A Patch Better Perhaps

The above patch, from the private collection of Trevor Paglen, is perhaps a better candidate regarding a possible UFO connection. It has not been published (it is not in Paglen's book on this topic, for example) but it did float about for a while on the artist's old web-page, with a call there for any information regarding it to be forwarded to the artist (this is how it came to my attention). It can be found online today with a bit of "enlightened" google searching still.

Why is it a better candidate? Here one needs to reference something that is a bit of a rebus in UFO circles - namely the nexus of ideas around the alleged sightings of a black triangle UFO. Some people are of the opinion that this object is a reverse engineered human artefact, possibly code-named the TR3A (alternatively, through the years, the TR3B), and also known as the "Black Manta". The patch clearly shows a black manta ray, with wording emphasising its triangular shape! The full meaning of the design is as ever obscure - but the synchronicity between UFO lore and the existence of this patch is, to say the least, and in my opinion, very compelling indeed. It is, I think, a smoking gun.

Confusing the issue, perhaps, is the existence of an acknowledged, but unrealised, concept plane the X-44 MANTA (Lockheed Martin, 2000). It seems unlikely to me that an unrealised concept would earn a related mission patch, and Wikipedia in any case gives the code-name for this project as being "Project Have Manta" and not "Black Manta", but some would say Occam's razor applies (blah, blah - does it always?) and the patch should simply be associated with the X-44. Without more information from those in the know this comes down to a matter of ideology and taste. I do see more than a red herring here - proof rather that the alleged Black Manta is real, triangular, and the likely source of all those sightings!

I do have other, more esoteric, observations on the meaning of this patch, and I may follow up on that here later, but for now - I think - a puff of smoke, a smoking gun, and dead red herrings will do.