PROJECT 1947

Buffalo, New York   Courier-Express - 20 February, 1952 Joseph and Stewart Alsop Weight Problems of Scientific Developments WASHINGTON–What is nonsense and what is worth reporting?  Are facts to be taken seriously if they are undouted as facts, and have already caused considerable stir among the government's intelligence chiefs and technical experts?  Or are they to be laughed off, because they might mean nothing, and quite probably do not mean as much as the mystery suggests?  All these questions are raised by facts that follow. On January 29th, one of our B-29 bombers performing a solitary mission in Korea was flying at somewhat more than 20,000 feet above the town of Wonsan. The bomber's speed was slightly under 200 miles per hour. The time was shortly before midnight. Simultaneously, two members of the B-29's crew, the lonely rear gunner and the fire control man in the waist, saw the same peculiar object. It was round, and both airmen thought it was disc-shaped. It was orange in color, and around its circumference it seemed to have a series of small bluish flames, but both airmen thought close to their B-29, and only about three feet in diameter. To both of them, it seemed to fly with a revolving motion. For a full five minutes, this object moved parallel to the plane–or at least the two airmen thought it did–and then it disappeared. When the B-29 completed its mission, the two airmen reported what they had seen to their squadron intelligence officer.  Both men had experienced combat in World War II as well as Korea, and both were considered steady, sensible fellows.  Hence the intelligence officer, who might otherwise have been inclined to ignore their tale, rather gingerly transmitted a routine report to headquarters. At headquarters, the report might have been ignored, as the product of fancy, if another, almost closely similar report had not been almost simultaneously received.  This second report, which came from an entirely different B-29 squadron, also concerned the observation of a fire control man and waist gunner in a B-29 on a mission on the night of January 29th. The second B-29 had been flying, again at about 20,000 feet, over the town of Sunchon, which is considerable distance from Wonsan.  At about midnight, the rear gunner and fire controlman saw a round object moving level with their aircraft or a little bit below.  As subsequently described by them, what they saw or what they imagined was almost exactly what the other airmen saw or imgined, except they were inclined to think the object was globular instead of disc-shaped.  It followed their plane–or so they thought–for a minute or a little more. Such are the facts.  When queried about them, the highest sources in the Air Force have replied that "there is no doubt about the facts but the Air Force still does not believe in flying discs." Apparently the idea of an elaborate hoax has been ruled out, since the crews of the two bombers did not know each other.  That leaves the experts picking and choosing between all the other possible explanations, ranging from an oddly simulaneous illusion produced by reflections of bright objects in the B-29's plexiglass windows, to a Soviet test of a new form of disc-shaped guided missile. Whether as hoax, or as illusion or as intimation of something unpleasant to come, the fact nonetheless seem worth recording to these reporters, simply because they are symbols of the opening of the Pandora's box of science.  Here is a tale, in source at least not laughable but close to laughable in substance, which is not being laughed off.  In fact, it is the subject of anxious enquiry at high official levels. The plain truth is that this now-opened Pandora's box of science may contain almost any kind of disagreeable surprise; and thus the experts can no longer say with assurance:  This is silly, that makes sense."  The further truth is that the Korean experience has convinced American experts of our earlier folly in underestimating Soviet technical capabilities. Much more solid evidence than the two queer intelligence reports from the B-29 crews continues to pile up.  Most recently, for example, information hs come in of Russian production of a genuinely supersonic jet fighter, the MIG-19.  The raised estimates of Soviet atomic output are in the same category.  There is, of course, counterbalancing evidence, such as the startling withdrawal of the large Soviet air forces formerly stationed in East Germany and the European satellites which suggests Russian air production problems.  Yet over-all, it is clear that we can no longer rely drowsily on "superior American know-how." It is also clear, one might add, that the habits of democracy demand much wider ventilation and more serious public consideration of the huge issues raised by the Soviet rummaging in Pandora's box.

Traverse City, Michigan   Record-Eagle - 21 February, 1952 Flying saucers—Congressmen turned their backs on the latest 'flying saucer' report from Korea.  A member of the house armed services committee suggested that the air force investigate the reports and 'we wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole.'  A spokesman for the senate armed services committee echoed this sentiment by saying: 'Don't ask us to take a stand on flying saucers in election year.'"

 

The following letter is from Senator Richard Russell and is found in the Secretary of the Air Force, Office of Information UFO file 1949 to April 1952. UNITED STATES SENATE Committee on Armed Services February 21, 1952                   Honorable Thomas K. Finletter Secretary of the Air Force Department of the Air Force Washington, D.C. Dear Mr. Secretary: Members of the Committee on Armed Services have expressed a desire to be informed of Air Force evaluation of recent news articles concerning the observation of "flying saucers" by combat airmen in the Far East. I shall appreciate you furnishing for the use of the Committee an official report of these observations together with your evaluation thereof and such other information as you deem pertinent to this inquiry. Sincerely, Richard B Russell [signed] PROJECT 1947 Comment:   The responses to Senator Russell's inquiry can be read here at the dedicated 1952 Korea page.

 

TIME Magazine - March 3, 1952 SCIENCE More Saucers People who believe in flying saucers got encouragement last week from the skeptical U.S. Air Force  On Jan. 29, an Air Force spokesman said, strange things were seen in the night sky over North Korea.  The tail gunner and fire-control man of a B-29 over Wonsan saw a disk-shaped object that seemed to fly with a revolving motion.  It was orange in color, and around its rim were small, bluish flames.  For five minutes it flew along with the bomber at 200 m.p.h.  Then it disappeared. On the same night, the tail gunner and fire-control man in a B-29 another squadron saw much the same thing over Sunchon, 80 miles away.  The flyers reported that the object looked globular rather than disk-shaped.  It followed their plane for more than a minute.  Then it vanished too. The orange disks or globes may well have been the exhausts of Communist night fighters.  Under some conditions, jet engines have luminous exhausts that glow orange and blue.  The interesting point is that the Air Force, after investigating hundreds of flying-saucer stories and pooh-poohing them all, has apparently decided to become less hostile toward mysteries in the sky. Latest Fashions.  The Air Force is not alone.  In spite of firm squelching, flying saucer stories have not died.  They have changed somewhat with time; the first ones reported, sighted near Mt. Rainier in 1947, were round and shiny, and they flew in daylight with no unusual maneuvers.  The saucer-conscious public duly reported many more like them.  Then the fashion changed when two airline pilots told about seeing, near Montgomery, Ala. one night, an enormous, wingless, cigar-shaped craft with glowing portholes. The cycle of flying-saucer romance had another revolution in 1950, when Hollywood columnist Frank Scully produced a book called Behind the Flying Saucers.  The saucers, he wrote, are space ships from a foreign planet.  They are manned by extraterrestrial midgets who are almost exactly like miniature humans except that they have no beards, only fuzz, and no cavities in their teeth.  Their ships fly on magnetic lines of force, and are built of metal harder than diamond which stands up to temperatures that would wilt any earthly substance.  Three of them crashed, said Scully, in the U.S. Southwest, and were impounded by the secretive Air Force, the villain of Scully’s book.  (The Air Force denied everything.) Green Fireballs.  The latest turn of the saucer cycle began last year when Professor Lincoln LaPaz, a reputable meteor expert of the University of New Mexico, announced that there was something very odd indeed about a series of eight bright green fireballs seen over the Southwest during a 13-day period.  Meteors are seldom green, said LaPaz, and big ones seldom pass in close sequence over the same place.  He suggested that the green meteors might be man-launched missiles. Since the LaPaz pronouncement, many reported saucers have been brightly luminous.  They have been seen all over: in New York, Virginia and especially in the Southwest.  Both New Mexico and California had a rash of reports last week. Most of the reports are certainly imaginary; many of the “sighters” are newspaper delivery boys, excitable old ladies and other people with no technical training.  But a considerable number of technical men have sighted, or believed they have sighted, mysterious flying objects.  In New Mexico, the rocket experts of White Sands Proving Ground and Holloman Air Force Base are interested — and baffled. Baffled too are many of the aerodynamic experts who work for the great aircraft manufacturers of Southern California.  Some of them, led by Ed Sullivan, a technical writer for North American Aviation, Inc., builders of the Sabrejet.  have formed an organization called the Civilian Saucer Investigation to give proper scientific analysis to the swarming rumors.  The organization maintains a post-office box (Box 1971, Main Post Office, Los Angeles 53), and invites all “sighters” to report accurately everything odd they see in the sky. Sullivan, a sighter himself (30 luminous, zigzagging objects over the Los Angeles area).  apparently believes that the saucers are space ships from some other planet.  He does not think they are either U.S. or Russian super-aircraft. Most impressive believer is Dr. Walther Riedel, a scar-faced German rocket expert who was chief designer at the Peenemünde V-2 center and now works for North American Aviation, Inc.  Riedel has seen nothing strange himself, but for years he has kept records of sightings all over the world.  He is convinced that there are strange craft in the sky, and that they come from outer space. Advanced Planet.  The saucers cannot be of terrestrial origin.  Riedel reasons, because: 1)  their skin temperatures must be too high for any material known on earth; 2)  they perform maneuvers that require a pilot, but which would kill any human pilot; 3)  their propulsive systems leave no trails at high altitude, as all systems known on earth do.  Therefore, thinks Riedel, the things must come from a planet where air and space technology is more advanced than on earth. Skeptics — and there are still a few, even in Southern California — ask the following questions: 1)  Why have none of the space ships crashed on earth and been found? 2)   Why are there no firm reports of saucer-sightings by radar, which would give a flying object’s speed and distance? 3)  How can a conspicuous flying object pass over metropolitan Los Angeles (pop. 4,000,000) and be seen by only two or three people? Until such questions are answered, the flying-saucer problem will continue to fascinate psychologists as well as physicists.

After UFOs were sighted by the pilots of planes carrying the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy instituted a short-lived UFO investigation project in the Office of Naval Research. After complaints from the Air Force about intrusion into USAF areas of interest, the project was closed. An outbriefing on the project was held, but details are unobtainable. A number of Freedom of Information requests to various Naval agencies have met with the same answer; no records exist. A letter from Dr. James McDonald's files illustrates his attempts to find out more information on the 1952 Navy UFO project: August 4, 1970                     Mr. Frederick L. Thomas 3634 Cosden Avenue Memphis, Tennessee, 38111 Dear Mr. Thomas: During the past few years, I have been examining a number of facets of the still unsettled problem of the Unidentified Flying Objects. During a recent visit to Washington, I was discussing a number of aspects of the problem with Arthur C. Lundahl, who was affiliated with the Navy Photographic Interpretation Center in the early 1950s and has followed the UFO problem with some interest ever since. When I mentioned to him that I was most interested in trying to run down some more facts conerning a sighting that I had heard of from Adm. Delmer C. Fahrney, which involved Secretary of the Navy Kimball and Admiral Radford, Art remembered the sighting and told me that, as a consequence of Secretary Kimball's concern, something of a special study was undertaken within the Office of Naval Research, under your direction. He recalled sitting on the summary symposium at the end of the ONR investigations, but his recollection of the date seems just a bit hazy. Lundahl kindly located your current Memphis address, and that is how I happen to be writing to you here. I wonder if I might telephone you about a week from now, when I shall be down in Alabama doing some reseach on the archived Project Bluebook files, now held at Maxwell AFB.  I shall be there from August 10th to 14th, and will try to give you a ring some evening. I brought up this particular matter today, when I happened to be talking about some of the early period of the Air Force UFO investigation with Gen. William M. Garland, Chief of Air Technical Intelligence in the 1952-53 period, when the UFO investigations were being carried out on a much more thorough basis than has ever been the case in ensuing years. General Garland who is now retired and works for Notth American in the Los Angeles area, dimly recalled the Kimball-Radford sighting and remembered being briefed on the ORN studies by Captain Ruppelt, then Project Bluebook chief.  However, he was unable to recollect any details. I am getting in touch with a lot of Navy personnel, many of them retired, many who were on active duty during the period of Korean hostilities and whose UFO sightings from that period are of unusual interest. The Maxwell AFB archives include original intelligence reports (now declassified, of course) on many of those sightings, and the scientific significance of many of them appears to be substantial. It would seem to me that a matter of no little scientific significance is involved here and has never received adequate investigation, particularly in the post -1953 years at Project Bluebook. This letter, then, may serve to introduce me and give you a little background in the nature of my interest in the UFO problem and in your participation in that ONR study some years back. I'll call you from Montgomery, and hope that you may have a few minutes to talk with me at that time. Sincerely yours, James E. McDonald Professor JEM/msr cc: Arthur C. Lundahl P.S. I had written directly to former Secretary Kimball at his Washington address, about two months back.  However, as Gen Garland told me last week, Mr. Kimball died in mid-July after an extended illness, so lack of any reply on this matter is now understandable.

