painted in Xmas colours!

Alvis 3.1

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Photos and text © by Alvis 3.1