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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5883-0.txt b/5883-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e048200 --- /dev/null +++ b/5883-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7468 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Flying Saucers are Real, by Donald E. Keyhoe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The Flying Saucers are Real + +Author: Donald E. Keyhoe + +Release Date: September 15, 2002 [eBook #5883] +[Most recently updated: February 5, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: John B. Hare + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL *** + + + + +The Flying Saucers are Real + +by Donald E. Keyhoe + + +New York + +Fawcett Publications, 1950 + +{scanned at sacred-texts.com, March 2002} + +This book is in the public domain because it was not renewed in a timely +fashion at the US Copyright Office, as required by law at the time. + + +Contents + + CHAPTER I. + CHAPTER II. + CHAPTER III. + CHAPTER IV. + CHAPTER V. + CHAPTER VI. + CHAPTER VII. + CHAPTER VIII. + CHAPTER IX. + CHAPTER X. + CHAPTER XI. + CHAPTER XII. + CHAPTER XIII. + CHAPTER XIV. + CHAPTER XV. + CHAPTER XVI. + CHAPTER XVII. + CHAPTER XVIII. + CHAPTER XIX. + CHAPTER XX. + + + + +_To Helen, +with love_ + + + + +Donald E. Keyhoe, who relates here his investigation of the flying +saucers, writes with twenty-five years of experience in observing +aeronautical developments. + +He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He flew in +active service with the Marine Corps, managed the tour of the historic +plane in which Bennett and Byrd made their North Pole flight, was aide +to Charles Lindbergh after the famous Paris flight, and was chief of +information for the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce. + + + + +Author’s Note + + +ON APRIL 27, 1949, the U.S. Air Force stated: + +_“The mere existence of some yet unidentified flying objects +necessitates a constant vigilance on the part of Project ‘Saucer’ +personnel, and on the part of the civilian population._ + +_“Answers have been—and will be—drawn from such factors as guided +missile research activity, balloons, astronomical phenomena. . . . But +there are still question marks._ + +_“Possibilities that the saucers are foreign aircraft have also been +considered. . . . But observations based on nuclear power plant +research in this country label as ‘highly improbable’ the existence on +Earth of engines small enough to have Powered the saucers._ + +_“Intelligent life on Mars . . . is not impossible but is completely +unproven. The possibility of intelligent life on the Planet Venus is +not considered completely unreasonable by astronomers._ + +_“The saucers are not jokes. Neither are they cause for alarm.”_[1] + + [1] Project “Saucer” Preliminary Study of Flying Saucers. + + +On December 27, 1949, the Air Force denied the existence of flying +saucers.[2] + + [2] 2. Air Force Press Release 629-49.’ + + +On December 30, 1949, the Air Force revealed part of a secret Project +“Saucer” report to members of the press at Washington. The official +report stated: + +“It will never be possible to say with certainty that any individual +did not see a space ship, an enemy missile, or some other object.” + +Discussing the motives of possible visitors from space, the report also +stated: + +“Such a civilization might observe that on Earth we now have atomic +bombs and are fast developing rockets. In view of the past history of +mankind, they should be alarmed. We should therefore expect at this +time above all to behold such visitations.” + +(In its April 22 report, Project “Saucer” stated that space travel +outside the solar system is almost a certainty.) + +On February 22, 1950, the Air Force again denied the existence of +flying saucers. On this same date, two saucers reported above Key West +Naval Air Station were tracked by radar; they were described as +maneuvering at high speed fifty miles above the earth. The Air Force +refused to comment. + +On March 9, 1950, a large metallic disk was pursued by F-51 and jet +fighters and observed by scores of Air Force officers at Wright Field, +Ohio. On March 18, an Air Force spokesman again denied that saucers +exist and specifically stated that they were not American guided +missiles or space-exploration devices. + +I have carefully examined all Air Force saucer reports made in the last +three years. For the past year, I have taken part in a special +investigation of the flying-saucer riddle. + +I believe that the Air Force statements, contradictory as they appear, +are part of an intricate program to prepare America—and the world—for +the secret of the disks. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +It was a strange assignment. + +I picked up the telegram from my desk and read it a third time. + +NEW YORK, N. Y., MAY 9, 1949 + +HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY. FIRST TIP HINTED +GIGANTIC HOAX TO COVER UP OFFICIAL SECRET. BELIEVE IT MAY HAVE BEEN +PLANTED TO HIDE REAL ANSWER. LOOKS LIKE TERRIFIC STORY. CAN YOU TAKE +OVER WASHINGTON END? + +KEN W. PURDY, EDITOR, TRUE MAGAZINE + +I glanced out at the Potomac, recalling the first saucer story. As a +pilot, I’d been skeptical of flying disks. Then reports had begun to +pour in from Air Force and airline pilots. Apparently alarmed, the Air +Force had ordered fighters to pursue the fast-flying saucers. In one +mysterious chase, a pilot had been killed, and his death was +unexplained. That had been seventeen months ago. Since then, the whole +flying-saucer riddle had been hidden behind a curtain of Air Force +secrecy. + +And now, an assignment from True magazine on flying saucers. + +Twenty-four hours later, I was in Ken Purdy’s office. + +“I’ve had men on this for two months,” he told me. “I might as well +warn you, it’s a tough story to crack.” + +“You think it’s a Russian missile?” I asked him. “Or an Air Force +secret?” + +“We’ve had several answers. None of them stacks up. But I’m positive +one was deliberately planted when they found we were checking.” + +He told me the whole story of the work that had been done by the staff +of True and of the reports sent in by competent writers. The deeper he +delved into the mystery, the tougher the assignment got. The more I +learned about flying saucers, the less I knew. + +“There’s one angle I want rechecked,” Purdy said. + +“You’ve heard of the Mantell case?” + +I nodded. + +“O.K. Try to get the details of Mantell’s radio report to Godman Tower. +Before he was killed, he described the thing he was chasing—we know +that much. Project ‘Saucer’ gave out a hint, but they’ve never released +the transcript. Here’s another lead. See if you can find anything about +a secret picture, taken at Harmon Field, Newfoundland—it was around +July 1947. I’ll send you other ideas as I get them.” + +Before I left, Purdy wished me hick and told me that he would work in +closest harmony with me. + +“But watch out for fake tips,” he said. “You’ll probably run into some +people at the Pentagon who’ll talk to you ‘off the record.’ That +handcuffs a writer. Look out they don’t lead you into a blind alley. +Even the Air Force statements and the Project ‘Saucer’ report +contradict each other.” + +For six months, I worked with other investigators to solve the mystery +of the disks. We checked a hundred sighting reports, frequently +crossing the trail of Project “Saucer” teams and F.B.I. agents. Old +records gave fantastic leads. So did Air Force plans for exploring +space. Rocket experts, astronomers, Air Force officials and pilot gave +us clues pointing to a startling solution. Many intelligent +persons—including scientists—believe that the saucers contain spies +from another planet. + +When this first phase was ended, we were faced with a hard decision. We +had uncovered important facts, We knew the saucers were real. If it was +handled carefully, we believed the story would be in line with a secret +Air Force policy. + +It was finally decided to publish certain alternate conclusions. The +Air Force was informed of _True’s_ intentions; no attempt was made to +block publication. + +In the January 1950 issue of _True_, I reported that we had reached the +following conclusions: + +1 The earth has been observed periodically by visitors from another +planet. + +2. This observation has increased markedly in the past two years. + +“The only other possible explanation,” I wrote, “is that, the saucers +are extremely high-speed, long-range devices developed here on earth. +Such an advance (which the Air Force has denied) would require an +almost incredible leap in technical progress even for American +scientists and designers.” + +Nation-wide press and radio comment followed the appearance of the +article. This publicity was obviously greater than the Air Force had +expected. Within twenty-four hours the Pentagon was deluged with +telegrams, letters, and long-distance calls. Apparently fearing a +panic, the Air Force hastily stated that flying-saucer reports—even +those made by its own pilots and high-ranking officers—were mistakes or +were caused by hysteria.[3] + + [3] Air Force press release 629-49, December 27, 1949. + + +But three days later, when it was plain that many Americans calmly +accepted _True’s_ disclosures, the Air Force released a secret project +“Saucer” file containing this significant statement: + +“It will never be possible to say with certainty that any individual +did not see a space ship, an enemy missile or other object.” + +In this same document there appears a confidential analysis of Air +intelligence reports.[4] It is this summary that contains the official +suggestion Of. space visitors’ motives. After stating that such a +civilization would obviously be far ahead of our own, the report adds: + + [4] Air Force Project “Saucer” December 30, 1949. + + +“Since the acts of mankind most easily observed from a distance are +A-bomb explosions, we should expect some relation to obtain between the +time of the A-bomb explosions, the time at which the space ships are +seen, and the time required for such ships to arrive from and return to +home base.” + +(In a previous report, which alternately warned and reassured the +public, the Air Force stated that space travel outside the solar system +is almost a certainty.[5]) + + [5] Air Force report M-26-49, Preliminary Studies on Flying saucers, + April 27, 1949. + + +Since 1949 there has been a steady increase in saucer sightings. Most +of them have been authentic reports, which Air Force denials cannot +disprove. In January, mystery disks were reported over Kentucky, +Indiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, and several other states. On the Seattle +Anchorage route, an air freighter was paced for five minutes by a +night-flying saucer. When the pilots tried to close in, the strange +craft zoomed at terrific speed. Later, the airline head reported that +Intelligence officers had quizzed the pilots for hours. + +“From their questions,” he said, “I could tell they had a good idea of +what the saucers are. One officer admitted they did, but he wouldn’t +say any more.” + +Another peculiar incident occurred at Tucson, Arizona, on February 1. +Just at dusk, a weird, fiery object raced westward over the city, +astonishing hundreds in the streets below. The Tucson Daily Citizen ran +the story next day with a double-banner headline: + +FLYING SAUCER OVER TUCSON? + +B-29 FAILS TO CATCH OBJECT + + +Flying saucer? Secret experimental plane? Or perhaps a scout craft from +Mars? Certainly the strange aircraft that blazed a smoke trail over +Tucson at dusk last night defies logical explanation. It was as +mystifying to experienced pilots as to groundlings who have trouble in +identifying conventional planes. + +Cannonballing through the sky, some 30,000 feet aloft, was a fiery +object shooting westward so fast it was impossible to gain any clear +impression of its shape or size. . . . + +At what must have been top speed the object spewed out light colored +smoke, but almost directly over Tucson it appeared to hover for a few +seconds. The smoke puffed out an angry black and then be came lighter +as the strange missile appeared to gain speed” + +The radio operator in the Davis-Monthan air force base control tower +contacted First Lt. Roy L. Jones, taking off for a cross-country flight +in a B-29, and asked him to investigate. Jones revved up his swift +aerial tanker and still the unknown aircraft steadily pulled away +toward California. + +Dr. Edwin F. Carpenter, head of the University of Arizona department of +astronomy, said he was certain that the object was not a meteor or +other natural phenomenon. . . . + +_Switchboards Swamped_ + +Switchboards at the Pima county sheriff’s office and Tucson police +station were jammed with inquiries. Hundreds saw the object. Tom +Bailey, 1411 E. 10th Street, thought it was a large airplane on fire. +[A later check showed no planes missing.] He said it wavered from left +to right as it passed over the mountains. Bailey also noticed that the +craft appeared to slow perceptibly over Tucson. He said the smoke +apparently came out in a thin, almost invisible stream, gaining +substance within a few seconds. + + +This incident had an odd sequel the following day. Its significance was +not lost on the Daily Citizen. It ran another front-page story, +headlined: + +WHAT DO YOU MEAN ONLY VAPOR TRAIL? + + +As though to prove itself blameless for tilting hundreds of Tucson +heads skyward, the U.S. Air Force yesterday afternoon spent hours +etching vapor trails through the skies over the city. + +The demonstration proved conclusively to the satisfaction of most that +the strange path of dark smoke blazed across the evening sky at dusk +Wednesday was no vapor trail and did not emanate from any conventional +airplane. + +The Wednesday night spectacle was entirely dissimilar. Then, heavy +smoke boiled and swirled in a broad, dark ribbon fanning out at least a +mile in width and stretching across the sky in a straight line. Since +there was no proof as to what caused the strange predark manifestation, +and because even expert witnesses were unable to explain the +appearance, the matter remains a subject for interesting speculation. + + +There is strong evidence that this story was deliberately kept off the +press wires. The Associated Press and other wire services in Washington +had no report. Requests for details by Frank Edwards, Mutual +newscaster, and other radio commentators ran into a blank wall. At the +Pentagon I was told that the Air Force had no knowledge of the sighting +or the vapor-trail maneuvers. + +On February 22 two similar glowing objects were seen above Boca Chica +Naval Air Station at Key West. A plane sent tip to investigate was +hopelessly outdistanced; it was obvious the things were at a great +height. Back at the station, radarmen tracked the objects as they +hovered for a moment above Key West. They were found to be at least +fifty miles above the earth. After a few seconds, they accelerated at +high speed and streaked out of sight. + +On the following day Commander Augusto Orrego, a Chilean naval officer, +reported that saucers had flown above his antarctic base. + +“During the bright antarctic night,” be said, “we saw flying saucers, +one above the other, turning at tremendous speeds. We have photographs +to prove what we saw.” + +Early in March, Ken Purdy phoned the latest development in the +investigation. He had just received a tip predicting a flurry of saucer +publicity during March. It had come from an important source in +Washington. + +“You know what it probably means,” he said. “The same thing we talked +about last month. But why were we tipped off in advance?” + +“It’s one more piece in the pattern,” I said. “If the tip’s on the +level, then they’re stepping up the program.” + +Within three days, reports began to pour in—from Peru, Cuba, Mexico, +Turkey, and other parts of the world. Then on March 9 a gleaming +metallic disk was sighted over Dayton, Ohio. Observers at Vandalia +Airport phoned Wright-Patterson Field. Scores of Air Force pilots and +groundmen watched the disk, as fighters raced up in pursuit. The +mysterious object streaked vertically skyward, hovered for a while +miles above the earth, and then disappeared. A secret report was rushed +to the Civil Aeronautics Authority in Washington, then turned over to +Air Force Intelligence. + +Soon after this Dr. Craig Hunter, director of a medical supply firm, +reported a huge elliptical saucer flying at a low altitude in +Pennsylvania. He described it as metallic, with a slotted outer rim and +a rotating ring just inside. On top of this sighting, thousands of +people at Farmington, New Mexico, watched a large formation of disks +pass high above the city. + +Throughout all these reports, the Air Force refused to admit the +existence of flying saucers. On March 18 it flatly denied they were Air +Force secret missiles or space-exploration devices. + +Three days later, a Chicago and Southern airliner crew saw a +fast-flying disk near Stuttgart, Arkansas. The circular craft, blinking +a strange blue-white light, pulled up in an arc at terrific speed. The +two pilots said they glimpsed lighted ports on the lower side as the +saucer zoomed above them. The lights had a soft fluorescence, unlike +anything they had seen. + +There was one peculiar angle in the Arkansas incident. There was no +apparent attempt to muzzle the two pilots, as in earlier airline cases. +Instead, a United Press interview was quickly arranged, for nation-wide +publication. In this wire story Captain Jack Adams and First Officer G. +W. Anderson made two statements: + +“We firmly believe that the flying saucer we saw over Arkansas was a +secret experimental type aircraft—not a visitor from outer space. . . . + +“We know the Air Force has denied there is anything to this +flying-saucer business, but we’re both experienced pilots and we’re not +easily fooled.” + +The day after this story appeared, I was discussing it with an airline +official in Washington. + +“That’s an odd thing,” he said. “The Air Force could have persuaded +those pilots—or the line president—to hush the thing up. It looks as if +they wanted that story broadcast.” + +“You mean the whole thing was planted?” + +“I won’t say that, though it could have been. Probably they did see +something. But they might have been told what to say about it.” + +“Any idea why?” + +He looked at me sharply. “You and Purdy probably know the answer. At a +guess, I’d say it might have been planned to offset that Navy +commander’s report—the one on the White Sands sightings.” + +The White Sands case had puzzled many skeptics, because the Pentagon +had cleared the published report. The author, Commander R. B. +McLaughlin, was a regular Navy officer. As a Navy rocket expert, he had +been stationed at the White Sands Rocket Proving Ground in New Mexico. +In his published article he described three disk sightings at White +Sands. + +One of the disks, a huge elliptical craft, was tracked by scientists +with precision instruments at five miles per second. That’s 18,000 +miles per hour. It was found to be flying fifty-six miles above the +earth. Two other disks, smaller types, were watched from five +observation posts on hills at the proving ground. Circling at +incredible speed, the two disks paced an Army high-altitude rocket that +had just been launched, then speeded up and swiftly outclimbed the +projectile. + +Commander McLaughlin’s report, giving dates and factual details, was +cleared by the Department of Defense. So was a later nation-wide +broadcast. + +Then the Air Force made its routine denial. + +Why was McLaughlin, a regular Navy officer subject to security +screening, permitted to give out this story? Was it an incredible +slip-up? Or was it part of some carefully thought-out plan? I believe +it was part of an elaborate program to prepare the American people for +a dramatic disclosure. + +For almost a year I have watched the behind-the-scenes maneuvers of +those who guide this program. In the following chapters I have tried to +show the strange developments in our search for the answer; the +carefully misleading tips, the blind alleys we entered, the unexpected +assistance, the confidential leads, and the stunning contradictions. + +It has been a complicated jigsaw puzzle. Only by seeing all parts of +this intricate picture can you begin to glimpse the reasons for this +stubbornly hidden secret. + +The official explanation may be imminent. When it is finally revealed, +I believe the elaborate preparation—even the wide deceit involved—will +be fully justified in the minds of the American people. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +It has been over two years since the puzzling death of Captain Thomas +Mantell. + +Mantell died mysteriously in the skies south of Fort Knox. But before +his radio went silent, he sent a strange message to Godman Air Force +Base. The men who heard it will never forget it. + +It was January 7, 1948. + +Crowded into the Godman Field Tower, a group of Air Force officers +stared up at the afternoon sky. For just an instant, something gleamed +through the broken clouds south of the base. + +High above the field, three P-51 fighters climbed with swift urgency. +Heading south, they quickly vanished. + +The clock in the tower read 2:45. + +Colonel Guy Hix, the C.O., slowly put down his binoculars. If the thing +was still there, the clouds now hid it. All they could do was wait. + +The first alarm had come from Fort Knox, when Army M.P.’s had relayed a +state police warning. A huge gleaming object had been seen in the sky, +moving toward Godman Field. Hundreds of startled people had seen it at +Madisonville, ninety miles away. + +Thirty minutes later, it had zoomed up over the base. + +Colonel Hix glanced around at the rest of the men in the tower. They +all had a dazed look. Every man there had seen the thing, as it +barreled south of the field. Even through the thin clouds, its +intermittent red glow had hinted at some mysterious source of power. +Something outside their understanding. + +It was Woods, the exec, who had estimated its size. Hix shook his head. +_That_ was unbelievable. But something had hung over Godman Field for +almost an hour. The C.O. turned quickly as the loud-speaker, tuned to +the P-51’s, suddenly came to life. + +“Captain Mantell to Godman . . . Tower Mantell to Godman Tower . . .” +The flight leader’s voice had a strained tone. + +“I’ve sighted the thing!” he said. “It looks metallic—and it’s +tremendous in size!” + +The C.O. and Woods stared at each other. No one spoke. + +“The thing’s starting to climb,” Mantell said swiftly. “It’s at twelve +o’clock high, making half my speed. I’ll try to close in.” + +In five minutes, Mantell reported again. The strange metallic object +had speeded up, was now making 360 or more. + +At 3:08, Mantell’s wingman called in. Both he and the other pilot had +seen the weird object. But Mantell had outclimbed them and was lost in +the clouds. + +Seven minutes dragged by. The men in the tower sweated out the silence. +Then, at 3:15, Mantell made a hasty contact. + +“It’s still above me, making my speed or better. I’m going up to twenty +thousand feet. If I’m no closer, I’ll abandon chase.” + +It was his last report. + +Minutes later, his fighter disintegrated with terrific force. The +falling wreckage was scattered for thousands of feet. + +When Mantell failed to answer the tower, one of his pilots began a +search. Climbing to 33,000 feet, he flew a hundred miles to the south. + +But the thing that lured Mantell to his death had vanished from the +sky. + +Ten days after Mantell was killed, I learned of a curious sequel to the +Godman affair. + +An A.P. account in the New York Times had caught my attention. The +story, released at Fort Knox, admitted Mantell had died while chasing a +flying saucer. Colonel Hix was quoted as having watched the object, +which was still unidentified. But there was no mention of Mantell’s +radio messages—no hint of the thing’s tremendous size. + +Though I knew the lid was probably on, I went to the Pentagon. When the +scare had first broken, in the summer of ’47, I had talked with Captain +Tom Brown, who was handling saucer inquiries. But by now Brown had been +shifted, and no one in the Press Branch would admit knowing the details +of the Mantell saucer chase. + +“We just don’t know the answer,” a security officer told me. + +“There’s a rumor,” I said, “it’s a secret Air Force missile that +sometimes goes out of control.” + +“Good God, man!” he exploded. “If it was, do you think we’d be ordering +pilots to chase the damned things?” + +“No—and I didn’t say I believed it.” I waited until he cooled down. +“This order you mentioned—is it for all Air Force pilots, or special +fighter units?” + +“I didn’t say it was a special order,” he answered quickly. “All pilots +have routine instructions to report unusual items.” + +“They had fighters alerted on the Coast, when the scare first broke,” I +reminded him. “Are those orders still in force?” + +He shook his head. “No, not that I know of.” After a moment he added, +“All I can tell you is that the Air Force is still investigating. We +honestly don’t know the answer.” + +As I went out the Mall entrance, I ran into Jack Daly, one of +Washington’s veteran newsmen. Before the war, Jack and I had done +magazine pieces together, usually on Axis espionage and communist +activity. I told him I was trying to find the answer to Mantell’s +death. + +“You heard anything?” I asked him. + +“Only what was in the A.P. story,” said Jack. “But an I.N.S. man told +me they had a saucer story from Columbus, Ohio—and it might have been +the same one they saw at Fort Knox.” + +“I missed that. What was it?” + +“They sighted the thing at the Air Force field outside of Columbus. It +was around sundown, about two hours after that pilot was killed in +Kentucky.” + +“Anybody chase it?” I asked. + +“No. They didn’t have time to take off, I guess. This I.N.S. guy said +it was going like hell. Fast as a jet, anyway.” + +“Did he say what it looked like?” + +“The Air Force boys said it was as big as a C-47,” said Jack. “Maybe +bigger. It had a reddish-orange exhaust streaming out behind. They +could see it for miles.” + +“If you hear any more, let me know,” I said. Jack promised he would. + +“What do you think they are?” he asked me. + +“It’s got me stumped. Russia wouldn’t be testing missiles over here. +Anyway, I can’t believe they’ve got anything like that. And I can’t see +the Air Force letting pilots get killed to hide something we’ve got.” + +One week later, I heard that a top-secret unit had been set up at +Wright Field to investigate all saucer reports. When I called the +Pentagon, they admitted this much, and that was all. + +In the next few months, other flying-disk stories hit the front pages. +Two Eastern Airline pilots reported a double-decked mystery ship +sighted near Montgomery, Alabama. I learned of two other sightings, one +over the Pacific Ocean and one in California. The second one, seen +through field glasses, was described as rocket-shaped, as large as a +B-29. There were also rumors of disks being tracked by radar, but it +was almost a year before I confirmed these reports. + +When Purdy wired me, early in May of ’49, I had half forgotten the +disks. It had been months since any important sightings had been +reported. But his message quickly revived my curiosity. If he thought +the subject was hot, I knew he must have reasons. When I walked into +his office at 67 West 44th, Purdy stubbed out his cigarette and shook +hands. He looked at me through his glasses for a moment. Then he said +abruptly: + +“You know anything about the disks?” + +“If you mean what they are—no.” + +He motioned for me to sit down. Then he swiveled his chair around, his +shoulders hunched forward, and frowned out the window. + +“Have you seen the Post this week?” + +I told him no. “There’s something damned queer going on. For fifteen +months, Project ‘Saucer’ is buttoned up tight. Top secret. Then +suddenly, Forrestal gets the _Saturday Evening Post_ to run two +articles, brushing the whole thing off. The first piece hits the +stands—and then what happens?” + +Purdy swung around, jabbed his finger at a document on. his desk. + +“That same day, the Air Force rushes out this Project ‘Saucer’ report. +It admits they haven’t identified the disks in any important cases. +They say it’s still serious enough—wait a minute—“he thumbed through +the stapled papers—” ‘to require constant vigilance by Project “Saucer” +personnel and the civilian population.’” + +“You’d think the _Post_ would make a public kick,” I said. + +“I don’t mean it’s an out-and-out denial,” said Purdy. “It doesn’t +mention the Post—just contradicts it. In fact, the report contradicts +itself. It looks as if they’re trying to warn people and yet they’re +scared to say too much.” + +I looked at the title on the report: “A Digest of Preliminary Studies +by the Air Materiel Command, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, on ‘Flying +Saucers.’” + +“Have the papers caught it yet?” I asked Purdy. + +“You mean its contradicting the _Post_?” He shook his head. “No, the +Pentagon press release didn’t get much space. How many editors would +wade through a six-thousand-word government report? Even if they did, +they’d have to compare it, item for item, with the Post piece.” + +“Who wrote the _Post_ story?” + +Purdy lit a cigarette and frowned out again at the skyscrapers. + +“Sidney Shallett—and he’s careful. He had Forrestal’s backing. The Air +Force flew him around, arranged interviews, supposedly gave him inside +stuff. He spent two months on it. They O.K.’d his script, which +practically says the saucers are bunk. Then they reneged on it.” + +“Maybe some top brass suddenly decided it was the wrong policy to brush +it off,” I suggested. + +“Why the quick change?” demanded Purdy. “Let’s say they sold the _Post_ +on covering up the truth, in the interests of security. It’s possible, +though I don’t believe it. Or they could simply have fed them a fake +story. Either way, why did they rush this contradiction the minute the +_Post_ hit the stands?” + +“Something serious happened,” I said, “after the _Post_ went to press.” + +“Yes, but what?” Purdy said impatiently. “That’s what we’ve got to find +out.” + +“Does Shallett’s first piece mention Mantell’s death?” + +“Explains it perfectly. You know what Mantell was chasing? The planet +Venus!” + +“That’s the Post’s answer?” I said, incredulously. + +“It’s what the Air Force contract astronomer told Shallett. I’ve +checked with two astronomers here. They say that even when Venus is at +full magnitude you can barely see it in the daytime even when you’re +looking for it. It was only half magnitude that day, so it was +practically invisible.” + +“How’d the Air Force expect anybody to believe that answer?” I said. + +Purdy shrugged. “They deny it was Venus in this report. But that’s what +they told Shallett—that all those Air Force officers, the pilots, the +Kentucky state police, and several hundred people at Madisonville +mistook Venus for a metallic disk several hundred feet in diameter.” + +“It’s a wonder Shallett believed it.” + +“I don’t think he did. He says if it wasn’t Venus, it must have been a +balloon.” + +“What’s the Air Force answer?” I asked Purdy. + +“Look in the report. They say whatever Mantell chased—they call it a +‘mysterious object’—is still unidentified.” + +I glanced through the case report, on page five. It quoted Mantell’s +radio report that the thing was metallic and tremendous in size. Linked +with the death of Mantell was the Lockbourne, Ohio, report, which tied +in with what Jack Daly had told me, over a year before. I read the +report: + +“On the same day, about two hours later, a sky phenomenon was observed +by several watchers over Lockbourne Air Force Base, Columbus, Ohio. It +was described as ‘round or oval, larger than a C-47, and traveling in +level flight faster than 500 miles per hour.’ The object was followed +from the Lockbourne observation tower for more than 20 minutes. +Observers said it glowed from white to amber, leaving an amber exhaust +trail five times its own length. It made motions like an elevator and +at one time appeared to touch the ground. No sound was heard. Finally, +the object faded and lowered toward the horizon.” + +Purdy buzzed for his secretary, and she brought me a copy of the first +_Post_ article. + +“You can get a copy of this Air Force report in Washington,” Purdy told +me. “This is the only one I have. But you’ll find the same answer for +most of the important cases—the sightings at Muroc Air Base, the +airline pilots’ reports, the disks Kenneth Arnold saw—they’re all +unidentified.” + +“I remember the Arnold case. That was the first sighting.” + +“You’ve got contacts in Washington,” Purdy went on. “Start at the +Pentagon first. They know we’re working on it. Sam Boal, the first man +on this job, was down there for a day or two.” + +“What did he find out?” + +“Symington told him the saucers were bunk. Secretary Johnson admitted +they had some pictures—we’d heard about a secret photograph taken at +Harmon Field, Newfoundland. The tip said this saucer scared hell out of +some pilots and Air Force men up there. + +“A major took Boal to some Air Force colonel and Boal asked to see the +pictures. The colonel said they didn’t have any. He turned red when the +major said Symington had told Boal about the pictures.” + +“Did Boal get to see them?” I said. + +“No,” grunted Purdy, “and I’ll bet twenty bucks you won’t, either. But +try, anyway. And check on a rumor that they’ve tracked some disks with +radar. One case was supposed to be at an Air Force base in Japan.” + +As I was leaving, Purdy gave me a summary of sighting reports. + +“Some of these were published, some we dug up ourselves,” he said. “We +got some confidential stuff from airline pilots. It’s pretty obvious +the Air Force has tried to keep them quiet.” + +“All right,” I said. “I’ll get started. Maybe things aren’t sewed up so +tightly, now this report is out.” + +“We’ve found out some things about Project ‘Saucer,’ said Purdy. +“Whether it’s a cover-up or a real investigation, there’s a lot of +hush-hush business to it. They’ve got astronomers and astrophysicists +working for them, also rocket expects, technical analysts, and Air +Force Special Intelligence. We’ve been told they can call on any +government agency for help—and I know they’re using the F.B.I.” + +It was building up bigger than I had thought. + +“If national security is involved,” I told Purdy, “they can shut us up +in a hurry.” + +“If they tell me so, O.K.,” said Purdy. He added grimly, “But I think +they’re making a bad mistake. They probably think they’re doing what’s +right. But the truth might come out the wrong way.” + +“It is possible,” I thought, “that the saucers belong to Russia.” + +“If it turns out to be a Soviet missile, count me out,” I said. “We’d +have the Pentagon and the F.B.I. on our necks.” + +“All right, if that’s the answer.” He chuckled. “But you may be in for +a jolt.” + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Just the idea of gigantic flying disks was incredible enough. It was +almost as hard to believe that such missiles could have been developed +without something leaking out. Yet we had produced the A-bomb in +comparative secrecy, and I knew we were working on long-range guided +missiles. There was already a plan for a three-thousand-mile test +range. Our supersonic planes had hit around two thousand miles an hour. +Our two-stage rockets had gone over two hundred miles high, according +to reports. If an atomic engine had been secretly developed, it could +explain the speed and range of the saucers. + +But I kept coming back to Mantell’s death and the Air Force orders for +pilots to chase the saucers. If the disks were American missiles, that +didn’t jibe. + +When I reached the lobby, I found it was ten after four. I caught a +taxi and made the Congressional Limited with just one minute to spare. +In the club car, I settled down to look at Purdy’s summary. + +Skipping through the pages, I saw several familiar cases. Here and +there, Purdy had scrawled brief comments or suggestions. Beside the +Eastern Airline report of a double-decked saucer, he had written: + +“Check rumor same type seen over Holland about this date. Also, similar +Philippine Islands report—date unknown.” + + +I went back to the beginning. The first case listed was that of Kenneth +Arnold, a Boise businessman, who had set off the saucer scare. Arnold +was flying his private plane from Chehalis to Yakima, Washington, when +he saw a bright flash on his wing. + +Looking toward Mount Rainier, he saw nine gleaming disks outlined +against the snow, each one about the size of a C-54. + +“They flew close to the mountaintops, in a diagonal chainlike line,” he +said later. “It was as if they were linked together.” + +The disks appeared to be twenty to twenty-five miles away, he said, and +moving at fantastic speed. Arnold’s estimate was twelve hundred miles +an hour. + +“I watched them about three minutes,” he said. “They were swerving in +and out around the high mountain peaks. They were flat, like a pie pan, +and so shiny they reflected the sun like a mirror. I never saw anything +so fast.” + +The date was June 24, 1947. + +On this same day there was another saucer report. which received very +little notice. A Portland prospector named Fred Johnson, who was +working up in the Cascade Mountains, spotted five or six disks banking +in the sun. He watched them through his telescope several seconds. then +he suddenly noticed that the compass hand on his special watch was +weaving wildly from side to side. Johnson insisted he had not heard of +the Arnold report, which was not broadcast until early evening. + +Kenneth Arnold’s story was generally received with amusement. Most +Americans were unaware that the Pentagon had been receiving disk +reports as early as January. The news and radio comments on Arnold’s +report brought several other incidents to light, which observers had +kept to themselves for fear of ridicule. + +At Oklahoma City, a private pilot told Air Force investigators he had +seen a huge round object in the sky during the latter part of May. It +was flying three times faster than a jet, he said, and without any +sound. Citizens of Weiser, Idaho, described two strange fast-moving +objects they had seen on June 12. The saucers were heading southeast, +now and then dropping to a lower altitude, then swiftly climbing again. +Several mysterious objects were reported flying at great speed near +Spokane, just three days before Arnold’s experience. And four days +after his encounter, an Air Force pilot flying near Lake Meade, Nevada, +was startled to see half a dozen saucers flash by his plane. + +Even at this early point in the scare, official reports were +contradicting each other. just after Arnold’s story broke, the Air +Force admitted it was checking on the mystery disks. On July 4 the Air +Force stated that no further investigation was needed; it was all +hallucination. That same day, Wright Field told the Associated Press +that the Air Materiel Command was trying to find the answer. + +The Fourth of July was a red-letter day in the flying-saucer mystery. +At Portland, Oregon, hundreds of citizens, including former Air Force +pilots, police, harbor pilots, and deputy sheriffs, saw dozens of +gleaming disks flying at high speed. The things; appeared to be at +least forty thousand feet in the air—perhaps much higher. + +That same day, disks were sighted at Seattle, Vancouver, and other +northwest cities. The rapidly growing reports were met with mixed +ridicule and alarm. One of the skeptical group was Captain E. J. Smith, +of United Airlines. + +“I’ll believe them when I see them,” he told airline employees, before +taking off from Boise the afternoon of the Fourth. + +Just about sunset, his airliner was flying over Emmett, Idaho, when +Captain Smith and his copilot, Ralph Stevens, saw five queer objects in +the sky ahead. Smith rang for the stewardess, Marty Morrow, and the +three of them watched the saucers for several minutes. Then four more +of the disks came into sight. Though it was impossible to tell their +size, because their altitude was unknown, the crew was sure they were +bigger than the plane they were in. After about ten minutes the disks +disappeared. + +The Air Force quickly denied having anything resembling the! objects +Captain Smith described. + +“We have no experimental craft of that nature in Idaho—or anywhere +else,” an official said in Washington. “We’re completely mystified.” + +The Navy said it had made an investigation, and had no answers. There +had been rumors that the disks were “souped-up” versions of the Navy’s +“Flying Flapjack,” a twin-engined circular craft known technically as +the XF-5-U-1. But the Navy insisted that only one model had been built, +and that it was now out of service. + +In Chicago, two astronomers spiked guesses that the disks might be +meteors. Dr. Girard Kieuper, director of the University of Chicago +observatory, said flatly that they couldn’t be meteors. “They’re +probably man-made,” he told the A.P. Dr. Oliver Lee, director of +Northwestern’s observatory, agreed with Kieuper. + +“The Army, Navy, and Air Force are working secretly on all sorts of +things,” he said. “Remember the A-bomb secrecy—and the radar signals to +the moon.” + +As I went through Purdy’s summary, I recalled my own reaction after the +United Airlines report. After seeing the Pentagon comment, I had called +up Captain Tom Brown, at Air Force Public Relations. + +“Are you really taking this seriously?” I asked him. + +“Well, we can’t just ignore it,” he said. “There are too many reliable +pilots telling the same story—flat, round objects able to outmaneuver +ordinary planes, and faster than anything we have. Too many stories +tally.” + +I told him I’d heard that the Civil Air Patrol in Wisconsin and other +states was starting a sky search. + +“We’ve got a jet at Muroc, and six fighters standing by at Portland +right now,” Brown said. + +“Armed?” + +“I’ve no report on that. But I know some of them carry photographic +equipment.” + +Two days later an airline pilot from the Coast told me that some +fighters had been armed and the pilots ordered to bring down the disks +if humanly possible. That same day, Wright Field admitted it was +checking stories of disk-shaped missiles seen recently in the Pacific +northwest and in Texas. + +Following this was an A.P. story, dated July 7, quoting an unnamed Air +Force official in Washington: + +“The flying saucers may be one of three things: + +“1. Solar reflection on low-hanging clouds. [A Washington scientist, +asked for comment, said this was hardly possible.] + +“2. Small meteors which break up, their crystals catching the rays of +the sun. But it would seem that they would have been spotted falling +and fragments would have been found. + +“3. Icing conditions could have formed large hailstones, and they might +have flattened out and glided a bit, giving the impression of +horizontal movement even though falling vertically.” + +By this time everyone was getting into the act. + +“The disks are caused by the transmutation of atomic energy,” said an +anonymous scientist, supposed to be on the staff of California Tech. +The college quickly denied it. + +Dr. Vannevar Bush, world-famous scientist, and Dr. Merle Tuve, inventor +of the proximity fuse, both declared they would know of any secret +American missiles—and didn’t. + +At Syracuse, New York, Dr. Harry Steckel, Veterans Administration +psychiatrist, scoffed at the suggestion of mass hysteria. “Too many +sane people are seeing the things. The government is probably +conducting some revolutionary experiments.” + +On July 8 more disks were reported. Out at Muroc Air Force Base, where +top-secret planes and devices are tested, six fast-moving silvery-white +saucers were seen by pilots and ground officers. + +That afternoon the Air Force revealed it was working on a case +involving a Navy rocket expert named C. T. Zohm. While on a secret Navy +mission to New Mexico, in connection with rocket tests, Zohm had seen a +bright silvery disk flying above the desert. He was crossing the desert +with three other scientists when he saw the strange object flashing +northward at an altitude of about ten thousand feet. + +“I’m sure it was not a meteor,” said Zohm. “It could have been a guided +missile, but I never heard of anything like it.” + +By this time, saucer reports had come in from almost forty states. +Alarm was increasing, and there were demands that radar be used to +track the disks. The Air Force replied that there was not enough radar +equipment to blanket the nation, but that its pilots were on the +lookout for the saucers. + +One report mentioned a curious report from Twin Falls, Idaho. The disk +sighted there was said to have flown so low that the treetops whirled +as if in a violent storm. Someone had phoned Purdy about a disk tracked +by weather-balloon observers at Richmond, Virginia. There was another +note on a sighting at Hickam Field, Honolulu, and two reports of +unidentified objects seen near Anchorage, Alaska. + +A typed list of world-wide sightings had been made up by the staff at +_True_. It contained many cases that were new to me, reports from +Paraguay, Belgium, Turkey, Holland, Germany, and the Scandinavian +countries. At the bottom of this memo Purdy had written: “Keep checking +on rumor that the Soviet has a Project Saucer, too. Could be planted.” + +From the mass of reports, John DuBarry, the aviation editor of _True_, +had methodically worked out an average picture of the disks: “The +general report is that they are round or oval (this could be an +elliptical object seen end-on), metallic looking, very bright—either +shining white or silvery colored. They can move at extremely high +speed, hover, accelerate rapidly, and outmaneuver ordinary aircraft. + +“The lights are usually seen singly—very few formations reported. They +seem to have the same speed, acceleration, and ability to maneuver. In +several cases, they have been able to evade Air Force planes in night +encounters.” + +Going over the cases, I realized that Purdy and his staff had dug up at +least fifty reports that had not appeared in the papers. (A few of +these proved incorrect, but a check with the Air Force case reports +released on December 30, 1949, showed that _True’s_ files contained all +the important items.) These cases included sightings at eleven Air +Force bases and fourteen American airports, reports from ships at sea, +and a score of encounters by airline and private pilots. + +Witnesses included Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force officers; +state and city police; F.B.I. agents; weather observers, shipmasters, +astronomers, and thousands of good solid American citizens. I learned +later that many witnesses had been investigated by the F.B.I. to weed +out crackpot reports. + +I ended up badly puzzled. The evidence was more impressive than I had +suspected. It was plain that many reports had been entirely suppressed, +or at least kept out of the papers. There was something ominous about +it. No matter what the answer, it was serious enough to be kept +carefully hidden. + +If it were a Soviet missile, I thought, God help us. They’d scooped up +a lot of Nazi scientists and war secrets. And the Germans had been far +ahead of us on guided missiles. But why would they give us a two-year +warning, testing the things openly over America? It didn’t make sense. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +I went to the Pentagon the next morning. I didn’t expect to learn much, +but I wanted to make sure we weren’t tangling with security. + +I’d worked with Al Scholin and Orville Splitt, in the magazine section +of Public Relations, and I thought they’d tell me as much as anyone. +When I walked in, I sprang it on them cold. + +“What’s the chance of seeing your Project ‘Saucer’ files?” + +Al Scholin took it more or less dead-pan. Splitt looked at me a moment +and then grinned. + +“Don’t tell me you believe the things are real?” + +“Maybe,” I said. “How about clearing me with Project ‘Saucer’?” + +Al shook his head. “It’s still classified secret.” + +“‘Look, Don,” said Splitt, “why do you want to fool with that saucer +business? There’s nothing to it.” + +“‘That’s a big change from what the Air Force was saying; in 1947,” I +told him. + +He shrugged that off. “The Air Force has spent two years checking into +it. Everybody from Symington down will tell you the saucers are bunk.” + +“That’s not what Project ‘Saucer’ says in that April report.” + +“That report was made up a long time ago,” said Splitt. “They just got +around to releasing it.” + +“Then they’ve got all the answers now?” + +“They know there’s nothing to it,” Splitt repeated. + +“In that case,” I said, “Project ‘Saucer’ shouldn’t object to my seeing +their files and pictures.” + +“What pictures?” + +“That one taken at Harmon Field, Newfoundland, for a starter.” + +“Oh, that thing,” said Splitt. “It wasn’t anything—just a shadow on a +cloud. Somebody’s been kidding you.” + +“If it’s just a cloud shadow, why can’t I see it?” + +Splitt was getting a little nettled. + +“Look, you know how long it takes to declassify stuff. They just +haven’t got around to it. Take my word for it, the flying saucers are +bunk. I went around with Sid Shallett on some of his interviews. What +he’s got in the _Post_ is the absolute gospel.” + +“It’s funny about that April twenty-seventh report,” I said, “the way +it contradicts the _Post_.” + +“I tell you that was an old report—” + +“I wouldn’t say that,” Al Scholin put in. “The Air Force doesn’t claim +it has all the answers. But they’ve proved a lot of the reports were +hoaxes or mistakes.” + +“Just the same,” I said, “the Air Force is on record, as of April +twenty-seventh, that it’s serious enough for everybody to be vigilant. +And they admit most of the things, in the important cases, are still +unidentified. Including the saucer Mantell was chasing.” + +“That business at Godman Field was some kind of hallucination,” +insisted Splitt. + +“I suppose all those pilots and Godman Field officers were hypnotized? +Not to mention several thousand people at Madisonville and Fort Knox?” + +“Take it easy, you guys,” said Al Scholin. “You’ve both got a right to +your opinions.” + +“Oh, sure,” said Splitt. He looked at me, with his grin back. “I don’t +care if you think they’re men from Mars.” + +“Let’s not go off the deep end,” I said. “Tell me this: Did Shallett +get to see any secret files at Wright Field?” + +“Absolutely not.” + +“Then he had to take the Air Force word for everything?” + +“Not entirely. We set up some interviews for him.” + +“One more thing—and don’t get mad. If it’s all bunk, why haven’t they +closed Project ‘Saucer’?” + +“How do I know? Probably no one wants to take the responsibility.” + +“Then somebody high up must not think it’s bunk,” I said. + +Splitt laughed. “Have it your own way.” + +Before I left, I told them I was working with _True_. + +“I want to be on record,” I said, “as having told you this. If there’s +any security involved—if you tell me it’s something you’re working +on—naturally I’ll lay off.” + +Al Scholin said emphatically, “It’s not an Air Force device, if that’s +what you mean.” + +“Some people think it’s Russian.” + +“If it is, I don’t know it,” said Al, “and neither does the Air Force.” + +After I left the magazine section, I tried several officers I knew. Two +of them agreed with Splitt. The third didn’t. + +“I’ve been told it’s all bunk,” he said, “but you get the feeling +they’ve trying to convince themselves. They act like people near a +haunted house. They’ll swear it isn’t haunted—but they won’t go near +it.” + +Later, I asked a security major for a copy of the Project “Saucer” +report. + +“We’re out of copies right now,” he said. “I’ll send you one next +week.” + +I asked him bluntly what he thought the saucers were. + +“I doubt if anybody has the full answer,” he said seriously. “There’s +been some hysteria—also a few mistakes. But many reports have been made +by reliable pilots, including our own. You can’t laugh those off.” + +As I drove home, I thought over what I’d heard. All I had learned was +that the Air Force seemed divided. But that could be a smoke screen. In +less than twenty-four hours, I received my first suspicious tip. It was +about ten A.M. when my phone rang. + +“Mr. Keyhoe? This is John Steele,” said the voice at the other end. +(Because of the peculiar role he played, then and later, I have not +used his real name.) “I’m a former Air Force Intelligence officer. I +was in the European theater during the war.” + +I waited. He hesitated a moment. + +“I heard you’re working on the flying-saucer problem,” he said quickly. +“I may have some information that would interest you.” + +“Mind telling me who told you I was on it?” I asked. + +“No one, directly. I just happened to hear it mentioned at the Press +Club. Frankly, I’ve been curious about the flying saucers ever since +’45.” + +That startled me, but I didn’t tell him so. “Do you have any idea what +they are?” Mr. Steele said. + +“No, I’ve just begun checking. But I’d be glad to hear what you’ve +got.” + +“I may be way off,” said Steele. “But I’ve always wondered about the +‘foo fighters’ our pilots saw over Europe near the end of the war.” + +I thought for a second. “Wasn’t that some kind of antiaircraft missile +fired from the ground?” + +“No. Intelligence never did get any real answer, so far as I know. They +were some kind of circular gadgets, and they actually chased our planes +a number of times. We thought they were something the Nazis had +invented—and I still think so.” + +“Then who’s launching them now?” + +“Well, it’s obviously either Russia or us. If it is the Soviet—well, +that’s what’s worried me. I don’t think it should be treated like a +joke, the way some people in the Pentagon take it.” + +I stared at the phone, trying to figure him out. + +“I’d like to talk it over with you,” I said. “Maybe you’ve got +something.” + +“I’ve given you about all I know,” Steele answered. “There was an +Intelligence report you might try to see—the Eighth Air Force files +should have it.” + +“Wait a minute,” I said. “Give me your number, in case I find +anything.” + +He gave it to me without apparent hesitation. I thanked him and hung +up, still wondering. + +If it was an attempt at a plant, it was certainly crude. The mention of +his former Air Force connection would be enough to arouse suspicion, +unless he counted on his apparent frankness to offset it. + +And what about the Press Club angle? That would indicate Steele was a +newspaperman. Could this be merely an attempt to pump me and get a lead +on True’s investigation? But that would be just as crude as the other +idea. Of course, he might be sincere. But regardless of his motives, it +looked bad. Arid who had told him about me? + +I thought about that for a minute. Then I picked up the phone and +dialed Jack Daly’s number. “Jack, do you know anyone named John +Steele?” I asked him. “I think he’s a newspaperman.” + +“Nobody I know,” said Jack. “Why, what’s up?” + +I explained, and added, “I thought maybe you knew him, and he’d heard +about it from you.” + +“Hell, no,” said Jack. “You ought to know I wouldn’t leak any tip like +that.” + +“It wouldn’t be a tip—I don’t know anything about this deal yet. By the +way, when you were on the _Star_ did you handle anything on ‘foo +fighters’?” + +“No, that was after I left there. Bill Shippen would have covered that, +anyway.” + +I told him I would look it up in the _Star’s_ morgue. Jack said he +would meet me there at three o’clock; in the meantime he would see what +he could find out about Steele. + +Jack was a little late, and I went over the _Star’s_ file on the foo +fighters. Most of the facts were covered in a story dated July 6, 1947, +which had been inspired by the outbreak of the saucer scare. I copied +it for later use: + + +During the latter part of World War Two, fighter pilots in England were +convinced that Hitler had a new secret weapon. Yanks dubbed these +devices “foo fighters” or “Kraut fireballs.” + +One of the Air Force Intelligence men now assigned to check on the +saucer scare was an officer who investigated statements of military +airmen that circular foo fighters were seen over Europe and also on the +bombing route to Japan. + +It was reported that Intelligence officers have never obtained +satisfactory explanation of reports of flying silver balls and disks +over Nazi-occupied Europe in the winter of 1944-45. Later, crews of +B-29’S on bombing runs to Japan reported seeing somewhat similar +objects. + +In Europe, some foo fighters danced just off the Allied fighters’ +wingtips and played tag with them in power dives. Others appeared in +precise formations and on one occasion a whole bomber crew saw about 15 +following at a distance, their strange glow flashing on and off. One +foo fighter chased Lieutenant Meiers of Chicago some 20 miles down the +Rhine Valley, at 300 m.p.h., an A.P. war correspondent reported. +Intelligence officers believed at that time that the balls might be +radar-controlled objects sent up to foul ignition systems or baffle +Allied radar networks. + +There is no explanation of their appearance here, unless the objects +could have been imported for secret tests in this country. + + +I read the last paragraph twice. This looked like a strong lead to the +answer, in spite of the Air Force denials. There was another, less +pleasant possibility. The Russians could have seized the device and +developed it secretly, using Nazi scientists to help them. Perhaps the +Nazis had been close to an atomic engine, even if they did fail to +produce the bomb. + +Jack Daly came in while I was reading the story again. + +“I got the dope on Steele,” he said. “He does pieces for a small +syndicate, and I found out he was in the Air Force. I think he was a +captain. People who know him say he’s O.K.—a straight shooter.” + +“That still wouldn’t keep him from giving me a fake tip, if somebody +told him it was the right thing to do.” + +“Maybe not,” said Jack, “but why would they want to plant this +foo-fighter idea?” + +I showed him the clipping. He read it over and shook his head. + +“That’s a lot different from disks three hundred feet in diameter.” + +“If we got the principle—or Russia did-building big ones might not be +too hard.” + +“I still can’t swallow it,” said Jack. “These things have been seen all +over the world. How could they control them that far away—and be sure +they wouldn’t crash, where somebody could get a look and dope out the +secret?” + +We argued it back and forth without getting anywhere. “I’d give a lot +to know Steele’s angle,” I said. “If you hear anything more on him, +give me a buzz.” + +Jack nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. But I can’t dig too hard, or +he’ll hear about it.” + +On the way out, I found a phone booth and called Splitt. + +“Foo fighters?” he said. “Sure, I remember those stories. You think +those are your flying saucers?” + +I could hear him snicker. + +“Just checking angles,” I said. “Didn’t the Eighth Air Force +investigate the foo fighters?” + +“Yes, and they found nothing to back up the pilots’ yarns. just war +nerves, apparently.” + +“How about a look at the Intelligence report?” I asked. + +“Wait a minute.” Splitt was gone for twice that time, then he carne +back. “Sorry, it’s classified.” + +“If all this stuff is bunk, why keep the lid on it?” I demanded. I was +getting sore again. + +“Look, Don,” said Splitt, “I don’t make the rules.” + +“Sure, I know—sorry,” I said. I had a notion to ask him if he knew John +Steele, but hung up instead. There was no use in banging my head +against the Air Force wall. + +The next day I decided to analyze the Mantell case from beginning to +end. It looked like the key to one angle: the question of an Air Force +secret missile. Unless there was some slip-up, so that Mantell and his +pilots had been ordered to chase the disk by mistake, then it would be +cold murder. + +I couldn’t believe any Air Force officer would give such an order, no +matter how tremendous the secret to be hidden. + +But I was going to find out, if possible. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +For more than two weeks, I checked on the Godman Field tragedy. One +fact stood out at the start: The death of Mantell had had a profound +effect on many in the Air Force. A dozen times I was told: + +“I thought the saucers were a joke-until Mantell was killed chasing +that thing at Fort Knox.” + +Many ranking officers who had laughed at the saucer scare stopped +scoffing. One of these was General Sory Smith, now Deputy Director of +Air Force Public Relations. Later in my investigation, General Smith +told me: + +“It was the Mantell case that got me. I knew Tommy Mantell. very +well—also Colonel Hix, the C.O. at Godman. I knew they were both +intelligent men—not the kind to be imagining things.” + +For fifteen months, the Air Force kept a tight-lipped silence. +Meantime, rumors began to spread. One report said that Mantell had been +shot, his body riddled with bullets; his P-51, also riddled, had simply +disintegrated. Another rumor reported Mantell as having been killed by +some mysterious force; this same force had also destroyed his fighter. +The Air Force, the rumors said, had covered up the truth by telling +Mantell’s family he had blacked out from lack of oxygen. + +Checking the last angle, I found that this was the explanation given to +Mantell’s mother, just after his death, she was told by Standiford +Field officers that he had flown too high in chasing the strange +object. + +Shallet, in the _Saturday Evening Post_ articles, described Project +“Saucer’s” reconstruction of the case. Mantell was said to have climbed +up to 25,000 feet, despite his firm decision to end the chase at +20,000, since he carried no oxygen. Around 25,000 feet, Shallett quoted +the Air Force investigators, Mantell must have lost consciousness. +After this, his pilotless plane climbed on up to some 30,000 feet, then +dived. Between 20,000 and 10,000 feet, Shallett suggested, the P-51 +began to disintegrate, obviously from excessive speed. The gleaming +object that hypnotized Mantell into this fatal climb was, Shallett +said, either the planet Venus or a Navy cosmic-ray research balloon. + +The Air Force Project “Saucer” report of April 27, 1949, released just +after the first Post article, makes these statements: + +“Five minutes after Mantell disappeared from his formation, the two +remaining planes returned to Godman. A few minutes later, one resumed +the search, covering territory 100 miles to the south as high as 33,000 +feet, but found nothing. + +“Subsequent investigation revealed that Mantell had probably blacked +out at 20,000 feet from lack of oxygen and had died of suffocation +before the crash. + +“The mysterious object which the flyer chased to his death was first +identified as the Planet Venus. However, further probing showed the +elevation and azimuth readings of Venus and the object at specified +time intervals did not coincide. + +“It is still considered ‘Unidentified.’ + +The Venus explanation, even though now denied, puzzled me. It was plain +that the Air Force had seriously considered offering it as the answer +then abandoned it. Apparently someone had got his signals mixed and let +Shallett use the discarded answer. And for some unknown reason, the Air +Force had found it imperative to deny the Venus story at once. + +In these first weeks of checking, I had run onto the Venus explanation +in other cases. Several Air Force officers repeated it so quickly that +it had the sound of a stock alibi. But in the daytime cases this was +almost ridiculous. + +I knew of a few instances in World War II when bomber crews and +antiaircraft gunners had loosed a few bursts at Venus. But this was +mostly at night, when the planet was at peak brilliance. And more than +one gunner later admitted firing to relieve long hours of boredom. +Since enemy planes did not carry lights, there was no authentic case, +to my knowledge, where plane or ground gunners actually believed Venus +was an enemy aircraft. + +Checking the astronomer’s report, I read over the concluding statement: + +“It simply could not have been Venus. They must have been desperate +even to suggest it in the first place.” Months later, in the secret +Project “Saucer” report released December 30, 1949, I found official +confirmation of this astronomer’s opinions. Since it has a peculiar +bearing on the Mantell case, I am quoting it now: + + +When Venus is at its greatest brilliance, it is possible to see it +during daytime when one knows exactly where to look. But on January 7, +1948, Venus was less than half as bright as its peak brilliance. +However, under exceptionally good atmospheric conditions, and with the +eye shielded from direct rays of the sun, Venus might be seen as an +exceedingly tiny bright point of light. . . . However, the chances of +looking at just the right spot are very few. + +It has been unofficially reported that the object was a Navy cosmic-ray +research balloon. If this can be established, it Is to be preferred as +an explanation. However, if one accepts the assumption that reports +from various other localities refer to the same object, any such device +must have been a good many miles high—25 to 50—in order to have been +seen clearly, almost simultaneously, from places 175 miles apart. + +If all reports were of a single object, in the knowledge of this +investigator no man-made object could have been large enough and far +enough away for the approximate simultaneous sightings. It is most +unlikely, however, that so many separated persons should at that time +have chanced on Venus in the daylight sky. It seems therefore much more +probable that more than one object was involved. + +The sighting might have included two or more balloons (or aircraft) or +they might have included Venus and balloons. For reasons given above, +the latter explanation seems more likely. + + +Two things stand out in his report: + +1. The obvious determination to fit some explanation, no matter how +farfetched, to the Mantell sighting. + +2. The impossibility that Venus—a tiny point of light, seen only with +difficulty—was the tremendous metallic object described by Mantell and +seen by Godman Field officers. + +With Venus eliminated, I went to work on the balloon theory. Since I +had been a balloon pilot before learning to fly planes, this was fairly +familiar ground. + +Shallett’s alternate theory that Mantell had chased a Navy research +balloon was widely repeated by readers unfamiliar with balloon +operation. Few thought to check the speeds, heights, and distances +involved. + +Cosmic-ray research balloons are not powered; they are set free to +drift with the wind. This particular Navy type is released at a base +near Minneapolis. The gas bag is filled with only a small per cent of +its helium capacity before the take-off. + +In a routine flight, the balloon ascends rapidly to a very high +altitude-as high as 100,000 feet. By this time the gas bag has swelled +to full size, about l00 feet high and 70 feet in diameter. At a set +time, a device releases the case of instruments under the balloon. The +instruments descend by parachute, and the balloon, rising quickly, +explodes from the sudden expansion. + +Occasionally a balloon starts leaking, and it then remains relatively +low. At first glance, this might seem the answer to the Kentucky +sightings. If the balloon were low enough, it would loom up as a large +circular object, as seen from directly below. Some witnesses might +estimate its diameter as 250 feet or more, instead of its actual 70 +feet. But this failure to recognize a balloon would require incredibly +poor vision on the part of trained observers—state police, Army M.P.’s, +the Godman Field officers, Mantell and his pilots. + +Captain Mantell was a wartime pilot, with over three thousand hours in +the air. He was trained to identify a distant enemy plane in a split +second. His vision was perfect, and so was that of his pilots. In broad +daylight they could not fail to recognize a balloon during their +thirty-minute chase. + +Colonel Hix and the other Godman officers watched the object with +high-powered glasses for long periods. It is incredible that they would +not identify it as a balloon. + +Before its appearance over Godman Field, the leaking balloon would have +drifted, at a low altitude, over several hundred miles. (A leak large +enough to bring it down from high altitude would have caused it to land +and be found.) Drifting at a low altitude, it would have been seen by +several hundred thousand people, at the very least. Many would have +reported it as a balloon. But even if this angle is ignored it still +could not possibly have been a balloon at low altitude. The fast flight +from Madisonville, the abrupt stop and hour-long hovering at Godman +Field, the quick bursts of speed Mantell reported make it impossible. +To fly the go miles from Madisonville to Fort Knox in 30 minutes, a +balloon would require a wind of 180 m.p.h. After traveling at this +hurricane speed, it would then have had to come to a dead stop above +Godman Field. As the P-51’s approached, it would have had to speed tip +again to 180, then to more than 360 to keep ahead of Mantell. + +The three fighter pilots chased the mysterious object for half an hour. +(I have several times chased balloons with a plane, overtaking them in +seconds.) In a straight chase, Mantell would have been closing in at +360; the tail wind acting on his fighter would nullify the balloon’s +forward drift. + +But even if you accept these improbable factors, there is one final +fact that nullifies the balloon explanation. The strange object had +disappeared when Mantell’s wingman searched the sky, just after the +leader’s death. If it had been a balloon held stationary for an hour at +a high altitude, and glowing brightly enough to be seen through clouds, +it would have remained visible in the same general position. Seen from +33,000 feet, it would have been even brighter, because of the clearer +air. + +But the mysterious object had completely vanished in those few minutes. +A search covering a hundred miles failed to reveal a trace. + +Whether at a high or low altitude, a balloon could not have escaped the +pilot’s eyes. It would also have continued to be seen at Godman Field +and other points, through occasional breaks in the clouds. + +I pointed out these facts to one Air Force officer at the Pentagon. +Next day he phoned me: + +“I figured it out. The timing device went off and the balloon exploded. +That’s why the pilot didn’t see it.” + +“It’s an odd coincidence,” I said, “that it exploded in those five +minutes after Mantell’s last report.” + +“Even so, it’s obviously the answer,” he said. + +Checking on this angle, I found: + +1. No one in the Kentucky area had reported a descending parachute. + +2. No cosmic-ray research instrument case or parachute was found in the +area. + +3. No instruments were returned to the Navy from this region. And _all_ +balloons and instruments released at that time were _fully accounted +for_. + +Even if it had been a balloon, it would not explain the _later_ January +7th reports—the simultaneous sightings mentioned by Professor Hynek in +the Project “Saucer” report. This includes the thing seen at Lockbourne +Air Force Base two hours after Mantell’s death. + +Obviously, the saucer seen flying at 500 m.p.h. over Lockbourne Field +could not have been a balloon. Even if there had been several balloons +in this area (and there were not, by official record), they could not +have covered the courses reported. In some cases, they would have been +flying against the wind, at terrific speed. + +Then what was the mysterious object? And what killed Mantell? + +Both the Air Force and the _Post_ articles speculate that Mantell +carelessly let himself black out. + +Since some explanation had to be given, this might seem a good answer. +But Mantell was known for coolheaded judgment. As a wartime pilot, he +was familiar with signs of anoxia (oxygen starvation). That he knew his +tolerance for altitude is proved by his firmly declared intention to +abandon the chase at 20,000 feet, since he had no oxygen equipment. + +Mantell had his altimeter to warn him. From experience, he would +recognize the first vague blurring, narrowing of vision, and other +signs of anoxia. Despite this, the “blackout” explanation was accepted +as plausible by many Americans. + +While investigating the Mantell case, I talked with several pilots and +aeronautical engineers. Several questioned that a P-51 starting a dive +from 20,000 feet would have disintegrated so thoroughly. + +“From thirty thousand feet, yes,” said one engineer. “If the idea was +to explain it away, I’d pick a high altitude to start from. But a +pilotless plane doesn’t necessarily dive, as you know. + +“It might slip off and spin, or spiral down, and a few have even landed +themselves. Also, if the plane started down from twenty thousand, the +pilot wouldn’t be too far blacked out. The odds are he’d come to when +he got into thicker air—admitting he did blur out, which is only an Air +Force guess. I don’t see why they’re so positive Mantell died before he +hit the ground—unless they know something we don’t.” + +One of the pilot group put it more bluntly. + +“It looks like a cover-up to me. I think Mantell did just what he said +he would—close in on the thing. I think he either collided with it, or +more likely they knocked him out of the air. They’d think he was trying +to bring them down, barging in like that.” + +Even if you accept the blackout answer, it still does not explain what +Mantell was chasing. it is possible that, excited by the huge, +mysterious object, he recklessly climbed beyond the danger level, +though such an act was completely at odds with his character. + +But the _identity_ of the thing remains—officially—a mystery. If it was +some weird experimental craft or a guided missile, then whose was it? +Air Force officers had repeatedly told me they had no such device. +General Carl Touhy Spaatz, former Air Force chief, had publicly +insisted that no such weapon had been developed in his regime. +Secretary Symington and General Hoyt Vandenberg, present Air Force +chief, had been equally emphatic. Of course, official denials could be +expected if it were a top-level secret. But if it were a secret device, +would it be tested so publicly that thousands would see it? + +If it were an Air Force device, then I could see only one answer for +the Godman Field incident: The thing was such a closely guarded secret +that even Colonel Hix hadn’t known. That would mean that most or all +Air Force Base C.O.’s were also in ignorance of the secret device. + +Could it be a Navy experiment, kept secret from the Air Force? + +I did a little checking. + +Admiral Calvin Bolster, chief of aeronautics research experimental +craft, was an Annapolis classmate of mine. So was Captain Delmer S. +Fahrney, head of the Navy guided-missile program. Fahrney was at Point +Mugu, missile-testing base in California, and I wasn’t able to see him. +But I knew him as a careful, conscientious officer; I can’t believe he +would let such a device, piloted or not, hover over an Air Force base +with no warning to its C.O. + +I saw Admiral Bolster. His denial seemed genuine; unless he’d got to be +a dead-pan poker player since our earlier days, I was sure he was +telling the truth. + +The only other alternate was Russia. It was incredible that they would +develop such a device and then expose it to the gaze of U.S. Air Force +officers. It could be photographed, its speed and maneuverability +checked; it might crash, or antiaircraft fire might bring it down, The +secret might be lost in one such test flight. + +There was one other explanation: The thing was not intended to be seen; +it had got out of control. In this event; the long hovering period at +Godman Field was caused by the need for repairs inside the flying +saucer, or repairs to remote-control apparatus. + +If it were Air Force or Navy, that would explain official concern; even +if completely free of negligence, the service responsible would be +blamed for Mantell’s death. If it were Russian, the Air Force would of +course try to conceal the fact for fear of public hysteria. + +But if the device was American, it meant that Project “Saucer” was a +cover-up unit. While pretending to investigate, it would actually hush +up reports, make false explanations, and safeguard the secret in every +possible way. Also, the reported order for Air Force pilots to pursue +the disks would have to be a fake. Instead, there would be a secret +order telling them to avoid strange objects in the sky. + +By the time I finished my check-up, I was sure of one thing: This +particular saucer had been real. + +I was almost positive of one other point-that the thing had been over +30 miles high during part of its flight. I found that _after_ Mantell’s +death it was reported simultaneously from Madisonville, Elizabethtown, +and Lexington—over a distance of 175 miles. (Professor Hynek’s analysis +later confirmed this.) + +How low it had been while hovering over Godman, and during Mantell’s +chase, there was no way to determine. But all the evidence pointed to a +swift ascent after Mantell’s last report. + +Had Mantell told Godman Tower more than the Air Force admitted? I went +back to the Pentagon and asked for a full transcript of the flight +leader’s radio messages. I got a quick turn-down. The reports, I was +told, were still classified as secret. Requests for pictures of the +P-51 wreckage, and for a report on the condition of Mantell’s body, +also drew a blank. I had heard that some photographs were taken of the +Godman Field saucer from outside the tower. But the Air Force denied +knowledge of any such pictures. + +Puzzling over the riddle, I remembered John Steele, the former +Intelligence captain. If by any chance he was a plant, it would be +interesting to suggest the various answers and watch his reaction. When +I phoned him to suggest luncheon, Steele accepted at once. We met at +the Occidental, on Pennsylvania Avenue. Steele was younger than I had +expected—not over twenty-five. He was a tall man, with a crew haircut +and the build of a football player. Looking at him the first time, I +expected a certain breeziness. instead, he was almost solemn. + +“I owe you an apology,” he said in a careful voice after we’d ordered. +“You probably know I’m a syndicate writer?” + +I wondered if he’d found out Jack Daly was checking on him. + +“When you mentioned the Press Club,” I said, “I gathered you were in +the business.” + +“I’m afraid you thought I was fishing for a lead.” Steele looked at me +earnestly. “I’m not working on the story—I’m tied up on other stuff.” + +“Forget it,” I told him. + +He seemed anxious to reassure me. “I’d been worried for some time about +the saucers. I called you that night on an impulse.” + +“Glad you did,” I said. “I need every tip I can get.” + +“Did it help you any?” + +“Yes, though it still doesn’t fit together. But I can tell you this: +The saucers are real, or at least one of them.” + +“Which one?” + +“The thing Captain Mantell was chasing near Fort Knox, before he died.” + +“Oh, that one.” Steele looked down at the roll he was buttering. “I +thought that case was fully explained. Wasn’t he chasing a balloon?” + +“The Air Force says it’s still unidentified.” I told him what I had +learned. “Apparently you’re right—it’s either an American or a Soviet +missile.” + +“After what you’ve told me,” said Steele, “I can’t believe it’s ours. +It must be Russian.” + +“They’d be pretty stupid to test it over here.” + +“You said it was probably out of control.” + +“That particular one, maybe. But there have been several hundred seen +over here. If they found their controls were haywire, they wouldn’t +keep testing the things until they’d corrected that.” + +The waiter came with the soup, and Steele was silent until he left. + +“I still can’t believe it’s our weapon,” he said slowly. “They wouldn’t +have Air Force pilots alerted to chase the things. And I happen to how +they do.” + +“There’s something queer about this missile angle,” I said. “That +saucer was seen at the same time by people a hundred and seventy-five +miles apart. To be that high in the sky, and still look more than two +hundred and fifty feet in diameter, it must have been enormous.” + +Steele didn’t answer for a moment. + +“Obviously, that was an illusion,” he finally answered. “I’d discount +those estimates.” + +“Even Mantell’s? And the Godman Field officers’?” + +“Not knowing the thing’s height, how could they judge accurately?” + +“To be seen at points that far apart, it had to be over thirty miles +high,” I told him. “It would have to be huge to show up at all.” + +He shook his head. “I can’t believe those reports are right. It must +have been sighted at different times.” + +I let it drop. + +“What are you working on now?” Steele asked, after a minute or two. + +I said I hadn’t decided. Actually, I planned a trip to the coast, to +interview pilots who had sighted flying disks. + +“What would you do if you found it wasn’t a Soviet missile?” said +Steele. He sounded almost too casual. + +“If security was involved, I’d keep still. But the Air Force and the +Navy swear they haven’t any such things.” + +Steele looked at me thoughtfully. + +“You know, _True_ might force something into the open that would be +better left secret.” He smiled ironically. “I realize that sounds +peculiar, since I suggested the Russian angle. But if it isn’t +Russian—though I still think it is—then we have nothing to worry +about.” + +I was almost sure now that he was a plant. During the rest of the +luncheon, I tried to draw him out, but Steele was through talking. When +we parted, he gave me a sober warning. + +“You and _True_ should consider your moral responsibility, no matter +what you find. Even if it’s not actual security, there may be reasons +to keep still.” + +After he left me, I tried to figure it out. If the Air Force was back +of this, they must not think much of my intelligence. Or else they had +been in such a hurry to get a line on _True’s_ investigation that they +had no choice but to use Steele. Of course, it was still possible he +was doing this on his own. + +Either way, his purpose was obvious. He hoped to have us swallow the +Soviet-missile answer. If we did, then we would have to keep still, +even though we found absolute proof. Obviously, it would be dangerous +to print _that_ story. + +Thinking back, I recalled Steele’s apparent attempt to dismiss the +Mantell case. I was convinced now. The Godman Field affair must hold an +important clue that I had overlooked. It might even be the key to the +whole flying saucer riddle. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Shortly after my talk with Steele, I flew to the Coast. For three weeks +I investigated sightings that had been reported by airline and private +pilots and other competent witnesses. + +At first, the airline pilots were reluctant to talk. Most of them +remembered the ridicule that had followed published accounts by other +airline men. One pilot told me he had been ordered to keep still about +his experience—whether by the company or the Air Force, he would not +say. But most of them finally agreed to talk, if I kept their names out +of print. + +One airline captain—I’ll call him Blake—had encountered a saucer at +night. He and his copilot had sighted the object, gleaming, in the +moonlight, half a mile to their left. + +“We were at about twelve thousand feet,” he said, when we saw this +thing pacing us. It didn’t have any running lights, but we could see +the moonlight reflecting from something like bright metal. There was a +glow along the side, like some kind of light, or exhaust.” + +“Could you make out the shape?” I asked. + +Blake grinned crookedly. “You think we didn’t try? I cut in toward it. +It turned in the same direction. I pulled up about three hundred feet, +and it did the same. Finally, I opened my throttles and cut in fast, +intending to pull tip if we got too close. I needn’t have worried. The +thing let out a burst of reddish flame and streaked up out of sight. It +was gone in a few seconds.” + +“Then it must have been piloted,” I said. + +“If not, it had some kind of radar-responder unit to make it veer off +when anything got near it. It matched every move I made, until the last +one.” + +I asked him what he thought the saucer was. Blake hesitated, then he +gave me a slow grin. + +“Well, my copilot thinks it was a space ship. He says no pilot here on +earth could take that many G’s, when the thing zoomed.” + +I’d heard some “men from Mars” opinions about the saucers, but this was +an experienced pilot. + +“You don’t believe that?” I said. + +“No,” Blake said. “I figure it was some new type of guided missile. If +it took as many G’s as Chuck, my copilot, thinks, then it must have +been on a beam and remote-controlled.” + +Later, I found two other pilots who had the same idea as Chuck. One +captain was afraid the flying saucers were Russian; his copilot thought +they were Air Force or Navy. I met one airline official who was +indignant about testing such missiles near the airways. + +“Even if they do have some device to make them veer off,” he said, “I +think it’s a risk. There’ll be hell to pay if one ever hits an +airliner.” + +“They’ve been flying around for two years,” a line pilot pointed out. +“Nobody’s had a close call yet. I don’t think there’s much danger.” + +When I left the Coast, I flew to New York. Ken Purdy called in John +DuBarry, _True’s_ aviation editor, to hear the details. Purdy called +him “John the Skeptic.” After I told them what I had learned Purdy +nodded. + +“What do you think the saucers are?” asked DuBarry. + +“They must be guided missiles,” I said, “but it leaves some queer gaps +in the picture.” + +I had made up a list of possible answers, and I read it to them: + +“One, the saucers don’t exist. They’re caused by mistakes, hysteria, +and so on. Two, they’re Russian guided missiles. Three, they’re +American guided missiles. Four, the whole thing is a hoax, a +psychological-warfare trick.” + +“You mean a trick of ours?” said Purdy. + +“Sure, to make the Soviets think we could reach them with a guided +missile. But I don’t think that’s the answer—I just listed it as a +possibility.” + +DuBarry considered this thoughtfully. + +“In the first place, you’d have to bring thousands of people into the +scheme, so the disks would be reported often enough to get publicity. +You’d have to have _some_ kind of device, maybe something launched from +highflying bombers, to give the rumors substance. They’d certainly do a +better job than this, to put it over. And it wouldn’t explain the +world-wide sightings. Also, Captain Mantell wouldn’t kill himself just +to carry out an official hoax.” + +“John’s right,” said Purdy. “Anyway, it’s too ponderous. It would leak +like a sieve, and the dumbest Soviet agent would see through it.” + +He looked back at my list. “Cross off Number One, There’s too much +competent testimony, beside the obvious fact that something’s being +covered up.” + +“That leaves Russian or American missiles,” I said, “as Steele first +suggested. But there are some points that just won’t fit the missile +theory.” + +“You’ve left out one answer,” said Purdy. + +“What’s that?” + +“Interplanetary.” + +“You’re kidding!” I said. + +“I didn’t say I believed it,” said Purdy. “I just say it’s possible.” + +DuBarry was watching me. “I know how you feel. That’s how it hit me +when Ken first said it,” + +“I’ve heard it before,” I said. “But I never took it seriously.” + +“Maybe this will interest you,” Purdy said. He gave me a note from Sam +Boal: + +“Just talked with D———-,” the note ran. (D———- is a prominent +aeronautical engineer, the designer of a world-famous plane.) “He +believes the disks may be interplanetary and that the Air Force knows +it—or at least suspects it. I’m enclosing sketches showing how he +thinks the disks operate.” + +“He’s not the first one who told us that,” said Purdy. “We’ve heard the +same thing from other engineers. Over a dozen airline pilots think +they’re coining from out in space. And there’s a rocket expert at +Wright Field who’s warned Project ‘Saucer’ that the things are +interplanetary. That’s why I’m not writing it off.” + +“Have you read the Project ‘Saucer’ ideas on space travel?” DuBarry +asked me. I told him my copy hadn’t reached me. He read me some marked +paragraphs in his copy of the preliminary report: + +“‘There has been speculation that the aerial phenomena might actually +be some form of penetration from another planet . . . the existence of +intelligent life on Mars is not impossible but is completely unproven . +. . the possibility of intelligent life on the Planet Venus is not +considered completely unreasonable by astronomers . . . Scientists +concede that living organisms might develop in chemical environments +which are strange to us . . . in the next fifty years we will almost +certainly start exploring space . . . the chance of space travelers +existing at planets attached to neighboring stars is very much greater +than the chance of space-traveling Martians. The one can be viewed as +almost a certainty . . .’” + +DuBarry handed me the report. “Here—I practically know it by heart. +Take it with you. You can send it back later.” + +“I know the space-travel idea sounds silly at first,” said Purdy, “but +it’s the only answer that explains all the sightings-especially those +in the last century.” + +He asked DuBarry to give me their file of historic reports. While John +was getting it, Purdy went on: + +“Be careful about this man Steele. After what he said about ‘moral +responsibility’ I’m sure he’s planted.” + +I thought back to Steele’s warning. I told Purdy: “If he had the space +thing in mind, maybe he’s right. It could set off a panic that would +make that Orson Welles thing look like a picnic.” + +“Certainly it could,” Purdy said. “We’d have to handle it carefully-if +it turned out to be the truth. But I think the Air Force is making a +mistake, if that’s what they’re hiding. It could break the wrong way +and be serious.” + +John DuBarry came back with the file of old reports. + +“It might interest you to know,” he said, “that the Air Force checked +all these old sightings too.” + +The idea was still a difficult one for me to believe. + +“Those space-travel suggestions might be a trick,” I said. “The Air +Force may be hinting at that to hide the guided-missile secret.” + +“Yes, but later on they deny the space thing,” said Purdy. “It looks as +if they’re trying to put people on guard and then play it down, so they +won’t get scared.” + +As I put the historic reports file in my brief case, Purdy handed me a +letter from an investigator named Hilton, who had been working in the +Southwest. I skimmed over his letter. + +Hilton had heard of some unusual night sightings in New Mexico. The +story had been hushed up, but he had learned some details from a pilot +at Albuquerque. + +One of these mysterious “flying lights” had been seen at Las Vegas, on +December 8, 1948—just one month before Mantell was killed in Kentucky. +It was too dark to make out the shape behind the light, but all +witnesses had agreed on its performance. The thing had climbed at +tremendous speed, its upward motion shown by a bright green light. +Though the green glow was much brighter than a plane’s running light, +all plane schedules were carefully checked. + +“I think they were trying to pin it on a jet fighter,” the Albuquerque +pilot told Hilton. “But there weren’t any jets near there. Anyway, the +thing climbed too fast. It must have been making close to nine hundred +miles an hour.” + +The Air Force had also checked balloon release times—apparently just +for the record, since no balloon could even approach the saucer’s +terrific ascent. Again, they drew a blank. + +“From the way this was hushed up,” Hilton commented, “they seem to be +worried about this group of sightings. I’ve heard two reports that the +F.B.I. is tied into the deal somehow, but that’s as far as I can get.” + +“See if you can get any lead on that,” Purdy told me. “That F.B.I. +business puzzles me. Where would they come in?” + +I said I would try to find out. But it was almost four months before we +learned the answer: The F.B.I. men had been _witnesses_. (This was +later admitted in an obscure cross-reference in the final Project +“Saucer” report. But all official answers to the strange green-light +sightings had been carefully omitted. The cases concerned were 223, +224, 225, 226, 227, 230, and 231, which will be discussed later.) + +“When you go back to Washington,” said Purdy, “see what reaction you +get to the interplanetary idea.” + +I had a pretty good idea what the reaction would be, but I nodded. +“O.K. I’ll go flag a space ship and be on my way.” + +“O.K.