Albuquerque (NM),  Albuquerque Tribune - Nov 21, 1957


Local Man Still Wonders        


What Soared Across Duke City
Sky That Day In April, 1952?

By WRIGHT VAN DEUSEN

Five and a half years ago, a local resident and a friend saw something soar across the Albuquerque sky.  Today, he says he still is “completely mystified” as to what they saw, and will never rest until he finds out.

He says he has been told the Air Force has labeled his report of his sighting as “unexplainable.”  He still declares: “This was no illusion or mistaken identity.  It was some type of aerial craft.”

The viewer is Carl Hawk, Sandia Corp. Engineering Department employe for six years who lives at 1821 Florida NE. Mr. Hawk, who is 38, said he spotted his “unidentified flying object” from Sandia Base at 10:45 on the morning of April 23, 1952.  The sky was clear with only a few, thin clouds scattered about, he re-called.

He and his friend, Marvin Harvey of 2202 Isleta SW, who also still is employed at Sandia, had just looked up to watch a jet fighter shooting northward across the Sandia Mountains, Mr. Hawk said.

“Otherwise, we probably would not have seen it.”

‘Soundless Object’

“It” was a soundless, flat and rectangular wing-like object that came streaking through the sky, apparently from over Tijeras Canyon, Mr. Hawk said.

He said he and Mr. Harvey kept it in sight overhead on its east-to-west course for 10 seconds (he checked his watch) until it disappeared in a cloud that appeared to be approximately over the downtown area.

Mr. Hawk described the object as entirely black except for a distinct, bright yellow “V” design on its bottom—“We could distinguish the color and design very clearly.”

Hawk—who said he served as a Navy aviation mechanic for five years plus seven more as a reservist, has been interested in aviation all his life, and has made many models of aircraft—said it was impossible to estimate accurately the object’s size and' speed.

‘2000 Feet High’

This is because it could not be known just how far away from where he and his friend were standing it passed, he said.

But Hawk said he judged that the “flying rectangle,” which he said had slight points extending from the rear corners, passed overhead at about 2000 feet altitude, apparently traveling about 200 to 400 miles per hour.

From this, he said he guessed that its over-all size might be “roughly” 60 by 20 feet.  He had no idea of its thickness, he said, because only the bottom was in view.

There was no eerie glow about the object, Hawk said.  Glows were characteristic of many of the flying saucer reports.

Hawk, who said he also is an amateur artist, said immediately after the thing disappeared from view, he made a sketch of what he had seen and jotted down notes on his observations.

 

WHAT WAS IT? Carl Hawk, of 1821 Florida NE,. would still like to know.  This is a copy of a sketch he made immediately after sighting this object scooting through the Albuquerque sky in 1952.  He says the “rectangular wing,” which was visible just as distinctly as it is shown in this picture, was black except for the clear “V” design on it, which was bright yellow.  It made no sound as it streaked overhead, he said.

In response to his report of his sighting, he has a letter of appreciation from Air Force officials which concludes: “It is not often that we get a report from a person so well qualified to render a completely objective and unbiased opinion.”

But to this day, Hawk said what he saw has never been identified, to his knowledge.  He said the Air Force never even gave him any theories as to what it might have been.

‘Unexplainable’

Recently, he said, a friend checked at Wright-Patterson AF Base, Ohio, the clearing house for UFO reports, and discovered that the report of his sighting was in a file marked “unexplainable.”

It has been reported that only a very small proportion of the' thousands of UFO reports the Air Force has received have been tagged as unexplainable.

Hawk chuckled as he recalled that the day before he saw this thing back in 1952, “I had insisted very strongly to a friend that there was no such thing as these flying objects.”

Turning serious again he added: “Since then, I have become a believer.”

He said he was prompted to mention his sighting again now because of the UFO reports of recent weeks, although he said what he saw was in no way similar to the objects reported seen recently near Alamogordo and in West Texas.

(Most of these reports have been debunked by the Air Force.)

Whatever it was that he sighted “still is a big mystery to me,” Hawk said, “and I’m not going to be able to rest until it’s solved.

“Since flying saucers are in the headlines again, I’d like to know if anyone else has ever seen anything similar to what I saw,” he said.

Every time he and Harvey meet, Hawk said they go over and over again their experience.

He said they ask themselves: “What was it?  What could it have been?  Did we actually see it?  Sure, we saw it.  Well then, what was it?. . .”

Color Elaboration of Hawk's sketch of his April 23, 1952 sighting.
Illustration by Michael Swords of CUFOS.

