Column b, as if a hint were needed..
To be clear, we doubt the authenticity of the photos taken by "Mr. Ed" (his initial pseudonym while slipping the photos in the mail slot of the local paper.)
Where does that leave us? Unfortunately, with dozens of reports and recordings of what appear to be some sort of lit object (flares or pyrotechnics of some sort) showing up regularly, often in number, following the initial photos being released  |
| The Gulf Breeze case, according to Bruce Maccabee, a kind, if suggestible guy.http://brumac.8k.com/GulfBreeze/Bubba/GBBUBBA.html |
Almost as if to encourage the story to spread.
This is a topic we have researched and written about in the past, pre internet 'zine days but for now the below will have to suffice.
Wikipedia http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Special_Operations_Wing
"The 1st SOW mission focus is unconventional warfare: counter-terrorism, combat search and rescue, personnel recovery, psychological operations, aviation assistance to developing nations, "deep battlefield" resupply, interdiction and close air support. The wing has units located at Hurlburt Field, Florida, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
The wing's core missions include aerospace surface interface, agile combat support, combat aviation advisory operations, information operations, personnel recovery/recovery operations, precision aerospace fires, psychological operations dissemination, specialized aerospace mobility and specialized aerial refueling."
Consolidated with the Vietnam Era 9th Air Commando Squadron (Psychological Operations) in 1985. The 9th ACS operated primarily C-47 Skytrains over South Vietnam from March 1967-January 1972. The squadron's psychological warfare missions directly or indirectly influenced the surrender of thousands of enemy soldiers. In addition, carried out night combat operations against enemy forces and hamlets through flare drops and minigun saturation fire. Despite the often heavy and accurate enemy antiaircraft fire, used light observation aircraft to perform search and rescue missions to locate and direct recovery forces finding downed airmen over enemy controlled territory. Inactivated in 1972 as part of the drawdown of forces in Indochina.[2]
Auxiliary Field 10 (Dillon Field)Auxiliary Field 10 is the western-most of the wartime Eglin airfields, located in Santa Rosa County, and is named Dillon Field for Capt. Barclay H. Dillon, test pilot of the Fighter Section of the 1st Proving Ground Group, killed 2 October 1943 when P-38J-5-LO Lightning, 42-67103, crashed 8 miles (13 km) W of Milton, Florida.[25] Field 10 was later named Eglin Dillon Airdrome.[35] Now used primarily for U.S. Navy basic flight training, the Navy refers to it as Choctaw Naval Outlying Field (OLF).[29] It is also used for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle [UAV] training,[36] and it is expected that F-35 Lightning IIs assigned to the 33d Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base will utilize OLF Choctaw for training.[37]
Auxiliary Field 11 is an unconfirmed name for a RED HORSE unsurfaced airstrip that shows up on Google Earth in Walton County.
The Santa Rosa Island Range Complex is part of the Eglin overwater range that provides 86,500 square miles of overwater airspace that is jointly used for a variety of test and evaluation activities and training exercises.