—gag it up,” said Purdy. “But don’t sell it short, If by any +chance it’s true, it’ll be the biggest story since the birth of +Christ.” + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +It was dark when the airliner limousine reached La Guardia Field. I had +intended taking an earlier plane, but DuBarry persuaded me to stay over +for dinner. + +We dropped into the Algonquin, next door to _True’s_ office building. +Halfway through dinner, I asked John what he thought of the +space-travel answer. + +“Oh, it’s possible,” he said cautiously. “The time and space angles +make it hard to take, but if we’re planning to explore space within +fifty years, there’s no reason some other planet people couldn’t do it. +Of course, if they’ve been observing us for over a century, as those +old sightings seem to indicate, they must be far ahead of us, at least +in technical progress.” + +Later on, he said thoughtfully, “Even though it’s possible, I hate to +think it’s the answer. just imagine the impact on the world. We’d have +to reorient our whole lives—and things are complicated enough already.” + +Standing at the gate, waiting for my plane to be called, I thought over +that angle. Assuming that space travel was the solution—which I still +couldn’t believe-what would be the effect on the world? + +It was a hard thing to picture. So much depended on the visitors from +space. What would their purpose be? Would they be peaceful or hostile? +Why had they been observing the earth so intensively in the past few +years? + +I could think of a hundred questions. What would the space people be +like? Would they be similar to men and women on earth, or some fearsome +Buck Rogerish creatures who would terrify the average +American—including myself? + +It was obvious they would be far superior to us in many ways. But their +civilization might be entirely different. Evolution might have +developed their minds, and possibly their bodies, along lines we +couldn’t even grasp. Perhaps we couldn’t even communicate with them. + +What would be the net effect of making contact with beings from a +distant planet? Would earthlings be terrified, or, if it seemed a +peaceful exploration, would we bc intrigued by the thought of a great +adventure? It would depend entirely on the space visitors’ motives, and +how the world was prepared for such a revelation. + +The more I thought about it, the more fantastic thc thing seemed. + +And yet it hadn’t been too long since airplane flight was considered an +idiot’s dream. This scene here at La Guardia would have seemed pure +fantasy in 1900—thc huge Constellations and DC-6’s; the double-decked +Stratocruisers, sweeping in from all over the country; the big ships at +Pan-American, taking off for points all over the globe. We’d come a +long way in the forty-six years since the Wright brothers’ first +flight. + +But space travel! + +The gateman checked my ticket, and I went out to the Washington plane. +It was a luxury ship, a fifty-two-passenger, four-engined DC-6, +scheduled to be in the capital one hour after take-off. By morning this +plane, the Aztec, would be in Mexico City. + +The couple going up the gangway ahead of me were in their late sixties. +Fifty years ago, what would they have said if someone had predicted +this flight? The answer to that was easy; at that time, high-school +songbooks featured a well-known piece entitled “Darius Green and His +Flying Machine.” Darius, it seems, was a simple-minded lad who actually +thought he could fly. + +Fifty years. That was the time the Air Force had estimated it would +take us to start exploring space. Would Americans come to accept space +travel as matter-of-factly as the people now boarding this plane? The +youngsters would, probably; the older ones, as a rule, would be a +little more cautious. + +In the oval lounge at the rear of the plane, I took out the file of old +sighting reports. Glancing through it, I, saw excerpts from +nineteenth-century astronomical and scientific journals and extracts +from official gazettes. Most of the early sightings had been in Great +Britain and on the Continent, with a few reports scattered around the +world. The American reports did not begin until the latter part of the +century. + +The DC-6 rolled out and took off. For a few minutes I watched the +lights of Manhattan and Greater New York twinkling below. The Empire +State Building tower was still above us, as the plane banked over the +East River. + +We climbed quickly, and the familiar outline of Manhattan took shape +like a map pin-pointed with millions of lights. + +Any large city seen from the air at night has a certain magic, New York +most of all. Looking down, I thought: What would a spaceman think, +seeing this brilliantly lighted city, the towering skyscrapers? Would +other planets have such cities, or would it be something new and +puzzling to a visitor from space? + +Turning back to the old reports, I skipped through until I found the +American sightings. One of the first was an incident at Bonham, Texas, +in the summer of 1873. + +It was broad daylight when a strange, fast-moving object appeared in +the sky, southwest of the town. For a moment, the people of Bonham +stared at the thing, not believing their eves. The only flying device +then known was the drifting balloon. But this thing was tremendous, and +speeding so fast its outlines were almost a blur. + +Terrified farmers dived under their wagons. Townspeople fled indoors. +Only a few hardy souls remained in the streets. The mysterious object +circled Bonham twice, then raced off to the cast and vanished. +Descriptions of the strange machine varied from round or oval to +cigar-shaped. (The details of the Bonham sighting were later confirmed +for me by Frank Edwards, Mutual network newscaster, who investigated +this case.) + +Twenty-four hours after the Bonham incident, a device of the same +description appeared at Fort Scott, Kansas. Panic-stricken soldiers +fled the parade ground as the thing flashed overhead. In a few seconds +it disappeared, circling toward the north. + +Until now, I had supposed that the term “saucer” was original with +Kenneth Arnold. Actually, the first to compare a flying object with a +saucer was John Martin, a farmer who lived near Denison, Texas. The +Denison Daily News of January 25, 1878, gives the following account: + + +From Mr. John Martin, a farmer who lives some six miles south of this +city, we learn the following strange story: Tuesday morning while out +hunting, his attention was directed to a dark object high up in the +southern sky. The peculiar shape and velocity with which the object +seemed to approach riveted his attention and he strained his eves to +discover its character. + +When first noticed, it appeared to be about the size of an orange, +which continued to grow in size. After gazing at it for some time Mr. +Martin became blind from long looking and left off viewing it for a +time in order to rest his eyes. On resuming his view, the object was +almost overhead and had increased considerably in size, and appeared to +be going through space at wonderful speed. + +When directly over him it was about the size of a large saucer and was +evidently at great height. Mr. Martin thought it resembled, as well as +he could judge, a balloon. It went as rapidly as it had come and was +soon lost to sight in the heavenly skies. Mr. Martin is a gentleman of +undoubted veracity and this strange occurrence, if it was not a +balloon, deserves the attention of our scientists. + + +In the file, I saw a memo DuBarry had written: + +“I would take the very early reports with caution. For instance, the +one on August 9, 1762, which describes an odd, spindle-shaped body +traveling at high speed toward the sun. I recall that Charles Fort +accepted this, along with other early sightings, as evidence of space +ships. But this particular thing might have been a meteor—meteors as +such were almost unknown then. The later reports are more convincing, +and it is also easier to check the sources, especially those from 1870 +on.” + +From 1762 to 1870, the reports were meager. Some described mysterious +lights in the sky; a few mentioned round objects seen in daylight. Even +though they were not so fully documented as later ones, one point +struck me. In those days, there was no telegraph, telephone, or radio +to spread news rapidly and start a flood of rumors. A sighting in +Scotland could not be the cause of a similar one two days later in the +south of France. + +Beginning in 870, there was a series of reports that went on to the +turn of the century. In the London _Times_, September 26, 1870, there +was a description of a queer object that was seen crossing the moon. It +was reported as elliptical, with some kind of tail, and it took almost +thirty seconds to complete its passage of the moon. Then in 1871, a +large, round body was sighted above Marseilles, France. This was on +August 1. It moved slowly across the sky, apparently at great height, +and was visible about fifteen minutes. + +On March 22, 1880, several brilliantly luminous objects were reported +seen at Kattenau, Germany. Sighted just before sunrise, they were +described as rising from the horizon and moving from east to west. The +account was published in the _British Nature Magazine_, Volume 22, page +64. + +The next report in the file mentioned briefly a strange round object +seen in the skies over Bermuda. The source for this account was the +Bermuda Royal Gazette. This was in 1885. That same year, an astronomer +and other witnesses reported a gigantic aerial object at Adrianople, +Turkey. On November 1, the weird apparition was seen moving across the +sky. Observers described it as round and four to five times the size of +the moon. + +This estimate is similar to the Denison, Texas, comparison with an +orange. The object would actually be huge to be seen at any great +height. But unless the true height were known, any estimate of size +would be guesswork. + +On March 19, 1887, two strange objects fell into the sea near a Dutch +barkentine. As described by the skipper, Captain C. D. Sweet, one of +the objects was dark, the other brightly luminous. The glowing object +fell with a loud roaring sound; the shipmaster was positive it was not +a meteor. + +In New Zealand, a year later, an oval-shaped disk was reported speeding +high overhead. This was on May 4, 1888. About two years after this, +several large aerial bodies were sighted hovering over the Dutch East +Indies. + +Most accounts described them as roughly triangular, about one hundred +feet on the base and two hundred feet on the sides. But some observers +thought they might be longer and narrower, with a rounded base; this +would make them agree with more recent stories of cone-shaped objects +with rounded tops seen in American skies. + +On August 26, 1894, a British admiral reported sighting a large disk +with a projection like a tail. And a year after this, both England and +Scotland buzzed with stories of triangular-shaped objects like those +seen in the Dutch East Indies. Although many officials scoffed at the +stories, more than one astronomer stuck to his belief that the +mysterious things might be coming from outer space. Since planes and +dirigibles were then unknown, there was no one on earth who could have +been responsible for them. + +In 1897, sightings in the United States began to be more frequent. One +of the strangest reports describes an incident that began on April 9. +Flying at a great height, a huge cigar-shaped device was seen in the +Midwest. Short wings projected from the sides of the object, according +to reports of astronomers who watched it through telescopes. + +For almost a week, the aerial visitor was sighted around the Midwest, +as far south as St. Louis and as far west as Colorado. Several times, +red, green, and white lights were seen to flash in the sky; some +witnesses thought the crew of this strange craft might be trying to +signal the earth. + +On April 16, the thing, whatever it was, disappeared from the Midwest. +But on April 19, the same object—or else a similar one—appeared over +West Virginia. Early that morning the town of Sisterville was awakened +by blasts of the sawmill whistle. Those who went outside their homes +saw a strange sight. From a torpedo-shaped object overhead, dazzling +searchlights were pointing downward, sweeping the countryside. The +thing appeared to be about two hundred feet long, some thirty feet in +diameter, with stubby wings and red and green lights along the sides. +For almost ten minutes the aerial visitor circled the town, then it +swung eastward and vanished. + +The next report was published in the U.S. Weather Bureau’s monthly +_Weather Review_. On page 115 in the March 1904 issue, there is an +account of an odd sighting at sea. On February 24, 1904, a mysterious +light had been seen above the Atlantic by crew members of the U.S.S. +_Supply_. It was moving swiftly, and evidently at high altitude. The +report was attested by Lieutenant Frank H. Schofield, U.S.N. + +On July 2, 1907, a mysterious explosion occurred, in the heavens near +Burlington, Vermont. Some witnesses described a strange, torpedo-shaped +device circling above. Shortly after it was seen, a round, luminous +object flashed down from the sky, then exploded, (_Weather Review_, +1907, page 310.) + +Another cigar-shaped craft was reported at a low altitude over +Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1905. Like the one at Sisterville, it +carried searchlights, which swept back and forth across the +countryside. After a few moments, the visitor rose in a steep climb, +and the searchlights blinked out. + +There was no report for 1909 in America, though an odd aerial object +was sighted near the Galapagos Islands. But in 1910, one January +morning, a large silvery cigar-shaped device startled Chattanooga. +After about five minutes, the thing sped away, appearing over +Huntsville, Alabama, shortly afterward. It made a second appearance +over Chattanooga the next day, then headed east and was never seen +again. + +In _Popular Astronomy_, January 27, 1012, a Dr. F. B. Harris described +an intensely black object that he saw crossing the moon. As nearly as +he could tell, it was gigantic in size—though again there was no way to +be sure of its distance from him or the moon. With careful +understatement, Dr. Harris said, “I think a very interesting and +curious phenomenon happened that night.” + +A strange shadow was noted on the clouds at Fort Worth, Texas, on April +8, 19, 3. It appeared to be caused by some large body hovering +motionless above the clouds. As the cloud layer moved, the shadow +remained in the same position. Then it changed size, diminishing, and +quickly disappeared, as if it had risen vertically. A report on this +was given in the Weather Bureau _Review_ of that year, Number 4-599. + +By 1919, dirigibles were of course well known to most of the world. +When a dirigible-shaped object appeared over Huntington, West Virginia, +in July of that year, there was no great alarm. It was believed to be +an American blimp, though the darkness—it was eleven at night—prevented +observers from being sure. But a later check-up proved it was not an +American ship, nor was it from any country possessing such craft. + +For some time after this, there were few authentic reports. Then in +1934, Nicholas Roerich, head of the American-Roerich expedition into +Tibet, had a remarkable experience that bears on the saucer riddle. + +On pages 361 and 362 of his book _Altai Himalaya_, Roerich describes +the incident. The expedition party was in the wilds of Tibet one +morning when a porter noticed the peculiar actions of a buzzard +overhead. He called Roerich’s attention to it; then they all saw +something high in the sky, moving at great speed from north to south. +Watching it through binoculars, Roerich saw it was oval-shaped, +obviously of huge size, and reflecting the sun’s rays like brightly +polished metal. While he trailed it with his glasses, the object +suddenly changed direction, from south to southwest. It was gone in a +few moments. + +This was the last sighting listed before World War II. + +When I had finished, I stared out the plane window, curiously +disturbed. Like most people, I had grown up believing the earth was the +center of everything—life, intelligence, and religion. Now, for the +first time in my life, that belief was shaken. + +It was a curious thing. I could accept the idea that we would +eventually explore space, land on the moon, and go on to distant +planets. I had read of the plans, and I knew our engineers and +scientists would somehow find a way. It did not disturb my belief in +our superiority. + +But faced with this evidence of a superior race in the universe, my +mind rebelled. For years, I had been accustomed to thinking in +comic-strip terms of any possible spacemen—Buck Rogers stuff, with +weird-looking space ships and green-faced Martians. + +But now, if these sightings were true, the shoe was on the other foot. +We would be faced with a race of beings at least two hundred years +ahead of our civilization—perhaps thousands. In their eyes, we might +look like primitives. + +My conjectures before the take-off had just been idle thinking; I had +not really believed this could be the answer. But now the question came +back sharply. How would we react to a sudden appearance of space ships, +bringing that higher race to the earth? If we were fully prepared, +educated to this tremendous adventure, it might come off without +trouble. Unprepared, we would be thrown into panic. + +The lights of Philadelphia showed up ahead, and a thought struck me. +What would Philadelphians of 1776 have thought to see this DC-6 flying +across their city at three hundred miles an hour? What would the +sentries at Valley Forge have done, a year later, if this lighted +airliner had streaked over their heads? + +Madness. Stampede. Those were the plain answers. + +But there was a difference now. We had had modern miracles, radio, +television, supersonic planes, and the promise of still more miracles. +_We_ could be educated, or at least partly prepared, to accept space +visitors. + +In fifty years we had learned to fly. In fifty years more, we would be +exploring space. Why should we believe such creative intelligence was +limited to the earth? It would be incredible if the earth, out of all +the millions of planets, proved the only inhabited spot in the whole +universe. + +But, instinctively, I still fought against believing that the flying +saucers were space ships. Eventually, we would make contact with races +on other planets; they undoubtedly would someday visit the earth. But +if it could be put off . . . a problem for later generations to handle +. . . + +If the disks proved American guided missiles, it would be an easier +answer. + +Looking through the Project “Saucer” report DuBarry had loaned me, I +read the space-travel items, hoping to find some hint that this was a +smoke screen. On page 18, in a discussion on Mars, I found this +comment: + +“Reports of strange objects seen in the skies have been handed down +through the generations. However, scientists believe that if Martians +were now visiting the earth without establishing contact, it could be +assumed that they have just recently succeeded in space travel, and +that their civilization would be practically abreast of ours. This +because they find it hard to believe that any technically established +race would come here, flaunt its ability in mysterious ways over the +years, but each time simply go way without ever establishing contact.” + +There could be several answers to that. The Martians might not be able +to live in our atmosphere, except in their sealed space ships. They, or +some other planet race, could have observed us periodically to check on +our slow progress. Until we began to approach their level of +civilization, or in some way caused them concern, they would probably +see no reason for trying to make contact. But somehow I found a vague +comfort in the argument, full of holes though it was. + +Searching further, I found other space-travel comments. On one page, +the Air Force admitted it was almost a certainty that space travelers +would be operating from planets outside the solar system. But on the +following page, I discovered this sentence: “Thus, although visits from +outer space are believed to be possible, they are thought to be highly +improbable.” + +What was the answer? Was this just a wandering discussion of +possibilities, badly put together, or was it a hint of the truth? it +could be the first step in preparing America for a revelation. It could +also be a carefully thought-out trick. + +This whole report might be designed to conceal a secret weapon. If the +Air Force or the Navy did have a secret missile, what better way to +distract attention? The old sighting reports could have been seized on +as a buildup for space travel hints. + +Then suddenly it hit me. Even if it were a smoke screen, what of those +old reports? They still remained to be answered. There was only one +possible explanation, unless you discarded the sightings as lies. That +meant discrediting many reliable witnesses—naval officers, merchant +shipmasters, explorers, astronomers, ministers, and responsible public +officials. + +Besides all these, there had been thousands of other witnesses, where +large groups had seen the objects. The answer seemed inevitable, but I +held it off. I didn’t want to believe it, with all the changes it might +bring, the unpredictable effect upon our civilization. If I kept on +checking I might find evidence that would bring a different explanation +for the present saucers. + +DuBarry had put another group of reports in the envelope; this series +covered the World War II phase and on up to the outbreak of the saucer +scare in the United States. Some of it, about the foo fighters, I +already knew. This was tied in with the mystery rockets reported over +Sweden. The first Swedish sightings had occurred during the early part +of the war. Most of the so-called “ghost rockets” were seen at night, +moving at tremendous speed. Since they came from the direction of +Germany, most Swedes believed that guided rockets were the answer. + +During the summer of 1946, after the Russians had taken over +Peenemunde, the Nazi missile test base, ghost rockets again were +reported flying over Sweden. Some were said to double back and fly into +Soviet areas. Practically all were seen at night, and therefore none +had been described as a flying disk. Instead, they were said to be +colored lights, red, green, blue, and orange, often blurred from their +high speed. + +But there was a puzzling complication. Mystery lights, and sometimes +flying disks, were simultaneously reported over Greece, Portugal, +Turkey, Spain, and even French Morocco. Either there were _two_ +answers, or some nation had developed missiles with an incredibly long +range. + +By January 1947, ghost-rocket sightings in Europe had diminished to +less than one a month. Oddly enough, the first disk report admitted by +Project “Saucer” was in this same month. The first ’47 case detailed by +Project “Saucer” occurred at Richmond, Virginia. It was about the +middle of April. A Richmond weather observer had released a balloon and +was tracking it with a theodolite when a strange object crossed his +field of vision. He swung the theodolite and managed to track the +thing, despite its high speed. (The actual speed and altitude—the +latter determined by a comparison of the balloon’s height at various +times—have never been released. Nor has the Air Force released this +observer’s report on the object’s size, which Project “Saucer” admitted +was more accurate than most witnesses’ estimates.) + +About the seventeenth of May 1947, a huge oval-shaped saucer ten times +longer than its diameter was sighted by Byron Savage, an Oklahoma City +pilot. Two days later, another fast-flying saucer was reported at +Manitou Springs, Colorado. In the short time it was observed, it was +seen to change direction twice, maneuvering at an unbelievable speed. + +Then on June 24 came Kenneth Arnold’s famous report, which set off the +saucer scare. The rest of the story I now knew almost by heart. + +When the DC-6 landed at Washington, I had made one decision. Since it +was impossible to check up on most of the old sightings, I would +concentrate on certain recent reports—cases in which the objects had +been described as space ships. + +As I waited for a taxi, I looked up at the sky. It was a clear summer +night, without a single cloud. Beyond the low hill to the west I could +see the stars. + +I can still remember thinking, _If it’s true, then the stars will never +again seem the same_. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Next morning, in the broad light of day, the idea of space visitors +somehow had lost its menace. If the disks were space ships, at least +they had shown no sign of hostility, so far as I knew. Of course, there +was Mantell; but if he had been downed by some weapon on the disk, it +could have been self-defense. In most cases, the saucers retreated at +the first sign of pursuit. + +My mind was still reluctant to accept the space-travel answer, in spite +of the old reports. But I kept thinking of the famous aircraft designer +who thought the disks were space craft; the airline pilots Purdy had +mentioned; Blake’s copilot, Chuck. . . . + +Now that I recalled it, Blake had been more embarrassed than seemed +called for when he told about Chuck. Perhaps he had been the one who +believed the saucers were space ships, instead of his absent copilot. + +After breakfast, I went over the list of sightings since June 1947. +There were several saucers that actually had been described as +projectile-like ships. The most famous of all was the Eastern Airlines +case. + +It was 8:30 P.M., July 23, 1948, when an Eastern Airlines DC-3 took off +from Houston, Texas, on a flight to Atlanta and Boston. The airliner +captain was Clarence S. Chiles. During the war, he had been in the Air +Transport Command, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He had 8,500 +flying hours. His first officer was John B. Whitted, a wartime pilot on +B-29’s. Both men were known in Eastern as careful, conservative pilots. + +It was a bright, moonlit night, with scattered clouds overhead. The +DC-3 was twenty miles west of Montgomery, at 2:45 A.M., when a +brilliant projectile-like craft came hurtling along the airway. + +Chiles saw it first and took it to be a jet plane. But the next instant +both pilots saw that this was no jet fighter. + +“It was heading southwest,” Chiles said later, “exactly opposite to our +course. Whatever it was, it flashed down toward us at terrific speed. +We veered to the left. It veered sharply, too, and passed us about +seven hundred feet to the right. I saw then that it had no wings.” + +The mystery ship passed on Whitted’s side, and he had a fairly close +look. + +“The thing was about one hundred feet long, cigar-shaped, and +wingless,” he described it. “It was about twice the diameter of a +B-twenty-nine, with no protruding fins.” + +Captain Chiles said the cabin appeared like a pilot compartment, except +for its eerie brilliance. Both he and Whitted agreed it was as bright +as a magnesium flare. They saw no occupants, but at their speed this +was not. surprising. + +“An intense dark-blue glow came from the side of the ship,” Chiles +reported. (It was later suggested by engineers that the strange glare +could have come from a power plant of unusual type.) “It ran the entire +length of the fuselage—like a blue fluorescent light. The exhaust was a +red-orange flame, with a lighter color predominant around the outer +edges.” + +Both pilots said the flame extended thirty to fifty feet behind the +ship. As it passed, Chiles noted a snout like a radar pole. Both he and +Whitted glimpsed two rows of windows. + +“Just as it went by,” said Chiles, “the pilot pulled up as if he had +seen the DC-three and wanted to avoid its. There was a tremendous burst +of flame from the rear. It zoomed into the clouds, its jet wash rocking +our DC-three.” + +Chiles’s estimate of the mystery ship’s speed was between five hundred +and seven hundred miles an hour. + +As the object vanished, Chiles went back into the cabin to check with +the passengers. Most had been asleep or were drowsing. But one man +confirmed that they were in their right senses. This passenger, +Clarence McKelvie of Columbus, Ohio, told them (and a Project “Saucer” +team later) that he had seen a brilliant streak of light flash past his +window. It had gone too swiftly for him to catch any details. + +The A.P. interviewed Mr. McKelvie soon after he landed, and ran the +following story: + +“Kennett Square, Pa., July 24 (AP) . Clarence L. McKelvie, assistant +managing editor of the American Education Press, said he was the only +passenger on the EAL Houston-Boston plane who was not asleep when the +phantom craft was sighted. + +“‘I saw no shape or form,’ Mr. McKelvie said. ‘I was on the right side +of the plane, and suddenly I saw this strange eerie streak out of my +window. It was very intense, not like lightning or anything I had ever +seen.’ + +“The Columbus man said he was too startled and the object moved too +quickly for him to adjust his eyes to it.” + +In Washington, Air Force officials insisted they could shed no light on +the mystery. Out in Santa Monica, General George C. Kenney, then chief +of the Strategic Air Command, declared the Air Force had nothing +remotely like the ship described. + +“I wish we did,” General Kenney told reporters. “I’d sure like to see +that.” + +The publicized story of this “space ship” set off another scare—also +the usual cracks about screwball pilots. But Chiles and Whitted were +not screwballs; they were highly respected pilots. The passenger’s +confirmation added weight. But even if all three had been considered +deluded, the Air Force investigators could not get around the reports +from Robbins Air Force Base. + +Just about one hour before the DC-3 incident, a strange flaming object +came racing southward through the night skies over Robbins Field, at +Macon, Georgia. Observers at the air base were astounded to see what +appeared to be a huge, wingless craft streak overhead, trailing a +varicolored exhaust. (The witnesses’ description tallied with those of +Chiles and Whitted.) The mystery ship vanished swiftly; all observers +agreed that it disappeared from the line of sight just like a normal +aircraft. + +While I was working on this case, a contact in Washington gave me an +interesting tip. + +“Within forty-eight hours after that Eastern sighting, Air Force +engineers rushed out blueprint plans and elevations of the ‘space +ship,’ based on what the two pilots told them.” + +Whether or not this was true, I found that the Air Force engineers did +compute the probable speed and lift of the mystery craft. The ship was +found to be within the bounds of aerodynamic laws for operations in our +atmosphere. Here is the Air Force statement: + +“Application of the Prandtl theory of lift indicated that a fuselage of +the dimensions reported by Chiles and Whitted could support a load +comparable to the weight of an aircraft of this size, at flying speeds +in the sub-sonic range.” (This supports Chiles’s estimate of 500-700 +m.p.h.) + +Four days after the space-ship story was published, a Navy spokesman +was quoted as hinting it might have been a high-atmosphere rocket gone +astray from the proving grounds in New Mexico. The brief report +appeared on the editorial page of the Washington _Star_ on July 28, +1947. It ran as follows: + +“The Navy says that naval technicians have been testing a +3,000-mile-per-hour rocket in New Mexico. If one went astray, it could +travel across our continent in a short time.” + +At first glance I thought this might be the real answer to the +Chiles-Whitted case. But after a few minutes I saw it was almost +impossible. + +First, rockets at White Sands are launched and controlled with utmost +care. There have been no reported cases of such a long-distance +runaway. + +Second, if such a rocket had gone astray, it would certainly have +caused wild confusion at White Sands until they found where it landed. +Hundreds of people would have known about it; the story would be +certain to leak out. + +Third, such a rocket would have had to travel from White Sands to +Macon, Georgia, then circle around south of this city for over forty +minutes. (If it had kept on at the speed observed at Robbins Field, it +would have passed Montgomery long before the DC-3 reached the area.) In +addition, the rocket would have had to veer sharply away from the +airliner, as both pilots testified, and then zoom into the clouds. No +high-atmosphere test rocket has automatic controls such as this would +require. And if it had gone astray from White Sands, the station’s +remote control would no longer be guiding it. + +The Eastern Airlines “space ship,” then, was not just a fugitive +rocket. But it could be a new type of aircraft, something +revolutionary, developed in absolute secrecy. + +Other airline pilots had reported flying disks racing along the +airways, though none that I knew of had described projectile-like +objects. Chiles and Whitted insisted the mystery ship was not a disk, +and the report from Robbins Field agreed on this point. Man-made +devices or not, it seemed fairly certain there was more than one type +of saucer. + +The more I studied the evidence, the harder it was to believe that this +was an earth-made ship. Such a wingless rocket ship would require +tremendous jet power to keep it in the air. Even our latest jet bombers +could not begin to approach its performance. + +Going back over the Project “Saucer” preliminary report, I found strong +evidence that the Air Force was worried. In their investigation, +Project teams had screened 225 military and civilian flight schedules. +After nine months, they reported that the mysterious object was no +conventional aircraft. + +On April 27, 1949, the Air Force admitted that Project “Saucer” had +failed to find the answer. The “space ship” was officially listed as +unidentified. + +“But Wright Field is still working on it,” an Air Force officer told +me. “Both Chiles and Whitted are responsible pilots, and McKelvie has a +reputation for making careful statements. Even without the Robbins +Field confirmation, no one could doubt that they saw something.” + +The Chiles-Whitted “space ship” was not the first of this type to be +reported. Another wingless aircraft was sighted in August 1947, by two +pilots for an Alabama flying service. It was at Bethel, Alabama, just +after sunset, when a huge black wingless craft swept across their +course. Silhouetted against the evening sky, it loomed larger than a +C-54. The pilots saw no wings, motors, or jet exhausts. + +Swinging in behind the mystery ship, they attempted to follow. But at +their speed of 170 m.p.h. they were quickly outdistanced. Careful +checking showed there were no other planes nearby that could have been +mistaken for this strange craft. + +On New Year’s Day, 1948, a similar rocket-shaped object was sighted at +Jackson, Mississippi. It was first seen by a former Air Force pilot and +his passenger, and later by witnesses on the ground. Before the pilot +could begin to close in, the odd wingless ship pulled away. Speeding up +from 200 to 500 m.p.h., it swiftly disappeared. + +Besides these two cases, already on record, I had the tips Purdy had +given me. One wingless ship was supposed to have been seen three or +four days before the Chiles-Whitted sighting; like the thing they +reported, the unidentified craft was a double-decked “space ship” but +moving at even higher speed. At first I ran into a stone wall trying to +check this story. Then I found a lead conforming that this was a +foreign report. It finally proved to be from The Hague. + +The tip had been right. This double-decked, wingless ship had been +sighted on July 20, 1948—four days before the Eastern case. Witnesses +had reported it at a high altitude, moving at fantastic speed. + +While working on this report, I verified another tip. We had heard a +rumor of a space-ship sighting at Clark Field, in the Philippine +Islands. Although I didn’t learn the date, I found that there was such +a record. + +(In the final Project “Saucer” report, the attempt to explain away this +sighting was painfully evident. Analyzing this case, Number 206, the +Air Force said: “If the facts are correct, there is no astronomical +explanation. A few points favor the daytime meteor +hypothesis—snow-white color, speed faster than a jet, the roar, +similarity to sky-writing and the time of day. But the tactics, if +really performed, oppose it strenuously: the maneuvers in and out of +cloud banks, turns of 180 degrees or more, Possibly these were +illusions, caused by seeing the object intermittently through clouds. +The impression of a fuselage with windows could even more easily have +been a sign of imagination.” + +(With this conjecture, Project “Saucer” listed the sighting as +officially answered. The Hague space-ship case was unexplained.) + +In following up the Jackson and Bethel reports, I talked with two +officials in the Civil Aeronautics Administration. One of these was +Charley Planck, who handled public relations. I found that the pilots +concerned had good records; C.A.A. men who knew them discounted the +hoax theory. + +“Charley, there’s a rumor that airline pilots have been ordered not to +talk,” I told Planck. “You know anything about it?” + +“You mean ordered by the Air Force or the companies?” he said. + +“The Air Force _and_ the C.A.A.” + +“If the C.A.A.’s in on it, it’s a top-level deal,” said Charley. “I +think it’s more likely the companies—with or without a nudge from the +Air Force.” + +While we were talking, an official from another agency came in. Because +the lead he gave me was off the record, I’ll call him Steve Barrett. I +knew Steve fairly well. We were both pilots with service training; our +paths had crossed during the war, and I saw him now and then at +airports around Washington. + +When the saucer scare first broke, Steve had been disgusted. “Damn +fools trying to get publicity,” he snorted. “The way Americans fall for +a gag! Even the Air Force has got the jitters.” + +So I was a little surprised to find he now thought the disks were real. + +“What sold you?” I asked. + +“The radar reports,” said Steve. “I know of half a dozen cases where +they’ve tracked the things. One was in Japan. The thing was climbing so +fast no one believed the radarmen at first. Then they got some more +reports. One was up in Canada. There was a case in New Mexico, and I +think a Navy destroyer tracked a saucer up in the North Atlantic.” + +“What did they find out?” said Charley Planck. + +Steve shrugged. “I don’t know all the answers. Whatever they are, the +things can go like hell.” + +I had a hunch he was holding back. I waited until he had finished with +Charley, and then went, down the hall with him. “You think the saucers +are guided missiles?” I said. + +“If I thought so, I wouldn’t be talking,” he said flatly, “That’s not a +dig at you. But I was cleared last year for some secret electronics +work, and it might be used in some way with guided missiles.” + +“I didn’t know that, Steve.” + +“It’s O.K.,” he said. “I don’t mind talking, because can’t believe the +saucers are guided missiles. Maybe few of the things sighted out in the +Southwest have beer our test rockets, but that doesn’t explain the +radar reports in Canada and Japan.” + +“I’d already heard about a radar case in Labrador,” I told Steve. He +looked at me quickly. + +“Where’d you pick that up;” + +“_True_ passed it on to me,” I said. + +“They’ve had some trouble tracking the things, they maneuver so fast,” +said Steve. “It sounds crazy, but I’ve been told they hit more than ten +thousand miles an hour.” + +“You believe it.?” + +“Well, it’s not impossible. Those saucers were tracked about fifty +miles up, where there’s not much resistance.” + +The elevator door opened. Steve waited until we were outside of the +Commerce Building. + +“There’s one other thing that gets me,” he said. “Unless the radar boys +are way off, some of those saucers are enormous. I just can’t see a +guided missile five hundred feet in diameter.” He stopped for a moment. +“I suppose this will sound screwy to you—” + +“You think they’re interplanetary,” I said. + +Steve was quickly on the defensive. “I haven’t bought it yet, but it’s +not as crazy as it sounds.” + +Without mentioning names, I told him about the aircraft designer and +the airline pilots. + +“They’re in good company,” said Steve. “You know the Air Institute?” + +“Sure—the Air Force school down at Montgomery.” + +“Six months ago, I was talking with an officer who’d been instructing +there.” Steve looked at me, deadly serious. “He told me they are now +teaching that the saucers are probably space ships.” + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Three days after my meeting with Steve Barrett, I was on a Mainliner +300, starting, a new phase of the saucer investigation. By the time I +returned, I hoped to know the truth about Project “Saucer.” + +As the ship droned westward, fourteen thousand feet above the +Alleghenies, I thought of what Steve had told me. I believed, that he +had told me about the radar tracking. And I was fairly sure he believed +the Air Institute story. But I wasn’t so certain the story itself was +true. + +It would hardly be a gag; Steve wasn’t easily taken in. It was more +likely that one Institute officer, or perhaps several, believed the +saucers were space craft and aired their personal opinions. The +Institute wasn’t likely to give an official answer to something that +Project “Saucer” still declared unsolved. + +If it were possible to get an inside look at Project “Saucer” +operations, I could soon tell whether it was an actual investigation or +a deliberate cover-up for something else. Whichever it was, the wall of +official. secrecy still hid it. + +As a formality, I had called the Pentagon again and asked to talk with +some of the Project officers. As I expected, I was turned down. The +only alternative was to dig out the story by talking with pilots and +others who had been. quizzed by Project teams. I had several leads, and +_True_ had arranged some interviews for me. + +My first stop was Chicago, where I met an airline official and two +commercial pilots. I saw the pilots first. Since they both talked in +confidence, I will not use their right names. One, a Midwesterner I +already knew, I’ll call Pete Farrell; the other, a wartime instructor, +Art Green. + +Pete was about thirty-one, stocky, blue-eyed, with a pleasant, +intelligent face. Art Green was a little older, a lean, sunburned, +restless man with an emphatic voice. Pete had served with the Air Force +during the war; he was now part owner of a flying school, also a pilot +in the Air National Guard. Green was working for an air charter service + +We met at the Palmer House. Art Green didn’t need much prompting to +talk about Project “Saucer.” After reporting a disk, seen during a West +Coast Right, he had been thoroughly grilled by a Project “Saucer” team. + +“They practically took me apart,” he said irritably. “They’ve got a lot +of trick questions. Some of ’em are figured out to trip up anybody +faking a story. The way they worked on me, you’d think I committed a +murder. + +“Then they tried to sell me on the idea I’d seen a balloon, or maybe a +plane, with the sun shining on it when it banked. I told them to go to +the devil—I knew what I saw. After seventeen years, I’ve got enough +sense to tell a ship or a balloon when I see it.” + +“Did they believe you?” I asked him. + +“If they did, they didn’t let on. Two of ’em acted as if they thought I +was nuts. The other guy-I think he was Air Force Intelligence—acted +decent. He said not to get steamed up about the Aero-Medical boys; it +was their job to screen out the crackpots. + +“And on top of that, I found out later the F.B.I. had checked up on me +to find out if I was a liar or a screwball. They went around to my +boss, people in my neighborhood—even the pilots in my outfit. My +outfit’s still razzing me. I wouldn’t report another saucer if one flew +through my cockpit.” + +Pete Farrell hadn’t encountered any Project “Saucer” teams personally, +but he had some interesting angles. Some of the information had come +from commercial and private pilots in the Midwest, part of it through +National Guard contacts. + +“I can tell you one thing,” Pete said. “Guard pilots got the same order +as the Air Force. If we saw anything peculiar flying around, we were to +do our damnedest to identify it.” + +“What about trying to bring one down? I’ve heard that was in one +order.” + +Pete hesitated for a second. “Look, I told you that much because it’s +been in the papers. But I’m still in the Guard. I can’t tell you the +order itself. It was confidential.” + +“Well, I’m not in the Guard,” said Art Green. He lit a cigarette, blew +out the match. “Why don’t you look into the Gorman case? Get thc dope +on that court-martial angle.” + +I’d heard of the Gorman case, but the court-martial thing was new to +me. Gorman, I recalled, was a fighter pilot in the North Dakota Air +National Guard. He had a mystifying encounter with a strange, +fast-moving “light” over Fargo Airport in the fall of 1948. + +“That case is on my list,” I told Green. “But I