Boston Traveler Magazine - May 5, 1952 Eye in the Sky HAVE YOU HEARD By Bill Schofield This is bargain day in the flying saucer department, and you're getting two stories for the price of one — the first from a resident of western Massachusetts and the second from Navy Secretary Dan Kimball. Personally I don't care how many people believe stories like these, or how many snicker at them.  But as far as I'm concerned, I'll continue to collect them and catalogue them and puzzle over them with an open mind until somebody comes up with a hard-fact explanation of all the weird things that have been going on in the skies during the past five years.  So far, nobody has been able to do this. When and if they do, I'm convinced it will be one of the biggest news stories of all time. For the first of today's incidents, then, let's go westward to the town of Greenfield, where Dr. Albert Baller sighted three big flying spheres traveling at fantastic speed one day last February. This time the story is told by Charles T. Earley, a 35-year-old tap and die worker, who was startled half out of his wits on the afternoon of March 30 by a visit from a pair of flying rings. It was a sunny afternoon, cloudless and windless, and Earley was in his backyard burning leaves at about 3 P.M. when he heard a sound overhead like the rushing of a heavy breeze. "I looked up and saw this thing coming down from the sky," he says.  "It was coming at terrific speed. At first it looked a little smaller than the moon.  It was so bright I thought it might be a falling star. It was shining like chrome. "IT CAME DOWN FAST and stopped about 1300 feet overhead. It was like a big whirling ring 30 feet across and I could see the blue sky through its middle.  It hovered overhead for a second or two and then turned up on edge and I could see there were two rings instead of one.  They looked to be about five feet apart and were not joined." The rings, Earley says, then raced across the sky about one mile up the southwest.  There they dropped back to the flat position again and then took off toward Sugarloaf Mountain, following the contour of the earth.  Nearing Sugarloaf, they banked and hesitated for a moment then shot skyward and vanished at unbelievable speed. "They shot straight up so fast they just blurred out of sight," Earley says. So much for Greenfield.  Now listen to Secretary Kimball. THE CABINET MEMBER told his story to an audience of Navy officers and air cadets a couple of weeks ago at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola.  He may have expected it would stop there, but since he made no such request and since nothing was said about his remarks being off the record, I'll take the liberty of repeating his report. On a recent flight across the Pacific, he said, he was flying at night from Pearl Harbor to Guam.  Another plane, with additional members of his party, was trailing several miles behind on the same course. Kimball stressed the fact that he has the utmost faith and confidence in the pilot who was with him that night, a pilot who has flown him for thousands of miles over a period of years. Somewhere out over the dark Pacific, he said, the pilot came back to the cabin visibly excited and reported that a flying saucer had appeared out of nowhere, had flown abeam the secretary’s plane for some distance, and had just raced ahead and shot up into the sky and out of sight.  He and the co-pilot had both watched the phenomenon, he said.  He asked if he should radio a report of the incident to Pearl Harbor. Kimball advised him not to pointing out that Pearl Harbor probably wouldn’t believe the story.  Instead, the secretary suggested sending a message to the plane astern and ordering them to keep a sharp lookout for any unusual sights. IN A MATTER OF MINUTES, the second plane radioed excitedly that a flying saucer had just come down and flown alongside the wing tip, then had shot ahead and vanished into the sky. Shakespeare had it right; “There are stranger things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Extract from Fifth Air Force Periodic Intelligence Report for 19 May, 1952: Balloon sightings:  At 160210-I of CT 4035, [16 May 1952 0210 am local Korean time at map coordinates CT 4035] an F-94 crew observed a balloon approximately 3 feet in diameter.  Observation was made by means of a small light suspended from the balloon.  The balloon was first observed at 13000 feet and the F-94 followed to 24000 feet.  Estimated rate of climb of the balloon was 2000 ft/min, as the F-94 had to use afterburner in the chase.  The balloon was shot down over CT 4610.  At 160353-I, vicinity CT 2828 [?], an F-94 crew again observed a balloon, this time at 12000 feet, again by means of a steady burning light suspended from the 3 to 6 feet diameter balloon.  Friendly pursued the balloon using afterburner, shooting it down at CT 4010.  The light, described as "Very powerful," was still burning as the balloon fell.  D/I [Director of Intelligence]Comment (5th AF) - Further investigation is being made by the 6004th AISS [Air Intelligence Service Squadron]. a.   Comment–This report of lighted balloons may be a basis for many of the sightings reported over this area of Korea. (EVALUATION: B-2) San Francisco News - May 26, 1952 FLYING SAUCER IS CAPTURED BY OFFICER Daly City -- At last one "flying saucer" mystery has been solved -- thanks to the fast action of Daly City Police Officer, James Welsh. Wales was in his patrol car on El Camino real early yesterday when a passerby ran up, pointing and exclaimed:  "Look, there's a flying saucer or something" Sure enough, a bright globe was moving slowly across the sky. Without waiting for help, Welsh took off in pursuit and was rewarded to see the object alight in Greenlawn Cemetery, Colma.  With drawn pistol, he approached. The "flying saucer" turned out to be a 10 inch rubber balloon, with a flashlight battery and bulb attached. "Some joker's idea of humor," Welsh reported. Project Blue Book Files Not a case.  Information Only Ground Radar, Air Radar, Air Visual Combined Sighting North Korea - 26 May, 1952 An F-94 flying a mission was told by ground radar that there was an unidentified object on its tail.  The interceptor aircraft turned into the unknown and locked on with its radar at 7000 yds, and started to close.  Both the pilot and the R.O. observed a brilliant white light straight ahead.  The unidentified performed a steady climbing turn and accelerated at a tremendous speed drawing away from the F-94 which now had cut in its after-burner.  The pilot was unable to close and the R.O. [radar officer] lost the object at 2600 yds. after 15 seconds of contact. The airborne radar was checked for malfunction before and after the mission and found to be in perfect condition.  No exhaust patterns from the unknown were noticed.  Pilot - 1LT John W. Martin, Radar Officer - Lt. Edward A Monard, Experience - 1 year. Solution: Possible malfunction of airborne radar set. Project 1947 Comment:  Little information on visual sighting.  Did the person who proposed the solution actually read the case....ground radar detected the object and it was seen visually. Also, radar was "was found to be in perfect condition." Extract from Fifth Air Force Periodic Intelligence Report for 27 May, 1952: At 260323/I over CT 5050 [26 May 1952 0323 local Korean time at Korea map coordinate of CT 5050] at 7000 feet altitude, an F-94 observed an unidentified aircraft with a very strong light which was visible from at least 5 miles.  The F-94 crew stated that it was definitely not a balloon as several passes were made directly beneath at 50ft range.  No outline was visible because of the brilliant light. a.   Comment–There have been a number of balloon sightings over this area.  Reports have also been received of enemy aircraft carrying searchlights over the Northwest target areas of Korea, though none have been reported in the CT area. (EVALUATION: B-3) Extract from Fifth Air Force Periodic Intelligence Report for 27 May, 1952: At 260323/I over CT 5050 [26 May 1952 0323 local Korean time at Korea map coordinate of CT 5050] at 7000 feet altitude, an F-94 observed an unidentified aircraft with a very strong light which was visible from at least 5 miles.  The F-94 crew stated that it was definitely not a balloon as several passes were made directly beneath at 50ft range.  No outline was visible because of the brilliant light. a.   Comment–There have been a number of balloon sightings over this area.  Reports have also been received of enemy aircraft carrying searchlights over the Northwest target areas of Korea, though none have been reported in the CT area. (EVALUATION: B-3) Extract from Fifth Air Force "Perintrep" [Periodic Intelligence Report] for 27 May, 1952: At 260320/I [at 26 May 0320 A. M. local Korean time] over CT3930 [map coordinates CT 39 30] at 7599 feet altitude, radar controller vectored an F-94 into a tail chase on an unidentified aircraft.  Contact was made at 7000 yards.  After closing to 6000 yards, the unidentified picked up speed and travelled from 6000 to 26000 yards in 14 seconds.  The F-94 crew said they had afterburner in operation and were accelerating from 250 knots.  D/I [Director of Intelligence] 5th AF Comment - The 6004th AISS [Air Intelligence Service Squadron] is investigating the incident, and if further info is obtained it will be forwarded. Comment – IF true as reported, the final velocity of the object would be approximately 3000 mph.  Further questions, to be used in interrogating the F-94 crew were sent to Fifth Air Force.  The results are to be forwarded via Form 112 [Air Intelligence Information Form] (EVALUATION: B-6) [Handwritten Comment below this item: "Where's the rest of the report."] 1st Marine Air Wing - Historical Diary 3 - Intelligence Summary - June, 1952 SECRET SECURITY INFORMATION 1ST MAW DIS NO. 173 (Continued) Page No. 3 7. Miscellaneous Intelligence Factors: a.      Five (5) aircraft from VMF-212, while on a close air support mission over CT 091129 at 1503/I, observed an oval shaped white or silver colored object, estimated to be 10 to 20 feet in diameter.  There was no sign of exhaust gasses observed, nor could a shadow from the object be seen on the ground.  The visibility during this sighting was 15-20 miles and it was sighted from 5,000 feet altitude and about 2 miles away.  The altitude of the object was estimated at less than 1000 feet.  The object approached from the south and made a 330 degree orbit to the left over CT 091129 and retired due east and was lost from sight over CT 120118 at 1504/I.  The object was estimated to be traveling at a speed of 1000 miles per hour.     Download as .pdf Document Lakeland, FLA.   Ledger - June 1, 1952 FLYING  SAUCER? Bartow -- Two instructors from Bartow Air Base on a routine night flight spotted a rapidly moving bluish white light in the vicinity of Plant City. The conversation went something like this.   "It's not the moon", said one. The other retorted "It isn't a searchlight." What was it?  Well, Instructors James E. Boulin and Charles Shank are not committing themselves.   They have been taking quite a kidding from the fellows at the base. Their story now is "we don't say it wasn't a light but we don't say it was." Reading, PA.   Eagle - June 5, 1952 MORE FLYING SAUCERS Catania, Sicily,   June 5 (Reuters) -- Another rash of "flying saucers" has broken out in Sicily and Italy.   Many persons reported seeing a "silvery object" cross Catania at a high altitude today.   Two other saucers were reported over Ancona, on Italy's Adriatic coast, late yesterday. Extracted from FEAF "Intsum" [Far East Air Force Intelligence Summary] #717, dtd 0320Z 13 June 1952 [dated 0320 hours Greenwich Mean Time, 13 June 1952] Enemy balloons: Recently several reports have been received concerning the sighting of an unidentified object in the air having a primary color of white changing to red then to green, and located in the area of DT204398 [Korea military map coordinates DT 204 398].  These observations were made on 10 May and on 4, 6, and 7 June between the hours of 2102/I and 2400/I [local Korean time].  In the majority of cases the object was described as being egg shaped or round, at an altitude estimated between 1000 ft and 10,000 feet, and in one case was observed through a battery commander's scope [also a BC-scope] and measured for ten miles travel, but the operator reported that he could not traverse fast enough to keep on target.  The object was observed on 7 June for 1 hour and 5 minutes by a trained Air Technical Intelligence specialist and an ordnance Technical Intelligence specialist.  As a result of these observations, a forward observer investigated the area at 091445/I June and saw a balloon being raised and lowered on a cable. DI FEAF [Director of Intelligence Far East Air Force]Comment:  Most of the previous sightings of unidentified objects have occurred in the CT and DT grid areas.  The high horizontal speed of the one sighting could be accounted for by a free balloon caught in a horizontal draft in the mountainous areas of that sector.  The purpose of raising and lowering a balloon so near the front lines is not apparent, but could possibly be a method of communication. (EVALUATION: B-5) Montreal, Canada   Star - June 17, 1952 EVERYONE'S SEEING "SAUCERS" IN FRANCE Paris.   June 17 -- (Reuters) -- A fresh wave of flying saucer reports swept France today. An employee of La Bourget Airport control tower claimed that last Friday he saw a "star, red like the setting sun" and about four times the size of an ordinary star, moving Southeast of the Airfield. The pilot of a French transport plane also saw the "star", reported to the control tower, and made an extra circuit to take a closer look but as he circled, the star moved into the wind and vanished. Last Sunday, Albert Roux, who lives near La Bourget, reported seeing a white silvery disc cross the sky from northwest to southwest "about four times as fast as a jet plane."   Thirty other persons in Cholet, western France, said they saw a "flying saucer". Leadville, Colo.  Herald Democrat - June 18, 1952 "FLYING SAUCER" SIGHTED AT PUEBLO Pueblo. June 18 -- (UP) -- Those "flying saucers" are here again. An object commonly called a "flying saucer" was sighted by the US Weather Bureau station at Plueblo Municipal airport at 8:45 pm Tuesday. Orville Foster of the Weather Bureau said that he and an assistant watched the "flying saucer" for approximately 10 minutes in the bureau theodolite, the instrument used to observe weather balloons. They said the "object" had no definite shape, possibly because of a smoke haze that enveloped the Pueblo area.   It threw a soft white light, they said, and occasionally took on a reddish hue.   It moved through the sky at a leisurely speed and finally disappeared toward the northeast. Foster and John George, his assistant, both agreed that it was neither a light reflection nor a plane. Although the "flying saucer" did not circle above the city proper, several residents reported they saw it in the sky northeast of the city limits. Permission Granted to USAF Interceptor to Fire on a UFO - June 21, 1952 On March 1, 1951, the 105th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS) was assigned to Air Defense Command operations.  