Twentynine Palms, Camp Wilson "Triangle UAP" [Flares]

Mick West

Mick West

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Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEkRpXuqZqo


This is a summary post for Twentynine Palms UFO case of 4/2/2021, where five lights were observed by Marines stationed at Camp Wilson.
2023-05-23_09-45-54.jpg


DoD footage from the same day and area shows flares descending:



Overlaying multiple photos shows the lights actually descend.
1482 overlay annotated.jpg


The purple "shape" seems to just be color spread, also visible around other object in the scene.
View attachment 59284View attachment 59285View attachment 59286

The dimmer lights are consistent with IR flares, which are 1,300 candlepower of visible light, vs. 1,000,000 for regular area illumination.
Candlepower vis vs IR 0.1%.jpg


Geolocation and matching photos suggests the flares are over the mountain. See: https://www.metabunk.org/threads/tw...-triangle-uap-flares.12967/page-2#post-290715
 

Attachments

  • 29 Palms Flares FLIP OVERLAY CLIP.mp4
    2.9 MB
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[Admin: This is the original first post in the thread]

For audio video content see: https://www.weaponizedpodcast.com/news-1/mojave-triangle-uap

THE FACTS

DATE / TIME - 20 April 2021 / 8:20pm to 9:30pm PST

LOCATION - The Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms - Camp Wilson.

DURATION - Approximately 10 minutes.

CASE TYPE - Mass UFO sighting / 50+ direct eyewitnesses.

KNOWN IMAGING PLATFORMS - iPhones & Infrared.

CONSENSUS EYEWITNESS REPORTS

SHAPE : Triangle by angle of observation.

SOUND : Silent.

SIZE : Estimations are between half the size of a football field and a three bedroom two story house.

TIMELINE

8:20pm : Craft appeared.

8:24pm : First known iPhone recordings.

8:29pm : Illumination rounds were discharged above the UAP craft. This was recorded.

8:30pm : The UAP was reported to "blink out" or "disappear" just before the the illumination rounds approached useful proximity to the unidentified craft.

RESPONSE - There was a significant air and ground response for approximately three hours after this mass sighting; presumed by witnesses to be a search and reconnaissance effort.
Click to expand...

Potential ideas?
  • FLARES: the witnesses claim they were stationary. Maybe we can use the timestamps from the videos to verify that.
  • Helicopters? Just hovering in formation for some reason with bright lights?
  • Balloons: the formation seems to "break" a little bit. So probably not a solid object? In alternative it could be a solid object changing aspect ratio.
  • The "response" could just be a sign that this was a large military exercise. Any proof of that?
 
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hmm, bright lights hovering over a military training ground...? is there anything you suggest that these aren't illumination flares either from planes or from mortars/artillery...?

THE+MOJAVE+TRIANGLE+UAP (1).jpg


20230523_133540.jpg


edit: I heard the interview with the two US Marines and one of them talks about how artillery illumination flares look. As an ex-artillery fire control officer myself (FOO) I agree with everything he says. The timings of the flares (lasting for ten minutes) and the colour suggests that these weren't artillery flares.
 
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Just regarding the colour (the 'UAP' lights were pinkish) - I found this...

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...-that-military-aircraft-fire-off-all-the-time
MJU-62 Flare is a multi-spectral countermeasure designed to be used as part of a flare cocktail pattern to confuse advanced infrared threat missiles. Used primarily on the C-17 and C-5 aircraft which require a 1 inch by 2 inch by 8 inch flare size to accommodate desired cocktail flare mixes. MJU-62 is being evaluated for use on other types of aircraft such as F-16, A-10, and HH-60.
Click to expand...


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=38&v=BItsf-sW8KI&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2F&source_ve_path=MzY4NDIsMjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo

1684836151775.png
 
I think the exact location for this image is as below.

34.302556° -116.145111°
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/34°18'09.2"N+116°08'42.4"W/@34.3025604,-116.1476859,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d34.302556!4d-116.145111

Camp Wilson, USMC Base, 29 Palms.
1684847890118.png



1684847914668.png



Daylight pic of Camp Wilson: https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7320814/camp-wilson-awaits-magtf-23
1000w_q95.jpg


So we're looking ENE on a bearing of about 65 degrees, which puts the 'UAP' in Restricted Airspace R-2501D

https://www.29palms.marines.mil/Por...A_Chart2018June.pdf?ver=2018-07-30-174016-953
1684849982059.png
 
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To me the white lights in the videos look like landing lights from something like a cargo plane. But there's no ADSB history I can access for it and also military may not have a transponder on.
 
gtoffo said:
For audio video content see: https://www.weaponizedpodcast.com/news-1/mojave-triangle-uap


Potential ideas?
  • FLARES: the witnesses claim they were stationary. Maybe we can use the timestamps from the videos to verify that.
  • Helicopters? Just hovering in formation for some reason with bright lights?
  • Balloons: the formation seems to "break" a little bit. So probably not a solid object? In alternative it could be a solid object changing aspect ratio.
  • The "response" could just be a sign that this was a large military exercise. Any proof of that?
Click to expand...