don’t remember anything +about a court-martial.” + +“It wasn’t in the papers. But all the pilots up that way know about it. +In his report, Gorman said something about trying to ram the thing. The +idea got around that Air Force orders had said to try this. Anyway, it +got into the papers and Gorman almost got court-martialed. If his +family hadn’t had some influence in the state, the Air Force probably +would have pushed it.” + +“Are you sure about this?” I said. “You know how those things build +up.” + +“Ask Gorman,” he said. “Or ask some of the pilots at Fargo.” + +Before I left them, Green double-checked my report on his sighting, +which Hilton had forwarded. As in the majority of cases, he had seen +just one disk. It had hovered at a very high altitude, gleaming in the +sun, then had suddenly accelerated and raced off to the north. + +“I couldn’t tell its size or speed,” said Green. “But if it was as high +as I think, it must have been pretty big.” + +Pete told me later that Green believed the disk had been at least +twenty miles high, because it was well above clouds at thirty thousand +feet. + +“It’s kind of hard to believe,” said Pete. “The thing would have to be +a lot bigger than a B-twenty-nine, and the speed over two thousand +miles an hour.” + +“You know what they said about the Mantell saucer,” I reminded him. +“Some of the Godman Field people said it was at least three hundred +feet in diameter.” + +“I’ve heard it was twice that,” said Pete. + +“You know any Kentucky National Guard pilots?” I asked. + +“One or two,” said Pete. “But they couldn’t tell me anything. It was +hushed up too fast.” + +That evening I talked with the airline official, whom I knew well +enough to call by his first name. I put it to him bluntly. + +“Dick, if you’re under orders not to talk, just tell me. Fm trying to +find out whether Project ‘Saucer’ has muzzled airline pilots.” + +“You mean the ones who’ve sighted things? Perhaps, in a few cases. But +most of the pilots know what happened to Captain Emil Smith, on United, +and those Eastern pilots. They keep still so they won’t be laughed at. +Also the airlines don’t like their pilots to talk for publication.” + +“I’ve heard of several cases,” I said, “where Air Force Intelligence is +supposed to have warned pilots to keep mum. Two of the reports come +pretty straight.” + +He made a gesture. “That could be. I’m not denying that airline +pilots—and that includes ours—see these things all the time. They’ve +been sighted on the Seattle-Alaska route, and between Anchorage and +Japan. I know of several saucers that pilots have seen between Honolulu +and the mainland. Check with Pan-American—you’ll find their pilots have +seen them, too.” + +“What happens to those reports?” + +“They go to Operations,” said Dick. “Of course, if something really +important happens, the pilot may radio the tower before he lands. Then +the C.A.A. gets word to the Air Force, and they rush some Intelligence +officers to quiz the pilots. if it’s not too hot, they’d come from +Wright Field—regular Project ‘Saucer’ teams. Otherwise, they’d send the +nearest Intelligence officers to take over temporarily.” + +I asked him if he had ever been in on one of thee sessions. Dick said +he hadn’t. + +“But a couple of pilots talked to me later. They said these Air Force +men seemed quite upset about it; they pounced on everything these boys +said about the thing’s appearance—how it maneuvered and so on.” + +“What do your pilots think the saucers are?” + +Dick gave me a slightly ironic grin. “Why ask me? Captain Blake says +you’ve been getting it firsthand.” + +“I wasn’t pulling a fast one,” I protested. “We’re not going to quote +actual names or sources, unless people. O.K. it.” + +“Sure, I know that,” said Dick. “But you’ve got thc answer already. +Some pilots say interplanetary, some say guided missiles. A few—a very +few—still think it’s all nonsense, because they haven’t seen any.” + +“What do you think?” + +“I don’t know the answer,” said Dick, “but I’m positive of one thing. +Either the Air Force is sitting on a big secret, or they’re badly +scared because they don’t know the answer.” + +During the next week or so, I covered several northwest and mountain +states. Although I was chiefly trying to find out about Project +“Saucer,” I ran onto two sightings that were not on my list. + +One of these had occurred in California, at Fairfield Suisan Air Force +Base. A Seattle man who had been stationed there gave me the details. +It was on the night of December 1918, with unusually high winds +sweeping across the airfield. At times the gusts reached almost seventy +miles an hour. Suddenly a weird ball of light flashed into view, at a +height of a thousand feet. As the men on the base watched it, +astonished, the mysterious light abruptly shot skyward. In an +incredibly short time, it reached an altitude of twenty thousand feet +and vanished. + +“Was there any shape outlined behind the light?” I asked the Seattle +man. + +“Nobody saw any,” he replied. “It looked just like I said—a ball of +light, going like a streak.” + +“Did it leave any smoke behind it?” + +“You mean like an engine, or a jet?” He shook his head. “Not a thing. +And it didn’t make a sound—even when it shot up like that.” + +“Did you hear any guesses about it, or reports later on?” + +“Some major who didn’t see it said it must have been a balloon. Anybody +with brains could see that was screwy. No balloon ever went up that +fast—and besides, the thing was going against the wind.” + +The second incident occurred at Salmon Dam, Idaho, on August 13, 1947. +When I heard the date, it sounded familiar. I checked my sightings file +and saw it was the same day as the strange affair at Twin Falls, Idaho. + +In the Twin Falls case, the disk was sighted by observers in a canyon. +There was one interesting difference from the usual description. This +disk was sky-blue, or else its gleaming surface somehow reflected the +sky because of the angle of vision. Although it was not close to the +treetops, the observers were amazed to see the trees whip violently +when the disk raced overhead, as though the air was boiling from the +object’s swift passage. + +At Salmon Dam, that same day, two miners heard an odd roaring sound and +stared into the sky. Several miles away, two brightly gleaming disks +were circling at high speed. + +“It was like two round mirrors whirling around the sky,” one of the men +was later quoted as saying. “They couldn’t have been any ordinary +planes; not round like that. And they were going too fast.” + +During this part of my trip, I also was told that one saucer had fallen +into a mountain lake. This came to me secondhand. The lone witness was +said to have rushed over to his car to get his camera as the disk +approached. When it plunged toward the lake, he was so startled that he +failed to snap the picture until the moment it struck. This story +sounded so flimsy that I didn’t bother to list it. + +Months later, a Washington newsman confirmed at least part of the lake +story. When he first related it, I thought he had fallen for a gag. + +“I heard that yarn,” I said. “Don’t tell me you believe it?” + +“I come from Idaho,” he told me. “And I happen to know the fellow who +took the picture. Maybe it wasn’t a disk, but something fell into that +lake.” + +“Did you see the picture?” + +“Yes, at the Pentagon.” At my surprised look, he added, “That was long +before they clamped down. I was talking to an Air Force officer about +this lake thing, and he showed me the picture.” + +“What did it look like?” + +“You couldn’t tell much about it-just a big splash and a blur where +something went under. Maybe a magnifying glass would bring it out, but +I didn’t get a chance to try it.” + +It was early in 1950 when he told me this. I asked at the Pentagon if +this picture was in the Wright Field files, and if so whether I could +see it. My inquiries drew blank looks. No one remembered such a +photograph. And even if it were in the Project “Saucer” files, I +couldn’t see it. + +This was more than two months after Project “Saucer” had been +officially closed and its secrets presumably all revealed. + +The rest of my interviews during this 1949 trip helped to round out my +picture of Project “Saucer” operations. + +Some witnesses seemed afraid to talk; a few flatly refused. I found no +proof of official pressure, but I frequently had the feeling that +strong hints had been dropped. + +Though one or two witnesses showed resentment at investigators’ +methods, most of them seemed more annoyed at the loss of time involved. +One man had been checked first by the police, then by the sheriff’s +office; an Air Force team had spent hours questioning him, returning +the next day, and finally the F.B.I. had made a character check. What +he told me about the Air Force interrogation confirmed one of Art +Green’s statements. + +“One Intelligence captain tried to tell me I’d seen a weather balloon. +I called up the airport and had them check on release schedules. They +said next day it didn’t fit any schedules around this area. Anyway, the +wind wasn’t right, because the thing I saw was cutting into the wind at +a forty-five-degree angle.” + +Other witnesses told me that investigators had suggested birds, +meteors, reflections on clouds, shooting stars, and starshells as +probable explanations of what they had seen. I learned of one pilot who +had been startled by seeing a group of disks racing past his plane. Air +Force investigators later suggested that he had flown through a flock +of birds, or perhaps a cluster of balloons. + +On the flight back to Washington, I reread all the information the Air +Force had released on Project “Saucer.” Suddenly a familiar phrase +caught my eye. I read over the paragraph again: + +“Preliminary study of the more than 240 domestic and thirty foreign +incidents by Astro-Physicist Hynek indicates that an over-all total of +about 30% can probably be explained away as astronomical phenomena.” + +_Explained away_. + +I went through the report line by line. On page 17 I found this: + +“Available preliminary reports now indicate that a great number of +sightings can be explained away as ordinary occurrences which have been +misrepresented as a result of human errors.” + +On page 22 I ran onto another use of the phrase: + +“The obvious explanation for most of the spherical-shaped objects +reported, as already mentioned, is that they are meteorological or +similar type balloons. This, however, does not explain reports that +they travel at high speed or maneuver rapidly. But ‘Saucer’ men point +out that the movement could be explained away as an optical illusion or +actual acceleration of the balloon caused by a gas leak and later +exaggerated by observers. . . . There are scores of possible +explanations for the scores of different type sightings reported.” + +Explained away . . . It might not mean anything. It could be just an +unfortunate choice of words. But suppose that the real mission of +Project “Saucer” was to cover up something. Or that its purpose was to +investigate something serious, at the same time covering it up, step by +step. The Project “Saucer” teams, then, would check on reports and +simultaneously try to divert attention from the truth, suggesting +various answers to explain the sightings. Back at Wright Field, +analysts and Intelligence officers would go over the general picture +and try to work up plausible explanations, which, if necessary, could +even be published. + +“Explaining away” would be one of the main purposes of Project +personnel. These words would probably be used in discussions of ways +and means; they would undoubtedly would be used in secret official +papers. And since this published preliminary report had been made up +from censored secret files, the use of those familiar words might have +been overlooked, since, read casually, they would appear harmless. If +the report had been thrown together hastily, the use of these telltale +words could be easily understood, and so could the report’s strange +contradictions. + +As an experiment, I fixed the idea firmly in mind that Project “Saucer” +was a cover-up unit. Then I went back once more and read the items +quoted above. The effect was almost startling. + +It was as though I were reading confidential suggestions for diverting +attention and explaining away the sightings; suggestions made by +Project members and probably circulated for comment. + +“Now, wait a minute,” I said to myself. “You may be dreaming up this +whole thing.” + +Trying to get back to a neutral viewpoint, I skimmed through the other +details of Project operations, as described in the report. + +The order creating Project “Saucer” was signed on December 30, 1947. +(The actual code name was not “Saucer,” but since for some reason the +Air Force still has not published the name, I have followed their usage +of “Saucer” in its place.) + +On January 22, 1948, two weeks after Captain Mantell’s death, the +project officially began operations. (Preliminary investigation at +Godman Field had been done by local Intelligence officers.) Project +“Saucer” was set up under the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field. + +Contracts were made with an astrophysicist (Professor Joseph Hynek), +also a prominent scientist (still unidentified), and a group of +evaluation experts (Rand Corporation). Arrangements were made for +services by the Air Weather Service, Andrews Field; the U. S. Weather +Bureau; the Electronics Laboratory, Cambridge Field Station; the A.M.C. +Aero-Medical Laboratory; the Army and Navy Departments; the F.B.I.; the +Department of Commerce, Civil Aeronautics Administration; and various +other government and private agencies. In addition, the services of +rocket experts, guided-missile authorities, space-travel planners, and +others (in the defense services or assigned to them) were made +available as desired. Under the heading “How Incidents Are +Investigated,” the Project “Saucer” report says: + + +But the hoaxes and crank letters in reality play a small part in +Project “Saucer.” + +Actually, it is a serious, scientific business of constant +investigation, analysis and evaluation which thus far has yielded +evidence pointing to the conclusion that much of the saucer scare is no +scare at all, but can be attributed to astronomical phenomena, to +conventional aerial objects, to hallucinations and to mass psychology. + +But the mere existence of some yet unidentified flying objects +necessitates a constant vigilance on the part of Project “Saucer” +personnel and the civilian population. Investigation is greatly stepped +up when observers report incidents as soon as possible to the nearest +military installation or to Headquarters, A.M.C., direct. + +A standard questionnaire is filled out under the guidance of +interrogators. In each case, time, location, size and shape of object, +approximate altitude, speed, maneuvers, color, length of time in sight, +sound, etc., are carefully noted. This information is sent in its +entirety, together with any fragments, soil photographs, drawings, +etc., to Headquarters, A.M.C. Here, highly trained evaluation teams +take over. The information is broken down and filed on summary sheets, +plotted on maps and graphs and integrated with the rest of the +material, giving an easily comprehended over-all picture. + +Duplicate copies on each incident arc sent to other investigating +agencies, including technical labs within the Air Materiel Command. +These are studied in relation to many factors such as guided missile +research activity, weather, and many others, atmospheric sounding +balloon launchings, commercial and military aircraft flights, flights +of migratory birds and a myriad of other considerations which might +furnish explanations. + +Generally, the flying objects are divided into four groups: Flying +disks, torpedo or cigar-shaped bodies with no wings or fins visible in +flight, spherical or balloon-shaped objects and balls of light. The +first three groups are capable of flight by aerodynamic or aerostatic +means and can be propelled and controlled by methods known to +aeronautical engineers. As for the lights, their actions—unless they +were suspended from a higher object or were the product of +hallucination—remain unexplained. + +Eventually, reports are sent back to Project “Saucer” headquarters, +often marking incidents closed. The project, however, is a young +one-much of its investigation is still under way. + +Currently, a psychological analysis is being made by A.M.C.’s +Aero-Medical laboratory to determine what percentage of incidents are +probably based on errors of the human mind and senses. Available +preliminary reports now indicate that a great number can be explained +away as ordinary occurrences which have been misrepresented as a result +of these human errors. + + +Near the end of the last page, a paragraph summed tip the report. + +“The ‘Saucers’ are not a joke. Neither are they cause for alarm to the +population. Many of the incidents already have answers. Meteors. +Balloons. Falling stars. Birds in flight. Testing devices, etc. Some of +them still end in question marks.” + +From what I had learned on this trip, I strongly doubted the answer +suggested. All but the “testing devices.” What did they mean by that? +It could be a hint at guided missiles; they had already mentioned +guided-missile research activity in another spot. + +But if _that_ was what lay behind this elaborate project, they would +hardly be hinting at it. If the answer was space travel, then such +hints made sense, They would be part of the cover-up plan. +Everyone—including the Soviet Union—knew we were working on guided +missiles. It would do no harm to use this as one of the “myriad +explanations” for the flying saucers. + +I was still trying to figure it out when my plane let down for the +landing at Washington. I had hoped by this time to know the truth about +Project “Saucer.” Instead, it was a deeper mystery than ever. + +True, I had found out how they operated—outside of Wright Field. Some +of the incidents had been enlightening. By now, I was certain that +Project “Saucer” was trying hard to explain away the sightings and hide +the real answer. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +When I reached home, I found a brief letter from Ken Purdy. + + +Dear Don: + +The Mantell and Eastern cases both look good. I don’t see how they can +brush them off. It looks more like the interplanetary answer to me, but +we won’t decide on treatment until we’re sure. [I had suggested two or +three angles, if this proved the real answer.] + +Who would be the best authority to check our disk operation theory and +give us more details on directional control? I’d like to have it +checked by two more engineers. + + +KEN + + +Next day, I dug out my copy of Boal’s interview with D———, the famous +aircraft designer. + +“Certainly the flying saucers are possible,” the designer had told +Boal. “Give me enough money and I’ll build you one. It might have to be +a model because the fuel would be a problem. If the saucers that have +been seen came from other worlds, which isn’t at all Buck Rogerish, +they may be powered with atomic energy or by the energy that produces +cosmic rays—which is many times more powerful—or by some other fuel or +natural force that our research hasn’t yet discovered. But the circular +airfoil is quite feasible. + +“It wouldn’t have the stability of the conventional airplane, but it +would have enormous maneuverability—it could rise vertically, hover, +descend vertically, and fly at extremely high speed, with the proper +power. Don’t take my word for it. Check with other engineers.” + +Before looking up a private engineer I had in mind, I went to the +National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The N.A.C.A. is America’s +most authoritative source of aerodynamic knowledge. I knew they had +already tried out disk-shaped airfoils, and I asked about this first. I +found that two official N.A.C.A. reports, Technical Note 539 and Report +431, discuss tests on circular and elliptical Clark Y airfoils. Both +reports state that these designs were found practical. + +Later, I talked with one of the top engineers in the N.A.C.A. Without +showing him D———’s sketch, I asked how a disk might operate. + +“It could be built with variable-direction jet or rocket nozzles,” be +said. “The nozzles would be placed around the rim, and by changing +their direction the disk could be made to rise and descend vertically. +It could hover, fly straight ahead, and make sharp turns. + +“Its direction and velocity would be governed by the number of nozzles +operating, the power applied, and the angle at which they were tilted. +They could be pointed toward the ground, rearward, in a lateral +direction, or in various combinations. + +“A disk flying level, straight ahead, could be turned swiftly to right +or left by shifting the angles of the nozzles or cutting off power from +part of the group. This method of control would operate in the earth’s +atmosphere and also, using rocket power, in free space, where +conventional controls would be useless.” + +The method he had described was not the one which D——— had outlined. + +“What about a rotating disk?” I asked the N.A.C.A. man. “Suppose you +had one with a stationary center, and a large circular section rotating +around it? The rotating part would have a camber built into it, or it +would have slotted vanes.” + +He gave me a curious look, “Where’d you get that idea about the +camber?” + +I told him it had come to me from _True_. + +“It could be done,” he said. “The slotted-vanes method has already been +tried. There’s an engineer in Glendale, California, who’s built a +model. His name’s E. W. Kay.” + +He gave me a few details on how a cambered or slotted-vane rotating +disk might operate, then interrupted himself to ask me what I thought +the saucers were. + +“They’re either interplanetary or some secret development,” I said. +‘What do you think?” + +“The N.A.C.A. has no proof they even exist,” he answered. + +When I left the building a few minutes later, I was still weighing that +statement. If the Air Force or the Navy had a secret disk device, the +N.A.C.A. would almost certainly know about it. The chances were that +any disk-shaped missile or new type of circular aircraft would first +have been tested in the N.A.C.A. wind tunnels at Langley Field. If the +saucers were interplanetary, the N.A.C.A.—at least top officials—would +probably have been in on any discussion of the disks’ performance. +Either way, the N.A.C.A.’s official attitude could be expected to match +the Pentagon’s. + +After lunch, I took a taxi to the office of the private engineer. Like +D———, he has asked that he not be quoted by name. The name I am using, +Paul Redell, will serve that purpose. Redell is a well-known +aeronautical engineer. He has worked with major aircraft companies and +served as a special consultant to government agencies and the +industries. He is also a competent pilot. + +Although I had known him several years, he refused at first to talk +about the saucers. Then I realized he thought I meant to quote him. I +showed him some of the material I had roughed out, in which names were +omitted or changed as requested. + +“All right,” Redell said finally. “What do you want to know?” + +“Anything you can tell us. But first, your ideas on these sketches.” I +showed him D———’s drawings and then gave him the high points of the +investigation. When I mentioned the mystery-light incident at Fairfield +Suisan Air Force Base, Redell sat up quickly. + +“The Gorman case again!” + +“We heard about some other ‘light’ cases,” I said. “One was at Las +Vegas.” + +“I know about that one. That is, it you mean the green light—wait a +minute!” Redell frowned into space for a few seconds, “You say that +Fairfield Suisan sighting was on December third? Then the Las Vegas +sighting was only a few days later. It was the first week of the month, +I’m positive.” + +“Those light reports have got me stumped,” I said. “A light just can’t +fly around by itself. And those two-foot disks—” + +“You haven’t worked on the Gorman case?” asked Redell. + +I told him I hadn’t thought it was coming up on my schedule. + +“Leave these sketches here,” he said. “Look into that Gorman sighting. +Then check on our plans for space exploration. I’ll give you some +sources. When you get through, come on back and we’ll talk it over.” + +The Gorman “saucer dogfight” had been described in newspapers; the +pilot had reported chasing a swiftly maneuvering white light, which had +finally escaped him. Judging from the Project “Saucer” preliminary +report, this case had baffled all the Air Force investigators. When I +met George Gorman, I found him to be intelligent, coolheaded, and very +firmly convinced of every detail in his story. I had learned something +about his background. He had had college training. During the war, he +had been an Air Force instructor, training French student pilots. In +Fargo, his home, he had a good reputation, not only for veracity but as +a businessman. Only twenty-six, he was part owner of a construction +company, and also the Fargo representative for a hardware-store chain. +Even knowing all this, I found it hard at first to believe some of the +dogfight details. But the ground observers confirmed them. + +It was about nine o’clock in the evening, October 1, 1948. Gorman, now +an Air National Guard lieutenant, had been on a practice flight in an +F-51 fighter. The other pilots on this practice patrol had already +landed. Gorman had just been cleared by the C.A.A. operator in the +Fargo Airport tower when he saw a fast-moving light below his circling +fighter. + +From his altitude, 4,500 feet, it appeared to be the tail light of a +swiftly flying plane. As nearly as he could tell, it was 1,000 feet +high, moving at about 250 m.p.h. Gorman called the tower to recheck his +clearance. He was told the only other plane in the area was a Piper +Cub. Gorman Could see the Cub plainly outlined below him. There was a +night football game going on, and the field was brightly lighted. But +the Cub was nowhere near the strange light. + +As the mystery light raced above the football field. Gorman noticed an +odd phenomenon. Instead of seeing the silhouette of a plane, he saw no +shape at all around the light. By contrast, he could see the Cub’s +outline clearly. + +Meantime, the airport traffic controller, L. D. Jensen, had also +spotted the queer light. Concerned with the danger of collision—he said +later that he, too, thought it a plane’s tail light—he trained his +binoculars on it. Like Gorman, he was unable to distinguish a shape +near the light. Neither could another C.A.A. man who was with him in +the tower, a Fargo resident named Manuel E. Johnson. + +Up in the F-51, Gorman dived on the light, which was steadily blinking +on and off. + +“As I closed in,” he told Project “Saucer” men later, “it suddenly +became steady and pulled up into a sharp left turn. It was a clear +white and completely roundabout six to eight inches in diameter. + +“I thought it was making a pass at the tower. I dived after it and +brought my manifold pressure up to sixty, but I couldn’t catch the +thing.” + +Gorman reported his speed at full power as 350 to 400 miles per hour. +During the maneuvers that followed, both the C.A.A. men watched from +the tower. Jensen was using powerful night glasses, but still no shape +was visible near the mysterious light. The fantastic dogfight continued +for twenty minutes. Gorman described it in detail. + +“When I attempted to turn with the light, I blacked out temporarily, +owing to excessive speed. I am in fairly good physical condition, and I +don’t believe there are many, if any, pilots who could withstand the +turn and speed effected by the light and remain conscious.” + +During these sharp maneuvers, the light climbed quickly, then made +another left bank. + +“I put my fifty-one into a sharp turn and tried to cut it off,” said +Gorman. “By then we were at about seven thousand feet, Suddenly it made +a sharp right turn and we headed straight at each other. Just when we +were about to collide I guess I lost my nerve. I went into a dive and +the light passed over my canopy at about five hundred feet. Then it +made a left circle about one thousand feet above and I gave chase +again.” + +When collision seemed imminent a second time, the object shot straight +into the air. Gorman climbed after it at full throttle. + +Just about this time, two. other witnesses, a private pilot and his +passenger, saw the fast-moving light. The pilot was Dr. A. D. Cannon, +an oculist; his passenger was Einar Nelson. Dr. Cannon later told +investigators the light was moving at high speed. He thought it might +be a Canadian jet fighter from over the border. (A careful check with +Canadian air officials ruled out this answer.) After landing at the +airport, Dr. Cannon and Mr. Nelson again watched the light, saw it +change direction and disappear. + +Meanwhile, Gorman was making desperate efforts to catch the thing. He +was now determined to ram it, since there seemed nothing solid behind +it to cause a dangerous crash. If his fighter was disabled, or if it +caught fire, he could bail out. + +But despite the F-51’s fast climb, the light still outdistanced him. At +14,000 feet, Gorman’s plane went into a power stall, He made one last +try, climbing up to 17,000 feet. A few moments later, the light turned +in a north-northwest direction and quickly disappeared. + +Throughout the dogfight, Gorman noticed no deviation on his +instruments, according to the Project “Saucer” report. Gorman did not +confirm or deny this when I talked with him. But he did agree with the +rest of the Project statement. He did not notice any sound, odor, or +exhaust trail. + +Gorman’s remarks about ramming the light reminded me of what Art Green +had said. When I asked Gorman about the court-martial rumor, he gave me +a searching glance. + +“Where did you hear that?” + +“Several places,” I told him. “At Chicago, in Salt Lake City—in fact, +we’ve been hearing it all over.” + +“Well, there’s nothing to it,” Gorman declared. He changed the subject. + +Some time afterward, a Fargo pilot told me there had been trouble over +the ramming story. + +“But it wasn’t Gorman’s fault. Somebody else released that report to +the A. P. The news story didn’t actually say there was an Air Force +order to ram it, but the idea got around, and we heard that Washington +squawked. Gorman had a pretty rough time of it for a while. Some of the +newspapers razzed his story. And the Project ‘Saucer’ teams really +worked on him. I guess they were trying to scare him into saying he was +mistaken, and it was a balloon.” + +When I asked Gorman about this, he denied he’d had rough treatment by +the Project teams. + +“Sure, they asked about a thousand questions, and I could tell they +thought it might be a hoax at first. But that was before they quizzed +the others who saw it.” + +“Anybody suggest it was a balloon?” I said casually. + +“At first, they were sure that’s what it was,” answered Gorman. “You +see, there was a weather balloon released here. You know the kind, it +has a lighted candle on it. The Project teams said I’d chased after +that candle and just imagined the light’s maneuvers—confused it with my +own movement, because of the dark.” + +Gorman grinned. “They had it just about wrapped up—until they talked to +George Sanderson. He’s the weather observer. He was tracking the +balloon with a theodolite, and he showed them his records. The time and +altitudes didn’t fit, and the wind direction was wrong. The balloon was +drifting in the opposite direction. Both the tower men backed him up. +So that killed the weather-balloon idea.” + +The next step by Project “Saucer” investigators had been to look for +some unidentified aircraft. This failed, too. Obviously, it was only +routine; the outline of a conventional plane would certainly have been +seen by Gorman and the men in the tower. + +An astronomical check by Professor Hynek ruled out stars, fireballs, +and comets—a vain hope, to begin with. The only other conventional +answer, as the Project report later stated, was hallucination. In view +of all the testimony, hallucination had to he ruled out. Finally, the +investigators admitted they had no solution. + +The first Project “Saucer” report, on April 27, 1949, left the Gorman +“mystery light” unidentified. + +In the _Saturday Evening Post_ of May 7, 1949, Sidney Shallett analyzed +the Gorman case, in the second of his articles on flying saucers. +Shallet suggested this solution: that Gorman had chased one of the +Navy’s giant cosmic-ray research balloons. Each of these huge balloons +is lighted, so that night-flying planes will not collide with the gas +bag or the instrument case suspended below. Shallett concluded that +Gorman was suffering from a combination of vertigo and confusion with +the light on the balloon. + +As already mentioned, these huge Navy balloons are filled with only a +small amount of helium before their release at Minneapolis. They then +rise swiftly to very high altitudes, unless a leak develops. In +Shallett’s words, “These balloons travel high and fast. . . .” + +Fargo is about two hundred miles from Minneapolis. Normally, a +cosmic-ray research balloon would have reached a very high altitude by +the time it had drifted this far. The only possible answer to its +low-altitude sighting would be a serious leak. + +If a leaking balloon had come down to one thousand feet at Fargo, it +would either have remained at that height or kept on descending. The +mystery light was observed at this altitude moving at high speed. If a +Cub’s outline was visible against the lighted football field, the +massive shape of even a partly deflated balloon would have stood out +like an elephant. Even before release, the partially inflated gas bags +are almost a hundred feet tall. The crowd at the football game would +certainly have seen such a monstrous shape above the glare of the +floodlights, for the plastic balloons gleam brightly in any light rays. +The two C.A.A. men, watching with binoculars, could not possibly have +missed it. + +For the cosmic-balloon answer to be correct, this leaking gas bag would +have had to rise swiftly to seventeen thousand feet—after a loss of +helium had forced it down to one thousand. As a balloon pilot, I know +this is impossible. The Project “Saucer” report said unequivocally: +“The object could outturn and outspeed the F-51, and was able to attain +a much steeper climb and to maintain a constant rate of climb far in +excess of the Air Force fighter.” + +A leaking balloon? More and more, I became convinced that Secretary +Forrestal had persuaded some editors that it was their patriotic duty +to conceal the answer, whatever it was. + +That thought had begun to worry me, because of my part in this +investigation. Perhaps John Steele had been right, and we shouldn’t be +trying to dig out the answer. But I had already told Purdy, and he had +agreed, that if national security was involved, we would drop the thing +completely. + +By the time I had proved the balloon answer wrong, I was badly puzzled. +The idea of a disembodied light was the hardest thing to swallow that +I’d come across so far. + +And yet there were the other light reports—the strange sighting at +Fairfield Suisan Field, the weird green lights at Las Vegas and +Albuquerque. And there was the encounter that Lieutenant H. G. Combs +had had one night above Andrews Field, near Washington, D. C. + +This incident had occurred on November 18, 1948, six weeks after +Gorman’s experience. Combs, flying with another lieutenant named +Jackson, was about to land his T-6, at 9:45 P.M., when a strange object +loomed up near him. It looked like a grayish globe, and it gave off an +odd, fuzzy light. + +Combs chased the weird object for over ten minutes, during which it +appeared to evade every move he made. Once, its speed was nearly six +hundred miles an hour, as closely as he could estimate. In a final +attempt to identify it, Combs zoomed the T-6 up at a steep angle and +flashed his landing lights on it. Before he could get a good look, the +globe light whirled off to the east and vanished. + +Since Combs’s story had been in the newspapers, Project “Saucer” +evidently had felt in wise to give some explanation. When I read it, in +the preliminary report, I was amazed. Here was the concluding sentence: + +“The mystery was cleared up when the object was identified positively +as a cluster of cosmic-ray research balloons.” + +Even one of the giant balloons would have been hard to take as the +explanation. Combs was almost sure to have collided with it in his +head-on passes. But an entire cluster! I tried to picture the T-6 +zooming and twisting through the night sky, with several huge balloons +in its path. It would be a miracle if Combs got through without hitting +one of them, even if each balloon was lighted. But he had seen only one +light; so had Lieutenant Jackson. That would mean all the rest of the +balloons were unlighted—an unbelievable coincidence. + +It was not until months afterward that I found Project “Saucer” had +withdrawn this “solution.” In its final report, this case, Number 207, +was listed in the “Unidentified” group. How the balloon-cluster +explanation ever got into the first report is still a mystery. + +When I talked with Gorman, I told him I was baffled by the idea of a +light maneuvering through the skies with no airfoil to support it. + +“I know,” he said. “It got me, too, at first.” + +“You mean you know the answer?” I demanded. + +“It’s just my personal opinion,” said Gorman. “But I’d rather not have +it printed. You see, I got some ideas from all the questions those +Project teams asked me. If my hunch turns out to be right, I might be +talking about an official secret.” + +I tried to pry some hint out of him, but Gorman just smiled and shook +his head. + +“I can tell you this much,” he said, “because it’s been mentioned in +print. There was _thought_ behind every move the light made. It wasn’t +any radar-responder gadget making it veer away from my ship.” + +“How do you know that?” + +“Because it reacted differently at different times. If it had been a +mechanical control, it would have turned or climbed the same way each +time I got near it. Instead, it was as if some intelligent mind was +directing every turn like a game of chess, and always one move ahead of +me. Maybe you can figure out the rest.” + +That was all I could get out of him. It bothered me, because Combs’s +report indicated the same thing. I had a strong temptation to skip the +space-plans research and tell Redell what Gorman had told me. But +Redell had an orderly mind, and he didn’t like to be pushed. + +Reluctantly, I gave up the idea. I had a feeling Redell knew the answer +to the mystery lights, and it wasn’t easy to put off the solution. + +The letter that came from Art Green, while I was working on the space +plans, didn’t make it easier: + + +Dear Keyhoe: + +Just heard about your Seattle visit. That Fairfield Suisan thing is on +the level; several Air Force pilots have told me about it. + +When you get to Fargo, ask Gorman what they found when they checked his +ship with a Geiger counter. If he says it was negative, then he must be +under orders. I happen to know better. + + +Yours, +ART GREEN + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +My first step, in checking on our space plans, was to look up official +announcements. I found that on December 29, 1948, Defense Secretary +James Forrestal had released this official statement: + +“The Earth Satellite Vehicle Program, which is being carried out +independently by each military service, has been assigned to the +Committee on Guided Missiles for co-ordination. + +“To provide an integrated program, the Committee has recommended that +current efforts be limited to studies and component design. +Well-defined areas of such research have been allocated to each of the +three military departments.” + +Appropriation bills had already provided funds for space exploration +plans. The Air Force research was indicated by General Curtis E. LeMay, +who was then Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and Development. In +outlining plans for an Air Engineering Design Center at Wright Field, +General LeMay included these space-exploration requisites: + +“Flight and survival equipment for ultra-atmospheric operations, +including space vehicles, space bases, and devices for use therein.” + +The idea of exploring space is, of course, nothing new. For many years, +writers of imaginative fiction have described trips to the moon and +distant planets. More recently, comic books and strips have gone in +heavily for space-travel adventures. + +As a natural result of this, the first serious rocket experiments in +this country were labeled screwball stunts, about on a par with efforts +to break through the sonic barrier. The latter had been “proved” +impossible by aeronautical engineers; as for rocket flight, it was too +silly for serious consideration. Pendray, Goddard, and other rocket +pioneers took some vicious ridicule before America woke up to the +possibilities. + +Meantime, German scientists had gone far ahead. Their buzz bomb, a +low-altitude semi-guided missile, was just the beginning. Even the +devastating V-2, which soared high into the stratosphere before falling +on England, was just a step in their tremendous space program. If the +Nazis could have hung on a year or two more, the war might have had a +grimly different ending. + +When the Allies seized Nazi secrets, some of the German plans were +revealed. Among them was one for a huge earth satellite. From this +base, which would circle the earth some five hundred miles away, +enormous mirrors would focus the sun’s rays on any desired spot. The +result: swift, fiery destruction of any city or base refusing to +surrender. + +First publication of this scheme brought the usual jeers. Many people, +including some reputable scientists, believed it had been just a +propaganda plan that even Goebbels had discarded as hopeless. + +Then the Pentagon announced the U.S. Earth Satellite Vehicle Program, +along with plans for a moon rocket, The artificial satellite is to be a +large rocket-propelled projectile. In its upward flight, it will have +to reach a speed of 23,000 miles an hour, to escape the earth’s pull of +gravity. At a height of about 500 miles, special controls will turn the +projectile and cause it to circle the earth. These controls will be +either automatic or operated from the ground, by radar. Theoretically, +once such a vehicle is beyond gravity’s magnetism, it can coast along +in the sky forever. Its rocket power will be shut off; the only need +for such power would be if the satellite veered off course. A momentary +burst from the jets would be sufficient to bring it back to its orbit. + +Circling the earth in about two hours, this first satellite is expected +to be used as a testing station. Instruments will record and transmit +vital information to the earth—the effect of cosmic rays, solar +radiation, fuel required for course corrections, and many other items. + +A second space base farther out will probably be the next step. It may +be manned, or it may be under remote control like the first. Perhaps +the first satellite vehicle will be followed by a compartmented +operating base, a sort of aerial aircraft carrier, with other rocket +ships operating to and fro on the earth shuttle. The moon rocket is +expected to add to our information about space, so that finally we will +emerge with an interplanetary space craft. + +The first attempts may fail. The first satellite may fall back and have +to be guided to an ocean landing. Or its controls might not bring it +into the planned orbit. In this case, it could coast on out into space +and be lost. But sooner or later, effective controls will be found. +Then the manned space ships will follow. + +Once in free space, there will be no gravitational pull to offset. The +space ship and everything in it will be weightless. Shielding is +expected to prevent danger from cosmic rays and solar radiation. + +The danger from meteorites has been partly discounted in one scientific +study. (“Probability that a meteorite will hit or penetrate a body +situated in the vicinity of the earth,” by G. Grimminger, _Journal of +Applied Physics_, Vol. 19, No. 10, pp. 947-956, October 1948) In this +study, it is stated that a meteorite is unlikely to penetrate the thick +shell our space vehicles will undoubtedly have. However, this applies +only to the earth’s atmosphere. Longer studies, using remote-controlled +vehicles in space, may take years before it will be safe to launch a +manned space ship. Radar or other devices may have to be developed to +detect approaching meteorites at a distance and automatically change a +space ship’s course. The change required would be infinitesimal, using +power for only a fraction of a second. + +But before we are ready for interplanetary travel, we will have to +harness atomic power or some other force not now available, such as +cosmic rays. Navigation at such tremendous speeds is another great +problem, on which special groups are now at work. A Navy scientific +project recently found that strange radio signals are constantly being +sent out from a “hot spot” in the Milky Way; other nebulae or “hot” +stars may be similarly identified by some peculiarity in their radio +emanations. If so, these could be used as check points in long-range +space travel. + +Escape from the earth’s gravity is possible even now, according to +Francis H. Clauser, an authority on space travel plans. But the cost +would be prohibitive, with our present rocket motors, and practical +operations must wait for higher velocity rocket power, atomic or +otherwise. (“Flight beyond the Earth’s Atmosphere, “_S.A.E. Quarterly +Transactions_, Vol. 2, No, 4, October 1948.) + +Already, a two-stage rocket has gone more than 250 miles above the +earth. This is the V-2-Wac Corporal combination. The V-2 rocket is used +to power the first part of the flight, dropping off when its fuel is +exhausted. The Wac Corporal then proceeds on