They were based at McGhee-Tyson Airport, Knoxville, Tennessee, and were responsible for the air defense of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) uranium enrichment plants at Oak Ridge. The Official History of the 30th Air Division (Defense) for April-June, 1952 records the following incident: On 21 June 52, an F-47 of the 105th FI Squadron, on a night training flight reported a light, apparently on a very fast and maneuverable aircraft, making passes at him and that the object was able to outmaneuver and outclimb his aircraft.  The controller on duty notified the ADCC (Air Defense Control Center) and permission to fire on the object was obtained.  The F-47 was unable to gain a firing position and, to end the incident, the object climbed away and the light faded into the distance or was extinguished.  Neither the fighter or unknown object were picked up by radar.  The only possible explanation of the sighting is the fact that two theodolite weather balloons were released at McGhee-Tyson Airport shortly before the incident.     Download as .pdf Document New York   NY News - June 27, 1952 NOW MALTA SIGHTS A FLYING SAUCER Malta, June 28   (Reuters) -- British Royal marines handed in Malta's first flying saucer report today.   They said a saucer-like object flying at high speed and height was sighted over the island early today. Columbus, Ohio  Star - June 28, 1952 Vet Pilot Reports Flying Saucer Here. Gives Vivid Description of Odd Ship Reports of flying saucers, space ships and other mysterious sightings in the skies continue to be received at the office of The Columbus Star. One of the most interesting is that of a Columbus business man who served three and one half years as a pilot in World War II and who currently holds a commercial pilots license for single and multi engine planes. Here is his story: I do not remember the exact date, I am not too happy to say, but one bright, cloudless afternoon about 3pm in early January 1952, I approached my parked car with an order to deliver.   My attention was directed skyward by the sound of maneuvering F-84 jets based, I assumed, at nearby Lockbourne Air Base.   These planes were about three to five miles due east at an altitude of approximately 15,000 feet and were engaged in a "rat race". I believe there were three, but possibly only two, airplanes. "These planes performed various acrobatics and I watched them for some 30-45 seconds when my attention was then directed to an RB-45 jet bomber which was flying from south to north at about the same distance from me (three to five miles) but at a lower altitude. "My eyes followed the larger, lower airplane coming into my range of vision from my right until it was approximately due east. It was then that I saw a bright, not too clearly outlined, glowing object in about the same spot in the sky that I first saw the maneuvering fighter plane. "This more unusual object held my interest and I can say nothing more of the jet planes which I no longer noticed. "This light was a bright one, even on this bright day. It was a yellowish light and definitely was not reflected light from the wing or fuselage of an airplane. "It's very difficult to determine the size of an object seen under these conditions.   Basing my estimates on its speed and flight path mainly.  I would say that the object was from 15 to 18 thousand feet high and also that its greatest dimension (the horizontal one) was not greater than forty feet. "The object when I first saw it was not exactly motionless but was travelling slowly on a course of about 225 degrees. " I would estimate its initial speed at about 250 miles per hour.   It accelerated rapidly after the first four or five seconds and when it disappeared from view was travelling at a speed I would roughly estimate to be about two thousand miles per hour.   It was this astonishing speed and acceleration that convinced me I had seen something that was not man made. "I watched it through 1.35 degrees of arc and saw it only for a matter of seven or eight seconds." Chicago, Illinois,   Tribune - 30 June, 1952 Editorial - IN A NUTSHELL The tricks used in getting military appropriations have been well described by Rep. John Phillips of California, a member of the House appropriations committee.  Gen. Bradley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was before the committee.  The Defense Department has sought 51 billion dollars in appropriations and Gen. Bradley was arguing in favor of 3 billion more for operations of the Atomic Energy Commission. "After you work 20 years on appropriations, general," Phillips said to Bradley, "you do not get cynical, but sometimes you get a little skeptical.  I always know there are going to be Russian submarines seen off either the Pacific coast or Atlantic coast just about the time the naval appropriation bill comes before the subcommittee, just as I know the people in the Indian schools are always going to be notified they are about to be let off the payroll on the first of June, just at the time the bill for the Department of the Interior comes up." Rep. Gore [Vice President Al Gore's father who later became a senator] of Tennessee interjected, "Do not forget the flying saucers." "And the flying saucers appear at the proper time," said Phillips, apparently referring to scares to put the air force requests.  "I do not say it is deliberate; it is just a coincidence." But we don't think the congressmen really think it is a coincidence. Rockhampton, QLD (Australia),   Central Queensland Herald - July 17, 1952. EIGHT FLYING SAUCERS SEEN MIAMI (Florida), July 16 – Two airline pilots, flying in the same airliner, said today that they had seen eight large flying saucers flying at supersonic speed near Norfolk. Virginia. Mr W.B. Nash and Mr W. H. Fortenberry, of Pan-American Airways, said the “flowing, orange-red saucers” manoeuvred at a speed of "far above 1000 miles an hour." The two men said that at first six of the saucers appeared about 6000 feet below them. They flew in an echelon formation at about 2000 feet, then, as the plane passed over them, they turned sharply and were joined by two other saucers. The eight saucers loomed upwards to about 10,000 feet and vanished In about 10 or 12 seconds. The two pilots said that the saucers were about 100 feet in diameter and between 10 and 15 feet thick. “As they neared us they appeared to be solid bodies of light, but they had definite outlines,” said Mr Nash. He added that the(y) manoeuvred too sharply for human endurance saying, “Whoever was in those things had capabilities far beyond our own. Those things absolutely did not contain human beings as we know them. The two men reported seeing the saucers on a flight from Newport News (Virginia) to Norfolk on Monday night. Los Angeles, Ca.  Mirror   - 21 July, 1952 Officials Worry Russia's Fireballs Invade U.S. BY ROBERT S. ALLEN Mirror Columnist CHICAGO, July 21–There is another important matter, besides Presidential politics on the minds of top officials attending the Democratic convention. It is a gravely alarming and baffling specter. Scientists and military authorities have established beyond any question of doubt that Russian planes and missiles of some kind are invading U.S. skies. Soviet planes have been positively traced as far south as the Alaska Peninsula extending off the southwest coast of Alaska.  These mysterious flights at tremendous heights have been going on for at least three months.  They are obvious reconnaissance or training missions, or both.  Other suspected Russian planes have been reported far to the north in Alaska. Sinister Missiles But most sinister of all are the fantastic missiles. These things have no connection with flying “saucers” and 'discs.' The disquieting missiles are entirely different.  They are what are usually described as “fireballs” of various hues, mostly green. One reason why authorities are privately so disturbed about these mysterious devices is that they are comparable to certain highly secret and extraordinary developments in this field. The increasingly frequent reports of strange “fireballs” are viewed by officials as profoundly disquieting evidence that there a lot of them.  Particularly in the light of the location of the most authoritative of these reports. For security reasons, only a few of these areas can be cited.  One of them is the Baltic Sea. The Reds have been conducting missile-type projects in this region since 1946, and Sweden and others have extensive data on Soviet “fireballs.” Near A-Plant Devices very similar to those that have been seen in the Baltic have been authoritatively accounted for in three different places in the United States. In each of these locations is a vital defense installation - one of them atomic. Another F-94 incident with comments by Loren Gross.  From UFOs: A History July 21 to July 31, 1952, page 13. Turning the tables On the other side of the world [from the USA] at 8:15 p. m. Japanese time, a twist on the F-94 pursuit of a UFO occurred.  Air Force Capt. Norman Lamb took off from Misawa Air Base, Japan, that evening, gained altitude until his F-94 reached 18,000 feet, and then took up a heading of 015 degrees.  He was cruising off the coast of Hokkaido when he suddenly noticed what he called a "strange phenomenon" approaching fast.  Whatever it was, it gave off dazzling greenish-blue rays of light as it rushed toward Lamb's plane from a 5 o'clock position and about 15 degrees high.  Closing with the F-94 the bright light source leveled off and then maintained a position just back of the F-94's right wing tank (about 500 yards away).  At first Capt. Lamb was not alarmed, thinking that another aircraft was looking him over, but he quickly realized that a red navigation light should also be plainly visible at that distance so he began to turn into the light.  As his plane rolled toward the UFO, the mysterious glowing mass braked, and then made an erratic downward move out of sight. — Capt. John Sidenbery, Air Intelligence Information Report [Air Force Form 112], 35 Fighter-Interceptor Wing, North Honshu, Japan, APO 994. 13 August 1952, Project Blue Book files. Loren Gross comment: This is how many UFO radar targets broke lock on F-94 airborne radar, by a sudden downward, or upward, move. Monroe, La.   World - July 23, 1952 FLYING SAUCER IS REPORTED BY MONROE FLIER A report of a flying saucer landed in the Morning World office last night when A.D. HANKS, 808 K Street, notified a reporter that he had sighted one of the "things" last Tuesday night. Hanks said: "I didn't report this sooner because I thought folks would think I was crazy."  Here is his story: Last Tuesday about 10 pm I was flying to Monroe from Little Rock.   When I neared the Arkansas border I saw what appeared to be a blood red star about 2000 feet overhead.   It was traveling at 4,000 feet at a speed of over 100 miles per hour. "When I first noticed the object, it was traveling in a generally southwestern direction.   Then, while I was watching the blot of red light, if changed course and started following me, flying 2,000 feet overhead "I thought at first it was an illusion.  To test my theory, I made a 90 degree right turn.  The "flying saucer" did the same.   The thing followed my course for about 10 minutes, then suddenly swooped down approximately 2,000 feet below my plane. "At first, I believed it to be a jet.   After that swift drop, I changed my line of thinking." The bright red spot still followed my course underneath me.   A few minutes later it seemed to bounce back 2,000 feet overhead.   Then, "it" switched back to its original course and took off at a tremendous rate of speed." Hanks has been a flyer for about 25 years and he said he had never had such an eerie feeling or seen such an unnatural sight. PROJECT 1947 Comment:   Note the similarities to some of the Korean cases. Australian Associated Press - July 29, 1952 Saucers Circle U.S. City At 100 m.p.h. NEW YORK:   Mysterious objects were reported to have flown over Washington early today.  The civil aeronautics traffic control centre says its radar picked them up over a five-hour period.       An official said the objects travelled at about 100 to 120 m.p.h. in a 10 miles' arc around the capital.       This placed them in the same area in which other strange things were seen last Saturday and the Saturday before.       Last Saturday a jet pilot reported sighting "steady white lights," but said that his 600 m.p.h. aircraft had been unable to close in on them.       The civil aeronautics officer said that radar at the control centre had picked up strange "blips" on the screen at intervals between 1.30am and 6.00am today.       Sometimes, he said, the radar had charted as many as eight or 12 of the objects at the same time.       No jet fighters were sent up to investigate the latest mystery.       The Air Defence Command said this had been because "we were too busy with other things, and besides those things were not hurting anybody."       Last night an Air Force spokesman said that because of the menace of a possible enemy, fighter aircraft had been placed on a 24-hour alert to investigate any unusual aerial objects.       The American public is demanding why it took two hours to get the interceptor planes in the air last Saturday after radar observers had reported the mysterious "objects" over Washington.       Even the staid New York Times joins in "caning" the Air Force.       "Why did the pilots of the jet planes fail to catch up with the objects over Washington?   Unless these questions are answered in simple language belief in visitors from outer space will be strengthened in those who cannot distinguish between speculation and scientific reasoning," the paper says.       In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dr. Lincoln La Paz, director of the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico, said--       "These discs are not mirages. Radar proves that.       "Furthermore any suggestion that these come from the depth of space is fantastic.   Their origin is earth.      "The question is, 'Where on earth?'" Australian Associated Press - July 30, 1952 "No Danger From Saucers," says U.S. Air Force WASHINGTON:  The United States was confident that there was no danger from flying saucers or other mystery aerial objects, the US Air Force announced yesterday.       The director of Air Force Intelligence (Maj-Gen. John Samford) told correspondents, "Six years' analysis of mysterious object sightings has revealed no pattern that shows anything remotely consistent with any menace to the United States."       The general said his personal opinion was that the unexplained "blips" of light appearing on radarscopes at Washington National Airport were the result of temperature inversion.       