If it was a solid object I'd expect the 5 lights to maintain their relative pattern. But they don't. By the time one gets to video 4 the light second in from the right has drifted upwards considerably...relative to the other lights. And so has the light second in from the left. That suggests one is looking at 5 separate objects. I'm guessing it is just drones, possibly flown by the very people taking the video,

Can anyone figure what is being said in Video 5 ? At around 8 seconds it seems to be ' those are our.....(something)' followed by someone quite distinctly saying 'Ours ?' ( in a questioning manner ) at 14 seconds. Hmm. Is that a give-away that the viewers know exactly what they are seeing ?
 
The "black traingle" appears to just be color bleed or ghosting: Look here at the brown utility pole on the left and the lower yellow bollards
29 Palms Photo #2 from video - Low light mode.jpg


2023-05-23_08-12-05.jpg
2023-05-23_08-12-23.jpg
2023-05-23_08-13-04.jpg


Bright objects seem to have a halo of a similar color (magenta for the five lights). So this is a camera artifact.
 
I think a significant clue here is the scintillation - i.e. the flickering of the lights like a star flickers.



This means that they are far away, and angularly small enough so that they are just point sources of light.

How far away? Depends on atmospheric conditions, maybe five mile or more? This would contribute to the illusion that they are "hovering" when they are actually descending slowly.
 
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A Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course (No. 2-21) was going on that night at that base.
Video link:

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/791763/wti-2-21-close-fire-support
External Quote:

TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA, UNITED STATES

04.20.2021

Video by Lance Cpl. Patrick Katz

Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron-1

U.S. Marines assigned to Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1), provide close fire support coordination to aircraft in their airspace, during Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course 2-21, at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, in Twentynine Palms, Calif., April 20, 2021. The WTI course is a seven-week training event hosted by MAWTS-1, providing standardized advanced tactical training and certification of unit instructor qualifications to support Marine aviation training and readiness, and assist in developing and employing aviation weapons and tactics.
Formations of helicopters can be seen near (closer?) to a similar looking mountain range.
2023-05-23_09-24-52.jpg
 
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deirdre said:
this guy on reddit was supposedly there
Article:
Now everyone with me at the time thought maybe it was aircraft but they were way beyond the mountains. Clearly miles behind it but a light that bright giving off that much luminosity there was no way it was a close up craft.
Click to expand...
It's hard enough to judge distance without knowing what you're looking at and without an object interacting with landmarks of a known size at a known distance. The question is a good deal harder to resolve in clear desert air, where visibility is far, far better than it is in a humid environment. Having lived in New Mexico, I know thirty-five miles of visibility of even a small light was not at all uncommon, and there were days when we could see Sierra Blanca at a distance of two hundred miles. I wouldn't put too much stock in a report from "this guy on Reddit".
 
Ann K said:
Having lived in New Mexico, I know thirty-five miles of visibility of even a small light was not at all uncommon, and there were days when we could see Sierra Blanca at a distance of two hundred miles. I wouldn't put too much stock in a report from "this guy on Reddit".
Click to expand...
but im supposed to put stock in what you say? i dont see the difference.
 
If the hypothesis is that those are far away flares do we know for sure how long they stayed aloft? Timestamps from the first and last video? Can flares could burn for a very long time?

The fact there was a nearby training is a clear indication this was probably it.
 
deirdre said:
but im supposed to put stock in what you say? i dont see the difference.
Click to expand...
I haven't made any estimates of the distance, nor declared without evidence that "they were way beyond the mountains. Clearly miles behind it but a light that bright giving off that much luminosity there was no way it was a close up craft."

There's your difference.
 
flarkey said:
hmm, bright lights hovering over a military training ground...? is there anything you suggest that these aren't illumination flares either from planes or from mortars/artillery...?