its own fuel, reaching a +fantastic speed in the thin air higher up. + +Hundreds of technical problems must be licked before the first +satellite vehicle can be launched successfully. Records on our V-2 +rockets indicate some of the obstacles. On the take-off, their present +swift acceleration would undoubtedly kill anyone inside. When +re-entering the earth’s atmosphere the nose of a V-2 gets red-hot. + +Both the acceleration and deceleration must be controlled before the +first volunteers will be allowed to hazard their lives in manned +rockets. Willi Ley, noted authority on space-travel problems, believes +that pilots may have to accept temporary blackout as a necessity on the +take-off. (Two of his books, _Rockets and Space Travel_ and _Outer +Space_, give fascinating and well-thought-out pictures of what we may +expect in years to come.) + +Some authorities believe that our space travel will be confined to our +own solar system for a long time, perhaps forever. The trip to the +moon, though now a tremendous project, would be relatively simple +compared with a journey outside our system. Escape from the moon, for +the return trip, would be easier than leaving the earth; because of its +smaller mass, to escape the moon’s gravitational pull would take a +speed of about 5,000 miles an hour, against 23,000 for the earth. +Navigation would be much simpler. Our globe would loom up in the +heavens, much larger and brighter than the moon appears to us. Radar +beams would also be a guide. + +The greatest obstacle to reaching far-distant planet is the time +required. In the Project “Saucer” study of space travel, Wolf 359 was +named as the nearest star likely to have possibly inhabited areas. Wolf +359 is eight light-years from the earth. The limiting speed in space, +according to Einstein’s law, would be just under the speed of +light—186,000 miles per second. At this speed, Einstein states, matter +is converted into energy. It is a ridiculous assumption, but even if +atomic power, or some force such as cosmic rays, made an approach to +that speed possible, it would still take eight years to reach Wolf 359. +The round trip would take sixteen. + +There have been a few scientists who dispute Einstein’s law, though no +one has disproved it. If the speed of light is not an absolute limit +for space ships, then travel to remote parts of the universe may +someday be possible. + +Otherwise, a trip outside our solar system could be a lifetime +expedition. Most space travel would probably be limited to the planets +of our sun—the moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the others. + +Although it may be many years before the first manned space ship leaves +the earth, we are already at work on the problems the crews would face. +I learned some of the details from a Navy flight surgeon with whom I +had talked about take-off problems. + +“They’re a lot further than that” he told me. “Down at Randolph Field, +the Aero-Medical research lab has run into some mighty queer things. +Ever hear of ‘dead distance’?” + +“No, that’s a new one.” + +“Well, it sounds crazy, but they’ve figured out that a space ship would +be going faster than anyone could think.” + +“But you think instantaneously,” I objected. + +“Oh, no. It takes a fraction of a second, even for the fastest thinker. +Let’s say the ship was making a hundred miles a second—and that’s slow +compared with what they expect eventually. Everything would happen +faster than your nerve impulses could register it. Your comprehension +would always be lagging a split second behind the space ship’s +operation.” + +“I don’t see why that’s so serious,” I said. + +“Suppose radar or some other device warned you a meteorite was coming +toward you head-on. Or maybe some instrument indicated an error in +navigation. By the time your mind registered the thought, the situation +would have changed.” + +“Then all the controls would have to be automatic,” I said. I told him +that I had heard about plans for avoiding meteorites. “Electronic +controls would be faster than thought.” + +“That’s probably the answer,” he agreed. “Of course, at a hundred miles +a second it might not be too serious. But if they ever get up to speeds +like a thousand miles a second, that mental lag could make an enormous +difference, whether it was a meteorite heading toward you or a matter +of navigation.” + +One of the problems he mentioned was the lack of gravity. I had already +learned about this. Once away from the earth’s pull, objects in the +space ship would have no weight. The slightest push could send crewmen +floating around the sealed compartment. + +“Suppose you spilled a cup of coffee,” said the flight surgeon. “What +would happen?” + +I said I hadn’t thought it out. + +“The Randolph Field lab can tell you,” he said. “The coffee would stay +right there in the air. So would the cup, if you let go of it. But +there’s a more serious angle—your breath.” + +“You’d have artificial air,” I began. + +“Yes, they’ve already worked that out. But what about the breath you +exhale? It contains carbon dioxide, and if you let it stay right there +in front of your face you’d be sucking it back into your lungs. After a +while, it would asphyxiate you. So the air has to be kept in motion, +and besides that the ventilating system has to remove the carbon +dioxide.” + +“What about eating?” I asked. “Swallowing is partly gravity, isn’t it?” + +He nodded. “Same as drinking, though the throat muscles help force the +food down. I don’t know the answer to that. In fact, everything about +the human body presents a problem. Take the blood circulation. The +amount of energy required to pump blood through the veins would be +almost negligible. What would that do to your heart?” + +“I couldn’t even guess,” I said. + +“Well, that’s all the Aero-Medical lab can do—guess at it. They’ve been +trying to work out some way of duplicating the effect of zero gravity, +but there’s just no answer. If you could build a machine to neutralize +gravity, you could get all the answers, except to the ‘dead distance’ +question. + +“For instance, there’s the matter of whether the human body would even +function without gravity. All down through the stages of evolution, +man’s organs have been used to that downward pull. Take away gravity, +and your whole body might stop working. Some of the Aero-Medical men +I’ve talked with don’t believe that, but they admit that long trips +outside of gravity might have odd effects. + +“Then there’s the question of orientation. Here on earth, orienting +yourself depends on the feeling you get from the pull of gravity, plus +your vision. just being blindfolded is enough to disorient some people. +Taking away the pull of gravity might be a lot worse. And of course out +in space your only reference points would be distant stars and planets. +We’ve been used to locating stars from points on the earth, where we +know their position. But how about locating them from out in space, +with a ship moving at great speed? Inside the space ship, it would be +something like being in a submarine. Probably only the pilot +compartment would have glass ports, and those would be covered except +in landing—maybe even then. Outside vision might be by television, so +you couldn’t break a glass port and let out your pressure. + +“But to go back to the submarine idea. It would be like a sub, with +this big difference: In the submarine you can generally tell which way +is down, except maybe in a crash dive when you may lose your +equilibrium for a moment. But in the space ship, you could be standing +with your feet on one spot, and another crewman might be—relative to +you—standing upside down. You might be floating horizontally, the other +man vertically. The more you think about it, the crazier it gets. But +they’ve got to solve all those problems before we can tackle space.” + +To make sure I had the details right, I checked on the Air Force +research. I found that the Randolph Field laboratory is working on all +these problems, and many more. + +Although plans arc not far enough advanced to make it certain, probably +animals will be sent up in research rockets to determine the effect of +no gravity before any human beings make such flights. The results could +be televised back to the earth. + +All through my check-up on space exploration plans, one thing struck +me: I met no resistance. There was no official reticence about the +program; on the contrary, nothing about it seemed secret. + +Even though it was peacetime, this was a little curious, because of the +potential war value of an earth satellite vehicle. Even if the Nazi +scheme for destruction proved just a dream, an orbiting space base +could be used for other purposes. In its two-hour swing around the +earth, practically all of the globe could be observed-directly, by +powerful telescopes, or indirectly, by a combination of radar and +television. Long-range missiles could be guided to targets, after being +launched from some point on the earth. As the missiles climbed high +into the stratosphere, the satellite’s radar could pick them up and +keep them on course by remote control. + +There were other possibilities for both attack and defense. Ordinarily, +projects with wartime value are kept under wraps, or at least not +widely publicized. Of course, the explanation might be very simple: The +completion of the satellite vehicle was so remote that there seemed no +need for secrecy. But in that case, why had the program been announced +at all? + +If the purpose had been propaganda, it looked like a weak gesture. The +Soviets would not be greatly worried by a dream weapon forty or fifty +years off. Besides that, the Pentagon, as a rule, doesn’t go for such +propaganda. There was only one conventional answer that made any sense. +If we had heard that the Soviets were about to announce such a program, +as a propaganda trick, it would be smart to beat them to it. But I had +no proof of, any such Russian intention. + +The date on Secretary Forrestal’s co-ordination announcement was +December 30, 1948. One day later, the order creating Project “Saucer” +had been signed. That didn’t prove anything; winding up the year, +Forrestal could have signed a hundred orders. I was getting too +suspicious. + +At any rate, I had now analyzed the Gorman case and checked on our +space plans. Tomorrow I would see Redell and find out what he knew. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +When I called Redell’s office I found he had flown to Dallas and would +not be back for two days. By the time he returned, I had written a +draft of the Gorman case, with my answer to the balloon explanation. +When I saw him, the next morning, I asked him to look it over. + +Redell lighted his pipe and then read the draft, nodding to himself now +and then. + +“I think that’s correct analysis,” he said when he finished. “That was +a very curious case. You know, Project ‘Saucer’ even had psychiatrists +out there. If Gorman had been the only witness, I think they’d have +called it a hallucination. As it was, they took a crack at him and the +C.A.A. men in their preliminary report.” + +Though I recalled that there had been a comment, I didn’t remember the +wording. Redell looked it up and read it aloud: + +“‘From a psychological aspect, the Gorman incident raised the question, +“Is it possible for an object without appreciable shape or known +aeronautical configuration to appear to travel at variable speeds and +maneuver intelligently?”’” + +“Hallucination might sound like a logical answer,” I said, “until you +check all the testimony. But there are just too many witnesses who +confirm Gorman’s report. Also, he seems like a pretty level-headed +chap.” + +Redell filled his pipe again. “But you still can’t quite accept it?” + +“I’m positive they saw the light—but what the devil was it? How could +it fly without some kind of airfoil?” + +“Maybe it didn’t. You remember Gorman described an odd fuzziness around +the edge of the light? It’s in this Air Force report. That could have +been a reflection from the airfoil.” + +“Yes, but Gorman would have seen any solid—” I stopped, as Redell made +a negative gesture. + +“It could be solid and still not show up,” he said. + +“You mean it was transparent? Sure, that would do it!” + +“Let’s say the airfoil was a rotating plastic disk, absolutely +transparent. The blurred, fuzzy look could have been caused by the +whirling disk. Neither Gorman nor the C.A.A. men in the tower could +possibly see the disk itself.” + +“Paul, I think you’ve hit it,” I said. “I can see thc rest of it—the +thing was under remote control, radio or radar. And from the way it +flew rings around Gorman, whoever controlled it must have been able to +see the F-51, either with a television ‘eye’ or by radar,” + +“Or by some means we don’t understand,” said Redell. He went on +carefully, “In all these saucer cases, keep this in mind: We may be +dealing with some totally unknown principle—something completely beyond +our comprehension.” + +For a moment, I thought he was hunting at some radical discovery by +Soviet—captured Nazi scientists. Then I realized what he meant. + +“You think they’re interplanetary,” I murmured. + +“Why not?” Redell looked surprised. “Isn’t that your idea? I got that +impression.” + +“Yes, but I didn’t think you believed it. When you said to check on our +space plans, I thought you had some secret missile in mind.” + +“No, I had another reason. I wanted you to see all the problems +involved in space travel. If you accept the interplanetary answer, you +have to accept this, too—whoever is looking us over has licked all +those problems years ago. Technically, they’d be hundreds of years +ahead of us—maybe thousands. It has a lot to do with what they’d be up +to here.” + +When I mentioned the old sighting reports, I found that Redell already +knew about them. He was convinced that the earth had been under +observation a long time, probably even before the first recorded +sightings. + +“I know some of those reports aren’t authentic,” he admitted. “But if +you accept even one report of a flying disk or rocket-shaped object +before the twentieth century, then you have to accept the basic idea. +In the last forty years, you might blame the reports on planes and +dirigibles. But there was no propelled aircraft until 1903. Either all +those early sightings were wrong, or some kind of fast aerial machine +has been flying periodically over the earth for at least two centuries. + +I told him I was pretty well convinced, but that _True_ faced a +problem. There was some conflicting evidence, and part of it seemed +linked with guided missiles. I felt sure we could prove the +space-travel answer, but we had to stay clear of discussing any weapons +that were still a secret. + +“I can’t believe that guided missiles are the answer to the Godman +Field saucer and the Chiles-Whitted case, or this business at Fargo. +But we’re got to be absolutely sure before we print anything.” + +“Well, let’s analyze it,” said Redell. “Let’s see if all the saucers +could be explained as something launched from the earth.” + +He reached for a pad and a pencil. + +“First, let’s take your rotating disk. That would be a lot simpler to +build than the stationary disk with variable jet nozzles. With a disk +rotated at high speed you get a tremendous lift, whether it’s slotted +or cambered, as long as there’s enough air to work on.” + +“The helicopter principle,” I said. + +Redell nodded. “The most practical propulsion would be with two or more +jets out on the rim, to spin your rotating section. But to get up +enough speed for the jets to be efficient, you’d have to whirl the disk +mechanically before the take-off. Here’s one way. You could have a +square hole in the center; then the disk launching device would have a +square shaft, rotated by an engine or a motor. As the speed built up, +the cambered disk would ride up the shaft and free itself, rising +vertically, with the jets taking over the job of whirling the cambered +section. + +“The lift would be terrific, far more than any normal aircraft. I don’t +believe any human being could take the G’s involved in a maximum power +climb; they’d have to use remote control. When it got to the desired +altitude, your disk could be flown in any direction by tilting it that +way. The forward component from that tremendous lift would result in a +very high speed. The disk could also hover, and descend vertically.” + +“What about maneuvering?” I asked, thinking of Gorman’s experience. + +“It could turn faster than any pilot could stand,” said Redell. “Of +course, a pilot’s cockpit could be built into a large disk; but there’d +have to be some way of holding down the speed, to avoid too many G’s in +tight maneuvers.” + +“Most of the disks don’t make any noise,” I said. “At least, that’s the +general report. You’d hear ordinary jets for miles.” + +“Right, and here’s another angle. Ram jets take a lot of fuel. Even +with some highly efficient new jet, I can’t see the long ranges +reported. Some of these saucers have been seen all over the world. No +matter which hemisphere they were launched from, they’d need an +eight-thousand-mile range, at least, to explain all of the sightings. +The only apparent answer would be some new kind of power, probably +atomic. We certainly didn’t have atomic engines for aircraft in 1947, +when the first disks were seen here. And we don’t have them now, though +we’re working on it. Even if we had such an engine, it wouldn’t be tiny +enough to power the small disks.” + +“Anyway,” I said, “we’d hardly be flying them all over everywhere. The +cost would be enormous, and there’d always be a danger of somebody +getting the secret if a disk landed.” + +“Plus the risk of injuring people by radiation. just imagine an +atomic-powered disk dropping into a city. The whole idea’s ridiculous.” + +“That seems to rule out the guided-missile answer,” I began. But Redell +shook his head. + +“Disk-shaped missiles are quite feasible. I’m talking about range, +speed, and performance. Imagine for a moment that we have disk-type +missiles using the latest jet or rocket propulsion—either piloted or +remote-controlled. The question is, could such disks fit specific +sightings like the one at Godman Field and the case at Fargo?” + +Redell paused as if some new thought had struck him. + +“Wait a minute, here’s an even better test. I happen to know about this +case personally. Marvin Miles—he’s an aviation writer in Los +Angeles—was down at White Sands Proving Ground some time ago. He talked +with a Navy rocket expert who was in charge of naval guided-missile +projects. This Navy man—he’s a commander in the regular service—told +Miles they’d seen four saucers down in that area.” + +“You’re sure he wasn’t kidding Miles?” I said. Then I remembered +Purdy’s tip about a White Sands case. + +“I told you I checked on this myself,” Redell said, a little annoyed. +“After Miles told me about it, I asked an engineer who’d been down +there if it was true. He gave me the same story, figures and all. The +first saucer was tracked by White Sands observers with a theodolite. +Then they worked out its performance with ballistics formulas.” + +Redell looked at me grimly. + +“The thing was about fifty miles up. And it was making over fifteen +thousand miles an hour!” + +One of the witnesses, said Redell, was a well-known scientist from the +General Mills aeronautical research laboratory in Minneapolis, which +was working with the Navy. (A few days later, I verified this fact and +the basic details of Redell’s account. But it was not until early in +January 1950 that I finally identified the officer as Commander Robert +B. McLaughlin and got his dramatic story.) + +“Here are two more items Miles told me,” Redell went on. “This Navy +expert said the saucer actually looked elliptical, or egg-shaped. And +while it was being tracked it suddenly made a steep climb—so steep no +human being could have lived through it.” + +“One thing is certain,” I said. “That fifty-mile altitude knocks out +the rotating disk. Up in that thin air it wouldn’t have any lift.” + +“Right,” said Redell. “And the variable jet type would require an +enormous amount of fuel. Regardless, those G’s mean it couldn’t have +had any pilot born on this earth.” + +According to Marvin Miles, this White Sands saucer had been over a +hundred feet long. (Later, Commander McLaughlin stated that it was 105 +feet.) If this were an American device, then it meant that we had +already licked many of the problems on which the Earth Satellite +Vehicle designers were supposed to be just starting. Their statements, +then, would have to be false—part of an elaborate cover-up. + +“If we had such an advanced design,” said Redell, “and I just don’t +believe it possible—would we gamble on a remote-control system? No such +system is perfect. Suppose it went wrong. At that speed, over fifteen +thousand miles an hour, your precious missile or strato ship could be +halfway around the globe in about forty-five minutes. That is, if the +fuel held out. Before you could regain control, you might lose it in +the sea. Or it might come down behind the Iron Curtain. Even if it were +I smashed to bits, it would tip off the Soviets. They might claim it +was a guided-missile attack. Almost anything could hap pen.” + +“It could have a time bomb in it,” I suggested. “if it got off course +or out of control, it would blow itself up.” + +Redell emphatically shook his head. “I’ve heard that idea before, but +it won’t hold up. What if your ship’s controls went haywire and the +thing blew up over a crowded city? Imagine the panic, even if no actual +damage was done. No, sir—nobody in his right mind is going to let a +huge ship like that go barging around unpiloted. It would be criminal +negligence. + +“If the White Sands calculations were correct, then this particular +saucer was no earth-made device. Perhaps in coming years, we could +produce such a ship, with atomic power to drive it. But not now.” + +Redell went over several other cases. + +“Take the Godman Field saucer. At one time, it was seen at places one +hundred and seventy-five miles apart, as you know. Even to have been +seen at all from both places, it would. have to have been huge—much +larger than two hundred and fifty feet in diameter. The human eye +wouldn’t resolve an object that size, at such a distance and height.” + +It was an odd thing; I had, gone over the Mantell case a dozen times. I +knew the object was huge. But I had never tried to figure out the +object’s exact size. + +“How big do you think it was?” I asked quickly. This could be the key I +had tried to find. + +“I haven’t worked it out,” said Redell. “But I can give you a rough +idea. The human eye can’t resolve any object that subtends less than +three minutes of arc. For instance, a plane with a hundred-foot wing +span would only be a speck twenty miles away, if you saw it at all.” + +“But this thing was seen clearly eighty-seven miles away—or even more, +if it wasn’t midway between the two cities. Why, it would have to be a +thousand feet in diameter.” + +“Even larger.” Redell was silent a moment. “What was the word Mantell +used—‘tremendous’?” I tried to visualize the thing, but my mind balked. +One thing was certain now. It was utterly impossible that any nation on +earth could have built such an enormous airborne machine. just to think +of the force required to hold it in the sky was enough to stagger any +engineer. We were years away—perhaps centuries—from any such +possibility. + +As if he had read my thoughts, Redell said soberly, “There’s no other +possible answer. It was a huge space ship—perhaps the largest ever to +come into our atmosphere.” + +It was clear now why such desperate efforts had been made to explain +away the object Mantell had chased. + +“What about that Eastern Airlines sighting?” I asked. + +“Well, first,” said Redell, “it wasn’t any remote-control guided +missile. I’ll say it again; it would be sheer insanity. Suppose that +thing had crashed in Macon. At that speed it could have plowed its way +for blocks, right through the buildings. It could have killed hundreds +of people, burned the heart out of the city. + +“If it was a missile, or some hush-hush experimental job, then it was +piloted. But they don’t test a job like that on any commercial airways. +And they don’t fool around at five thousand feet where people will see +the thing streaking by and call the newspapers. + +“To power a hundred-foot wingless ship, especially at those speeds, +would take enormous force. Not as much as a V-two rocket, but +tremendous power. The fuel load would be terrific. Certainly, the pilot +wouldn’t be circling around Georgia and Alabama for an hour, buzzing +airliners. I’ll stake everything that we couldn’t duplicate that space +ship’s performance for less than fifty million dollars. It would take +something brand-new in jets.” + +Redell paused. He looked at me grimly. “And the way I’d have to soup it +up, it would be a damned dangerous ship to fly. No pilot would +deliberately fly it that low. He’d stay up where he’d have a chance to +bail out.” + +I told him what I had heard about the blueprints the Air Force was said +to have rushed. + +“Of course they were worried,” said Redell. “And probably they still +are. But I don’t think they need be; so far, there’s been nothing +menacing about these space ships.” + +When I got him back to the Gorman case, Redell drew a sketch on his +pad, showing me his idea of the disk light. He estimated the +transparent rim as not more than five feet in diameter. + +“Possibly smaller,” he said. “You recall that Gorman said the light was +between six and eight inches in diameter. He also said it seemed to +have depth—that was in the Air Force report.” + +“You think all the mechanism was hidden by the light?” + +“Only possible answer,” said Redell. “But just try to imagine crowding +a motor, or jet controls for rim jets, along with remote controls and a +television device, in that small space. Plus your fuel supply. I don’t +know any engineer who would even attempt it. To carry that much gear, +it would take a fair-sized plane. You could make a disk large enough, +but the mechanism and fuel section would be two or three feet across, +at least. So Gorman’s light must have been powered and controlled by +some unique means. The same principle applies to all the other light +reports I’ve heard. No shape behind them, high speed, and intelligent +maneuvers. That thing was guided from some interplanetary ship, +hovering at a high altitude,” Redell declared. “But I haven’t any idea +what source of power it used.” + +Until then, I had forgotten about Art Green’s letter. I told Redell +what Art had said about the Geiger counter. + +“I knew they went over Gorman’s fighter with a Geiger counter,” Redell +commented. “But they said the reaction was negative. If Green is right, +it’s interesting. It would mean they have built incredibly small atomic +engines. But with a race so many years ahead of us, it shouldn’t be +surprising. Of course, they may also be using some other kind of power +our scientists say is impossible.” + +I was about to ask him what he meant when his secretary came in. + +“Mr. Carson is waiting,” she told Redell. “He had a four-o’clock +appointment.” + +As I started to leave, Redell looked at his calendar. + +“I hate to break this up; it’s a fascinating business What about coming +in Friday? I’d like to see the rest of those case reports.” + +“Fine,” I said. “I’ve got a few more questions, too.” + +Going out, I made a mental note of the Friday date. Then the figure +clicked; it was just three months since I’d started on this assignment. + +Three months ago. At that time I’d only been half sure that the saucers +were real. If anyone had said I’d soon believe they were space ships, +I’d have told him he was crazy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +Before my date with Redell, I went over all the material I had, hoping +to find some clue to the space visitors’ planet. It was possible, of +course, that there was more than one planet involved. + +Project “Saucer” had discussed the possibilities in it! report of April +27, 1949. I read over this section again: + + +Since flying saucers first hit the headlines almost two years ago, +there has been wide speculation that the aerial phenomena might +actually be some form of penetration from another planet. + +Actually, astronomers are largely in agreement that only one member of +the solar system beside Earth is capable of supporting life. That is +Mars. Even Mars, however, appears to be relatively desolate and +inhospitable, so that a Martian race would be more occupied with +survival than we are on Earth. + +On Mars, there exists an excessively slow loss of atmosphere, oxygen +and water, against which intelligent beings, if they do exist there, +may have protected themselves by scientific control of physical +conditions. This might have been done, scientists speculate, by the +construction of homes and cities underground where the atmospheric +pressure would be greater and thus temperature extremes reduced. The +other possibilities exist, of course, that evolution may have developed +a being who can withstand the rigors of the Martian climate, or that +the race—if it ever did exist—has perished. + +In other words, the existence of intelligent life on Mars, where the +rare atmosphere is nearly devoid of oxygen and water and where the +nights are much colder than our Arctic winters, is not impossible but +is completely unproven. + +The possibility of intelligent life also existing on the planet Venus +is not considered completely unreasonable by astronomers. The +atmosphere of Venus apparently consists mostly of carbon dioxide with +deep clouds of formaldehyde droplets, and there seems to be little or +no water. Yet, scientists concede that living organisms might develop +in chemical environments which are strange to us. Venus, however, has +two handicaps. Her mass and gravity are nearly as large as the Earth +(Mars is smaller) and her cloudy atmosphere would discourage astronomy, +hence space travel. + + +The last argument, I thought, did not have too much weight. We were +planning to escape the earth’s gravity; Martians could do the same, +with their planet. As for the cloudy atmosphere, they could have +developed some system of radio or radar investigation of the universe. +The Navy research units, I knew, were probing the far-off Crab nebula +in the Milky Way with special radio devices. This same method, or +something far superior, could have been developed on Venus, or other +planets surrounded by constant clouds. + +After the discussion of solar-system planets, the Project “Saucer” +report went on to other star systems: + + +Outside the solar system other stars—22 in number—have satellite +planets. Our sun has nine. One of these, the Earth, is ideal for +existence of intelligent life. On two others there is a possibility of +life. + + +Therefore, astronomers believe reasonable the thesis that there could +be at least one ideally habitable planet for each of the 22 other +eligible stars. + +After publication of our findings in _True_, several astronomers said +that many planets may be inhabited. One of these was Dr. Carl F. von +Weizacker, noted University of Chicago physicist. On January 10, 1950, +Dr. von Weizacker stated: “Billions upon billions of stars found in the +heavens may each have their own planets revolving about them. It is +possible that these planets would have plant and animal life on them +similar to the earth’s.” + +After narrowing the eligible stars down to twenty-two the Project +“Saucer” report goes on: + + +The theory is also employed that man represents the average in +advancement and development. Therefore, one-half the other habitable +planets would be behind man in development, and the other half ahead. +It is also assumed that any visiting race could be expected to be far +in advance of man. Thus, the chance of space travelers existing at +planets attached to neighboring stars is very much greater than the +chance of space-traveling Martians. The one can be viewed as almost a +certainty (if you accept the thesis that the number of inhabited +planets is equal to those that are suitable for life and that +intelligent life is not peculiar to the Earth) .” + + +The most likely star was Wolf 359—eight light-years away. I thought for +a minute about traveling that vast distance. It was almost appalling, +considered in terms of man’s life span. Of course, dwellers on other +planets might live much longer. + +If the speed of light was not an absolute limit, almost any space +journey would then be possible. Since there would be no resistance in +outer space, it would be simply a matter of using rocket power in the +first stages to accelerate to the maximum speed desired. In the latter +phase, the rocket’s drive would have to be reversed, to decelerate for +the landing. + +The night before my appointment with Redell, I was checking a case +report when the phone rang. It was John Steele. + +“Are you still working on the saucers?” he asked. “If you are, I have a +suggestion—something that might be a real lead.” + +“I could use a lead right now,” I told him. + +“I can’t give you the source, but it’s one I consider reliable,” said +Steele. “This man says the disks are British developments.” + +This was a new one. I hadn’t considered the British. Steele talked for +over half an hour, expanding the idea. The saucers, his informant said, +were rotating disks with cambered surfaces—originally a Nazi device. +Near the end of the war, the British had seized all the models, along +with the German technicians and scientists who had worked on the +project. + +The first British types had been developed secretly in England, +according to this account. But the first tests showed a dangerous lack +of control; the disks streaked up to high altitudes, hurtling without +direction. Some had been seen over the Atlantic, some in Turkey, Spain, +and other parts of Europe. + +The British then had shifted operations to Australia, where a +guided-missile test range had been set up. (This part, I knew, could be +true; there was such a range.) After improving their remote-control +system, which used both radio and radar, they had built disks up to a +hundred feet in diameter. These were launched out over the Pacific, the +first ones straight eastward over open sea. British destroyers were +stationed at 100-mile and later 500-mile intervals, to track the +missiles by radar and correct their courses. At a set time, when their +fuel was almost exhausted, the disks came down vertically and landed in +the ocean. Since part of the device was sealed, the disks would float; +then a special launching ship would hoist them abroad, refuel them, and +launch them back toward a remote base in Australia, where they were +landed by remote control. + +Since then, Steele said, the disks’ range and speed had been greatly +increased. The first tests of the new disks was in the spring of 1947, +his informant had told him. The British had rushed the project, because +of Soviet Russia’s menacing attitude. Their only defense in England, +the British knew, would be some powerful guided missile that could +destroy Soviet bases after the first attack. + +In order to check the range and speeds accurately, it was necessary to +have observers in the Western Hemisphere—the disks were now traversing +the Pacific. The ideal test range, the British decided, was one +extending over Canada, where the disks could be tracked and even +landed. + +If the account was right, said Steele, a base had been set up in the +desolate Hudson Bay country. Special radar-tracking stations had also +been established, to guide the missiles toward Australia and vessels at +sea. These stations also helped to bring in missiles from Australia. + +Some of the disk missiles were supposed to have been launched from a +British island in the South Pacific; others came all the way from +Australia. Still others were believed to have been launched by a mother +ship stationed between the Galapagos Islands and Pitcairn. + +It was these new disks that had been seen in the United States, Alaska, +Canada, and Latin America, Steele’s informant had told him. At first, +the sightings were due to imperfect controls; the disks sometimes +failed to keep their altitude, partly because of conflicting radio and +radar beams from the countries below. Responding to some of these mixed +signals, Steele said, the disks had been known to reverse course, hover +or descend over radar and radio stations, or circle around at high +speeds until their own control system picked them up again. + +For this reason, the British had arranged a simple detonator system, +operated either by remote control or automatically under certain +conditions. In this way, no disk would crash over land, with the danger +of hitting a populated area. If it descended below a certain altitude, +the disk would automatically speed up its rotation, then explode at a +high altitude. When radar trackers saw that a disk was off course and +could not be realigned, the nearest station then sent a special signal +to activate the detonator system. This was always done, Steele had been +told, when a disk headed toward Siberia; there had previously been a +few cases when Australian-launched disks had got away from controllers +and appeared over Europe. + +I listened to Steele’s account with mixed astonishment and suspicion. +It sounded like a pipe dream; but if it was, it had been carefully +thought out, especially the details that followed. + +At first, Steele said, American defense officials had been completely +baffled by the disk reports. Then the British, learning about the +sightings, had hastily explained to top-level American officials. An +agreement had been worked out. We were to have the benefit of their +research and testing and working models, in return for helping to +conceal the secret. We were also to aid in tracking and controlling the +missiles when they passed over this country. + +“And I gather we paid in other ways,” Steele said. “My source says this +played a big part in increasing our aid to Britain, including certain +atomic secrets.” + +That could make sense. Sharing such a secret would be worth all the +money and supplies we had poured into England. If America and Great +Britain both had a superior long-range missile, it would be the biggest +factor I knew for holding off war. But the long ranges involved in +Steele’s explanation made the thing incredible. + +“How are they powered? What fuel do they use?” I asked him. + +“That’s the one thing I couldn’t get,” said Steele. “This man told me +it was the most carefully guarded secret of all. They’ve tapped a new +source of power.” + +“If he means atomic engines,” I said, “I don’t believe it. I don’t +think anyone is that far along.” + +“No, no,” Steele said earnestly, “he said it wasn’t that. And the rest +of the story hangs together.” + +Privately, I thought of two or three holes, but I let that go. + +“If it’s British,” I said, “do you think we should even hint at it?” + +“I don’t see any harm,” Steele answered. “The Russians undoubtedly know +the truth. They have agents everywhere. It might do a lot of good for +American-British relations. Anyway, it would offset any fear that the +saucers are Soviet weapons.” + +“Then you’re not worried about that angle any more?” + +Steele laughed. “No, but it had me going for a while. It was a big +relief to find out the disks are British.” + +“What’s the disks’ ceiling?” I asked, abruptly. + +“Oh—sixty thousand feet, at least,” said Steele. After a moment he +added quickly, “That’s just a guess—they probably operate much higher. +I didn’t think to ask.” + +Before I hung up, he asked me what I thought, of the British +explanation. + +“It’s certainly more plausible than the Soviet idea,” I said. I thanked +him for calling me, and put down the phone. I was tempted to point out +the flaws in his story. But I didn’t. + +If he was sincere, it would be poor thanks for what he had told me. If +he was trying to plant a fake explanation, it wouldn’t hurt to let him +think I’d swallowed it. When I saw Redell, I told him about Steele. + +“It does look like an attempt to steer you away from the interplanetary +answer,” Redell agreed, “though he may be passing on a tip he +believes.” + +“You think there could be any truth in the British story?” + +“Would the British risk a hundred-foot disk crashing in some American +city?” said Redell. “No remote control is perfect, and neither is a +detonator system. By some freak accident, a disk might come down in a +place like Chicago, and then blow up. I just can’t see the British—any +more than ourselves—letting huge unpiloted missiles go barging around +the world, flying along airways and over cities. Certainly, they could +have automatic devices to make them veer away from airliners—but what +if a circuit failed?” + +“I go along with that,” I said. + +“I don’t say the British don’t have some long-range missiles,” Redell +broke in. “Every big nation has a guided-missile project. But no guided +missile on earth can explain the Mantell case and the others we’ve +discussed.” + +I showed him the material I had on the Nazi disk experiments. Redell +skimmed through it and nodded. + +“I can tell you a little more,” he said. “Some top Nazi scientists were +convinced we were being observed by space visitors. They’d searched all +the old reports. Some sighting over Germany set them off about 1940. +That’s what I was told. I think that’s where they first got the idea of +trying out oval and circular airfoils. + +“Up to then, nobody was interested. The rotation idea uses the same +principle as the helicopter, but nobody had even followed that through. +The Nazis went to work on the disks. They also began to rush +space-exploration plans—the orbiting satellite idea. I think they +realized these space ships were using some great source of power we +hadn’t discovered on earth. I believe that’s what they were after—that +power secret. If they’d succeeded, they’d have owned the world. As it +was, that space project caused them to leap ahead of everybody with +rockets.” + +When I asked Redell how he thought the space ships were powered, he +shrugged. + +“Probably cosmic rays hold the answer. Their power would be even +greater than atomic power. There’s another source I’ve heard mentioned, +but most people scoff at it. That’s the use of electromagnetic fields +in space. The earth has its magnetic field, of course, and so does the +sun. Probably all planets do. + +“There’s a man named Fernand Roussel who wrote a book called _The +Unifying Principle of Physical Phenomena_, about 1943. He goes into the +electromagnetic-field theory. If he’s right, then there must be some +way to tap this force and go from one planet to another without using +any fuel. You’d use your first planet’s magnetic field to start you off +and then coast through space until you got into the field of the next +planet. At least, that’s how I understand it. But you’d be safer +sticking to atomic power. That’s been proved.” + +Most of our conversations had been keyed to the technical side of the +flying-saucer problem. But before I left this time, I asked Redell how +the thought of space visitors affected him. + +“Oh, at first I had a queer feeling about it,” he answered. “But once +you accept it, it’s like anything else. You get used to the idea.” + +“One thing bothers me,” I said. “When I try to picture them, I keep +remembering the crazy-looking things in some of the comics. What do you +suppose they’re really like?” + +“I’ve thought about it for months.” Redell slowly shook his head. “I +haven’t the slightest idea.” + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +That evening, after my talk with Redell, the question kept coming back +in my mind. What were they like? And what were they doing here? + +From the long record of sightings, it was possible to get an answer to +the second question. Observation of the earth followed a general +pattern. According to the reports, Europe, the most populated area, had +been more closely observed than the rest of the globe until about 1870. +By this time, the United States, beginning to rival Europe in +industrial progress, had evidently become of interest to the space-ship +crews. + +From then on, Europe and the Western Hemisphere, chiefly North America, +shared the observers’ attention. The few sightings reported at other +points around the world indicate an occasional check-up on the earth in +general. Apparently World War I had not greatly concerned the space +observers. One reason might be that our aerial operations were still at +a relatively low altitude. + +But World War II had drawn more attention, and this had obviously +increased from 1947 up to the present time. Our atomic-bomb explosions +and the V-2 high-altitude experiments might be only coincidence, but I +could think of no other development that might seriously concern +dwellers on other planets. + +It was a strange thing to think of some far-off race keeping track of +the earth’s progress. If Redell was right, it might even have started +in prehistoric time; a brief survey, perhaps once a century or even +further spaced, then gradually more frequent observation as cities +appeared on the earth. + +Somewhere on a distant planet there would be records of that long +survey. I wondered how our development would appear to that +far-advanced race. They would have seen the slow sailing ships, the +first steamships, the lines of steel tracks that carried our first +trains. + +Watching for our first aircraft, they would see the drifting balloons +that seemed an aerial miracle when the Montgolfiers first succeeded. +More than a century later, they would have noted the slow, clumsy +airplanes of the early 1900’s. From our gradual progress to the big +planes and bombers of today, they could probably chart our next steps +toward the stratosphere—and then space. + +During the last two centuries, they would have watched a dozen wars, +each one fiercer than the last, spreading over the globe. Adding up all +the things they had seen, they could draw an accurate picture of man, +the earth creature, and the increasingly fierce struggle between