Radar showed the air over Washington was full of flying objects yesterday, but an airliner directed to one of the sightings could not find anything.       Air Force officials raised the possibility that devices dropped from planes to jam radar may have floated from the Canadian border, where air exercises were in progress. "Hold Fire" Mr. Robert Farnsworth, president of the U.S. Rocket Society, yesterday appealed to American armed forces to hold their fire when they saw the mystery objects.      In telegrams to President Truman, the Secretary of Defence, and the Secretary of the Army, he said -- "I respectfully suggest that no offensive action be taken against the objects.       "Should they be extraterrestrial, such action might result in the gravest consequences, as well as possibly alienating us from beings of far superior powers."       A salesman told police at Enid (Oklahoma) that his car had been almost swept from the road last night by a huge flying saucer which had swooped low at high speed.       Mr. Sid Eubanks said that the object, which he described as a "yellow-green, then yellow-brown streak about 400 feet long," had dived low over the road, turned round and then disappeared in seconds.       In Jersey City, a volunteer air defense observer, Mr. August Roberts, handed to the police what he claimed to be a photograph of a flying saucer over New York.       The photograph, which was printed in some New York papers, showed a bright, nearly cylindrical object, moving across the night. San Francisco, California  CHRONICLE - 30 July, 1952 General James A. Van Fleet, Commander of the U. S. Eighth Army in Korea said flying saucer reports in the U. S. "has provided interest and amusement" in Korea.  He said no such object had been spotted in Korean skies. Los Angeles, Ca.   LA Examiner   - July 30, 1952 Saucers Come From Space, Says Expert Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe, distinguished wartime Marine Corps and author of the best-seller, “Flying Saucers Are Real” asserts that the mysterious objects now being sighted over a wide area of the nation are “devices from outer space.”  In the following exclusive article, Keyhoe, Washington representative of True Magazine, suggests that the new fleets of “saucers” may be observer units sent from some other planet to spy upon the people of the earth. By Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe (Written Expressly for International News Special Service) WASHINGTON, July 29.— The Air Force order to try to shoot down the flying saucers is taken by some to mean fear of a Soviet secret weapon.  No authority I know believes this is the answer. If Russia had such a weapon, they surely would have delivered an ultimatum in the five years since the first report of flying saucers, because such a weapon would mean complete control over any nation. The real reason for the order to shoot down the saucers is to capture one of these objects as fast as possible before national hysteria results.  I think officials are badly worried about the effects. If they could capture one of these and get the answer and reveal it to the public, regardless of what the answer is, it would end the mystery. OUTER SPACE My opinion is that if they capture one, they will find it is a device from outer space.  We worked out a rough cycle with the aid of a Canadian official, whom I am not at liberty to name, that indicated this sudden increase in sightings. These sightings disprove the theory of Dr. Donald H. Menzel of Harvard University that these are optical illusions caused by reflections in the sky of lights on earth. Radar reports now prove they are solid, fast-moving objects intelligently controlled.  They are able to maneuver so violently that no human pilot born on this earth could stand the changes.  These violent changes would practically paralyze a human. REMOTE CONTROL I believe and most of the people I’ve talked to believe these are largely remote-controlled devices. They are controlled from either another space ship high out in our atmosphere or beyond it or from great distances out in space. They could be observer units, sent from some planet to observe the people of the earth, taking pictures and sending messages on us back to their home base. Unless there has been a gigantic conspiracy by the armed services to cover up some supersecret development, the saucers which have flown over Washington are real. I do not believe the services have developed a secret and super aircraft because it is unlikely such a secret could be kept. The saucers apparently are friendly and eventually they may contact us. Redlands, California  Daily Facts - July 31, 1952 Gen. Vandenberg Scoffs At Flying Saucer Reports SEATTLE (UP)—Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg, Air Force chief of staff, says there is no such thing as a flying saucer and believes the present wave of objects in the sky are the result of "double vision."       "I don't believe there are flying saucers," he told Boeing Airplane Co. officials yesterday.  "However, there apparently are physical phenomena which make people think they have seen them." Albuquerque (NM),  Albuquerque Tribune - 31 July, 1952 Flight of Luminous Objects Maneuvers Over City By DOYLE KLINE A flight of luminous objects — at least 10 — passed over Albuquerque at 9:30 last night. Whatever they were, they made a “flying saucer” believer out of me.  They resembled nothing I had seen before. Their flight, if it was flight as we know it, was soundless and graceful.  At first they appeared overhead from the south. They were clustered together in no apparent pattern, heading due north. Then they shifted to a perfect V.  The shift was done with great precision. The formation resembled a flight of geese. Within a second or so they formed a new pattern. This formation presented two rows with the objects in front spaced at exact intervals. Take your pencil and place five dots on a piece of paper.  Then at a distance as far behind the dots as the dots are apart, start a new row.  Place the second row of five dots so they center between the openings of the first row and you'll see how the formation appeared. Incredible Performance If the objects were about 2500 feet over the city, as they appeared, they moved only about as fast as an F-86 Sabre jet.  Going on this assumption, their shifts in position were incredibly swift, fantastically violent — in terms of our experience. But if their nearness to the ground was an illusion — and the Air Force has said it believes such phenomena may be tricks of the atmosphere — their performance takes on even more incredible aspects. Saucer?– This is a picture of a “flying saucer,” according to Alan C. Dumas, 22, of Culver City, Calif. Their size appeared about one third the size of the moon when it is overhead.  But the light they emitted was very different.  It was not as intense as a star, nor as bright as the moon.  There was no color except white. It was soft, almost suggesting; reflection from lights of the city. The objects appeared low—yet at a great distance, if such contradiction is credible. If they were at a great height, and this observer would like to believe they were, their speed must be beyond comprehension, Witnessed Fireballs I was a witness on several occasions when fireballs, both green and blue white flashed through the skies at various points in the southwest.  On one occasion I reported in detail what I saw to Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, director of the University's Institute of Meteoritics and a nationally known authority on such things. Dr. LaPaz told me today that the objects I saw last night “definitely are not associated with the Perseid meteor shower.”  He said the meteors are coming from the northeast, that they do not change formation nor exhibit “intelligence or coordination.” Col. William Matheny, commander of the 34th Air Defense here, reported he knew nothing of any military flights at the hour of the “saucer maneuvers” and requested me to relate what I saw to his air defense intelligence officers. I have witnessed the flight of rockets, German and American, at White Sands Proving Ground in daylight and at night.  The saucers were something different altogether. Four years ago an Albuquerque resident telephoned The Tribune and said a “flying saucer” had landed in her yard.  I went to see it and it turned but to be the radio unit from a weather balloon. Two years ago near Holloman Air Force Base a group of persons was peering into the sky at a “saucer”.  Inspection through binoculars convinced me it was a balloon of some sort, reflecting the intense June sunlight.  The objects last night resembled no balloon. In April, I witnessed the detonation of an atomic bomb in Nevada.  The light the saucers emitted last night was of a different order. My observation of the objects last night was accidental.  I was convening with my landlady, Mrs. George Gibson, 910 Gold SW, on the front steps of her home. The quick movement of the “stars” caught my glance.  Mrs. Gibson, who was under the porch roof, failed to see the objects before they passed from view behind trees across the street. The Air Force can call the objects hallucinations, tricks of the atmosphere or perhaps anything falling within the limits of logic. Several persons, on and off the record, have said they believe the saucers are visitors from space. But if you see them, you will be struck with the impression that it is much easier to say what they are not, than to suggest what they are. More About. . . Bright Objects LOS ANGELES, July 30 UP— Physicist Albert Einstein is serenely unconcerned about flying saucers. Evangelist Louis A. Garner wrote Einstein at Princeton to ask his opinion.  Einstein replied: “These people have seen something (underlined).  What it is I do not know and I am not curious to know.” By JIM G. LUCAS Scripps-Howard Staff Writer WASHINGTON. July 30 —The Air Force is checking the authenticity of a photograph which purports to show five flying saucers in formation over Salem, Mass. The picture was taken by Coast Guardsmen at Salem last Thursday about 10 a.m.  It was flown to Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, and then turned over to the Air Force.  It is now at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, O., where flying saucer reports are investigated and evaluated.  I saw it yesterday in the Pentagon. CLEVELAND, O., July 30 (UP) — The Cleveland Press, a Scripps-Howard newspaper, today told of a veteran Air Force pilot whose F-51 fighter plane was “attacked repeatedly by a flying saucer.” The story was told by the Press’ aviation editor, Charles Tracy, captain and former assistant Wing Operations officer of the 117th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, Lawson Air Force Base, Columbus, Ga. Tracy said the incident never before revealed to the public “happened a year ago over Augusta, Ga., on a warm, sunny, clear day.” The pilot was 1st Lieut. George Kinman of Birmingham, Ala., a veteran of seven years service, now flying jets in Germany. Water Droplets May Give Clue To Flying Discs By WADSWORTH LIKELY Science Service Staff Writer WASHINGTON, July 30 — Water droplets in the sky too small to be seen by the naked eye could have caused the appearance of the “flying saucers” here three times within the last ten days. Radar sets will pick up echoes, making blips on the radar screens, from clouds of such water droplets, Science Service learned.  These invisible clouds will also reflect lights from the ground. Blips from clouds of such small droplets can only be picked up by radar sets transmitting on very short wave lengths.  A radar expert at a Pentagon press conference on “flying saucers” yesterday afternoon confirmed that the radar sets on which the objects were seen here were transmitted on very short wave lengths. Explain Lights Weather conditions in Washington have been such in the past few days that these water droplets could very well have existed at the time the sightings were made. This would explain not only the blips on the radar scopes but also the sightings of “strange lights” at the place where radar operators saw the blips.  Jet pilots sent up to investigate on some occasions saw these strange lights.  It was revealed at the Pentagon press conference, conducted by Maj. Gen. John A. Sanford [Samford], Air Force director of intelligence, that on at least one of the three occasions when sightings were made by radar that a temperature inversion existed. Temperature inversions cause reflections of objects on the ground which can be picked up both by radar and by the naked eye. Scientists Help Gen. Stanford (sic) revealed that more emphasis will be placed on scientific observations of the reported phenomena in the future.  About 200 diffraction grids or gratings have been ordered and they will be scattered around the country.  These can be used to determine exactly what kind of light it is that is emanating from something seen in the sky.  Also an effort will be made to utilize Schmidt camera telescopes.  These constantly photograph almost all of the sky that can be seen from the position of the telescope. Gen. Stanford (sic) explained that of the 1000 to 2000 sightings of “flying saucers” reported to the Air Force, all but 20 per cent have been explained.  He emphasized that it is lack of sufficient information about this 20 per cent group of sightings which keeps them in the unexplained column.  Man is not as well equipped to measure what he observes as he is to observe, the general pointed out. Efforts are being made to work with scientists, both in the government and out, Gen. Samford explained.  Scientists, quite properly, refuse to try to explain these phenomena when there is insufficient evidence to provide a reasonable explanation. Hence the effort to improve methods of measurement. Buffalo, NY  Courier Express - 1 August, 1952 Veteran Flier Convinced Former Army Pilot Sees Flying Saucer by Daylight A former Army Air Forces World War II pilot who was skeptical about reported “flying saucers” saw one yesterday and is now “convinced they exist.”  Richard R. Bevan of 1432 Kenmore Ave., who piloted B-25s and P-38 planes in the 12th and 15th Air Forces in Italy, said he saw the object shortly before 9 o'clock yesterday morning as he drove in Sheridan Dr., near Main St. Bevan who has 3,800 air hours to his credit and is now a member of the reserves said, “I was skeptical about the ‘flying saucer’ reports until this morning and even after watching it for five minutes I hesitated saying anything about it until now.” He said he saw the object as his machine topped a rise in the road.  “My attention was drawn to it by a glint in the sky and I pulled over to the side and took off my sun glasses,” he said.  “Sure enough, there it was,” he added. The Sun Oil Co. sales representative said it appeared elliptical in form and had no visible means of propulsion.  He estimated it was about five miles distant and at a height of between 5,000 to 7,500 feet. “It was definitely no aircraft as we know them,” he stated.  