View attachment 59277

View attachment 59279

edit: I heard the interview with the two US Marines and one of them talks about how artillery illumination flares look. As an ex-artillery fire control officer myself (FOO) I agree with everything he says. The timings of the flares (lasting for ten minutes) and the colour suggests that these weren't artillery flares.
Click to expand...

If that is two pictures of the same object at the same time...then one can triangulate the position, size, and so on. We even have the same poles and wires for reference. Gonna see what I can come up with..
 
Just been trying to geolocate the location of the B-Roll Movie that shows the 5 x flares.....

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/791782/wti-assault-support-training-4-b-roll
1684926455959.png


As per @Mick West's video that suggest the 'arrangement of the flares' is a direct horizontal flip of the 'UAP formation'...
1684929058828.png


.....then we could assume that the B-Roll video was taken on the other side of the UAP looking back towards Camp Wilson...

1684925384935.png


In Post #6 above I showed that the UAP was on a bearing of 065 from Camp Wilson. We can plot the line of sight from Camp Wilson on the bearing of 065 ..... this is how that looks in Google Earth...

1684925601797.png


At 1m21 of the B-roll we get this image of the training village that the exercises are taking place. There is a distinct "broken low wall" in front of the training village buildings...
1684925034539.png


Very close to the line of sight in google earth is this Military Training Village village which has a very similar 'broken low wall' running between the buildings....

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/34°23'50.7"N+115°51'22.7"W/@34.3972752,-115.8583025,777m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d34.397408!4d-115.856296

1684925074805.png


34.397408 -115.856296
1684925937002.png


The ridgeline to the West is very similar in the video and Google Earth...

1684926837287.png


This looks like a good candidate for where the video was taken. Obviously the edits mean that the section showing the flares could have been filmed elsewhere, but at least this is consistent with the 'the UAP was flares' theory.

This village appears to be known as Range 210 - note the broken wall in the background...

https://www.1stmardiv.marines.mil/Photos/igphoto/2000761117/
1684928641837.png


https://www.1stmardiv.marines.mil/Photos/igphoto/2000761118/
1684928613518.png
 
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flarkey said:
This looks like a good candidate for where the video was taken. Obviously the edits mean that the section showing the flares could have been filmed elsewhere, but at least this is consistent with the 'the UAP was flares' theory.
Click to expand...
Nice work!
 
Mick West said:
View attachment 59284

Bright objects seem to have a halo of a similar color (magenta for the five lights). So this is a camera artifact.
Click to expand...
Left most object doesn't look attached to the "triangle".

I'm seeing trails from them falling. The bright edge of "triangle" on the right being the trail of the lower object on the right being lit by the others. Left most trial is quite easy to see but squint and they've all got trails like they are falling and leaving something behind.
 
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I did a stabilisation track in Davinci against the white square and overlaid a grid the drop for both sets of flares is very subtle, less so for the brighter lights but there when the square is stable, however the auto track loses it a bit when it goes out of focus halfway through, will probably need manual keyframing to show it across the full length of the video
 
Hmm it's annoying there's such a period of instability in the middle, the effect of the drop is just visible within the 2 halves of the video but would be much more noticeable if the track could be maintained for the full length.
 
This is Video #2, played rapidly back and forth, showing that the positions of the lights change.
 

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  • VIdeo 2 Stab PP.mov
    633.6 KB
for what it's worth this is stabilised video, it's 4k to account for the vertical should be watched full screen on large monitor, you can just see the lights dropping past the grid lines, like I say it's subtle and the large period of untrackable movement in the middle really hides the effect.
 
Mick West said:
Comparing the start and end of the video, the flares have descended.
Click to expand...

Assuming the observer is stationary*, the apparent descent is [mostly] illusory, driven by the camera shake and the motion compensation of the video.

* - No significant perspective change for the three lights in the bottom right. Video stabilized on these for location, rotation and scale:



[Edit] Correction, I was looking at the wrong graph. There's a small descent ~5 pixels for the bright flares and ~2.5 pixels for the dim ones:

b.jpgc.jpg
 
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The observer is not stationary, the 3 lights at the bottom are fixed points if you base the stabilisation on this you see the descent

Comparing 2 frames from the start and end of the video with them matched on the 3 lights at the bottom you can see the descent of both sets of flares.

1685013533924.png
 
@jarlrmai
See my correction above.

My only point is that the movement is not as significant as it appears on Mick's image (and the later one by you), which might lead someone astray if trying to match to an absolute altitude and descent rate or the lateral motion with the wind etc.

Stabilized video (green) overlaid with a still frame (red):

 
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