the +earth races. + +The long survey held no sign of menace. If there had been a guiding +purpose of attack and destruction, it could have been carried out years +ago. It was almost certain that any planet race able to traverse space +would have the means for attack. + +More than once, during this investigation, I had been asked: “If the +saucers are interplanetary, why haven’t they landed here? Why haven’t +their crews tried to make contact with us?” + +There was always the possibility that the planet race or races could +not survive on earth, or that their communications did not include the +methods that we used. But I found that hard to believe. Such a superior +race would certainly be able to master our radio operations, or +anything else that we had developed, in a fairly short time. And it +should be equally simple to devise some means of survival on earth, +just as we were already planning special suits and helmets for +existence on the moon. During a talk with a former Intelligence +officer, I got a key to the probable explanation. + +“Why don’t you just reverse it—list what we intend to do when we start +exploring space? That’ll give you the approximate picture of what +visitors to the earth would be doing.” + +Naturally, all the details of space plans have not been worked out, but +the general plan is clear. After the first successful earth satellites, +we will either attempt a space base farther out or else launch a moon +rocket. Probably many round trips to the moon will be made before going +farther in space. Which planet will be explored first, after the moon? + +According to Air Force reports, it is almost a certainty that planets +outside the solar system are inhabited. But because of the vast +distances involved, expeditions to our neighboring planets may be tried +before the more formidable journeys. More than one prominent astronomer +believes that life, entirely different from our own, may exist on some +solar planets. Besides Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, there are five more +that, like the earth, revolve around the sun. + +One of the prominent authorities is Dr. H. Spencer Jones, Astronomer +Royal. In his book _Life on Other Worlds_, Dr. Jones points out that +everything about us is the result of changing processes, begun +millenniums ago and still going on. We cannot define life solely in our +own terms; it can exist in unfamiliar forms. + +“It is conceivable,” Dr. Jones states in his book, “that we could have +beings, the cells of whose bodies contained silicon instead of the +carbon which is an essential constituent of our cells and of all other +living cells on the earth. And that because of this essential +difference between the constitution of those cells and the cells of +which animal and plant life on the earth are built up, they might be +able to exist at temperatures so high that no terrestrial types of life +could survive.” + +According to Dr. Jones, then, life could be possible on worlds hotter +and drier than ours; it could also exist on a very much colder one, +such as Mars. + +Even if a survey of the sun’s planets proved fruitless, it would decide +the question of their being populated. Also, it would provide valuable +experience for the much longer journeys into space. + +No one expects such a survey until we have a space vehicle able to make +the round trip. One-way trips would tell us nothing, even if volunteers +offered to make such suicidal journeys. + +The most probable step will be to launch a space vehicle equipped with +supplies for a long time, perhaps a year or two, within the solar +system. Since Mars has been frequently mentioned as a source of the +flying saucers, let’s assume it would be the first solar-system planet +to be explored from the earth. + +As the space ship neared Mars, it could be turned to circle the planet +in an orbit, just like our planned earth satellite vehicle. Once in +this orbit, it could circle indefinitely without using fuel except to +correct its course. + +From this space base, unmanned remote-control “observer” units with +television “eyes” or other transmitters would be sent down to survey +the planet at close range. If it then seemed fairly safe, a manned unit +could be released to make a more thorough check-up. + +Such preliminary caution would be imperative. Our explorers would have +no idea of what awaited them. The planet might be uninhabited. It might +be peopled by a fiercely barbarous race unaware of civilization as we +know it. Or it might have a civilization far in advance of ours. + +The explorers would first try to get a general idea of the whole +planet. Then they would attempt to examine the most densely populated +areas, types of armature, any aircraft likely to attack them. Combing +the radio spectrum, they would pick up and record sounds and signals in +order to decipher the language. + +As on earth, they might hear a hodgepodge of tongues. The next step +would be to select the most technically advanced nation, listen in, and +try to learn its language, or record it for deciphering afterward on +earth. + +Our astronomers already have analyzed Mars’s atmosphere, but the +explorers would have to confirm their reports, to find out whether the +atmosphere at the surface would support their lungs if they landed. The +easiest way would be to send down manned or unmanned units with special +apparatus to scoop in atmosphere samples. Later analysis would tell +whether earthlings would need oxygen-helmet suits such as we plan to +use on the moon. + +But before risking flight at such low altitudes, the explorers would +first learn everything possible about the planet’s aircraft, if any. +They would try to determine their top ceiling, maximum speed, +maneuverability, and if possible their weapons. Mitch of this could be +done by sending down remote-control “observer” disks, or whatever type +we decide to use. A manned unit might make a survey at night, or in +daytime with clouds nearby to shield it. By hovering over the planet’s +aircraft bases, the explorers could get most of the picture, and also +decide whether the bases were suitable for their own use later. + +It might even be necessary to lure some Martian aircraft into pursuit +of our units, to find out their performance. But our explorers would +above all avoid any sign of hostility; they would hastily. withdraw to +show they had no warlike intentions. + +If the appearance of our observer units and manned craft caused too +violent reactions on the planet, the explorers would withdraw to their +orbiting space vehicle and either wait for a lull or else start the +long trip back home. Another interplanetary craft from the earth might +take its place later to resume periodic surveys. + +In this way, a vast amount of information could be collected without +once making contact with the strange race. If they seemed belligerent +or uncivilized, we would probably end our survey and check on the next +possibly inhabited planet. If we found they were highly civilized, we +would undoubtedly attempt later contact. But it might take a long time, +decades of observation and analysis, before we were ready for that +final step. + +We might find a civilization not quite so advanced as ours. It might +not yet have developed radio and television. We would then have no way +of getting a detailed picture, learning the languages, or communicating +with. the Martians. Analysis of their atmosphere might show a great +hazard to earthlings, one making it impossible to land or requiring +years of research to overcome. There might be other obstacles beyond +our present understanding. + +This same procedure would apply to the rest of the solar-system planets +and to more distant systems. Since Wolf 359 is the nearest star outside +our system that is likely to have inhabited planets, one of these +planets would probably be listed as the first to explore in far-distant +space. It would be a tremendous undertaking, unless the speed of light +can be exceeded in space. Since Wolf 359 is eight light-years from the +earth, even if a space ship traveled at the theoretical maximum—just +under 186,00 miles a second—it would take over sixteen years for the +round trip. Detailed observation of the planet would add to this +period. + +If we assume half that speed—which would still be an incredible +attainment with our present knowledge—our space explorers would have to +dedicate at least thirty-two years to the hazardous, lonely round trip. +However, there has never been a lack of volunteers for grand +undertakings in the history of man. + +It is quite possible that in our survey of the solar-system planets we +would find some inhabited, but not advanced enough to be of interest to +us. Periodically, we might make return visits to note their progress. +Meantime, our astronomers would watch these planets, probably +developing new, higher powered telescopes for the purpose, to detect +any signs of unusual activity. Any tremendous explosion on a planet +would immediately concern us. + +Such an explosion, on Mars, was reported by astronomers on January 16, +1950. The cause and general effects are still being debated. Sadao +Saeki, the Japanese astronomer who first reported it at Osaka, believes +it was of volcanic nature. + +The explosion created a cloud over an area about seven hundred miles in +diameter and forty miles high. It was dull gray with a yellowish tinge +and a different color from the atmospheric phenomena customarily seen +near Mars. Saeki believes the blast might have destroyed any form of +life existing on the planet, but even though the telescopic camera +recorded a violent explosion, other authorities do not believe the +planet was wrecked. The canals first discovered on Mars by Giovanni +Schiaparelli, about 1877, are still apparent on photographs. + +Mars is now being carefully watched by astronomers. If there are more +of the strange explosions, the planet will be scanned constantly for +some clue to their nature. If a mysterious explosion on Mars, or any +other planet, were found of atomic origin, it would cause serious +concern on earth. Suppose for a moment that it happened many years from +now, when we will have succeeded in space explorations. At this time, +let us assume our explorers have found that Mars is experimenting with +high-altitude rockets; some of them have been seen, rising at +tremendous speed, in the upper atmosphere of Mars. + +Then comes this violent explosion. A scientific analysis of the cloud +by astrophysicists here on earth proves it was of atomic origin. + +The first reaction would undoubtedly be an immediate resurvey of Mars. +As quickly as possible, we would establish an orbiting space base—out +of range of Martian rockets—and try to find how far they had advanced +with atomic bombs. + +Samples of the Martian atmosphere would be collected and analyzed for +telltale radiation. Observer units would be flown over the planet, with +instruments to locate atom-bomb plants and possibly uranium deposits. +The rocket-launching bases would also come under close observation. We +would try to learn how close the scientists were to escaping the pull +of gravity. Since Mars’s gravity is much less than the earth’s, the +Martians would not have so far to progress before succeeding in space +travel. + +The detailed survey by our space-base observers would probably show +that there was no immediate danger to the earth. It might take one +hundred years—perhaps five hundred—before the Martians could be a +problem. Eventually, the time would come when Mars would send out +space-ship explorers. They would undoubtedly discover that the earth +was populated with a technically advanced civilization. Any warlike +ideas they had in mind could be quickly ended by a show of our superior +space craft and our own atomic weapons—probably far superior to any on +Mars. It might even be possible that by then we would have finally +outlawed war; if so, a promise to share the peaceful benefits of our +technical knowledge might be enough to bring Martian leaders into line. + +Regardless of our final decision, we would certainly keep a lose watch +on Mars—or any other planet that seemed a possible threat. + +Now, if our space-exploration program is just reversed, it will give a +reasonable picture of how visitors from space might go about +investigating the earth. Such an investigation would tie in with the +general pattern of authentic flying-saucer reports: + +1. World-wide sightings at long intervals up to the middle of the +nineteenth century. + +2. Concentration on Europe, as the most advanced section of the globe, +until late in the nineteenth century. + +3. Frequent surveys of America in the latter part of the nineteenth +century, as we began to develop industrially, with cities springing up +across the land. + +4. Periodic surveys of both America and Europe during the gradual +development of aircraft, from the early 1900’s up to World War II. + +5. An increase of observation during World War II, after German V-2’s +were launched up into the stratosphere. + +6. A steadily increasing survey after our atomic-bomb explosions in New +Mexico, Japan, Bikini, and Eniwetok. + +7. A second spurt of observations following atom-bomb explosions in +Soviet Russia. + +8. Continuing observations of the earth at regular intervals, with most +attention concentrated on the United States, the present leader in +atomic weapons. (Saucers have been reported seen over the Soviet Union, +but the number is unknown. There is some evidence that Russia has an +investigative unit similar to Project “Saucer.”) + +There are other points of similarity to the program of American space +exploration that I have outlined. Most of the extremely large saucers +have been at high altitudes, some of them many miles above the earth. +At that height, a space ship would be in no danger from our planes and +antiaircraft guns and rockets. The smaller disks and the mystery lights +have been seen at low altitudes. Occasionally a larger saucer has been +seen to approach the earth briefly, as at Lockbourne Air Force Base, at +Bethel, Alabama, at Macon and Montgomery, and other places. It has been +suggested that this was for the purpose of securing atmospheric +samples. It could also be to afford personal observation by the crews. + +The numerous small disks seen in the first part of the scare, in 1947, +fit the pattern for preliminary and close observation by +remote-controlled observer units. As the scare increased, the daytime +sightings decreased for a while, and mystery lights began to be seen +more often. This apparent desire to avoid unfavorable attention could +have been caused by our pilots’ repeated attempts to chase the strange +flying objects. + +Authentic reports have described sightings; over the following Air +Force bases: Chanute, Newark, Andrews, Hickam, Robbins, Godman, Clark, +Fairfield Suisan, Davis-Monthan, Harmon, Wright-Patterson, Holloman, +Clinton County Air Force Base, and air bases in Alaska, Germany, and +the Azores. Saucers have also been sighted over naval air stations at +Dallas, Alameda, and Key West, and from the station at Seattle. They +have been reported maneuvering over the White Sands Proving Ground, +over areas containing atomic developments, above the Muroc Air Base +testing area, and over the super-secret research base near Albuquerque. + +Several times saucers have paced both military and civil aircraft; +their actions strongly indicate deliberate encounters to learn our +planes’ speed and performance. + +It seems obvious that both the planes and the bases were being +observed, and in some cases photographed by remote-control units or +manned space ships. + +Although I thought it improbable that the location of our uranium +deposits would be of interest to space men, a Washington official told +me it would be relatively simple to detect the ore areas with airborne +instruments. + +“The Geological Survey has already developed special Geiger counters +for planes,” he told me. “They had a little trouble from cosmic-ray +noise. They finally had to cover the Geigers with lead shields. +Whenever an important amount of radiation is present in the ground, the +plane crew gets a signal, and they spot the place on their map. It’s a +quick way of locating valuable deposits.” + +When I told him what I had in mind, he suggested an angle I had not +considered. + +“Mind you,” he said, “I’m not completely sold on the interplanetary +answer. But assuming it’s correct that we’re being observed, I can +think of a stronger reason than fear of some distant attack. Some +atomic scientists say that a super-atomic bomb, or several set off at +once, could knock the earth out of its orbit. It sounds fantastic, but +so is the A-bomb. It’s just possible that some solar-planet race +discovered the dangers long ago. They would have good reason to worry +if they found we were on that same track. There may be some other +atomic weapon we don’t suspect, even worse than the A-bomb, one that +could destroy the earth and seriously affect other planets.” + +At the time, I thought this was just idle speculation. But since then, +several atomic scientists have confirmed this official’s suggestion. +One of these was Dr. Paul Elliott, a nuclear physicist who worked on +the A-bomb during the war. + +According to Dr. Elliott, if several hydrogen bombs were exploded +simultaneously at a high altitude, it could speed up the earth’s +rotation or change its orbit. He based his statement on the rate of +energy the earth receives from the sun, a rate equal to some four +pounds of hydrogen exploded every second. Still other atomic scientists +have said that H-bomb explosions might even knock a large chunk out of +the earth, with unpredictable results. + +A dramatic picture of what might happen if the earth were forced far +out of its orbit is indicated in the much-discussed book _Worlds in +Collision_, by Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, recently published by +Macmillan. After many years of research, Dr. Velikovsky presents strong +evidence that the planet Venus, when still a comet resulting from +eruption from a larger planet, moved erratically about the sky and +violently disturbed both the earth and Mars. + +When the comet approached the earth, our planet was forced out of its +orbit, according to Worlds in Collision. For a time, the world was on +the brink of destruction. Quoting many authentic ancient records, +including the Quiché manuscript of the Mayas, the Ipuwer papyrus of the +Egyptians, and the Visiddhi-Magga of the Buddhists, Dr. Velikovsky +describes the cataclysm that took place. “The face of the earth +changed,” he writes in his book. The details, reinforced by the +Zend-Avesta of the Persians, tell of tremendous hurricanes, of a major +upheaval in the earth’s surface, of oceans rushing over many parts of +the land, while rivers were driven from their beds. Some of the events +in this period are mentioned in the Bible. + +Professor Horace M. Kallen, former dean of the New School of Social +Research, strongly endorses Dr. Velikovsky’s statements: “It is my +belief that Velikovsky has supported his theses with substantial +evidence and made an effective and persuasive argument.” + +Many other authorities endorse this work, which is documented with +impressive references. But even if this particular account is not +accepted, all astronomers agree that the effect of a comet passing near +the earth would be appalling. _Worlds in Collision_ states that Mars, +like the earth, was pulled out of its orbit by the comet’s erratic +passage. It may be that this near disaster to the earth and Mars is +known on other solar planets, or remembered on Mars itself, if the +planet is inhabited. + +The possibility of super-bomb explosions on the earth understandably +disturb any dwellers on other solar-system planets. + +This may be what was back of the Project “Saucer” statement on the +probable motives of any visitors from space. I mentioned this Air Force +statement in an earlier chapter, but it may be of interest to repeat it +at this time. The comment appeared in a confidential analysis of +Intelligence reports, in the formerly secret Project “Saucer” document, +“Report on Unidentified Aerial and Celestial Objects.” It reads as +follows: + +“Such a civilization might observe that on earth we now have atomic +bombs and are fast developing rockets. In view of the past history of +mankind, they should be alarmed. We should therefore expect at this +time above all to behold such visitations. + +“Since the acts of mankind most easily observed from a distance are +A-bomb explosions, we should expect some relation to obtain between the +time of the A-bomb explosions, the time at which the space ships are +seen, and the time required for such ships to arrive from and return to +home base.” + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +It was early in October 1949 when I finished the reversal of our +space-exploration plans. I spent the next two days running down a +sighting report from a town in Pennsylvania. Like three or four other +tips that had seemed important at first, it turned out to be a dud. + +When I got back home, I found Ken Purdy had been trying to reach me. I +phoned him at True, and he asked me to fly up to New York the next day. + +“I’ve just heard there’s another magazine working on the saucer story,” +he told me. + +“Who is it?” I said. + +“I don’t know yet. It may be just a rumor, but we can’t take a chance. +We’ve got to get this in the January book.” + +That night I gathered up all the material. It looked hopeless to +condense it into one article, and I knew that Purdy had even more +investigators’ reports waiting for me in New York. Flying up the next +morning, I suddenly thought of a talk I’d had with an air transport +official. It was in Washington; I had just told him about the +investigation. + +“If they are spacemen,” he said, “they’d probably have a hard time +figuring out this country by listening to our broadcasts. Imagine +tuning in soap operas, ‘The Lone Ranger,’ and a couple of crime yarns, +along with newscasts about strikes and murders and the cold war. They +might pick up some of those kid programs about rocket ships. A few days +of listening to that stuff—well, it would give them one hell of a +picture.” + +Except for some hoax reports, this was the first funny suggestion I’d +had about the spacemen. But now, thinking seriously about it, I +realized he had an important point. It was possible that men from +another planet might have to reorient even their way of thinking to +understand the earth’s ways. It would not be automatic, despite their +superior technical progress. Evolution might have produced basic +differences in their understanding of life. Humor, for instance, might +be totally lacking in their make-up. + +What would they be like? + +I’d tried to imagine how they might look, without getting anywhere. Dr. +H. Spencer Jones hadn’t helped much with his _Life on Other Worlds_. I +couldn’t begin to visualize beings with totally different cells, +perhaps able to take terrific heat or bitter cold as merely normal +weather. + +There were all kinds of possibilities. If they lived on Mars, for +instance, perhaps they couldn’t take the heavier gravity of the earth. +They might be easily subject to our diseases, especially if they had +destroyed disease germs on their planet—a natural step for an advanced +race. + +It was possible, I knew, that the spacemen might look grotesque to us. +But I clung to a Stubborn feeling that they would resemble man. That +came, of course, from an inborn feeling of man’s superiority over all +living things. It carried over into a feeling that any thinking, +intelligent being, whether on Mars or Wolf 359’s planets, should have +evolved in the same form. + +I gave up trying to imagine how the spacemen might look. There was +simply nothing to go on. But there were strong indications of how they +thought and reacted. Certain qualities were plainly evident. + +_Intelligence_. No one could dispute that. It took a high order of +mentality to construct and operate a space ship. + +_Courage_. It would take brave men to face the hazards of space. + +_Curiosity_. Without this quality, they would never have thought to +explore far-distant planets. + +There were other qualities that seemed almost equally certain. These +spacemen apparently lacked belligerence; there had been no sign of +hostility through all the years. They were seemingly painstaking and +extremely methodical. + +It was still not much of a picture. But somehow, it was encouraging. +Glancing down from the plane’s window, I thought: How does this look to +them? Our farms, our cities, the railroads there below; the highways, +with the speeding cars and trucks; the winding river, and far off to +the right, the broad stretch of the Atlantic. What would they think of +America? + +Manhattan came into sight, as the pilot let down for the landing. An +odd thought popped into my mind. How would a spaceman react if he saw a +Broadway show? + +Not long before, I had seen South Pacific. I could still hear Ezio +Pinza’s magnificent voice as he sang “Some Enchanted Evening.” + +Was music a part of spacemen’s lives, or would it be something new and +strange, perhaps completely distasteful? + +They might live and think on a coldly intelligent level, without a +touch of what we know as emotion. To them, our lives might seem +meaningless and dull. We ourselves might appear grotesque in form. + +But in their progress, there must have been struggle, trial and error, +some feeling of triumph at success. Surely these would be emotional +forces, bound to reflect in the planet races. Perhaps, in spite of some +differences, we would find a common bond—the bond of thinking, +intelligent creatures trying to better themselves. + +The airliner landed and taxied in to unload. + +As I went down the gangway I suddenly realized something. My last vague +fear was gone. + +It had not been a personal fear of the visitors from space. It had been +a selfish fear of the impact on my life. I realized that now. + +It might be a long time before they would try to make contact. But I +had a conviction that when it came, it would be a peaceful mission, not +an ultimatum. It could even be the means of ending wars on earth. + +But I had been conditioned to this thing. I had had six months of +preparation, six months to go from complete skepticism to slow, final +acceptance. + +What if it had been thrown at me in black headlines? + +Even a peaceful contact by beings from another planet would profoundly +affect the world. The story in _True_ might play an important part in +that final effect. Carefully done, it could help prepare Americans for +the official disclosure. + +But if it weren’t done right, we might be opening a Pandora’s box. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +That morning, at _True_, we made the final decisions on how to handle +the story. Using the evidence of the Mantell case, the Chiles-Whitted +report, Gorman’s mystery-light encounter, and other authentic cases, +along with the records of early sightings, we would state our main +conclusion: _that the flying saucers were interplanetary_. + +In going over the mass of reports, Purdy and I both realized that a few +sightings did not fit the space-observer pattern. Most of these reports +came from the southwest states, where guided-missile experiments were +going on. + +Purdy agreed with Paul Redell that any long-range tests would be made +over the sea or unpopulated areas, with every attempt at secrecy. + +“They might make short-range tests down there in New Mexico and +Arizona-maybe over Texas,” he said. “But they’d never risk killing +people by shooting the things all over the country.” + +“They’ve already set up a three-thousand-mile range for the longer +runs,” I added. “It runs from Florida into the South Atlantic. And the +Navy missiles at Point Mugu are launched out over the Pacific. Any +guided missiles coming down over settled areas would certainly be an +accident. Besides all that, no missile on earth can explain these major +cases.” + +Purdy was emphatic about speculating on our guided-missile research. + +“Suppose you analyzed these minor cases that look like missile tests. +You might accidentally give away something important, like their range +and speeds. Look what the Russians did with the A-bomb hints Washington +let out.” + +It was finally decided that we would briefly mention the guided +missiles, along with the fact that the armed services had flatly denied +any link with the saucers. + +“After all, interplanetary travel is the main story,” said Purdy. “And +the Mantell case alone proves we’ve been observed from space ships, +even without the old records.” + +The question of the story’s impact worried both of us. public +acceptance of intelligent life on other planets would affect almost +every phase of our existence-business, defense planning, philosophy, +even religion. Of course, the immediate effect was more important. +Personally, I thought that most Americans could take even an official +announcement without too much trouble. But I could be wrong. + +“The only yardstick—and that’s not much good—is that ‘little men’ +story,” said Purdy. “A lot of people have got excited about it, but +they seem more interested than scared.” + +The story of the “little men from Venus” had been circulating for some +time. In the usual version, two flying saucers had come down near our +southwest border. In the space craft were several oddly dressed men, +three feet high. All of them were dead; the cause was usually given as +inability to stand our atmosphere. The Air Force was said to have +hushed up the story, so that the public could be educated gradually to +the truth. Though it had all the earmarks of a well-thought-out hoax, +many newspapers had repeated the story. It had even been broadcast as +fact on several radio newscasts. But there had been no signs of public +alarm. + +“It looks as if people have come a long way since that Orson Welles +scare,” I said to Purdy. + +“But there isn’t any menace in this story,” he objected. “The crews +were reported dead, so everybody got the idea that spacemen couldn’t +live if they landed. What if a space ship should suddenly come down +over a big city—say New York—low enough for millions of people to see +it?” + +“it might cause a stampede,” I said, + +Purdy snorted. “it would be a miracle if it didn’t, unless people had +been fully prepared. if we do a straight fact piece, just giving the +evidence, it will start the ball rolling. People at least will be +thinking about it.” + +Before I left for Washington, I told Purdy of my last visit to the +Pentagon. I had informed Air Force press relations officials of True’s +intention to publish the space-travel answer. There had been no attempt +to dissuade me. And I had been told once again that there was no +security involved; that Project “Saucer” had found nothing threatening +the safety of America. + +At this time I had also asked if Project “Saucer” files were now +available. The Wright Field unit, I was told, still was a classified +project, both its files and its photographs secret. This had been the +first week in October. + +When I asked if there was any other information on published cases, the +answer again was negative. The April 27th report, according to Press +Branch officials, was still an accurate statement of Air Force opinions +and policies. So far as they knew, no other explanations had be n found +for the unidentified saucers. + +‘I in absolutely convinced now,” I told Purdy, “that here’s an official +policy to let the thing leak out. It explains why Forrestal announced +our Earth Satellite Vehicle program, years before we could even start +to build it. It also would explain those Project ‘Saucer’ hints in the +April report.” + +“I think we’re being used as a trial balloon,” Purdy said thoughtfully. +“We’ve let them know what we’re doing. If they’d wanted to stop us, the +Air Force could easily have done it. All they’d have to do would be +call us in, give us the dope off the record, and tell us it was a +patriotic duty to keep still. Just the way they did about uranium and +atomic experiments during the war.” + +He still did not have the name of the other magazine supposed to be +working on the saucers. But it seemed a reliable tip (it later proved +to be true), and from then on we worked under high pressure. + +In writing the article, I used only the most authentic recent +sightings; all of the cases were in the Air Force reports. When it came +to the Mantell case, I stuck to published estimates of the strange +object’s size; a mysterious ship 250 to 300 feet in diameter was +startling enough. At first, I chose Mars to illustrate our space +explorations. But Mars had been associated with the Orson Welles +stampede. Most discussions of the planet had a menacing note, perhaps +because of its warlike name. + +In the end, I switched to a planet of Wolf 359. The thought of those +eight light-years would have a comforting effect on any nervous +readers. The chance of any mass visitation would seem remote, if not +impossible. But it would still put across the space-travel story. + +As finally revised, the article, written under my byline, stated the +following points as the conclusions reached by _True_: + +1. For the past 175 years, the earth has been under systematic +close-range examination by living, intelligent observers from another +planet. + +2. The intensity of this observation, and the frequency of the visits +to the earth’s atmosphere, have increased markedly during the past two +years. + +3. The vehicles used for this observation and for interplanetary +transport by the explorers have been classed as follows: Type I, a +small, nonpilot-carrying disk-shaped craft equipped with some form of +television or impulse transmitter; Type II, a very large, metallic, +disk-shaped aircraft operating on the helicopter principle; Type III, a +dirigible-shaped, wingless aircraft that, in the Earth’s atmosphere, +operates in conformance with the Prandtl theory of lift. + +4. The discernible patterns of observation and exploration shown by the +so-called flying disks varies in no important particular from +well-developed American plans for the exploration of space, expected to +come to fruition within the next fifty years. There is reason to +believe, however, that some other race of thinking beings is a matter +of two and a quarter centuries ahead of us. + +Following these points, I added a brief comment on the possibility of +guided missiles, adding that the Air Force had convincingly denied this +as an explanation of any sightings. As Purdy had suggested, I carefully +omitted ten minor cases that I thought might be linked with +guided-missile research. If disclosing the facts about space travel +helped to divert attention from any secret tests, so much the better. + +“_True_ accepts the official denial of any secret device,” I stated, +“because the weight of the evidence, especially the world-wide +sightings, does not support such a belief.” + +Most readers, of course, would know that some guided-missile +experiments were going on, and that _True_ was fully aware of it. But +our main purpose would be achieved. + +The fact that the earth had been observed by beings from another planet +would be fully presented. Some readers, of course, would reject even +the fact that the saucers existed. Others would cling to the idea that +they were of earthly origin. But the mass of evidence would make most +readers think. At the very least, it would plant one strong suggestion: +_that we, men and women of the earth, are not the only intelligent +species in the universe_. When the article was finished, it was tried +out on True’s staff, then on a picked group that had not known about +the investigation. One editor summed up the average opinion: + +“It will cause a lot of discussion, but the way it’s written, it +shouldn’t start any panic.” + +The January issue, in which the story ran, was due on the stands +shortly after Christmas. With my family, I had gone to Ottumwa, Iowa, +to spend the holidays with my mother and sister. While I was there, the +story broke unexpectedly on radio networks. + +Frank Edwards, Mutual network newscaster, led off the radio comment. He +was followed by Walter Winchell, Lowell Thomas, Morgan Beatty, and most +of the other radio commentators. The wire services quickly picked it +up; some papers ran front-page stories. + +The publicity was far more than I had expected. I phoned a reporter in +Washington whose beat includes the Pentagon. + +“The Air Force is running around in circles,” he told me. “They knew +your story was due, but nobody thought it would raise such a fuss. I +think they’re scared of hysteria. They’re getting a barrage of wires +and telephone calls.” + +That night, as I was packing to rush back east, he called with the +latest news. + +“They’re going to deny the whole thing,” he said. “But’ I heard one +Press Branch guy say it might not be enough —they’re trying to figure +some way to knock it down fast.” + +Next day, while changing trains at Chicago, I saw the Air Force +statement. The press release was dated December 27, 1949. Without +mentioning _True_, the Air Force flatly denied having any evidence that +flying saucers exist. After examining 375 reports, the release said, +Project “Saucer” had found that they were caused by: + +1. Misinterpretation of various conventional objects. + +2. A mild form of mass hysteria or “war nerves.” + +3. Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or to +seek publicity. + +Evaluation of the reports of unidentified flying objects, said the Air +Force, demonstrates that they constitute no direct threat to the +national security of the United States. + +Then came the clincher: Project “Saucer,” said the Air Force, had been +discontinued, now that all the reports had been explained. + +It was plain that the release had been hastily prepared. It completely +contradicted the detailed Project “Saucer” report, issued eight months +before, that had called for constant vigilance, after admitting that +most important cases were unsolved. Anyone familiar with the situation +would see the discrepancy at once. + +From Washington I flew to New York, where I found _True_ in a turmoil. +Long-distance calls were pouring in. Letters on flying saucers had +swamped the mail room. Reporters were hounding Purdy for more +information. + +A hurried analysis of the first hundred letters showed a trend that +later mail confirmed. Less than 5 per cent of the readers ridiculed the +article. Between 15 and 20 per cent said they were not convinced; a few +of these admitted they could not refute the evidence. About half the +readers accepted the possibility; most of these said they saw no reason +why other planets should not be inhabited. The remainder, between 25 +and 30 per cent, said they were completely convinced. + +Even the disbelievers asked for more information. The intelligence +level of the average letter was gratifyingly high. Comments came from +scientists, engineers, airline and private pilots, college professors, +officers of the armed services, and a wide variety of others—including +far more women than _True’s_ readership usually includes. + +Several confidential tips had come in when I arrived. Most of them were +from usually reputable sources. We were given evidence that Project +“Saucer” was still in operation; since its true code name was not +“Saucer,” it could be continued without violating the Air Force press +release. This same information was received from a dozen sources within +the next two weeks. We were also told that there had been 722 cases, +instead of 375. + +Meantime, a number of astronomers had come out with statements, pro and +con. One of these was Dr. Dean B. McLaughlin, of the University of +Michigan. + +“No one knows what the saucers are as yet,” Dr. McLaughlin said. “They +could be anything, and I’m willing to be convinced once the evidence is +presented.” + +Dr. Bart J. Bok of Harvard was on the fence: “After all,” he said, “all +sort of things float around in space. But I’m not convinced the saucers +are anything apart from the earth.” + +Another Harvard astronomer, Dr. Armin J. Deutsch, took an oblique poke +at True and me. “I don’t think anyone—and that includes +astronomers—knows enough about them to reach any conclusions.” + +After this came the comment of Dr. Carl F. von Weizacker—that billions +of stars may have planets, and many could be inhabited. + +Within a few days we had a huge stack of clippings, some supporting +_True_, some deriding us. In the midst of all this, I read scientists’ +comments on Einstein’s new unified-field theory, which had been printed +about the time _True_ appeared on the stands. A discussion by Lincoln +Barnett, author of _The Universe and Dr. Einstein_, explained the basic +premise—that gravitation and electromagnetic force are inseparable. As +I read it, I thought of what Redell had said. If gravitation were a +manifestation of electromagnetic force, was it possible that an +advanced race had found a way—as unique as splitting the atom—to offset +gravity and utilize that force? + +It was during these first tense days that we ran down the White Sands +story. This also ended another puzzle—the identity of the magazine that +we had feared might scoop us. The race had been closer than we knew. +The editors of a national magazine had learned of Commander McLaughlin +and the sightings at White Sands. Two of the staff had carefully +investigated the details. Convinced that the report was accurate, they +had planned to run the story in an early issue. + +Since _True_ had appeared first with the space-travel story, the +editors agreed to release the McLaughlin report for use in our March +issue. The basic facts were in close agreement with what Redell had +told me. + +The ellipsoid-shaped saucer had been tracked at a height of 56 miles, +its speed 5 miles per second. This was 18,000 miles per hour, even +faster than Redell had said. The strange craft, 105 feet in length, had +climbed as swiftly as Marvin Miles had described it—an increase in +altitude of about 25 miles in 10 seconds. + +Commander McLaughlin stated in his article that he was convinced the +object was a space ship from another planet, operated by animate, +intelligent beings. He also described two small circular objects, about +twenty inches in diameter, that streaked up beside a Navy high-altitude +missile. After maneuvering around it for a moment, both disks +accelerated, passed the fast-moving Navy missile, and disappeared. + +It is Commander McLaughlin’s opinion that the saucers come from Mars. +Pointing out that Mars was in a good position to see our surface on +July 16, 1945, he believes that the flash of the first A-bomb, at +Alamogordo Base, a point not far from White Sands, was caught by +powerful telescopes. + +During the first week of January, I appeared on “We, the People,” with +Lieutenant George Gorman. When I saw Gorman, before rehearsals, he +seemed oddly constrained. I had a feeling that he had been warned about +talking freely. During rehearsals, he changed his lines in the script. +When the writers argued over a point, Gorman told them: + +“I can say only what was in my published report—nothing else.” + +The day before the broadcast, a program official told me they had been +told to include the Air Force denial in the script. That afternoon I +learned that the Air Force planned to monitor the broadcast. + +Meantime, an A.P. story carried a new Air Force announcement. Formerly +secret Project “Saucer” files would be opened to newsmen at the +Pentagon, giving the answers to all the saucer reports. + +Just after my return to Washington, I saw an I.N.S. story that was +widely printed. It was an interview with Major Jerry Boggs, a Project +“Saucer” Intelligence officer who served as liaison man between Wright +Field and the Pentagon. Major Boggs had been asked for specific answers +to the Mantell, Chiles-Whitted, and Gorman cases. + +The answers he gave amazed me. I picked up the phone and called the Air +Force Press Branch. After some delay, I was told that Major Boggs was +being briefed for assignment to Germany. An interview would be almost +impossible. + +“He wasn’t too busy to talk with I.N.S.,” I said. “All I want is thirty +minutes.” + +Later, Jack Shea, a civilian press official I had known for some time, +arranged for the meeting. I was also to talk with General Sory Smith, +Deputy Director for Air Information. + +Major Jesse Stay, a Press Branch officer, took me to General Smith’s +office for the interview. Both Jesse and Jack Shea, pleasant, obliging +chaps who had helped me in the past, tried earnestly to convince me the +saucers didn’t exist. Jesse was still trying when Major Boggs came in. + +Boggs looked to be in his twenties, younger than I had expected. He was +trim, well built, with a quietly alert face. Two rows of ribbons +testified to his wartime service. When Jesse Stay introduced me, Boggs +gave me a curiously searching look. It could have been merely his usual +way of appraising people he met. But all through our talk, I had a +strong feeling that he was on his guard. + +I had written out some questions, but first I mentioned the I.N.S. +story. + +“Were you quoted correctly on the Mantell case?” I asked. + +“Yes, I was.” Major Boggs looked me squarely in the eye. “Captain +Mantell was chasing the planet Venus.” + +It was so incredible that I shook my head. “Major, Venus; was +practically invisible that day. We’ve checked with astronomers. Is that +the official Air Force answer?” + +“Yes, it is,” Boggs said. His eyes never left my face. I glanced across +at General Sory Smith, then back at the intelligence major. + +“That’s a flat contradiction of Project ‘Saucer’s’ report. Last April, +after they had checked for fifteen months, they said positively it was +_not_ Venus. It was still unidentified.” + +Boggs said, in a slow, unruffled voice, “They rechecked after that +report.” + +“Why did they recheck, after fifteen months?” I asked him. “‘They must +have gone over those figures long before that, for errors.” + +If my question annoyed him, Boggs gave no sign. + +There’s no other possible