He said the object appeared to be “flat and “hovering.”  He estimated it was about 20 feet long and was made of a metal similar to aluminum in appearance. Bevan said the “saucer” appeared to “oscillate a bit” as he watched and then either vanished at great speed or went behind a cloud. “I firmly believed the persons who reported these things before were seeing things but I'm certain of what I saw and my skepticism no longer exists.” he declared. In addition to Bevan, four other Buffalonians said they watched “a big round bright yellow glow” in the distant sky while sitting on the steps of their Kensington home. Sighted by Two Girls The round object which moved slowly was first seen by Theresa Collela, 16, of 146 Oakmont Ave., and Nancy Littlefield, 15 of 114 Oakmont Ave., as they sat on the steps of the Colella home. Theresa ran into the house and called her father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Colella, when they first sighted the object at 9.55 o'clock.  Theresa said the first lighted object vanished and then a second appeared some distance away. She described both lighted objects as "slightly larger than a street light.” Sky Watchers See No Saucers    Flying saucers must have been tabled last night.  A WEBR mobile unit and a Courier-Express reporter looked for the celestial crockery, reported seen in the Buffalo area in recent days, from land, from the air and over the water but nary a mystery missile was seen. Led by Clare Allen, WEBR special events director, the tracing troupe climbed a 93-foot tower at the Coast Guard base to talk with Storekeeper 3/c Arthur C. DeYo on lookout duty.  He watches the sky and Lake Erie waters for distress signals, but he reported nothing unusual in sight.  Chief Engineman Francis Wray, officer of the day at the base, had a similar report. Buffalo, NY  Courier Express - 2 August, 1952 Saucers. . . . ? Spice (sic) Mystery Pilot Data, Photo Add New Twists Washington. Aug. 1 (AP) — A mystery photo of four blazes of light in the sky, plus a report from jet pilots concerning a night light which they said was not a reflection, added new twists today to the aerial whatsit puzzle. Coast Guard headquarters here released the strange photograph taken from its Salem (Mass.) Air Station at 9.35 a. m. July 16th.  The picture showed four large light spots, in a sort of “V" formation in a clear sky. The new sighting report was turned in by interceptor pilots at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, O.  This is the location of the Air Force's air technical intelligence center which checks up on reports of outlandish things aloft. The pilot said at an altitude of 17,000 feet they watched an object, having a bright red light, for ten seconds.  They said they deliberately maneuvered around to be sure it was not a light reflection.  It hovered, they said, then disappeared at a high rate of speed. The picture released by the Coast Guard was taken by one of its photographers, Shell R. Alpert.  Alpert was quoted in a news release as saying the phenomenon was “a quick flash.” “I actually could not say it was anything — it could have been reflections from passing cars or from the ocean,” he said. The Coast Guard said it had no opinion as to the cause or source of the “objects” — it also described them as “unidentified air phenomena.” The headquarters said it was releasing the photograph only because of the widespread public interest in the subject. To suggestions that the lights might have been caused by flares or antiaircraft bursts, a Navy spokesman said the Navy was not firing anything in that area at that time.  The Air Force similarly disclaimed activity in the area. The Army said it had no information here and referred queries to its public information officer at Middletown, N. Y. Alpert was quoted as saying he saw several brilliant white lights through his photo laboratory window and watched them wavering for a few seconds only to have them dim down by the time be had focused his camera. Alpert summoned a companion, Thomas Flaherty, 26, and then noting that the lights were again burning brightly, snapped the picture.  He said an instant later there was a “momentary flash” and the lights disappeared. Alpert said he could not honestly identify the sighting as “objects or aircraft — merely some manner of lights.” They Sure Saw Something in Sky Hundreds of persons deluged area police and this newspaper for more than two hours last night when they saw a bouncing hail of light flitting across the north to northeastern sky.  Those who saw the light described it as blue, silver, white or yellow.  They agreed it was about the size of a basketball. A check revealed the light or as many said, “the flying saucer,” came from the Transit Drive In in Transit Rd, about five miles south of Lockport.  The drivein opened last night and rented a strong searchlight.  It was aimed skyward and moved continuously from about 9 until after 11 o'clock. AIR FORCE TIMES - 2 August, 1952 F-94s Called Out To Chase Saucers Over Washington By Rita Nelson      WASHINGTON. -- The status of the flying saucer following radar sightings over Washington and a Pentagon "saucer" conference this week is just where it was previously -- all up in the air.      Comments of high-ranking Air Force intelligence and "saucer project" officers are on the intangible side, as befits talk about phenomena on which the Air Force says no scientifically useful observations have been made.      In an effort to settle one rumor which declares that the "limitless" power which would be required for saucer propulsion could be obtained from a nuclear power plant generating electricity, The TIMES stated the theory to Maj. Gen. John A. Samford, Air Force director of intelligence.      "That's a pretty strong idea, but wait until it gets a little further along," he replied. Quizzed as to his meaning, he said that the idea is "mentally implausible."      Washington has had a flurry of sightings of unidentified objects.  Around midnight on July 19 the Air Route Traffic Control Center (CAA) at Washington National Airport sighted from seven to 10 unidentified aerial objects.  The radar operators said that eight were picked up in the vicinity of Andrews AFB, Md., moving at from 100 to 120 mph.      The control center notified the Air Force and also asked planes in the air if they could see anything.      Capt. S.C. Pierman, piloting Capital Airlines Flight 807, southbound from National Airport, soon reported seeing seven objects between Washington and Martinsburg, W. Va.  He said they changed pace, sometimes moving at tremendous speed, at other times hanging almost motionless.  He described them as "like falling stars without tails", and added:      "In all my years of flying I've seen a lot of falling or shooting stars, but these were much faster. They couldn't have been aircraft. They were moving too fast for that. They were about the same size as the brighter stars, and were much higher than our 6000 ft altitude."      Another airliner, Capital National airlines flight 610, also reported seeing a light and following it from Herndon, Va., to within four miles of Washington.      The Air Force did not send up interceptor planes that night because its own radar had not picked up the images and because the round-the-clock observer operation had not sent out warnings, officers said.      The night of July 26 at 9:08 unidentified objects were picked up by radar at National Airport. At various times four to 12 in number, the objects were seen on the radar screen until 3 a.m. Radar at Andrews AFB showed the objects from around 8:30 until midnight, and located them at approximately seven miles south of the base.      At 11:25 p.m., two F-94s from the Air Defense Command at New Castle AFB, Del., took off to investigate. One of the F-94 pilots saw four lights near Andrews, but he could not overtake them and they disappeared in two or three minutes. He also saw a steady white light 10 miles east of Mount Vernon but it faded quickly.      At 1:40 a.m., two more F-94s took off and patrolled the area until 2:20 a.m., but they saw nothing suspicious. Atlanta, Ga. Journal   - August 2, 1952 'JUPlTER DOESN'T COME IN PAIRS' Observers Sight Saucers In Korea and Japan Skies SEOUL UP—Those "flying saucers" have popped up in Korea and Japan. A Canadian destroyer recently reported sighting two such objects and recorded them on its radar, tt was learned here today. A Navy report said 40 officers and crew members of the destroyer Crusader saw the "saucers” the night of July 10.  All had the familiar qualities of the puzzling flying discs. • • • THE REPORT, addressed to the commanders of the Far East Naval Forces and the Fifth Air Force, said the ship's radar registered "fixes" on the objects.  It placed them two miles high and seven miles away. The report said the objects disappeared before dawn. A second report a day or two later dismissed the radar find as the planet Jupiter. One officer commented, however: "Jupiter doesn’t come in pairs and it is several million miles out of range of our radar." • • • THE only previous report of "flying saucer” sightings in Korea cropped up last February.  Crews of two night-flylng bombers said they saw saucer-like objects moving over North Korea. Tokyo, too, had a saucer report. Kosuke Miyazaki, 27, of the Central Meteorological Observatory said he saw a greenish-white thing with a tail flying through the sky Friday night. Air Defense Center Ready to Fight Saucers COLORADO -SPRINGS, Colo, UP—The nerve center of the nation's air defense admits today to being involved in the flying saucer situation. Headquarters of the Air Force Air Defense Command, located at Ent Air Force Base here, reported that there has been a flurry of reports of saucers and other unidentified objects for the past two weeks. And so seriously are the reports viewed that fast interceptor planes are kept on the ready to jet aloft to find out what goes on — if possible. • • • "WE'VE really been scrambling," an ADC spokesman said.  "Those planes are kept loaded and ready to go and their pilots are never more than a few feet away.  They're in the air within seconds of a report that seems definite enough." The thing is not geared up just for saucers though.  The system is the same as that worked out to meet any enemy attack. Furthermore, the ADC isn't saying what might have been found. The results of the scrambles aren't for it to announce.  Findings are turned over to technical experts at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, O. THF ADC, which commands and co-ordinates the three regional air defense commands in New York, Missouri and California, did say that its radar equipment has been picking up a lot of unexplained blips. "For the past two weeks," the ADC reported, "Headquarters has received a number of reports of unidentified airborne objects in its area through the normal detection channels of the ADC. "In the normal performance of its assignment, it has sent fighter interceptor aircraft aloft whenever, objects are detected in the area with sufficient definiteness to warrant an interception. “IT SHOULD be pointed out that radar in many instances picks up certain natural phenomena, such at ionized clouds, which may give the appearance of solid objects on the scope. "Other manmade objects, such as flares, weather balloons and so on may also register on the scope, and some interceptions have revealed that these are often what the unknowns turn out to be." Los Angeles, Ca.   Herald   - August 2, 1952 Saucers Light Desert Skies, Flit Over L. A Eerie new moons in the western sky, looking like flying saucers and flashing with rainbow brilliance, zipped across the Mojave Desert last night and sent three of the air force’s fastest jet planes in the air in a futile challenge to track them down. What luck the planes had in getting within camera or observation range was not disclosed by military authorities. It was revealed, meanwhile, by the Air Defend Command base in Colorado Springs, Colo., that planes and their crews have been kept on a stand by alert to “intercept” any flying discs. FLURRY OF REPORTS Admitting that there have been a flurry of reports about asucers , the Air Defense Command said the speediest ships are kept on the ready to jet into the skies on a moment’s notice to find out what the flying objects are — if possible. “We have really been scrambling,” an A. D. C. spokeman said.  “Those planes are kept loaded and ready to go and their pilots are never more than a few feet away.  They are in the air within seconds of a report that seems definite enough.” Two deputy sheriffs, two experienced C.A.A. observers at Palmdale, a game warden, and a number of responsible citizens told of seeing the eerie lights in the sky. Some, they sad (sic), were bright yellow, others red, some copper colored. All gleamed brightly, they added, some remaining stationary for as long as 10 minutes and providing plenty of time for observation, before disappearing as if under guided power. Deputies Tom Morrissey and William D. Mallette, on patrol 17 imiles west of Lancaster on the road to Lake Hughes, reported they saw two of the objects. “They gave off a bright yellowish light,” Morrissey said. “One dropped slowly behind the horizon and the other remained stationary for about 10 minutes.  This one kept swinging like a pendulum, finally moving out of sight to the west.” The officers stopped a car and had the passengers, Mr. and Mrs. Dale Taylor of Bouquet Canyon, confirm the sight.  They began their observation at 11:25 p. m. At 12:14 a. m. two C. A. A. observers at Palmdale Airport Don Benson and Ray Hollingsworth, said they saw a “saucer” west-northwest of the airport. OBJECT NEAR MOON “It hovered over the mountains in one spot for about three minutes,” said Benson.  “It was bright and shining.” Jack Roof, Lancaster game warden, reported to the sheriff’s office that he saw the strange sky objects. Rev. Louis Gardner, of Highland Park, said he saw a moving object near the moon. “It appeared very plainly and faded out of sight in a brief time,” he stated. Kenneth Gannon of El Monte described the mystery disk as “brilliant and bright like polished metal,” and Mrs. J. W. Fraser of Silver Lake district said it was “a bright, orange colored thing.” Jordan M. Reifel, of Pasadena, said he, his wife and a party of friends saw a “formation of white things” zooming rapidly across the sky and heard something like a rifle shot and the “zing of a bullet” through the air. Headquarters of the Air Force Defense Command at Colorado Springs disclosed fast interceptor planes are on the alert 24 hours a day to try and track down one of the fleeting objects.  A spokesmen admitted the frequent reports of the flying saucers are being taken “seriously” at the air base. Los Angeles, Ca.   