The inestimable UFO researcher and archivist, Isaac Koi got into a discussion at UFO UpDates in 2005 with Joe McGonagle (noted Brit UFO researcher) and Nick Balaskas (Physics Laboratory Technologist/Instructor at York University) about a Nick Cook British TV documentary (that some of you may have seen on America's H2 Channel), UFOs: The Secret Evidence.
The whole back-and-forth is interesting but I've selected the section dealing with Lonnie Zamora's 1964 experience, wherein the solution or explanation for Officer Zamora's craft was cited by documentarian Cook as the Silverbug prototype, which you can read about via this Project 47 link (and others noted below):
Here's the segment and critique that Mr. Koi provided to UFO UpDate readers:
"Nick Cook claimed to have "discovered" a number of
secret projects which could account for UFO sightings. We had endless shots of
him shining his flashlight around a dark room filled with piles of yellowing
documents. On the few instances when he was prepared to deal with specific
instances, some of the things included in the documentary were a bit... odd.
For example, Lonnie Zamora's 1964 Socorro incident was one of the few sightings
to get the full treatment - a reconstruction, complete with actor (not wearing
any glasses...) and fairly impressive computer generated imagery (impressive at
least by the usual standards of British documentaries). It's just a shame that
the computer generated imagery had no resemblance whatsoever to the description
given by Lonnie Zamora. The object zipping around the sky in the relevant
reinactment was a classic disc-shaped UFO, which looked nothing like the numerous descriptions and
sketches provided by Zamora. This is not a simply a minor gripe about an
inaccuracy in the imagery used - Nick Cook proceeded to determine the probable
identity of the object seen by Zamora on the basis of this (incorrect) shape. Nick Cook said
"Buried in the depths of the archives, I've discovered blue prints which
reveal something quite fantastic - a supersonic saucer. Called the
Silverbug...", later stating "I believe Silverbug could explain what
Lonnie Zamora witnessed ... His description of a silver disc-shaped object
appears to fit in with the Silverbug profile".
So, Cook "discovered" the relevant blue prints
"Buried in the depths of the archives" did he? Well, perhaps he
should have done an internet search or read a few UFO books. Project Silver Bug
was discussed, for example, by the following authors (including Cook himself in
his 2001 book):
Campagna, Palmiro in his The UFO Files: The Canadian
Connection
Exposed (1998) at pages 63-66, 73-77 (in Chapter 5), 147,
150
(in Chapter 10), 155 (in Chapter 11), 169 (in the
Postscript) of
the Stoddart softcover edition.
Cook, Nick in his The Hunt for Zero Point (2001) at pages
73-
77 (in Chapter 6), 226, 227 (in Chapter 22) of the Century
hardback edition.
Hyland, Gary in his Blue Fires: The Lost Secrets of Nazi
Technology (2001) at pages 99-100 (in Chapter 4), 190-205
(in
Chapter 8), 211-212 (in Chapter 9) of the Headline hardback
edition.
Matthews, Tim in his UFO Revelation (1999) at pages 69 (in
Chapter 5), 70, 72-79 (in Chapter 6), 81 (in Chapter 7) of
the
Blandford softcover edition.
Michaels, Susan in her Sightings: UFOs (1997) at page 34 (in
the unnumbered chapter entitled Flying Saucers are Real) of
the Fireside softcover edition.
Redfern, Nick and Roberts, Andy in their Strange Secrets:
Real
Government Files on the Unknown (2003) at pages 85-97 (in
Chapter 5) of the Paraview Pocket Books softcover edition.
Sutherly, Curt in his UFO Mysteries: A Reporter Seeks the
Truth (2001) at pages 99, 103 (in Chapter 7) of the
Llewellyn
softcover edition.
Also, the relevant blueprints were included in the 1955
joint
Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) - Wright Air
Development Center (WADC) technical report on Project Silver
Bug
(covering Project Y and Project Y2). (Technical Report No.
TR-
AC-47, project No. 9961.) Images of that report are
available
online at:
http://www.project1947.com/fig/sb/sb_html.htm
The text of report is also available online at:
http://www.cufon.org/cufon/silverbg.htm
Further relevant links are available at:
http://www.project1947.com/fig/1955a.htm
The images used in the reconstruction of Zamora's sighting
looked liked they could have been based on the Silver Bug blueprints. Any
viewers of the documentary could reasonably conclude that the apparent
similarity between those shapes was due to Zamora having seen a Project Silver Bug craft.
However, the image used in the reconstruction has no
resemblance to Zamora's description and his drawings of the object he claimed
to have seen. See:
http://www.qtm.net/~geibdan/a1999/mar/zamora.htm
http://www.nicap.org/zamoradir.htm"
RR