UFO Experts Debate Strange Sighting in SM; 'Battle: LA' Looms

It's Feb. 24, 1942, and America is still on alert following the bombing of Pearl Harbor two and a half months prior.

Air-raid sirens blare, waking people throughout Los Angeles. The unexplained event known as the Battle of Los Angeles—or, the Great Los Angeles Air Raid—has begun.

Unidentified flying objects are spotted in the skies above and Redondo Beach starting around 2 a.m. They are flying between 9,000 and 18,000 feet high in the sky, and witnesses see between nine and 25 of them over Santa Monica Bay. Some appear to be traveling fast, at speeds upward of 200 miles per hour. Others seem to be moving more slowly.

Search lights are cast across the night sky. At 3:16 a.m., the 37th Coast Artillery Brigade responds, firing anti-aircraft shells at the UFOs. Over the course of the next 58 minutes, more than 1,400 shells are fired at the objects as they head from Santa Monica to Long Beach.

The crafts, which do not appear to be damaged, eventually fly away.

Pan to 69 years later. Military experts are still unsure about the identity of the flying objects, despite numerous investigations and varying conclusions regarding what happened. Were they weather balloons? Japanese or German aircraft?

On Wednesday morning, the debate was reignited again in Santa Monica, a day before the 69th anniversary of the air raid. Retired military officials and UFO experts discussed the 1942 incident, along with other alleged UFO sightings, at an event held at . The discussion doubled as a promotional push for the new sci-fi flick "Battle: Los Angeles," which was inspired by the Great Los Angeles Air Raid.

The movie—which features Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo and Michael Peña—revolves around an alien invasion that takes place in the modern day. It hits theaters Mar. 11.

"The real-life event just grounds the movie," producer Ori Marmur said. "For the film, we decided that all previous UFO sightings, including that one, were scouting missions ... gearing up for the coming invasion by unknown forces."

Participating in the debate about the unexplained event were Capt. Robert Salas and Lt. Col. Charles Halt, retired officers who say they had real-world UFO encounters while serving in the military. Mark Easter of the Mutual UFO Network and UFO expert William Birnes also participated in the discussion. Salas presented various government documents he acquired under the Freedom of Information Act.

"The official story was that it was a balloon, but air-raid wardens … were told it was an unidentified flying object," Birnes said about the Santa Monica incident, pointing out that it took place right outside the hotel.

Prior to the event, Birnes went into more detail. "The obvious thought was that these were Japanese bombers [that had] come to attack the United States," he said. "But it wasn't. They were flying too high. And the astounding thing was, not one artillery shell could hit the craft, out of all the hundreds of shells that were fired. People outside that night swore that it was neither a plane nor a balloon—it was a UFO. It floated, it glided. And to this day, nobody can explain what that craft was, why our anti-aircraft guns couldn't hit it. It's a mystery that's never been resolved."

After the event happened, a Navy secretary said it was a false alarm sparked by wartime nervousness, an explanation that did not satisfy the public. Leland Ford, Santa Monica's U.S. representative, demanded a Congressional investigation, but it never took place.

To this day, the mystery remains and the debate continues.

As for "Battle: LA," there's good reason not to trust your eyes. A destroyed "Santa Monica" is featured in the film—and its seemingly omnipresent TV trailers—but what you're seeing isn't real, including the shots of the "" and scene in which "Lincoln Blvd." is depicted.

The footage was actually filmed in the Gulf of Mexico, where the movie's production team constructed a replica of the pier. Also, even though it's called "Battle: LA," most of the movie was filmed in Louisiana; only a few shots, of helicopters nearing the coast, were filmed here.

Thanks to Debra Eckerling for contributing research to this article.