LA Examiner   - August 3, 1952 Jets on Alert for ‘Saucers’ Mystery Lights Seen Over Mojave Sighting of mysterious lights over the Mojave Desert yesterday put Air Force jet fighter bases in Southern California on the alert for instant pursuit of “flying saucer” objects. Earlier reports, however, that three interceptors from George Air Force Base had already been sent to investigate the reddish-white lights observed by Civil Aeronautics Authority men, deputy sheriffs and state game wardens were flatly denied last night by officials at the base. Deputies Tom Morrisey and William Mallette made the first sighting of the Mojave lights at 11:45 p. m. Friday night while in their patrol car 25 miles south of Lancaster on U. S. Highway 6. They stopped a passing car and Mr. and Mrs. Dale Taylor of Bouquet Canyon confirmed what they had seen. At the same time, Jack Roff game warden at Lake Hughes, saw the same lights from his station.  All observers agreed that the lights seemed to be over the Leona Valley area, about 15 degrees above the horizon. One dropped out of sight behind the mountains while the other swung pendulum-like, for a few minutes then disappeared to the west. At 12:14 a m. Saturday, Donald Benson and Ray Hollingsworth, both CAA airways operation specialists at Palmdale Airport, saw a “brilliant red light” moving northwest, over the mountains.  They watched it for three minutes before notifying George and Edwards Air Force bases. From George Base, near Victorville, three jet fighters were sent up to investigate. Hamilton Air Force Base, Hamilton, California   - August 3, 1952 COUNTRY United States REPORT NO IR-33-52W LEAVE BLANK AIR INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION REPORT   SUBJECT Unidentified Flying Objects    (Short Title: FLYOBRPT) AREA REPORTED ON Central California FROM (Agency) Dir. of Intel. 28 AD Hamilton AFB, California DATE OF REPORT    6 August 1952 DATE OF INFORMATION 3 August 1952 EVALUATION B-2 PREPARED BY (Officer) 2nd Lt. James W. Westbrook, Asst Dir. of Intel. SOURCE Military personnel and personal contact REFERENCES (Control number, directive, previous report, etc., as applicable) TWX 28th OID F-291 FLYOBRPT, 5 August 1952 SUMMARY: (Enter concise summary of report.  Give significance in final one-sentence paragraph.  List enclosures at lower left.    Begin text of report on AF Form 112--Part II) This Flying Object Report contains information obtained from military personnel of the Hamilton Air Force Base, Hamilton, California. The information contained in this Flying Object Report (Form 112, Part II) seems to indicate the possibility of the unidentified objects being weather balloons. APPROVED: DISTRIBUTION BY ORIGINATOR 1 Copy   Chief, Air Technical Intelligence Center              ATTN: ATIAA-2e, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio AIR INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION REPORT   FROM (Agency) Dir. of Intel. 28 AD Hamilton AFB, California REPORT NO IR-33-52W Page  2  of  2  PAGES 1.   Two unidentified objects were first observed visually and with binoculars at 1615 Pacific Daylight Time 3 August 1952 for a period of 1 hour and 15 minutes.  They were described as silver in color and circular or globular in shape.  They were approximately 60-100 feet in diameter traveling at an estimated speed ef 400-450 M.P.H.  They made no audible sounds.  The objects were moving from East to West.  One object appeared to be at approximately 12,000 feet and the other at about 18,000 feet.  The two objects moved to the West for approximately 15 miles passing overhead of the observers.  During the flight course over the observers heads, the object at about 18,000 feet altitude, reportedly dove to the approximate same altitude as the lower object.  When the unidentified objects reached a point about 15 miles West of the observers, they began maneuvers similar to a fighter dog fight.  The objects were diving at each other.  The two unidentified objects disappeared in the sun momentarily. The observers then sighted either two more or the same two flying objects in the approximate location at which they were lost from view.  During the latter period of the observation six additional objects of similar description were observed 15 to 20 miles West of the observers.  This made a total of 8 similar objects observed in this area.  These additional six flying objects came into view in pairs at altitudes not estimated by two observers.  The unidentified objects were reportedly making passes at each other in the manner of a fighter dog fight.  The observers stated that the objects took up a diamond formation momentarily covering an estimated 4 mile area.  The observers stated that the objects were definitely not Jet aircraft.  No vapor trails, exhaust, or sound was noted on these objects. The observers said that it was difficult to follow any one object for any length of time. The observers were located at their homes on Hamilton AFB, Calif.  The observers' names are: Capt. L.R. Hadley 1149B Meadow Park, Hamilton AFB, Calif.; Capt. W.T. Perske, 1149C Meadow Park, Hamilton AFB, Calif, and 2d Lt. D.A. Swimley 1149D Meadow Park, Hamilton AFB, Calif.  Capt. Hadley and Lt. Swimley are both experienced pilots. The weather officer reports the area as clear during the time of the sightings with approximately 20 miles visibility.  Winds were as follows: 12,000 feet, 200° at 14 knots; 15,000 feet, 200° at 19 knots; 20,000 foot, 210° at 23 knots.  The observers mentioned that there was some dust in the air at the time of the sightings. Meteorological activity, physical evidence of the sightings, identification action taken and aircraft in the area were reported as negative. Comments of Preparing Officer: 1.  The information available to the preparing officer concerning the unidentified objects covered in this report indicates the possibility that the objects sighted were weather balloons.     Comments of Approving Officer: 1.  Concurs with preparing officer. The complete document can be read online here, and like the downloadable pdf available below, it includes copies of the official TWX traffic reporting the incident and additional information contained in the questionnaires filled out by witnesses.     Download Document as .pdf File Donald H. Menzel referenced this event in the book he co-authored with Lyle G. Boyd, The World of Flying Saucers . Puná Island, Ecuador   - August 3, 1952 ACTION 1952 AUG 8   09 15 RA698 WPC  092 JLDBP6ZFD JED TYC074 TDAØ92 JEZ BØ52 JLP 26 PP  JEPHQ JEDWP JEDEN 333 DE JLPCR 1D FM  COMGENCAIRC ALBROOK AFB CZ P   Ø8Ø6ØØZ  2NJ TO JEPHQ/DIR OF INT HQ USAF WASH DC JEDWP/AIR SUP INT CETR, WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB DAYTON OHIO AT1AA-2C ZJEDEO/ CG ENT AFB COLO SPRINGS, COLO CAIRC X1253 FLYOBRPT (1)  SHAPE OF OBJECT:  CIRCULAR;  SIZE:  ESTIMATED 50 FT DIAMETER;  COLOR: SILVERY;  NUMBER:  3;  FORMATION:  LEFT ECHELON;  AERODYNAMIC FEATURES; CIRCULAR IN SHAPE, APPEARED TO BE FLAT SHAPED;  NO TRAIL, NO EXHAUST;  PROPULSION SYSTEM:  UNKNOWN;  SPEED:  FROM STATIONARY TO ESTIMATED 1,ØØØ MPH; NO SOUND; MA EUVERS (sic): LEAD OBJECT FROM STATION- ERY TO LEFT, TAIL OBJ FROM STAIONARY (sic) TO RIGHT, CENTER OBJECT FROM STATIONERY TO NW;  MANNER OF DISAPPEARANCE:  LAST OBJECT VISIBLE TO NW UNTIL OUT OF SIGHT. (2)  TIME OF SIGHTING: 1500 HRS;  TIME OBSERVED: APPROXIMATELY ONE MINUTE. (3)  MANNER OF OBSERVATION:  VISUAL FROM SURFACE. (4)  LOCATION OF OBSERVER:  LATITUDE 3 DEGREES SOUTH, LONGITUDE 8Ø DEGREES WEST; REFERENCE TO KNOW (sic) LANDMARK: JUST OFF SOUTH SHORE OF PUNA ISLAND; LOCATION OF OBJECTS WITH RESPECT TO OBSERVER: APPROXIMATELY TEN MILES TO NW ASSUMING DIAMETER TO BE 50 FT, ESTIMATED ALTITUDE FROM 3Ø,ØØØ TO 4Ø,ØØØ FT. (5)  WITNESSES CAPT AND M SGT UNUSUALLY RELIABLE. (6)  WEATHER AND SURFACE WINDS AT TIME OF SIGHTING: CLEAR, UNLIMITED VISIBILITY WITH SURFACE WINDS TO SE OF APPROX 1Ø MPH. (7)  NO KNOWN METEOROLOGICAL ACTIVITY OR CONDITION WHICH MIGHT ACCOUNT FOR SIGHTING. (8)  NO PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AVAILABLE OF SIGHTING. (9)  NO INTERCEPTION OF IDENTIFICATION ACTION TAKEN. (10)  NO KNOWN AIR TRAFFIC IN AREA OF LOCATION. Ø8/Ø628Z AUG JLPCR COUNTRY Ecuador REPORT NO IR-60-52 LEAVE BLANK AF494335 AIR INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION REPORT   SUBJECT Unidentified Flying Objects AREA REPORTED ON Puna Island, Ecuador FROM (Agency) USAF Mission to Ecuador DATE OF REPORT    7 August 1952 DATE OF INFORMATION 3 August 1952 EVALUATION   PREPARED BY (Officer) H.K. BAISLEY SOURCE M/Sgt REFERENCES (Control number, directive, previous report, etc., as applicable) AFL-200-5 SUMMARY: (Enter concise summary of report.  Give significance in final one-sentence paragraph.  List enclosures at lower left.    Begin text of report on AF Form 112--Part II) While on TDY at Guayaquil, Ecuador, M/Sgt observed flying objects unconventlonal by present standards at Puna Island, Ecuador.  The objects appeared to be approximately 50 feet in diameter seen from an estimated distance of ten miles and maintained an estimated altitude from 30,000 to 40,000 feet.  No known meteorological disturbances existed which could have accounted for the sighting. M/Sgt is considered to be reliable, his observations are considered of sufficient significance to be worthy of investigation. H. K. BAISLEY Colonel, USAF Chief of Mission Ecuador TRUE COPY: LAWRENCE P. STOVER Major, USAF Director of Intelligence   1             Sketch (6 Copies) AIR INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION REPORT   FROM (Agency) Director of Intelligence, CAirC REPORT NO IR-60-52 Page  2  of  2  PAGES While aboard the U.S. vessel Santa Luisa, which was at anchor in the mouth of the Guayas River, Capt. called my attention to three round flat stationary objects overhead.  These objects were to the northwest and high at an angle of approximately 75° elevation.  They were metalic in color and_reflected the sun, which at 3:00 p.m., was a little more to the west than the objects.  After about 5 seconds one of the objects dived down to the west and turned back to the northwest.  While watching the one I lost sight of the other two.  Within another 5 seconds the one I was watching was out of sight.  The size is unknown due to the unknown altitude.  Each would appear about the size of a pin head held at arm's length.  I estimate the distance as ten miles away on the 75° degree angle and the size as fifty feet in diameter.  From my angle the objects appeared almost round in shape. M/Sgt ., USAF Mission Ecuador TRUE COPY: LAWRENCE P. STOVER Major, USAF Director of Intelligence Sketch made from U.S. vessel Santa Luisa of Puná Island UFO sighting Puná Island, Ecuador, location of August 3, 1952 UFO sighting     Download Documents as .pdf File TIME Magazine - August 4, 1952      SCIENCE:       Blips on the Scopes       Air traffic was light at Washington Airport one midnight last week, and the radar scope of the Civil Aeronautics Authority was almost clear.   At 12:40 a.m. a group of bright blips showed.   The operator estimated that they were about 15 miles southwest of Washington.   Then the blips disappeared abruptly and reappeared a few seconds later over northeast Washington.   The operator called his boss, Senior Controller Harry Barnes, 39, a graduate of the Buffalo Technical Institute who has worked for the CAA as an electronics expert since 1941.   The operator told Barnes: "Here are some flying saucers for you."       Barnes laughed at first, but the blips kept popping up all over the scope.  They sometimes hovered, sometimes flew slowly and sometimes incredibly fast.   Technicians checked the radar; it was in good working order.       Over the White House.  Barnes began to worry when he saw the blips apparently flying over the White House and other prohibited areas.   He called the airport control tower.   Sure enough, its radar showed the strange blips too.   When the towermen measured the speed of a fast blip, they found that it had flown for eight miles at 7,200 m.p.h.       Now the blips on Barnes's scope were moving towards Andrews Air Force Base about ten miles to the east.   Barnes called the Andrews tower.   Nothing strange showed on its radar, but both towermen and an enlisted man on the field saw a single, round, orange light drifting in the southern sky.   That was enough for Barnes.   He called the Air Defense Command and reported an unidentified object was over the Washington area.   Then he told an airline pilot, C.S. Pierman of Capital Airlines, who was about to take off for Pittsburgh, to watch for mysterious objects.   Pierman climbed to 6,000 ft. and headed northwest. Barnes & Co. saw a group of strange blips cluster around the blip made by Pierman's plane and Pierman spotted a white light "like a falling star."   It sped away, and its blip disappeared from Barnes's scope.       Air Force to the Rescue.  Over from a Delaware base came a flight of radar-equipped F-94 jet fighters.   Before they reached Washington, all the blips vanished.   The jets saw nothing at all.   But when the jets departed the blips reappeared, playing all over the scope.  Barnes said: "like a bunch of kids."   He called all airliners flying near Washington, asked their pilots to report any strange objects.   One pilot saw a white light, moving fast.   But during all this uproar, other radars near Washington (e.g. Quantico and Fort Meade) saw nothing unusual.       All the rest of the week, a few strange blips appeared now & then.   Then on Saturday night they broke out all over, criss-crossing the capital as they had the week before.   This time, the radar at Andrews was seeing the things too.   One blip hung over Bolling Field, across the Potomac from the airport, but observers at Bolling saw nothing in the sky.   Some airline pilots saw mysterious lights; others saw nothing.       The Saucer Flies Again.   Down from Delaware roared another flight of night fighters.  This time the blips did not vanish.  They stayed on the ground scopes while the jets screamed among them.   But only one pilot saw a light, another saw a doubtful blip on his scope.   It vanished before he could shoot.       What were the mysterious blips?  The Air Force, unless it was trying to conceal some mysterious gadget of its own (e.g. a radar countermeasure), was as baffled as everyone else.   As might be expected the phantom invasion touched off a whole new rash of flying-saucer stories.   But if the men from Mars were really overhead, the oddest part of the whole story was the fact that among all the conflicting reports, no radar outside of a ten-mile radius in Washington reported seeing anything unusual at any time. Singleton, NSW (Australia),   Argus - August 4, 1952 “Flying Saucers Not Solid” - U.S.A.F. WASHINGTON. Monday (AAP)—The U.S. Army Air force was “reasonably well convinced" that flying saucers sighted over America were not solid objects, the U.S. Director of Operations (Mjr.-General Roger Ramsey)(sic) [Ramey] said last night. "The air force however," he said "felt the responsibility to investigate flying saucer reports although they did not enter into the defence project of America." From the Canadian Department of National Defense Archives, File: HQ 940-5 (Project Second Story) comes the following report submitted to Air Force Headquarters from Edmonton, Alberta, on 6 August 1952: Flying Saucer Sighting Reports 1.  