Section A · Analytical ufology · 1948–
Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos
FOTOCAT curator · Anomaly Foundation (Spain)
Biography
Analytical Valencian ufologist (b. 1948), a reference for the rigorous, skeptical approach in Spanish. He curates FOTOCAT, the largest worldwide catalogue of cases backed by photographic or film evidence, and between 1992 and 1999 was instrumental in declassifying the Spanish Air Force's UFO archives. Author of 300+ technical reports: he treats each case as a problem of evidence, not faith.
Documents
Spanish Air Force UAP Declassification (Spain, 1992–1997)
Between 1992 and 1997 the Spanish Air Force declassified its UFO files, archived by the Air Operations Command and covering events between 1962 and 1995. The process was authorized in 1992, and the civilian researcher Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos acted as technical liaison between the military and researchers. The files were released with sensitive information redacted, such as the names of military witnesses and operational positions, and today the collection is online at the Defence Virtual Library, with 84 files. About 80% were attributed to conventional causes: balloons, aircraft, reentries, planets or atmospheric phenomena. It was a voluntary process, with no parliamentary or judicial pressure, but the archive is selective: it holds only what the Air Force itself handed over.
Why they're here · 3 pieces
- 1978
OVNIS: El fenómeno aterrizaje
First rigorous catalogue of landing cases in Spain and Portugal
- 1995
Expedientes insólitos
Documented the Spanish Air Force's UFO archives and their declassification
- 2000
Proyecto FOTOCAT
Worldwide catalogue of UAP cases with photographic or film evidence
Sources
- FOTOCAT Project · Anomalía Foundation — Largest worldwide catalogue of cases with photographic/film evidence.
- Spanish Ministry of Defence, Defence Virtual Library — 'Normativa militar sobre el fenómeno OVNI' (1968-1985), 51 pp. — Military rules on UFOs; it records the declassification proposal of 13 Apr 1992 and its approval by the Chief of the Air Staff on 28 Apr 1992. CC BY 4.0 licence.
- Spanish Ministry of Defence, Defence Virtual Library — index of the 84 declassified UFO files (1962-1995) — The complete collection online, under a CC BY 4.0 licence.
Associated cases (3)
Canary Islands· 1976
On the night of 22 June 1976, the crew of the corvette Atrevida off Fuerteventura and…
Manises 1979· 1979
On the night of 11 November 1979 the crew of TAE flight JK-297 saw two red lights that…
Campeche · Mexican Air Force FLIR· 2004
On 5 March 2004, around five in the afternoon, the crew of a Mexican Air Force Merlin…
Biography summarized from public sources, classified by section (A-F).