UFOs, just like people, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. But, just recently, I have been doing a lot of research into sightings of UFOs of the very small kind. And, there are a lot of them. I’m working on a full paper on this matter right now – which will, of course, include significant data on relatively recent cases, many of which I’m convinced are not real UFOs, but actually classified Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs) of the military. But, none of that takes away the fact that “mini-UFOs” were seen decades ago, and which I don’t think were RPVs. And here’s just a couple from my files…

Donald Kent “Deke” Slayton was a part of the elite group that comprised NASA’s original “Mercury Seven” astronauts. It was while flying in 1951, said Slayton, when he had his first, and as history would demonstrate, his only, close encounter with what some might conclude may have been an intelligently controlled vehicle that originated within the depths of another galaxy.

Slayton explained the fascinating facts: “…I was heading back to Holman Field when all of a sudden I saw this white object about my altitude, at one o’clock…The closer I got, the more it looked like a weather balloon, and I’m thinking, that’s what it’s gotta be. Then I flew past it a little high, about a thousand feet off. It still looked like a three-foot diameter weather-balloon to me.”

Due to the fact that, initially at least, he was pretty much convinced he had seen nothing stranger than a small weather balloon, Slayton chose to remain silent on the incident. That is, until only a few days later when, after casually telling his boss all about the event in question, Slayton was told quickly and decisively: “Get your ass over to Intelligence in the morning and give them a briefing.”

Having duly done so, Slayton was quietly advised by his Air Force interviewers that on the very same day as his own sighting, a local company was flying high altitude, research balloons in the same area. While doing so, the balloon team had also seen a mysterious flying object that hovered in the skies before taking off at a high rate of speed.

Slayton, always the balanced and careful thinker, preferred not to speculate on the affair, and could only conclude that: “My position is, I don’t know what it was: it was unidentified…It’s still an open question to me.”

It is worth noting, contrary to what many might initially assume, UFOs are certainly not always reported as being gigantic in size. Indeed, many qualified observers have reported seeing very small vehicles of unknown origins in our skies – and not at all unlike the very one encountered by NASA astronaut Slayton.

For example, FBI-originated UFO files of 1952 refer to the sighting of a UFO, by a lieutenant commander with the U.S. Navy, who had seen an approximately four-foot diameter UFO hovering in the sky in March 1952, near to his Chicago, Illinois home.

Similarly, additional FBI files of the very same month refer to yet another sighting of a small UFO in the vicinity of Chicago. In this particular case, the FBI noted that the witness “described the disc as approximately six feet in diameter, circular, white in color with a bluish tinge. The disc, he said, appeared to have been constructed out of a metal similar to aluminum.”

While I am personally convinced that some UFOs are indeed under the control of beings from other realms of existence (probably of an extra-dimensional nature, rather than extra-terrestrial), some might argue that perhaps these particular types of reports – of very small UFOs, such as that seen by Mercury astronaut “Deke” Slayton in 1951 – are an indication that the intelligences behind the UFO phenomenon are not beyond utilizing small, unmanned, remotely piloted vehicles, perhaps undertaking reconnaissance missions deemed far too risky for a fully crewed, large vessel.

Granted, this is nothing more than admitted speculation on my part, but it is a point worth considering and keeping in mind, and which may go some way towards explaining the presence of such compact UFOs in our skies.