The following flying saucer sighting reports have been received at this GHQ. 2.  Two disc-like objects were sighted at 2200 hrs P.S.T. on 19 July over Stewart Lake (64:20N 125:15W) by the pilot of a Waco aircraft and one member of the survey party.  One object of similar design sighted at 12:25 hrs P.S. 10 July approximately fifty miles N.W. of Wrigley, N.W.T. by the pilot of the Waco aircraft which sighted other two objects on 19 July.  All objects were travelling North at great speed. 3.  An oval shaped, silver colored object with projecting tail was sighted at 1355 hrs M.S.T. 5 Aug over the Hudson Bay Co. post at Hay Lakes (58'40N 118'40W) by..., Hudson Bay Co. employee, at approximately one thousand feet The object maneuvered horizontally, vertically, spiralled and also hovered directly over the post.  There was definitely no motor sound, and the object was estimated as larger than a Lancaster, with speed beyond estimate.  This report was verified by Mr..., Manager of the Hudson Bay Co. post at Hay Lakes, who observed it at approximately six thousand feet South East of the post.... This report from the Hudson Bay Company employees indicates a possible lead.  The Manitoba Provincial Archives contains the Hudson Bay Company records.  For well over 200 years the company maintained posts all over Canada.  The post managers kept journals in which they recorded meteorological observations, significant events and the day's business.  Several UFO researchers suggested that these journals also may contain reports of aerial phenomena.  I checked two rolls of microfilm which cover eight posts for different periods from 1864 to 1902. There were no reports of meteors, ball lightning or UFOs in this sample.  However, it is suggested that more modern records should be checked. Lumberton, N.C.,   The Robesonian   - August 7, 1952 West Lumberton Event Added To Growing “Saucer” Reports By ROBESONIAN STAFF The small man (30 inches high) who alighted from a flying saucer last night in the backyard of the home of James J. Allen, House 51, West Lumberton, went off in “a whiff” when Mr. Allen asked if he were hurt — his orange saucer having hit Mr. Allen's chimney. The event, said Mr. Allen, occurred about nine o’clock last night. Hurried research into the very [ text missing ] “It looked perfectly round in the occasional phenomenon of St. Elmo’s Fire as a possible explanation, led to immediate speculation as to whether the little visitor could have been St. Elmo. Mr. Allen, American Houses employee, said he was out of doors when he saw the saucer coming from the northeast, but from his description it was more of a ball; [ text missing] air.” He said it hit his chimney and knocked part of it in.  Then it fell in the back yard and he saw it on the ground. “It was six feet high and eight feet long and was lighted on the inside.  It was orange in color like it was in the air.  The lights went out when I walked toward it and got within about ten feet of it.” APPEARED A MAN Allen continued: “There appeared to be a small man about 30 inches high standing beside the object.  When I asked if it was hurt, it went away in a whiff; then it made a loud noise, like air whistling, and was gone.” Mr. Allen said he sat in his back door for about two hours waiting to see if it would come back. He didn’t specify whether he hoped it would or hoped it wouldn’t. Scientists all over the land have offered hundreds of explanations for flying saucers and local reference works being limited to Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, reference is made to that volume.  It classified lightning as chain (or forked) lightning, sheet (or heat) lightning, and ball lightning. The dictionary says that St. Elmo’s Fire is “a flame-like appearance sometimes seen in stormy weather at prominent points on a ship ... and also on land ... at the tops of trees or steeples ... It is of the nature of a brush discharge of electricity, reddish when positive, bluish when negative.” Added to this, the local weather station observed ideal conditions for electrical discharges last night; humidity was as high as it can go (100 per cent at both 8:30 and 9:30) and scattered storms occurred. SIMILAR APPEARANCE The report by Mr. Allen coincides with the investigation of a similar appearance in Red Springs in December.  State Defense Director E. Z. Jones went to Red Springs yesterday to interview Sam Coley, 49, a mechanic and jack of all trades, who revealed his vision of a “flying saucer” some months ago. Eldred Zed (E. Z.) Jones, North Carolina State Civil Defense Director Jones said this is what Coley told him before other witnesses in a tape-recorded interview: At dusk one day last December, Coley’s 12-year old son came running into the Coley house and called his father and 17-year-old sister to observe a strange object coming out of the sky. The object stopped about six feet above the ground about 300 yards from the house.  It was shaped like two saucers put together with a cabin like bulge in the center.  It gave off no light except from windows in the cabin. Coley said he saw a man inside. It was almost silent, giving off a slight purr.  The only part of the object, which was about the size of an airplane, which seemed to be moving was a disk on the outer shell. After hovering over the spot for about 10 minutes, it took off “like a bolt of lightning and faster than the naked eye could follow.”  It left almost silently. Jones said Coley did not report the object because he was afraid he would have been ridiculed.  He told Jones his daughter convinced him he should report what they had seen. Jones said that he and the Red Springs police chief helped him question Coley, the daughter, and the son closely and their stories did not vary. He said that the police chief apparently lost his skepticism after the interview. Jones declined to comment on the interview. The chimney on his house, which James J. Allen said was struck by a flying saucer last night is pictured at top here.  In the lower picture is Mr. Allen standing near his West Lumberton home.  The arrow points to a spot in the grass near the house where the thing landed and “it” got out; he says he saw what appeared to be a 30-inch man near the glowing object after its light went out.  The grass was depressed at the spot Mr. Allen pointed to this morning as if some heavy object had lain on it. (norment photos) Rockhampton, QLD (Australia),   Central Queensland Herald - August 7, 1952 Has No Belief In “Flying Saucers” SEATTLE July 31. —The American Air Force Chief of Staff (General Hoyt Vandenberg) said today, “I don’t believe there is any such thing as a flying saucer, but apparently there are physical phenomena which make people say they have seen saucers.  They are not machines flown by men from Mars nor from any foreign powers. “I don’t like this continued long-range occurrence of what might be called mass hysteria about flying saucers.  The Air Force has never found anything to substantiate existence of such things,” he said. Phoenix, Arizona  Gazette - 14 August, 1952 Air War Men Too Busy To Spot Flying Saucers by Mary Brion Japan and the Far East haven't been disturbed by flying saucers–yet. Col. D. F. Wood, who just has returned from Toyko where he directed combat strikes made by B-29 Superfortresses from Japan and Okinawa against Communist targets in North Korea, says that no flying plates from Mars or gadgets from Russia have been reported in the airways over there.  His explanation is that people there have more important things to think about. Boston, Mass.  Christian Science Monitor - August 14, 1952 'Flying Saucers' in Korea Easily Explained by Army by Reuters Tokyo—The United States Army said “flying saucers” recently reported over the Korean battlefront were meteorological balloons fitted with lights. Peoria, Illinois.  Star - August 15, 1952 Saucer Turns Up in Korea With U.S. 1st Marine Division, Korea, Friday, Aug.15. (UP)–A Marine infantry patrol probing deep into Communist territory several miles east of Bunker Hill Thursday morning reported seeing a saucer-like object in the sky. The Marines said the object was "east of the moon" at about 10,000 feet.  It hung there for a few minutes, then moved sharply.  When it veered again the patrol lost sight of it. All members of the patrol verified the sighting except one man. They said the object was round and very thin.  It had a light color but was not shiny. The patrol was lead by Second Lt. Paul D. Mahoney, son of Mrs. Peter J Mahoney, Brooklyn, NY. Brisbane, QLD (Australia),   Charleville Times - August 21, 1952 GIANT TELESCOPES America's flying saucer scare produced new theories, several editorials, hundreds more reported sightings and two reward offers. Finally the Air Force called a special Press conference to assure the nations that the authorities were still certain no one and nothing was preparing to blast the United States to smithereens. The Air Force earlier revealed: It was getting an average of 100 reports a month, of which 20 per cent could not be explained. It had set up a special unit called “Operation Bluebook” at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, to investigate all reports. Jet fighters were operating on a 24-hour alert to pursue all unidentified objects. It was considering putting powerful telescopes around the country as an extra check on the sky. The Air Force added that jet fighters would be equipped shortly with a new camera which photographs “luminous phenomena.” Washington columnist Drew Pearson claimed the Government had established flying saucer observation posts on its New Mexico guided-missiles test site. Dr. I.M. Levitt, director of Fels Planetarium, Philadelphia pointed out that the so-called “Durham Lights” over England caused a furore at the turn of the century when England was the leading power. He added: “Now we are the leading power, could it be that we are moving at a higher psychological pitch because of our world position and are reading fearful implications into a phenomenon which normally would not be noticed.” Meantime wealthy Ohioan Temus Bright offer a $5000 dollar (£2220) reward “for evidence corroborating the existence of flying saucers.” One newspaper offered $500 dollars (£222) for information leading to a photo of a genuine flying saucer. Australian Associated Press - August 24, 1952 Had "his hair singed by flying saucer" NEW YORK:   The US Air Force revealed last night that it had received a report from the only man in the world to claim he had his hair singed by a flying saucer.       The story, told by Mr. S.J.D. Desvergers, a scout-master, "was receiving further study from a scientific viewpoint," an Air Force intelligence officer said.       Desvergers, an ex-Marine said he was riding in a car on Tuesday night with three Scouts on the edge of Florida Everglades when he saw flashing lights.       He walked through the brush, leaving the Scouts in the car and telling them to call the police if he were not back in 10 minutes.       He saw an object "large enough for six or eight men to stand in."       "It was about 10 feet high in the centre, about 30 feet in diameter and shaped like a half rubber ball, tapering down to a three-foot thickness on the side," he added.       "There was a phosphorescent effect around the side."       "I believe I was under and near it for about three minutes."       "It was only 10 feet from the ground.   It made a hissing sound like a tyre going down."       Desvergers said "they" (apparently meaning those in the object) shot a ball of fire at him that seemed to "float slowly at his face."       The hair on his arm was singed and three holes about one-eighth of an inch in diameter were burned in his scout cap.       He then "blacked out."   When he awoke he had no sense of feeling.       "Even now I have a tingling as when your foot loses circulation and goes to sleep," he said.       By the time he came to, Deputy Sheriff Mott Partin, summoned by the three Scouts had arrived.       Partin said Desvergers "looked like a wild man" when he came out of the brush.       Mr. Partin added that when he went into the woods, the grass "seemed to be scorched or blistered" in a small clearing.       No trace of the object has been found.       Desvergers claimed "the people in the object were as afraid of me as I was of them."       He "and high-ranking officers from Washington," whom he refused to identify, were substantially in agreement on what the object was, he said.       "I know what it is, and it's of vital importance," he told a reporter.   "But it's better for me not to go any further for the public good, because it might cause panic."   Singleton, NSW (Australia),   Argus - August 25, 1952 FLYING SAUCERS MYSTIFY AMERICA NEW YORK.—The United States Air Force is taking a new and serious interest in “flying saucers,” according to Life magazine but the Air Force itself was not so emphatic. “The Air Force is now ready to concede that many saucer and fireball sightings still defy explanation,” Life said in an 11-page article entitled, “Have We Visitors From Space?”. At Washington the Air Force said, in answer to questions, that it has not discontinued the study of unidentified objects popularly known as “flying saucers,” but the study is no longer a special project. A spokesman said that in most cases findings proved the objects to be weather balloons and natural phenomena. He added: “There remain, however, a number of reported sightings that cannot be thus explained and as long as this is true the Air Force will continue to study the problem.” United States field commands have been alerted to report unconventional aerial objects in an effort to obtain additional information. “The public should not interpret these continued efforts to mean that new evaluations have been made or that new conclusions have been reached.” Latest flying saucer report comes from Indo-China.  Wo[?] Oil Company officials Etienne Roux and Andre Tence said they saw an orange-colored “sphere, saucer or fireball” darting about the tree tops here. Montreal, Canada   STAR - 28 August, 1952 'Saucer' Reported In Ontario Field. Windsor, Ont., Aug. 28--(C.P.)--Gabriel Durocher said he saw a luminous disc-shaped object 30 feet in diameter in a field south of here early today.      'It was sort of blue all over and glowed like phosphorus.'       He ran to within 30 feet of the object and 'started yelling at it,' he said.      'Then I saw these sparks come out of one part of the sides.  They were blue and yellow and red.  The saucer started spinning and there was [a] sort of blue mist formed under it and went straight up and away.'      The Windsor Daily Star received four telephone calls from residents who said they spied "something" hovering over the area where Gabriel said he saw his 'object.'"

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