The CONVERSION. My interest is aroused. My own involvement in the subject of extraterrestrial visitors began with a vehemently negative attitude. Having worked as an aeronautical engineer since 1934-first in the design and analysis of aircraft, then for the past fifteen years in the design and development of both launching vehicles and spacecraft-I was firmly entrenched in the camp of those who declare visits from outer space to be an impossibility. It was in this frame of mind that I began to read Erich von Daniken’s "Chariots of the Gods? His claim that the prophet Ezekiel had encounters with spaceships prompted me to read the biblical book of Ezekiel carefully with the intention of proving von Daniken wrong. By the time I had got to verse 7 of the very first chapter, however, I found myself interpreting a description of the landings legs of some kind of flying vehicle: "Their legs were straight. and the soles of their feet were round; and they sparkled like burnished bronze." Having designed and tested such structures myself, I could not deny that it was possible to read in this a direct, yet simple, technical description. The contrast of that evidently clear passage with the quite hazy pictures sketched by the rest of the chapter made me realize that the prophet could not have known what it was he had seen, or could not have understood it. I realize the necessary consequences of this: the prophet could only describe his encounters with space vehicles and their crews in the terms available to him-with words and comparisons familiar to him and his contemporaries. So I began taking Ezekiel seriously, in an engineering sense. Because I had to rely on translations, I used six different bibles, ranging in time from early in the last century to 1972, edited by Jewish, Roman Catholic, and protestant translators. Besides these, I used two highly detailed biblical commentaries. My application of aircraft (specifically, helicopter) and spacecraft engineering principles to the reports of the prophet resulted in the penetration of Ezekiel’s visual descriptions, and the replacement of these by known structural configurations. The final result is shown by the drawing at the beginning of this paper. There we see a quasi-conical main body, supported by four helicopter units, which carries the command capsule atop its rounded upper portion. We should consider that Ezekiel first saw this vehicle at a distance of about 1,000 meters; at the moment the nuclear engine fired, probably with some white clouds of condensation (because of the engine’s "chill down" phase) shooting past the craft’s main body. In these fiery, dynamic surroundings Ezekiel notices the moving rotors, see the landing legs and mechanical arms attached to the helicopter units. His first reaction is to compare the helicopters with man-like figures, but he then finds in the term ’living creatures’ an expression of admirable vagueness to reflect his uncertainty. During final decent and landing, Ezekiel observes the protective covers of the helicopter’s gear mechanisms, which he able to describe best by comparing them with human faces.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 03:55:58 +0000
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