answer,” he said. “Mantell was chasing +Venus.” + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +For a moment after Boggs’s last answer, I had an impulse to end the +interview. I had a feeling I was facing a sphinx—a quiet, courteous +sphinx in an Air Force uniform. + +I was sure now why Major Jerry Boggs had been chosen for his job, the +all-important connecting link with the project at Wright Field. No one +would ever catch this man off guard, no matter what secret was given +him to conceal. And it was more than the result of Air Force +Intelligence training. His manner, his voice carried conviction. He +would have convinced anyone who had not carefully analyzed the Godman +Field tragedy. + +I made one more attempt. “Do the Godman Field witnesses—Colonel Hix and +the rest—believe the Venus answer?” + +“I haven’t asked them,” said Boggs, “so I couldn’t say.” + +“What about the Chiles-Whitted case?” I asked. “You were quoted as +saying they saw a meteor—a bolide that exploded in a shower of sparks.” + +“That’s right,” said Boggs. + +“And Gorman was chasing a lighted balloon?” + +Again the Intelligence major nodded. I pointed, out that all three of +the cases mentioned had been listed as unidentified in the April +report. + +“They’d had those cases for months,” I said. “What new facts did they +learn?” + +Boggs said calmly, “They just made a final analysis, and those were the +answers.” + +We looked at each other a moment. Major Boggs patiently waited. I began +to realize how a lawyer must feel with an imperturbable witness. And +Boggs’s unfailing courtesy began to make me embarrassed. + +“Major,” I said, “I hope you’ll realize this is not a personal matter. +As an Intelligence officer, if you’re told to give certain answers—” + +He smiled for the first time. “That’s all right—but I’m not hiding a +thing. There’s just no such thing as a flying saucer, so far as we’ve +found out.” + +“We’ve been told,” I said, “that Project ‘Saucer’ isn’t closed—that you +just changed its code name.” + +“That’s not so,” Boggs said emphatically. “The contracts are ended, and +all personnel transferred to other duty.” + +“Then the announcement wasn’t caused by _True’s_ article?” + +Both General Smith and Major Jesse Stay shook their heads quickly. +Boggs leaned forward, eyeing me earnestly. + +“As a matter of fact, we’d finished the investigation months ago—around +the end of August, or early in September. We just hadn’t got around to +announcing it.” + +“Last October,” I said, “I was told the investigation was still going +on. They said there were no new answers to the cases just mentioned.” + +“The Press Branch hadn’t been informed yet,” Boggs explained simply. + +“It seems very strange to me,” I said. “In April, the Air Force called +for vigilance by the civilian population. It said the project was +young, much of its work still under way.” + +Jesse Stay interrupted before Boggs could reply. + +“Don, the Press Branch will have to take the blame for that. The report +wasn’t carefully checked. There were several loose statements in it.” + +This was an incredible statement. I was sure Jesse knew it. + +“But the case reports you quoted came from Wright Field. As of April +twenty-seventh, 1949, all the major cases were officially unsolved. +Then in August or early September, the whole thing’s cleaned up, from +what Major Boggs says. That’s pretty hard to believe.” + +No one answered that one. Major Boggs was waiting politely for the next +question. I picked up my list. The rest of the interview was in +straight question-and-answer style: + +Q. Do you know about the White Sands sightings in April 1948? The ones +Commander R. B. McLaughlin has written up? + +A. Yes, we checked the reports. We just don’t believe them. + +Q. One of the witnesses was Charles B. Moore, the director of the Navy +cosmic-ray project at Minneapolis, He’s considered a very reputable +engineer. Did you know he confirms the first report—the one about the +saucer 56 miles up, at a speed of eighteen thousand miles per hour. + +A. Yes, I knew about him. We think he was mistaken, like the others. + +Q. Mr. Moore says it was absolutely sure it was not hallucination. He +says it should be carefully investigated. + +A. We did investigate. We just don’t believe they saw anything. + +Q. Could I see the complete file on that case? Also on Mantell, Gorman, +and the Eastern Airlines cases? + +A. That’s out of my province. + +Q. If Project “Saucer” is ended, then all the files should be opened. + +A. Well, the summaries have been cleared, and you can see them. + +Q. No, I mean the actual files. Is there any reason I shouldn’t see +them? + +A. There’d be a lot of material to search through. Each case has a +separate book, and some of them are pretty bulky. + +Q. There were 722 cases in all, weren’t there? + +A. No, nowhere near that. + +Q. Then 375 is the total figure—I mean the number of cases Project +“Saucer” listed? + +A. There were a few more—something over four hundred. I don’t know the +exact figure. + +Q. I’ve been told that Project “Saucer” had the Air Force put out a +special order for pilots to chase flying saucers. Is that right? + +A. Yes, that’s right. + +Q. Did that include National Guard pilots? + +A. Yes, it did. When the project first started checking on saucers we +were naturally anxious to get hold of one of the things. We told the +pilots to do practically anything in reason, even if they had to grab +one by the tail. + +Q. Were any of those planes armed? + +A. Only if they happened to have guns for some other mission, like +gunnery practice. + +Q. We’ve heard of one case where fighters chased a saucer to a high +altitude. One of them emptied his guns at it. + +A. You must mean that New Jersey affair. The plane was armed for +another reason. + +Q. No, I meant a case reported out at Luke Field. Three fighters took +off, if the story sent us is correct. Apparently it made quite a +commotion. That was back in 1945. + +A. It might have happened. I don’t know. + +Q. What was this New Jersey case? + +A. I’d rather not discuss any more cases without having the books here. + +Q. Has Project “Saucer” released its secret pictures? + +A. What pictures? There weren’t any that amounted to anything. Maybe +half a dozen. They didn’t show anything, just spots on film or weather +balloons at a distance. + +Q. In the Kenneth Arnold case, didn’t some forest rangers verify his +report? + +A. Well, there were some people who claimed they saw the same disks. +But we found out later they’d heard about it on the radio. + +Q. Didn’t they draw some sketches that matched Arnold’s? + +A. I never heard about it. + +Q. I’d like to go back to the Mantell case a second. If Venus was so +bright—remember Mantell thought it was a huge metallic object—why +didn’t the pilot who made the search later on— + +A. Well, it was Venus, that’s positive. But I can’t remember all the +details without the case books. + +Q. One more question, Major. Have any reports been received at Wright +Field since Project “Saucer” closed? There was a case after that date, +an airliner crew— + +At this point, Major Jesse Stay broke in. + +“It’s all up to the local commanders now. If they want to receive +reports of anything unusual, all right. And if they want to investigate +them, that’s up to each commander. But no Project ‘Saucer’ teams will +check on reports. That’s all ended.” + +There at the last, it had been a little. like a courtroom scene, and I +was glad the interview was over. Major Boggs was unruffled as ever. I +apologized for the barrage of questions, and thanked him for being so +decent about it. + +“It was interesting, getting your viewpoint,” he said. He smiled, still +the courteous sphinx, and went on out. + +After Bogs had left, I talked with General Smith alone. I told him I +was not convinced, + +“I’d like to see the complete files on these cases I mentioned,” I +explained. “Also, I’d like to talk with the last commanding officer or +senior Intelligence officer attached to Project ‘Saucer.’” + +“I’m not sure about the senior officer,” General Smith answered. “He +may have been detached already. But I don’t see any reason why you +can’t see those files. I’ll phone Wright Field and call you.” + +I was about to leave, but he motioned for me to sit down. + +“I can understand how you feel about the Mantell report,” General Smith +said earnestly. “I knew Tommy Mantell very well. And Colonel Hix is a +classmate of mine. I knew neither one was the kind to have +hallucinations. That case got me, at first.” + +“You believe Venus is the true answer?” I asked him. + +He seemed surprised. “It must be, if Wright Field says so.” + +When I went back to the Press Branch, I asked Jack Shea for the +case-report summaries that Boggs had mentioned, He got them for me—two +collections of loose-leaf mimeographed sheets enclosed in black +binders. So these were the “secret files”! + +Across the hall, in the press room, I opened one book at random. The +first thing I saw was this: + +“A meteorologist should compute the approximate energy required to +evaporate as much cloud as shown in the incident 26 photographs.” + +Photographs. Major Boggs had said there were no important pictures. I +tucked the binders under my arm and went out to my car. Perhaps these +books hinted at more than Boggs had realized. But that didn’t seem +likely. As liaison man, he should know all the answers. I was almost +positive that he did. + +But I was equally sure they weren’t the answers he had given me. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +That night I went through the Project “Saucer” summary of cases. It was +a strange experience. + +The first report I checked was the Mantell case. Nothing that Boggs had +said had changed my firm opinion. I knew the answer was not Venus, and +I was certain Boggs knew it, too. + +The Godman Field incident was listed as Case 33. The report also +touches on the Lockbourne Air Base sighting. As already described, the +same mysterious object, or a similar one, was seen moving at five +hundred miles an hour over Lockbourne Field. It was also sighted at +other points in Ohio. + +The very first sentence in Case 33 showed a determined attempt to +explain away the object that Mantell chased: + +“Detailed attention should be given to any possible astronomical body +or phenomenon which might serve to identify the object or objects.” + +(Some of the final Project report on Mantell has been given in an +earlier chapter. I am repeating a few paragraphs below, to help in +weighing Major Boggs’s answer.) + +These are official statements of the Project astronomer: + +“On January 7, 1948, Venus was less than half its full brilliance. +However, under exceptionally good atmospheric conditions, and with the +eye shielded from the direct rays of the sun, Venus might be seen as an +exceedingly tiny bright point of light. It is possible to see it in +daytime when one knows exactly where to look. Of course, the chances of +looking at the right spot are very few. + +“It has been unofficially reported that the object was a Navy cosmic +ray balloon. If this can be established it is to be preferred as an +explanation. However, if reports from other localities refer to the +same object, any such device must have been a good many miles high—25 +to 50—in order to have been seen clearly, almost simultaneously, from +places 175 miles apart.” + +This absolutely ruled out the balloon possibility, as the investigator +fully realized. That he must have considered the space-ship answer at +this point is strongly indicated in the following sentence: + +“If all reports were of a single object, in the knowledge of this +investigator no man-made object could have been large enough and far +enough away for the approximate simultaneous sightings.” + +The next paragraph of this Project “Saucer” report practically +nullified Major Boggs’s statement that Venus was the sole explanation: + +“It is most unlikely, however, that so many separate persons should at +that time have chanced on Venus in the daylight sky. It seems therefore +much more probable that more than one object was involved. The sighting +might have included two or more balloons (or aircraft) or they might +have included Venus (in the fatal chase) and balloons. . . . Such a +hypothesis, however, does still necessitate the inclusion of at least +two other objects than Venus, and it certainly is coincidental that so +many people would have chosen this one day to be confused (to the +extent of reporting the matter) by normal airborne objects. . . .” + +Farther on in the summaries, I found a report that has an extremely +significant bearing on the Mantell case. This was Case 175, in which +the same consultant attempts to explain a strange daylight sighting at +Santa Fe, New Mexico. + +One of the Santa Fe observers described the mysterious aerial object as +round and extremely bright, “like a dime in the sky.” Here is what the +Project “Saucer” investigator had to say: + +“The magnitude of Venus was -3.8 (approximately the same as on January +7, 1948). it could have been visible in the daylight sky. It would have +appeared, however, more like a pinpoint of brilliant light than ‘like a +dime in the sky.’ It seems unlikely that it would be noticed at all. . +. . Considering discrepancies in the two reports, I suggest the moon in +a gibbous phase; in daytime this is unusual and most people are not +used to it, so that they fail to identify it. While this hypothesis has +little to correspond to either report, it is worth mentioning. + +“It seems far more probable that some type of balloon was the object in +this case.” + +Both the Godman Field and the Santa Fe cases were almost identical, so +far as the visibility of Venus was concerned. In the Santa Fe case, +which had very little publicity, Project “Saucer” dropped the Venus +explanation as a practically impossible answer. But in Case 33, it had +tried desperately to make Venus loom up as a huge gleaming object +during Mantell’s fatal chase. + +There was only one explanation: Project “Saucer” must have known the +truth from the start-that Mantell had pursued a tremendous space ship. +That fact alone, if it had exploded in the headlines at that time, +might have caused dangerous panic. To make it worse, Captain Mantell +had been killed. Even if he had actually died from blacking out while +trying to follow the swiftly ascending space ship, few would have +believed it. The story would spread like wildfire: _Spacemen kill an +American Air Force Pilot!_ + +This explained the tight lid that had been clamped down at once on the +Mantell case. It was more than a year before that policy had been +changed; then the first official discussions of possible space visitors +had begun to appear. + +_True’s_ plans to announce the interplanetary answer would have fitted +a program of preparing the people. But the Air Force had not expected +such nation-wide reaction from _True’s_ article; that much I knew. +Evidently, they had not suspected such a detailed analysis of the +Godman Field case, in particular. I could see now why Boggs, Jesse +Stay, and the others had tried so hard to convince me that we had made +a mistake. + +It was quite possible that we had revived that first Air Force fear of +dangerous publicity. But Mantell had been dead for two years. News +stories would not have the same impact now, even if they did report +that spacemen had downed the pilot. And I doubted that there would be +headlines. Unless the Air Force supplied some convincing details, the +manner of his death would still be speculation. + +Apparently I had been right; this case was the key to the riddle. It +had been the first major sighting in 1948. Project “Saucer” had been +started immediately afterward. In searching for a plausible answer, +which could be published if needed, officials had probably set the +pattern for handling all other reports, “Explaining away” would be a +logical program, until the public could be prepared for an official +announcement. + +As I went through other case reports, I found increasing evidence to +back up this belief. + +Case 1, the Muroc Air Base sightings, had plainly baffled Project men +seeking a plausible answer. Because of the Air Force witnesses, they +could not ignore the reports. Highly trained Air Force test pilots and +ground officers had seen two fast-moving silver-colored disks circling +over the base. + +Flying at speeds of from three to four hundred miles an hour, the disks +whirled in amazingly tight maneuvers. Since they were only eight +thousand feet above the field, these turns could be clearly seen. + +“It is tempting to explain the object as ordinary aircraft observed +under unusual light conditions,” the case report reads. “But the +evidence of tight circles, if maintained, is strongly contradictory.” + +Although Case 1 was technically in the “unexplained” group, Wright +Field had made a final effort to explain away the reports. Said the Air +Materiel Command: + +“The sightings were the result of misinterpretation of real stimuli, +probably research balloons.” + +In all the world’s history, there is no record of a +three-hundred-mile-an-hour wind. To cover the distance involved, the +drifting balloons would have had to move at this speed, or faster. If a +three-hundred-mile wind had been blowing at eight thousand feet, +nothing on earth could have stood it, Muroc Air Base would have been +blown off the map. What did the Muroc test pilots _really_ see that +day? + +While searching for the Chiles-Whitted report, ran across the Fairfield +Suisan mystery-light case, which I had learned about in Seattle. This +was Case 215. The Project “Saucer” comment reads: + +“If the observations were exactly as stated by the witnesses, the ball +of light could not be a fireball. . . . A fireball would not have come +into view at 1,000 feet and risen to 20,000. If correct, there is no +astronomical explanation. Under unusual conditions, a fireball might +appear to rise somewhat as a result of perspective. The absence of +trail and sound definitely does not favor the meteor hypothesis, but . +. . does not rule it out finally. It does not seem likely any meteor or +auroral phenomenon could be as bright as this.” + +Then came one of the most revealing lines in all the case reports: + +“In the almost hopeless absence of any other natural explanation, one +must consider the possibility of the object’s having been a meteor, +even though the description does not fit very well.” + +One air-base officer, I recalled, had insisted that the object had been +a lighted balloon. Checking the secret report from the Air Weather +Service, I found this: + +“Case 2 15. Very high winds, 60-70 miles per hour from southwest, all +levels. Definitely prohibits any balloon from southerly motion.” + +_This case is officially listed as answered_. + +In Case 19, where a cigar-shaped object was seen at Dayton, Ohio, the +Project investigator made a valiant attempt to fit an answer: + +“Possibly a close pair of fireballs, but it seems unlikely. If one were +to stretch the description to its very limits and make allowances for +untrained observers, he could say that the cigar-like shape might have +been illusion caused by rapid motion, and that the bright sunlight +might have made both the objects and the trails nearly invisible. + +“This investigator does not prefer that interpolation, and it should he +resorted to only if all other possible explanations fail.” + +_This case, too, is officially listed as answered_. + +Case 24, which occurred June 12, 1947, twelve days before the Arnold +sighting, shows the same determined attempt to find an explanation, no +matter how farfetched. + +In this case, two fast-moving objects were seen at Weiser, Idaho, Twice +they approached the earth, then swiftly circled upward. The Project +investigator tried hard to prove that these might have been parts of a +double fireball. But at the end, he said, “In spite of all this, this +investigator would prefer a terrestrial explanation for the incident.” + +It was plain that this report had not been planned originally for +release to the public. No Project investigator would have been so +frank. With each new report, I was more and more convinced that these +had been confidential discussions of various possible answers, +circulated between Project “Saucer” officials. Why they had been +released now was still a puzzle, though I began to see a glimmer of the +answer. + +The Chiles-Whitted sighting was listed as Case 144. As I started on the +report, I wondered if Major Boggs’s “bolide” answer would have any more +foundation than these other “astronomical” cases. + +The report began with these words: + +“There is no astronomical explanation, if we accept the report at face +value. But the sheer improbability of the facts as stated, particularly +in the absence of any known aircraft in the vicinity, makes it +necessary to see whether any other explanation, even though farfetched, +can be considered.” + +After this candid admission of his intentions, the Project consultant +earnestly attempts to fit the two pilots’ space ship description to a +slow-moving meteor. + +“It will have to be left to the psychologists,” he goes on, “to tell us +whether the immediate trail of a bright meteor could produce the +subjective impression of a ship with lighted windows. Considering only +the Chiles-Whitted sighting, the hypothesis seems very improbable.” + +As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, observers at Robbins Air Force +Base, Macon, Georgia, saw the same mysterious object streak overhead, +trailing varicolored flames. This was about one hour before Chiles and +Whitted saw the onrushing space ship. + +To bolster up the meteor theory, the Project consultant suggests a +one-hour error in time. The explanation: The airliner would be on +daylight-saving time. + +“If there is no time difference,” he proceeds, “the. object must have +been an extraordinary meteor. . . . in which case it would have covered +the distance from Macon to Montgomery in a minute or two.” + +Having checked the time angle before, I knew this was incorrect. Both +reports were given in eastern standard time. And in a later part of the +Project report, the consultant admits this fact. But he has an +alternate answer: “If the difference in time is real, the object was +some form of known aircraft, regardless of its bizarre nature.” + +The “bizarre nature” is not specified. Nor does the Project “Saucer” +report try to fit the Robbins Field description to any earth-made +aircraft. The air-base observers were struck by the object’s huge size, +its projectile-like shape, and the weird flames trailing behind. Except +for the double-deck windows, the air-base men’s description tallied +with the pilots’. With the ship at five thousand feet or higher, its +windows would not have been visible from the ground. All the observers +agreed on the object’s very high speed. + +Neither of the Project “Saucer” alternate answers will fit the facts. + +1. The one-hour interval has been proved correct. Therefore, as the +Project consultant admits, it could not be a meteor. + +2. The Robbins Field witnesses have flatly denied it was a conventional +plane. The Air Force screened 225 airplane schedules, and proved there +was no such plane in the area. No ordinary aircraft would have caused +the brilliant streak that startled the DC-3 passenger and both of the +pilots. + +Major Boggs’s bolide answer had gone the way of his Venus explanation. +I wondered if the Gorman light-balloon solution would fade out the same +way. But the Project report on Gorman (Case 172) merely hinted at the +balloon answer. In the Appendix, there was a brief comment: “Note that +standard 30 inch and 65 inch weather balloons have vertical speeds of +600 and 1100 feet per minute, respectively.” + +In all the reports I have mentioned, and on through both the case +books, one thing was immediately obvious. All the testimony, all the +actual evidence was missing. These were only the declared conclusions +of Project “Saucer.” Whether they matched the actual conclusions in +Wright Field secret files there was no way of knowing. + +But even in these sketch reports, I found some odd hints, clues to what +Project officials might really be thinking. + +After an analysis of two Indianapolis cases, one investigator reports: + +“Barring hallucination, these two incidents and 17, 75 and 84 seem the +most tangible from the standpoint of description, of all those +reported, and the most difficult to explain away as sheer nonsense.” + +Case 17, I found, was that of Kenneth Arnold. But in spite of the above +admission that this case cannot be explained away, it is officially +listed as answered. + +Case 75 struck a familiar note. This was the strange occurrence at Twin +Falls, Idaho, on which _True_ had had a tip months before. A disk +moving through a canyon at tremendous speed had whipped the treetops as +if by a violent hurricane. The report was brief, but one sentence stood +out with a startling effect: + +“Twin Falls, Idaho, August 13, 1847,” the report began. “There is +clearly nothing astronomical in this incident. . . . Two points stand +out, the sky-blue color, and the fact that the trees ‘spun around on +top as if they were in a vacuum.’” + +Then came the sentence that made me sit up in my chair. + +“Apparently it must be classed with the other bona fide disk +sightings.” + +_The other bona fide sightings!_ + +Was this a slip? Or had the Air Force deliberately left this report in +the file? If they had, what was back of it—what was back of releasing +all of these telltale case summaries? + +I skimmed through the rest as quickly as possible looking for other +clues. Here are a few of the things that. caught my eye: + +Case 10. United Airlines report . . . despite conjectures, no logical +explanation seems possible. . . . + +Case 122. Holloman Air Force Base, April 6, 1948. [This was the +Commander McLaughlin White Sands report.] No logical explanation. . . . + +Case 124. North Atlantic, April 18, 1948 . . . radar sighting . . . no +astronomical explanation. . . . + +Case 127. Yugoslav-Greek frontier, May 7, 1948 . . . information too +limited. . . . + +Case 168. Arnheim, The Hague, July 20, 1948 . . . object seen four +times . . . had two decks and no wings . . . very high speed comparable +to a V-2. . . . + +Case 183. Japan, October 15, 1948. Radar experts should determine +acceleration rates. . . . + +Case 188. Goose Bay, Labrador, October 29, 1948. Not astronomical . . . +picked up by radar . . . radar experts should evaluate the sightings . +. . . + +Case 189. Goose Bay, Labrador, October 31, 1948 . . . not astronomical +. . . observed on radarscope. . . . + +Case 196. Radarscope observation . . . object traveling directly into +the wind. . . . + +Case 198. Radar blimp moving at high speed and continuously changing +direction. . . . + +Case 222. Furstenfeldbruck, Germany, November 23, 1948 . . . object +plotted by radar DF at 27,000 feet . . . short time later circling at +40,000 feet . . . speed estimated 200-500 m.p.h. . . . + +Case 223 . . . seventeen individuals saw and reported object . . . +green flare . . . all commercial and government airfield questioned . . +. no success. . . . + +Case 224. Las Vegas, New Mexico, December 8, 1948 . . . description +exactly as in 223 . . . flare reported traveling very high speed . . . +very accurate observation made by two F.B.I. agents. . . . + +Case 231 . . . another glowing green flare just as described above. . . +. + +Case 233 . . . definitely no balloon . . . made turns . . . accelerated +from 200 to 500 miles per hour . . . . + +Going back over this group of cases, I made an incredible discovery: +All but three of these unsolved cases were officially listed as +answered. + +The three were the United Airlines case, the White Sands sightings, and +the double-decked space-ship report from The Hague. + +Going back to the first report, I checked all the summaries. Nine times +out of ten, the explanations were pure conjecture. Sometimes no answer +was even attempted. + +Although 375 cases were mentioned, the summaries ended with Case 244. +Several cases were omitted. I found clues to some of these in the +secret Air Weather Service report, including the mysterious “green +light” sightings at Las Vegas and Albuquerque. + +Of the remaining 228 cases, Project “Saucer” lists all but 34 as +explained. These unsolved cases are brought up again for a final +attempt at explaining them away. In the appendix, the Air Materiel +Command carefully states: + +“It is not the intent to discredit the character of observers, but each +case has undesirable elements and these can’t be disregarded.” + +After this perfunctory gesture, the A.M.C. proceeds to discredit +completely the testimony of highly trained Air Force test pilots and +officers at Muroc. (The 300-400 m.p.h. research balloon explanation.) + +The A.M.C. then brushes off the report of Captain Emil Smith and the +crew of a United Airline plane. On July 4, 1947, nine huge flying disks +were counted by Captain Smith and his crew. The strange objects were in +sight for about twelve minutes; the crew watched them for the entire +period and described them in detail later. + +Despite Project “Saucer’s” admission that it had no answer, the A.M.C. +contrived one. Ignoring the evidence of veteran airline pilots, it +said: + +“Since the sighting occurred at sunset, when illusory effect are most +likely, the objects could have been ordinary aircraft, balloons, birds, +or pure illusion.” + +In only three cases did the A.M.C. admit it had no answer. Even here, +it was implied that the witnesses were either confused or incompetent. + +In its press release of December 27, 1949, the Air Force had mentioned +375 cases. It implied that all of these were answered. The truth was +just the reverse, as was proved by these case books. Almost two hundred +cases still were shown to be unsolved-although the real answers might +be hidden in Wright Field files. + +These two black books puzzled me. Why had the Air Force lifted its +secrecy on these case summaries? Why had Major Boggs given me those +answers, when these books would flatly refute them? + +I thought I new the reason now but there was only one way to make sure. +The actual Wright Field files should tell the answer. + +When I phoned General Sory Smith, his voice sounded a little peculiar. +“I called Wright Field,” he said. “But they said you wouldn’t find +anything of value out there.” + +“You mean they refused to let me see their files?” + +“No, I didn’t say that. But they’re short of personnel. They don’t want +to take people off other jobs to look up the records.” + +“I won’t need any help,” I said. “Major Boggs said each case had a +separate book. If they’d just show me the shelves, I could do the job +in two days.” + +There was a long silence. + +“I’ll ask them again,” the General said finally. “Call me sometime next +week.” + +I said I would, and hung up. The message from Wright Field hadn’t +surprised me. But Smith’s changed manner did. He had sounded oddly +disturbed. + +While I was waiting for Wright Field’s answer, Ken Purdy phoned. He +told me that staff men from _Time_ and _Life_ magazines were seriously +checking on the “little men” story. Both Purdy and I were sure this was +a colossal hoax, but there was just a faint chance that someone had +been on the fringe of a real happening and had made up the rest of the +story. + +They key man in the story seemed to be one George Koehler, of Denver, +Colorado. The morning after Purdy called, I took a plane to Denver. +During the flight I went over the “little men” story again. It had been +printed in over a hundred papers. + +According to the usual version, George Koehler had accidentally learned +of two crashed saucers at a radar station on our southwest border. The +ships were made of some strange metal. The cabin was stationary, placed +within a large rotating ring. + +Here is the story as it was told in the _Kansas City Star_: + + +In flight, the ring revolved at a high rate of speed, while the cabin +remained stationary like the center of a gyroscope. + +Each of the two ships seen by Koehler were occupied by a crew of two. +In the badly damaged ship, these bodies were charred so badly that +little could be learned from them. The occupants of the other ship, +while dead when they were found, were not burned or disfigured, and, +when Koehler saw them, were in a perfect state of preservation. Medical +reports, according to Koehler, showed that these men were almost +identical with earth-dwelling humans, except for a few minor +differences. They were of a uniform height of three feet, were +uniformly blond, beardless, and their teeth were completely free of +fillings or cavities. They did not wear undergarments, but had their +bodies taped. + +The ships seemed to be magnetically controlled and powered. + +In addition to a piece of metal, Koehler had a clock or automatic +calendar taken from one of the crafts. + +Koehler said that the best assumption as to the source of the ships was +the planet Venus. + + +When I arrived at Denver, I went to the radio station where Koehler +worked. I told him that if he had proof that we could print, we would +buy the story. + +As the first substantial proof, I asked to see the piece of strange +metal he was supposed to have. Koehler said it had been sent to another +city to be analyzed. I asked to see pictures of the crashed saucers. +These, too, proved to be somewhere else. So did the queer “space clock” +that Koehler was said to have. + +By this time I was sure it was all a gag. I had the feeling that +Koehler, back of his manner of seeming indignation at my demands, was +hugely enjoying himself. I cut the interview short and called Ken Purdy +in New York. + +“Well, thank God that’s laid to rest,” he said when I told him. + +But even though the “little men” story had turned out-as expected—a +dud, Koehler had done me a good turn. An old friend, William E. +Barrett, well-known fiction writer, now lived in Denver. Thanks to +Koehler’s gag, I had a pleasant visit with Bill and his family. + +On the trip back, I bought a paper at the Chicago airport. On an inside +page I ran across Koehler’s name. According to the A.P., he had just +admitted the whole thing was a big joke. + +But in spite of this, the “little men” story goes on and on. Apparently +not even Koehler can stop it now. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +For two weeks after my return to Washington, General Sory Smith held +off a final answer about my trip to Wright Field. Meantime, Ken Purdy +had called him backing my request to see the Project files. + +It was obvious to me that Wright Field was determined not to open the +files. But the General was trying to avoid making it official. + +“Why can’t you accept my word there’s nothing to the saucers?” he asked +me one day. “You’re impeaching my personal veracity.” + +But finally he saw there was no other way out. He told me I had been +officially refused permission to see the Wright Field files. Some time +later, Ken Purdy phoned General Smith. + +“General, if the Air Force wants to talk to us off the record, we’ll +play ball. _True_ will either handle it from then on whatever way you +think best or we’ll keep still.” + +Whether this offer was relayed higher up, I don’t know. But nothing +came of it. + +Meantime, saucer reports had begun to come in from all over the +country. Some even came from abroad. Some of these 1950 sightings have +already been mentioned in early chapters. Besides the strange affair at +Tucson on February 1, there were several other cases in February. Three +of these were in South America. One saucer was reported near the naval +air station at Alameda, California. Some were sighted in Texas, New +Mexico, and other parts of the Southwest. + +In March, the wave of sightings reached such a height that the Air +Force again denied the saucers’ existence. This followed a report that +a flying disk had crashed near Mexico City and that the wreckage had +been viewed by U. S. Air Force officials. + +Scores of Orangeburg, South Carolina, residents watched a disk that +hovered over that city on March 10. It was described as silver-bright, +turning slowly in the air before it disappeared. The day before this, +residents of Van Nuys, California, saw a bright disk moving swiftly +four hundred feet in the air. Seen through a telescope, it appeared to +be fifty feet in diameter. + +Disks were reported at numerous places in Mexico, including +Guadalajara, Juárez, Mazatlán, and Durango. On the twelfth of March, +the crew and passengers of an American Airlines ship saw a large +gleaming disk high above Monterrey airport in Mexico. + +Captain W. R. Hunt, the senior airline pilot, watched the disk through +a theodolite at the airport. This disk and most of the others seen in +Mexico were similar in description to the one sighted at Dayton, Ohio, +on March 8. This was the large metallic saucer that hovered high over +Vandalia Airport, until Air Force and National Guard fighters raced up +after it. The disk rose vertically into the sky at incredible speed, +hovered a while longer, and then vanished. + +Within twenty-four hours this mystery disk had been “identified” as the +planet Venus. (It was broad daylight.) Newspapers quoted “trained +astronomical officials in Dayton” as the source for this explanation. + +Meanwhile the Mexican government newspaper, _El Nacional_, quoted “a +famous and reputable astronomer” as saying the numerous disks reported +over Mexico “carry visitors from Mars.” + +One of the strangest reports came from the naval air station at Dallas, +Texas. It was about 11:30 A.M. on March 16 when CPO Charles Lewis saw a +disk streak up at a B-36 bomber. The disk appeared about twenty to +twenty-five feet in diameter, Lewis reported. Racing at incredible +speed, it shot up under the bomber, hung there for a second, then broke +away at a 45-degree angle. Following this, it shot straight up into the +air and disappeared. + +Captain M. A. Nation, C. O. of the station, said it was “I the second +report in ten days. On March 7, said Captain Nation, a tower control +operator named C. E. Edmundson saw a similar disk flying so fast it was +almost a blur. + +“He estimated its speed at three thousand to four thousand miles per +hour,” Captain Nation stated. “Of course, he had no instruments to +compute the speed, so that’s a pure estimate.” + +It was some time before this when I heard the first crazy rumor about +the guided-missile display. This story, which had new details every +time I heard it described the Air Force as refusing to let the Navy +announce a new type of missile. According to the rumors, the Air Force +was trying to prove its own missile far superior, to keep the Navy from +invading its long-range bombing domain. Then the Army joined the +pitched battle with still a third guided missile, according to the +rumors. + +And the flying disks? Army, Navy, and Air Force missiles, launched in +droves all over the country to prove whose was the best? A public +missile race, with the joint Chiefs of Staff to decide the winner! + +It seems fantastic that this theory would be believed by any +intelligent person. In effect, it accuses the armed services of +deliberate, criminal negligence, of endangering millions in the cities +below. + +I am convinced that some of these rumors led to at least one of the +published guesses about our missile program. One widely publicized +story stated that the flying saucers seen hurtling through our skies +are actually two types of secret weapons. One, according to radio and +newspaper accounts, is a disk that whizzes through space, halts +suspended in the air, soars to thirty thousand feet, drops to one +thousand feet, and then usually disintegrates in the air. + +These saucers, it was said, ranged from 20 inches to 250 feet in +diameter. They were supposed to be pilotless—and harmless. + +The second type was said to be a jet version of the Navy’s circular +airfoil “Flying Flapjack.” It was credited with fantastic speed. + +The “true disks,” however, were mainly Air Force devices, according to +the report. + +“Some are guided, others are not,” said the radio commentator who +released this story. “They can stay stationary, dash off to right or +left, and move like lightning. But they are utterly harmless.” + +In these “harmless” disks there was supposed to be an explosive charge +that destroyed them in mid-air at a predetermined time. + +Within a few days after this story was broadcast, the _United States +News and World Report_ declared that the saucers are real, and +identified them as jet models of Navy “Flying Flapjacks.” This +magazine, which is not an official publication despite its name, +mentioned the variable-direction jet principle that I had previously +described in the True article. + +These two flying-saucer “explanations” brought denials from the White +House, the Navy, and the Air Force. + +The Air Force flatly declared that: + +1. None of the armed forces is conducting secret experiments with +disk-shaped flying objects that could be a basis for the reported +phenomena. + +2. There is no evidence that the latter stem from the activities of any +foreign nation. + +Before this, President Truman stated he knew nothing of any such +objects being developed by the United States or any other nation. + +The Navy denial came immediately after the first broadcast story. It +ran: + +“The Navy is not engaged in research or in flying any jet-powered, +circular-shaped aircraft.” + +The Navy added that one model of a pancake-shaped aircraft, called the +Zimmerman Skimmer, was built but was never flown. However, a small, +three-thousand-pound scale model did fly and was under radio control +during flight. This last device is now being rumored as the Navy’s +unpiloted “missile,” said to have been launched over the country like +the so-called “harmless” disks. + +Even though all these accounts have been officially denied, many +Americans may still believe they are true. I have no desire to +criticize the authors of these stories; I believe that in following up +certain guided-missile leads they were misled into accepting the +conclusions they gave. + +But these stories, particularly the accounts of huge unpiloted disks, +may have planted certain fears in the public mind-fears that are +completely unwarranted. For this reason, I have personally checked at +Washington in regard to the dangers of unpiloted missiles. Here aye the +facts I learned: + +1. Neither the Army, Navy, nor Air Force has at any time staged any +guided-missile competition as rumored. + +2. No unpiloted missiles or remote-controlled experimental craft have +been tested over American cities or heavily populated areas. + +3. No unpiloted missile carrying dangerous explosives, whether for +destruction of the device or other purposes, has been deliberately +launched or tested over heavily populated areas. + +In regard to the so-called jet-propelled “Flying Flapjack,” I have been +assured by Admiral Calvin Bolster, of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, +that this type of plane has never been produced. I concede that he +might make this statement to conceal a secret development, but there is +one fact of which every American can be certain: Neither this type, nor +the radio-controlled smaller model, has been or will be flown or +launched over areas where people would be endangered. + +The three armed services are working on guided missiles. They are not +risking American lives by launching such missiles at random across the +United States, + +Although most of our guided-missile projects are secret, it is possible +to give certain facts about guided-missile developments in general. + +The first successful long-range missiles were produced by the Germans. +These were the buzz-bomb and. the V-2 rocket. But research in various +other types was carried on during the war. Some of this was with oval +and round types of airfoils. As already stated by Paul Redell, there is +strong evidence that the disk-shaped foil resulted from German +observations of either space ships or remote-control disk-shaped +“observer units.” All the Nazi space-exploration plans followed this +discovery that we were being observed by a race from another planet. + +After the end of World War II, the international guided-missile race +began, with the British, Russians, and ourselves as the chief +contenders. Numerous types have been developed-winged bombs, small +radar-guided projectiles launched from planes, and ground-to-plane +plane-to-ground, and plane-to-plane missiles, equipped with target +homing devices. + +In certain recent types, the range can be stated as several hundred +miles. So far as I have learned, after weeks of rechecking this point, +not a single long-range missile has been identified as Russian. + +Since this country is working closely with Great Britain on global +defense problems, it is no violation of security to say that we have +probably exchanged certain guided-missile information. In regard to the +British long-range missile picture outlined to me by John Steele, I can +state two major facts: + +1. The British have categorically denied testing such long-range +missiles over American territory, where they might endanger American +citizens. There is convincing evidence that they are telling the truth. + +2. There is no British missile now built, or planned, that could +explain the objects seen by Captain Mantell, Chiles and Whitted, and +witnesses in most of the major sightings. + +The preceding statement applies equally to American-built missiles. +There is no experimental craft or guided missile even remotely +considered in this country that would begin to approach the dimensions +and performance of the space ships seen in these cases. + +There is concrete evidence that the United States is as well advanced +as any other nation in guided-missile development. Certain recent +advances should place us in the lead, unless confidential reports on +Soviet progress are completely wrong. + +If American scientists and engineers can learn the source of the space +ships’ power and adapt it to our use, it may well be the means for +ending the threat of war. The Soviet scientists are well aware of this; +their research into cosmic rays and other natural forces has been +redoubled since the flying-saucer reports of 1947. + +The secret of the space ships’ power is more important than even the +hydrogen bomb. It may someday be the key to the fate of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +After one year’s investigation of the flying saucers and Air Force +operations, I have come to the following conclusions: + +1. The Air Force was puzzled, and badly worried when the disks first +were sighted in 1947. + +2. The Air Force began to suspect the truth soon after Mantell’s +death—perhaps even before. + +3. Project “Saucer” was set up to investigate and at the same time +conceal from the public the truth about the saucers. + +4. During the spring of 1949 this policy, which had been strictly +maintained by Forrestal, underwent an abrupt change. On top-level +orders, it was decided to let the facts gradually leak out, in order to +prepare the American people. + +5. This was the reason for the April 27, 1949, report, with its +suggestions about space visitors. + +6. While I was preparing the article for the January 1950 issue of +_True_, it had been considered in line with the general education +program. But the unexpected public reaction was mistaken by the Air +Force for hysteria, resulting in their hasty denial that the saucers +existed. + +7. Because the Air Force feared any closer analysis of the Mantell +case, Major Boggs was instructed to publicize the Venus explanation. +Although it had been denied, the Air Force knew that most people had +forgotten this or had never known it. + +8. Major Boggs, having stated this answer publicly (along with the +other Chiles-Whitted and Gorman answers), was forced to stick to it, +though he knew it was wrong and that the case summaries would prove it. + +9. The case summaries were released to a small number of Washington +newsmen, to continue planting the space-travel thought; this decision +being made after _True’s_ reception proved to the Air Force that the +public was better prepared than had been thought. + +In regard to the flying saucers themselves, I believe that in the +majority of cases, space ships are the answer: + +1. The earth has been under periodic observation from another planet, +or other planets, for at least two centuries. + +2. This observation suddenly increased in 1947, following, the series +of A-bomb explosions begun in 1945. + +3. The observation, now intermittent, is part of a long-range survey +and will continue indefinitely. No immediate attempt to contact the +earth seems evident. There may be some unknown block to making contact, +but it is more probable that the spacemen’s plans are not complete. + +I believe that the Air Force is still investigating the saucer +sightings, either through the Air Materiel Command or some other +headquarters. It is possible that some Air Force officials still fear a +panic when the truth is officially revealed. In that case, we may +continue for a long time to see routine denials alternating with new +suggestions of interplanetary travel. + +The education problem is complicated by two imperative needs. We must +try to learn as much as we can about the space ships’ source of power, +and at the same time try to prevent clues to this information from +reaching an enemy on earth, + +If censorship is suddenly imposed on all flying-saucer reports, this +will be the chief reason. This would also help solve a minor problem +where partial censorship now exists. A few test missiles launched from +a southwest base have been seen by citizens at a distance from the +proving grounds. In some cases, their reports have got into local +papers, though the wire services did not carry them. + +These missile tests are peculiarly different from the general run of +flying-saucer reports. Contrasted with the Chiles-Whitted, Mantell, and +other space-ship sightings, they stand out with a certain pattern, easy +to recognize. News or radio reports of these tests might accidentally +give an enemy clues to the type, speed, and range of this particular +missile, once he learned the pattern. Periodic censorship, or even a +complete blackout of sighting reports, may be enforced during the next +year or so. + +For the purposes mentioned, such action would be justified. But +whenever such censorship is lifted, the complete truth about space +visitors should be told at the same time: the full details of all the +major cases, the size of the Godman Field space ship, any attempted +landings or other efforts at contact by interplanetary visitors, and +all other details that now are official secrets. + +I also believe that a certain group of disk sightings in this country +is linked with our guided missiles. Official announcements, of course, +may be delayed a long time. With this exception, I believe that +Americans should be told the truth, now. + +When the announcement of our guided missiles is made, some Americans +not familiar with the facts may accept it as a full answer. If +officials are not yet ready to reveal the space-travel facts, the +Mantell evidence and other key cases may be deliberately glossed over. + +But even if all the evidence—the world-wide sightings, the old records, +the Chiles-Whitted and other cases—should be completely ignored, +Americans cannot escape eventual contact with dwellers on other +planets. Even though space visitors never attempt contact with us, +sooner or later earthlings will be traveling to distant planets—planets +that scientists have said are almost surely inhabited. + +The American people have proved their ability to take incredible +things. We have survived the stunning impact of the Atomic Age. We +should be able to take the Interplanetary Age, when it comes, without +hysteria. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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Keyhoe</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Flying Saucers are Real</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Donald E. Keyhoe</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 15, 2002 [eBook #5883]<br /> +[Most recently updated: February 5, 2022]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John B. Hare</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL ***</div> + +<h1>The Flying Saucers are Real</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by Donald E. Keyhoe</h2> + +<p class="center"> +New York +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Fawcett Publications, 1950 +</p> + +<p class="center"> +{scanned at sacred-texts.com, March 2002} +</p> + +<p class="center"> +This book is in the public domain because it was not renewed in a timely +fashion at the US Copyright Office, as required by law at the time. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX.</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p class="center"> +<i>To Helen,<br/> +with love</i> +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p> +Donald E. Keyhoe, who relates here his investigation of the flying saucers, +writes with twenty-five years of experience in observing aeronautical +developments. +</p> + +<p> +He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He flew in active +service with the Marine Corps, managed the tour of the historic plane in which +Bennett and Byrd made their North Pole flight, was aide to Charles Lindbergh +after the famous Paris flight, and was chief of information for the Aeronautics +Branch, Department of Commerce. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>Author’s Note</h2> + +<p> +ON APRIL 27, 1949, the U.S. Air Force stated: +</p> + +<p> +<i>“The mere existence of some yet unidentified flying objects +necessitates a constant vigilance on the part of Project ‘Saucer’ +personnel, and on the part of the civilian population.</i> +</p> + +<p> +<i>“Answers have been—and will be—drawn from such factors as +guided missile research activity, balloons, astronomical phenomena. . . . But +there are still question marks.</i> +</p> + +<p> +<i>“Possibilities that the saucers are foreign aircraft have also been +considered. . . . But observations based on nuclear power plant research in +this country label as ‘highly improbable’ the existence on Earth of +engines small enough to have Powered the saucers.</i> +</p> + +<p> +<i>“Intelligent life on Mars . . . is not impossible but is completely +unproven. The possibility of intelligent life on the Planet Venus is not +considered completely unreasonable by astronomers.</i> +</p> + +<p> +<i>“The saucers are not jokes. Neither are they cause for +alarm.”</i><a href="#fn1" name="fnref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn1"></a> <a href="#fnref1">[1]</a> +Project “Saucer” Preliminary Study of Flying Saucers. +</p> + +<p> +On December 27, 1949, the Air Force denied the existence of flying +saucers.<a href="#fn2" name="fnref2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn2"></a> <a href="#fnref2">[2]</a> +2. Air Force Press Release 629-49.’ +</p> + +<p> +On December 30, 1949, the Air Force revealed part of a secret Project +“Saucer” report to members of the press at Washington. The official +report stated: +</p> + +<p> +“It will never be possible to say with certainty that any individual did +not see a space ship, an enemy missile, or some other object.” +</p> + +<p> +Discussing the motives of possible visitors from space, the report also stated: +</p> + +<p> +“Such a civilization might observe that on Earth we now have atomic bombs +and are fast developing rockets. In view of the past history of mankind, they +should be alarmed. We should therefore expect at this time above all to behold +such visitations.” +</p> + +<p> +(In its April 22 report, Project “Saucer” stated that space travel +outside the solar system is almost a certainty.) +</p> + +<p> +On February 22, 1950, the Air Force again denied the existence of flying +saucers. On this same date, two saucers reported above Key West Naval Air +Station were tracked by radar; they were described as maneuvering at high speed +fifty miles above the earth. The Air Force refused to comment. +</p> + +<p> +On March 9, 1950, a large metallic disk was pursued by F-51 and jet fighters +and observed by scores of Air Force officers at Wright Field, Ohio. On March +18, an Air Force spokesman again denied that saucers exist and specifically +stated that they were not American guided missiles or space-exploration +devices. +</p> + +<p> +I have carefully examined all Air Force saucer reports made in the last three +years. For the past year, I have taken part in a special investigation of the +flying-saucer riddle. +</p> + +<p> +I believe that the Air Force statements, contradictory as they appear, are part +of an intricate program to prepare America—and the world—for the +secret of the disks. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p> +It was a strange assignment. +</p> + +<p> +I picked up the telegram from my desk and read it a third time. +</p> + +<p> +NEW YORK, N. Y., MAY 9, 1949 +</p> + +<p> +HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY. FIRST TIP HINTED GIGANTIC HOAX +TO COVER UP OFFICIAL SECRET. BELIEVE IT MAY HAVE BEEN PLANTED TO HIDE REAL +ANSWER. LOOKS LIKE TERRIFIC STORY. CAN YOU TAKE OVER WASHINGTON END? +</p> + +<p> +KEN W. PURDY, EDITOR, TRUE MAGAZINE +</p> + +<p> +I glanced out at the Potomac, recalling the first saucer story. As a pilot, +I’d been skeptical of flying disks. Then reports had begun to pour in +from Air Force and airline pilots. Apparently alarmed, the Air Force had +ordered fighters to pursue the fast-flying saucers. In one mysterious chase, a +pilot had been killed, and his death was unexplained. That had been seventeen +months ago. Since then, the whole flying-saucer riddle had been hidden behind a +curtain of Air Force secrecy. +</p> + +<p> +And now, an assignment from True magazine on flying saucers. +</p> + +<p> +Twenty-four hours later, I was in Ken Purdy’s office. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve had men on this for two months,” he told me. “I +might as well warn you, it’s a tough story to crack.” +</p> + +<p> +“You think it’s a Russian missile?” I asked him. “Or an +Air Force secret?” +</p> + +<p> +“We’ve had several answers. None of them stacks up. But I’m +positive one was deliberately planted when they found we were checking.” +</p> + +<p> +He told me the whole story of the work that had been done by the staff of True +and of the reports sent in by competent writers. The deeper he delved into the +mystery, the tougher the assignment got. The more I learned about flying +saucers, the less I knew. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s one angle I want rechecked,” Purdy said. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve heard of the Mantell case?” +</p> + +<p> +I nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“O.K. Try to get the details of Mantell’s radio report to Godman +Tower. Before he was killed, he described the thing he was chasing—we +know that much. Project ‘Saucer’ gave out a hint, but they’ve +never released the transcript. Here’s another lead. See if you can find +anything about a secret picture, taken at Harmon Field, Newfoundland—it +was around July 1947. I’ll send you other ideas as I get them.” +</p> + +<p> +Before I left, Purdy wished me hick and told me that he would work in closest +harmony with me. +</p> + +<p> +“But watch out for fake tips,” he said. “You’ll +probably run into some people at the Pentagon who’ll talk to you +‘off the record.’ That handcuffs a writer. Look out they +don’t lead you into a blind alley. Even the Air Force statements and the +Project ‘Saucer’ report contradict each other.” +</p> + +<p> +For six months, I worked with other investigators to solve the mystery of the +disks. We checked a hundred sighting reports, frequently crossing the trail of +Project “Saucer” teams and F.B.I. agents. Old records gave +fantastic leads. So did Air Force plans for exploring space. Rocket experts, +astronomers, Air Force officials and pilot gave us clues pointing to a +startling solution. Many intelligent persons—including +scientists—believe that the saucers contain spies from another planet. +</p> + +<p> +When this first phase was ended, we were faced with a hard decision. We had +uncovered important facts, We knew the saucers were real. If it was handled +carefully, we believed the story would be in line with a secret Air Force +policy. +</p> + +<p> +It was finally decided to publish certain alternate conclusions. The Air Force +was informed of <i>True’s</i> intentions; no attempt was made to block +publication. +</p> + +<p> +In the January 1950 issue of <i>True</i>, I reported that we had reached the +following conclusions: +</p> + +<p> +1 The earth has been observed periodically by visitors from another planet. +</p> + +<p> +2. This observation has increased markedly in the past two years. +</p> + +<p> +“The only other possible explanation,” I wrote, “is that, the +saucers are extremely high-speed, long-range devices developed here on earth. +Such an advance (which the Air Force has denied) would require an almost +incredible leap in technical progress even for American scientists and +designers.” +</p> + +<p> +Nation-wide press and radio comment followed the appearance of the article. +This publicity was obviously greater than the Air Force had expected. Within +twenty-four hours the Pentagon was deluged with telegrams, letters, and +long-distance calls. Apparently fearing a panic, the Air Force hastily stated +that flying-saucer reports—even those made by its own pilots and +high-ranking officers—were mistakes or were caused by +hysteria.<a href="#fn3" name="fnref3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn3"></a> <a href="#fnref3">[3]</a> +Air Force press release 629-49, December 27, 1949. +</p> + +<p> +But three days later, when it was plain that many Americans calmly accepted +<i>True’s</i> disclosures, the Air Force released a secret project +“Saucer” file containing this significant statement: +</p> + +<p> +“It will never be possible to say with certainty that any individual did +not see a space ship, an enemy missile or other object.” +</p> + +<p> +In this same document there appears a confidential analysis of Air intelligence +reports.<a href="#fn4" name="fnref4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> It is this summary that +contains the official suggestion Of. space visitors’ motives. After +stating that such a civilization would obviously be far ahead of our own, the +report adds: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn4"></a> <a href="#fnref4">[4]</a> +Air Force Project “Saucer” December 30, 1949. +</p> + +<p> +“Since the acts of mankind most easily observed from a distance are +A-bomb explosions, we should expect some relation to obtain between the time of +the A-bomb explosions, the time at which the space ships are seen, and the time +required for such ships to arrive from and return to home base.” +</p> + +<p> +(In a previous report, which alternately warned and reassured the public, the +Air Force stated that space travel outside the solar system is almost a +certainty.<a href="#fn5" name="fnref5"><sup>[5]</sup></a>) +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn5"></a> <a href="#fnref5">[5]</a> +Air Force report M-26-49, Preliminary Studies on Flying saucers, April 27, +1949. +</p> + +<p> +Since 1949 there has been a steady increase in saucer sightings. Most of them +have been authentic reports, which Air Force denials cannot disprove. In +January, mystery disks were reported over Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, +Pennsylvania, and several other states. On the Seattle Anchorage route, an air +freighter was paced for five minutes by a night-flying saucer. When the pilots +tried to close in, the strange craft zoomed at terrific speed. Later, the +airline head reported that Intelligence officers had quizzed the pilots for +hours. +</p> + +<p> +“From their questions,” he said, “I could tell they had a +good idea of what the saucers are. One officer admitted they did, but he +wouldn’t say any more.” +</p> + +<p> +Another peculiar incident occurred at Tucson, Arizona, on February 1. Just at +dusk, a weird, fiery object raced westward over the city, astonishing hundreds +in the streets below. The Tucson Daily Citizen ran the story next day with a +double-banner headline: +</p> + +<p> +FLYING SAUCER OVER TUCSON? +</p> + +<p> +B-29 FAILS TO CATCH OBJECT +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +Flying saucer? Secret experimental plane? Or perhaps a scout craft from Mars? +Certainly the strange aircraft that blazed a smoke trail over Tucson at dusk +last night defies logical explanation. It was as mystifying to experienced +pilots as to groundlings who have trouble in identifying conventional planes. +</p> + +<p> +Cannonballing through the sky, some 30,000 feet aloft, was a fiery object +shooting westward so fast it was impossible to gain any clear impression of its +shape or size. . . . +</p> + +<p> +At what must have been top speed the object spewed out light colored smoke, but +almost directly over Tucson it appeared to hover for a few seconds. The smoke +puffed out an angry black and then be came lighter as the strange missile +appeared to gain speed” +</p> + +<p> +The radio operator in the Davis-Monthan air force base control tower contacted +First Lt. Roy L. Jones, taking off for a cross-country flight in a B-29, and +asked him to investigate. Jones revved up his swift aerial tanker and still the +unknown aircraft steadily pulled away toward California. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Edwin F. Carpenter, head of the University of Arizona department of +astronomy, said he was certain that the object was not a meteor or other +natural phenomenon. . . . +</p> + +<p> +<i>Switchboards Swamped</i> +</p> + +<p> +Switchboards at the Pima county sheriff’s office and Tucson police +station were jammed with inquiries. Hundreds saw the object. Tom Bailey, 1411 +E. 10th Street, thought it was a large airplane on fire. [A later check showed +no planes missing.] He said it wavered from left to right as it passed over the +mountains. Bailey also noticed that the craft appeared to slow perceptibly over +Tucson. He said the smoke apparently came out in a thin, almost invisible +stream, gaining substance within a few seconds. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +This incident had an odd sequel the following day. Its significance was not +lost on the Daily Citizen. It ran another front-page story, headlined: +</p> + +<p> +WHAT DO YOU MEAN ONLY VAPOR TRAIL? +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +As though to prove itself blameless for tilting hundreds of Tucson heads +skyward, the U.S. Air Force yesterday afternoon spent hours etching vapor +trails through the skies over the city. +</p> + +<p> +The demonstration proved conclusively to the satisfaction of most that the +strange path of dark smoke blazed across the evening sky at dusk Wednesday was +no vapor trail and did not emanate from any conventional airplane. +</p> + +<p> +The Wednesday night spectacle was entirely dissimilar. Then, heavy smoke boiled +and swirled in a broad, dark ribbon fanning out at least a mile in width and +stretching across the sky in a straight line. Since there was no proof as to +what caused the strange predark manifestation, and because even expert +witnesses were unable to explain the appearance, the matter remains a subject +for interesting speculation. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +There is strong evidence that this story was deliberately kept off the press +wires. The Associated Press and other wire services in Washington had no +report. Requests for details by Frank Edwards, Mutual newscaster, and other +radio commentators ran into a blank wall. At the Pentagon I was told that the +Air Force had no knowledge of the sighting or the vapor-trail maneuvers. +</p> + +<p> +On February 22 two similar glowing objects were seen above Boca Chica Naval Air +Station at Key West. A plane sent tip to investigate was hopelessly +outdistanced; it was obvious the things were at a great height. Back at the +station, radarmen tracked the objects as they hovered for a moment above Key +West. They were found to be at least fifty miles above the earth. After a few +seconds, they accelerated at high speed and streaked out of sight. +</p> + +<p> +On the following day Commander Augusto Orrego, a Chilean naval officer, +reported that saucers had flown above his antarctic base. +</p> + +<p> +“During the bright antarctic night,” be said, “we saw flying +saucers, one above the other, turning at tremendous speeds. We have photographs +to prove what we saw.” +</p> + +<p> +Early in March, Ken Purdy phoned the latest development in the investigation. +He had just received a tip predicting a flurry of saucer publicity during +March. It had come from an important source in Washington. +</p> + +<p> +“You know what it probably means,” he said. “The same thing +we talked about last month. But why were we tipped off in advance?” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s one more piece in the pattern,” I said. “If the +tip’s on the level, then they’re stepping up the program.” +</p> + +<p> +Within three days, reports began to pour in—from Peru, Cuba, Mexico, +Turkey, and other parts of the world. Then on March 9 a gleaming metallic disk +was sighted over Dayton, Ohio. Observers at Vandalia Airport phoned +Wright-Patterson Field. Scores of Air Force pilots and groundmen watched the +disk, as fighters raced up in pursuit. The mysterious object streaked +vertically skyward, hovered for a while miles above the earth, and then +disappeared. A secret report was rushed to the Civil Aeronautics Authority in +Washington, then turned over to Air Force Intelligence. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after this Dr. Craig Hunter, director of a medical supply firm, reported a +huge elliptical saucer flying at a low altitude in Pennsylvania. He described +it as metallic, with a slotted outer rim and a rotating ring just inside. On +top of this sighting, thousands of people at Farmington, New Mexico, watched a +large formation of disks pass high above the city. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout all these reports, the Air Force refused to admit the existence of +flying saucers. On March 18 it flatly denied they were Air Force secret +missiles or space-exploration devices. +</p> + +<p> +Three days later, a Chicago and Southern airliner crew saw a fast-flying disk +near Stuttgart, Arkansas. The circular craft, blinking a strange blue-white +light, pulled up in an arc at terrific speed. The two pilots said they glimpsed +lighted ports on the lower side as the saucer zoomed above them. The lights had +a soft fluorescence, unlike anything they had seen. +</p> + +<p> +There was one peculiar angle in the Arkansas incident. There was no apparent +attempt to muzzle the two pilots, as in earlier airline cases. Instead, a +United Press interview was quickly arranged, for nation-wide publication. In +this wire story Captain Jack Adams and First Officer G. W. Anderson made two +statements: +</p> + +<p> +“We firmly believe that the flying saucer we saw over Arkansas was a +secret experimental type aircraft—not a visitor from outer space. . . . +</p> + +<p> +“We know the Air Force has denied there is anything to this flying-saucer +business, but we’re both experienced pilots and we’re not easily +fooled.” +</p> + +<p> +The day after this story appeared, I was discussing it with an airline official +in Washington. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s an odd thing,” he said. “The Air Force could +have persuaded those pilots—or the line president—to hush the thing +up. It looks as if they wanted that story broadcast.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean the whole thing was planted?” +</p> + +<p> +“I won’t say that, though it could have been. Probably they did see +something. But they might have been told what to say about it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Any idea why?” +</p> + +<p> +He looked at me sharply. “You and Purdy probably know the answer. At a +guess, I’d say it might have been planned to offset that Navy +commander’s report—the one on the White Sands sightings.” +</p> + +<p> +The White Sands case had puzzled many skeptics, because the Pentagon had +cleared the published report. The author, Commander R. B. McLaughlin, was a +regular Navy officer. As a Navy rocket expert, he had been stationed at the +White Sands Rocket Proving Ground in New Mexico. In his published article he +described three disk sightings at White Sands. +</p> + +<p> +One of the disks, a huge elliptical craft, was tracked by scientists with +precision instruments at five miles per second. That’s 18,000 miles per +hour. It was found to be flying fifty-six miles above the earth. Two other +disks, smaller types, were watched from five observation posts on hills at the +proving ground. Circling at incredible speed, the two disks paced an Army +high-altitude rocket that had just been launched, then speeded up and swiftly +outclimbed the projectile. +</p> + +<p> +Commander McLaughlin’s report, giving dates and factual details, was +cleared by the Department of Defense. So was a later nation-wide broadcast. +</p> + +<p> +Then the Air Force made its routine denial. +</p> + +<p> +Why was McLaughlin, a regular Navy officer subject to security screening, +permitted to give out this story? Was it an incredible slip-up? Or was it part +of some carefully thought-out plan? I believe it was part of an elaborate +program to prepare the American people for a dramatic disclosure. +</p> + +<p> +For almost a year I have watched the behind-the-scenes maneuvers of those who +guide this program. In the following chapters I have tried to show the strange +developments in our search for the answer; the carefully misleading tips, the +blind alleys we entered, the unexpected assistance, the confidential leads, and +the stunning contradictions. +</p> + +<p> +It has been a complicated jigsaw puzzle. Only by seeing all parts of this +intricate picture can you begin to glimpse the reasons for this stubbornly +hidden secret. +</p> + +<p> +The official explanation may be imminent. When it is finally revealed, I +believe the elaborate preparation—even the wide deceit +involved—will be fully justified in the minds of the American people. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<p> +It has been over two years since the puzzling death of Captain Thomas Mantell. +</p> + +<p> +Mantell died mysteriously in the skies south of Fort Knox. But before his radio +went silent, he sent a strange message to Godman Air Force Base. The men who +heard it will never forget it. +</p> + +<p> +It was January 7, 1948. +</p> + +<p> +Crowded into the Godman Field Tower, a group of Air Force officers stared up at +the afternoon sky. For just an instant, something gleamed through the broken +clouds south of the base. +</p> + +<p> +High above the field, three P-51 fighters climbed with swift urgency. Heading +south, they quickly vanished. +</p> + +<p> +The clock in the tower read 2:45. +</p> + +<p> +Colonel Guy Hix, the C.O., slowly put down his binoculars. If the thing was +still there, the clouds now hid it. All they could do was wait. +</p> + +<p> +The first alarm had come from Fort Knox, when Army M.P.’s had relayed a +state police warning. A huge gleaming object had been seen in the sky, moving +toward Godman Field. Hundreds of startled people had seen it at Madisonville, +ninety miles away. +</p> + +<p> +Thirty minutes later, it had zoomed up over the base. +</p> + +<p> +Colonel Hix glanced around at the rest of the men in the tower. They all had a +dazed look. Every man there had seen the thing, as it barreled south of the +field. Even through the thin clouds, its intermittent red glow had hinted at +some mysterious source of power. Something outside their understanding. +</p> + +<p> +It was Woods, the exec, who had estimated its size. Hix shook his head. +<i>That</i> was unbelievable. But something had hung over Godman Field for +almost an hour. The C.O. turned quickly as the loud-speaker, tuned to the +P-51’s, suddenly came to life. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Mantell to Godman . . . Tower Mantell to Godman Tower . . +.” The flight leader’s voice had a strained tone. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve sighted the thing!” he said. “It looks +metallic—and it’s tremendous in size!” +</p> + +<p> +The C.O. and Woods stared at each other. No one spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“The thing’s starting to climb,” Mantell said swiftly. +“It’s at twelve o’clock high, making half my speed. +I’ll try to close in.” +</p> + +<p> +In five minutes, Mantell reported again. The strange metallic object had +speeded up, was now making 360 or more. +</p> + +<p> +At 3:08, Mantell’s wingman called in. Both he and the other pilot had +seen the weird object. But Mantell had outclimbed them and was lost in the +clouds. +</p> + +<p> +Seven minutes dragged by. The men in the tower sweated out the silence. Then, +at 3:15, Mantell made a hasty contact. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s still above me, making my speed or better. I’m going up +to twenty thousand feet. If I’m no closer, I’ll abandon +chase.” +</p> + +<p> +It was his last report. +</p> + +<p> +Minutes later, his fighter disintegrated with terrific force. The falling +wreckage was scattered for thousands of feet. +</p> + +<p> +When Mantell failed to answer the tower, one of his pilots began a search. +Climbing to 33,000 feet, he flew a hundred miles to the south. +</p> + +<p> +But the thing that lured Mantell to his death had vanished from the sky. +</p> + +<p> +Ten days after Mantell was killed, I learned of a curious sequel to the Godman +affair. +</p> + +<p> +An A.P. account in the New York Times had caught my attention. The story, +released at Fort Knox, admitted Mantell had died while chasing a flying saucer. +Colonel Hix was quoted as having watched the object, which was still +unidentified. But there was no mention of Mantell’s radio +messages—no hint of the thing’s tremendous size. +</p> + +<p> +Though I knew the lid was probably on, I went to the Pentagon. When the scare +had first broken, in the summer of ’47, I had talked with Captain Tom +Brown, who was handling saucer inquiries. But by now Brown had been shifted, +and no one in the Press Branch would admit knowing the details of the Mantell +saucer chase. +</p> + +<p> +“We just don’t know the answer,” a security officer told me. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s a rumor,” I said, “it’s a secret Air +Force missile that sometimes goes out of control.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good God, man!” he exploded. “If it was, do you think +we’d be ordering pilots to chase the damned things?” +</p> + +<p> +“No—and I didn’t say I believed it.” I waited until he +cooled down. “This order you mentioned—is it for all Air Force +pilots, or special fighter units?” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t say it was a special order,” he answered quickly. +“All pilots have routine instructions to report unusual items.” +</p> + +<p> +“They had fighters alerted on the Coast, when the scare first +broke,” I reminded him. “Are those orders still in force?” +</p> + +<p> +He shook his head. “No, not that I know of.” After a moment he +added, “All I can tell you is that the Air Force is still investigating. +We honestly don’t know the answer.” +</p> + +<p> +As I went out the Mall entrance, I ran into Jack Daly, one of +Washington’s veteran newsmen. Before the war, Jack and I had done +magazine pieces together, usually on Axis espionage and communist activity. I +told him I was trying to find the answer to Mantell’s death. +</p> + +<p> +“You heard anything?” I asked him. +</p> + +<p> +“Only what was in the A.P. story,” said Jack. “But an I.N.S. +man told me they had a saucer story from Columbus, Ohio—and it might have +been the same one they saw at Fort Knox.” +</p> + +<p> +“I missed that. What was it?” +</p> + +<p> +“They sighted the thing at the Air Force field outside of Columbus. It +was around sundown, about two hours after that pilot was killed in +Kentucky.” +</p> + +<p> +“Anybody chase it?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“No. They didn’t have time to take off, I guess. This I.N.S. guy +said it was going like hell. Fast as a jet, anyway.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did he say what it looked like?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Air Force boys said it was as big as a C-47,” said Jack. +“Maybe bigger. It had a reddish-orange exhaust streaming out behind. They +could see it for miles.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you hear any more, let me know,” I said. Jack promised he +would. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you think they are?” he asked me. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s got me stumped. Russia wouldn’t be testing missiles +over here. Anyway, I can’t believe they’ve got anything like that. +And I can’t see the Air Force letting pilots get killed to hide something +we’ve got.” +</p> + +<p> +One week later, I heard that a top-secret unit had been set up at Wright Field +to investigate all saucer reports. When I called the Pentagon, they admitted +this much, and that was all. +</p> + +<p> +In the next few months, other flying-disk stories hit the front pages. Two +Eastern Airline pilots reported a double-decked mystery ship sighted near +Montgomery, Alabama. I learned of two other sightings, one over the Pacific +Ocean and one in California. The second one, seen through field glasses, was +described as rocket-shaped, as large as a B-29. There were also rumors of disks +being tracked by radar, but it was almost a year before I confirmed these +reports. +</p> + +<p> +When Purdy wired me, early in May of ’49, I had half forgotten the disks. +It had been months since any important sightings had been reported. But his +message quickly revived my curiosity. If he thought the subject was hot, I knew +he must have reasons. When I walked into his office at 67 West 44th, Purdy +stubbed out his cigarette and shook hands. He looked at me through his glasses +for a moment. Then he said abruptly: +</p> + +<p> +“You know anything about the disks?” +</p> + +<p> +“If you mean what they are—no.” +</p> + +<p> +He motioned for me to sit down. Then he swiveled his chair around, his +shoulders hunched forward, and frowned out the window. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you seen the Post this week?” +</p> + +<p> +I told him no. “There’s something damned queer going on. For +fifteen months, Project ‘Saucer’ is buttoned up tight. Top secret. +Then suddenly, Forrestal gets the <i>Saturday Evening Post</i> to run two +articles, brushing the whole thing off. The first piece hits the +stands—and then what happens?” +</p> + +<p> +Purdy swung around, jabbed his finger at a document on. his desk. +</p> + +<p> +“That same day, the Air Force rushes out this Project +‘Saucer’ report. It admits they haven’t identified the disks +in any important cases. They say it’s still serious enough—wait a +minute—“he thumbed through the stapled papers—” +‘to require constant vigilance by Project “Saucer” personnel +and the civilian population.’” +</p> + +<p> +“You’d think the <i>Post</i> would make a public kick,” I +said. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t mean it’s an out-and-out denial,” said Purdy. +“It doesn’t mention the Post—just contradicts it. In fact, +the report contradicts itself. It looks as if they’re trying to warn +people and yet they’re scared to say too much.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked at the title on the report: “A Digest of Preliminary Studies by +the Air Materiel Command, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, on ‘Flying +Saucers.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Have the papers caught it yet?” I asked Purdy. +</p> + +<p> +“You mean its contradicting the <i>Post</i>?” He shook his head. +“No, the Pentagon press release didn’t get much space. How many +editors would wade through a six-thousand-word government report? Even if they +did, they’d have to compare it, item for item, with the Post +piece.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who wrote the <i>Post</i> story?” +</p> + +<p> +Purdy lit a cigarette and frowned out again at the skyscrapers. +</p> + +<p> +“Sidney Shallett—and he’s careful. He had Forrestal’s +backing. The Air Force flew him around, arranged interviews, supposedly gave +him inside stuff. He spent two months on it. They O.K.’d his script, +which practically says the saucers are bunk. Then they reneged on it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Maybe some top brass suddenly decided it was the wrong policy to brush +it off,” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“Why the quick change?” demanded Purdy. “Let’s say they +sold the <i>Post</i> on covering up the truth, in the interests of security. +It’s possible, though I don’t believe it. Or they could simply have +fed them a fake story. Either way, why did they rush this contradiction the +minute the <i>Post</i> hit the stands?” +</p> + +<p> +“Something serious happened,” I said, “after the <i>Post</i> +went to press.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but what?” Purdy said impatiently. “That’s what +we’ve got to find out.” +</p> + +<p> +“Does Shallett’s first piece mention Mantell’s death?” +</p> + +<p> +“Explains it perfectly. You know what Mantell was chasing? The planet +Venus!” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s the Post’s answer?” I said, incredulously. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s what the Air Force contract astronomer told Shallett. +I’ve checked with two astronomers here. They say that even when Venus is +at full magnitude you can barely see it in the daytime even when you’re +looking for it. It was only half magnitude that day, so it was practically +invisible.” +</p> + +<p> +“How’d the Air Force expect anybody to believe that answer?” +I said. +</p> + +<p> +Purdy shrugged. “They deny it was Venus in this report. But that’s +what they told Shallett—that all those Air Force officers, the pilots, +the Kentucky state police, and several hundred people at Madisonville mistook +Venus for a metallic disk several hundred feet in diameter.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a wonder Shallett believed it.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think he did. He says if it wasn’t Venus, it must +have been a balloon.” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the Air Force answer?” I asked Purdy. +</p> + +<p> +“Look in the report. They say whatever Mantell chased—they call it +a ‘mysterious object’—is still unidentified.” +</p> + +<p> +I glanced through the case report, on page five. It quoted Mantell’s +radio report that the thing was metallic and tremendous in size. Linked with +the death of Mantell was the Lockbourne, Ohio, report, which tied in with what +Jack Daly had told me, over a year before. I read the report: +</p> + +<p> +“On the same day, about two hours later, a sky phenomenon was observed by +several watchers over Lockbourne Air Force Base, Columbus, Ohio. It was +described as ‘round or oval, larger than a C-47, and traveling in level +flight faster than 500 miles per hour.’ The object was followed from the +Lockbourne observation tower for more than 20 minutes. Observers said it glowed +from white to amber, leaving an amber exhaust trail five times its own length. +It made motions like an elevator and at one time appeared to touch the ground. +No sound was heard. Finally, the object faded and lowered toward the +horizon.” +</p> + +<p> +Purdy buzzed for his secretary, and she brought me a copy of the first +<i>Post</i> article. +</p> + +<p> +“You can get a copy of this Air Force report in Washington,” Purdy +told me. “This is the only one I have. But you’ll find the same +answer for most of the important cases—the sightings at Muroc Air Base, +the airline pilots’ reports, the disks Kenneth Arnold +saw—they’re all unidentified.” +</p> + +<p> +“I remember the Arnold case. That was the first sighting.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve got contacts in Washington,” Purdy went on. +“Start at the Pentagon first. They know we’re working on it. Sam +Boal, the first man on this job, was down there for a day or two.” +</p> + +<p> +“What did he find out?” +</p> + +<p> +“Symington told him the saucers were bunk. Secretary Johnson admitted +they had some pictures—we’d heard about a secret photograph taken +at Harmon Field, Newfoundland. The tip said this saucer scared hell out of some +pilots and Air Force men up there. +</p> + +<p> +“A major took Boal to some Air Force colonel and Boal asked to see the +pictures. The colonel said they didn’t have any. He turned red when the +major said Symington had told Boal about the pictures.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did Boal get to see them?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” grunted Purdy, “and I’ll bet twenty bucks you +won’t, either. But try, anyway. And check on a rumor that they’ve +tracked some disks with radar. One case was supposed to be at an Air Force base +in Japan.” +</p> + +<p> +As I was leaving, Purdy gave me a summary of sighting reports. +</p> + +<p> +“Some of these were published, some we dug up ourselves,” he said. +“We got some confidential stuff from airline pilots. It’s pretty +obvious the Air Force has tried to keep them quiet.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right,” I said. “I’ll get started. Maybe things +aren’t sewed up so tightly, now this report is out.” +</p> + +<p> +“We’ve found out some things about Project ‘Saucer,’ +said Purdy. “Whether it’s a cover-up or a real investigation, +there’s a lot of hush-hush business to it. They’ve got astronomers +and astrophysicists working for them, also rocket expects, technical analysts, +and Air Force Special Intelligence. We’ve been told they can call on any +government agency for help—and I know they’re using the +F.B.I.” +</p> + +<p> +It was building up bigger than I had thought. +</p> + +<p> +“If national security is involved,” I told Purdy, “they can +shut us up in a hurry.” +</p> + +<p> +“If they tell me so, O.K.,” said Purdy. He added grimly, “But +I think they’re making a bad mistake. They probably think they’re +doing what’s right. But the truth might come out the wrong way.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is possible,” I thought, “that the saucers belong to +Russia.” +</p> + +<p> +“If it turns out to be a Soviet missile, count me out,” I said. +“We’d have the Pentagon and the F.B.I. on our necks.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right, if that’s the answer.” He chuckled. “But +you may be in for a jolt.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<p> +Just the idea of gigantic flying disks was incredible enough. It was almost as +hard to believe that such missiles could have been developed without something +leaking out. Yet we had produced the A-bomb in comparative secrecy, and I knew +we were working on long-range guided missiles. There was already a plan for a +three-thousand-mile test range. Our supersonic planes had hit around two +thousand miles an hour. Our two-stage rockets had gone over two hundred miles +high, according to reports. If an atomic engine had been secretly developed, it +could explain the speed and range of the saucers. +</p> + +<p> +But I kept coming back to Mantell’s death and the Air Force orders for +pilots to chase the saucers. If the disks were American missiles, that +didn’t jibe. +</p> + +<p> +When I reached the lobby, I found it was ten after four. I caught a taxi and +made the Congressional Limited with just one minute to spare. In the club car, +I settled down to look at Purdy’s summary. +</p> + +<p> +Skipping through the pages, I saw several familiar cases. Here and there, Purdy +had scrawled brief comments or suggestions. Beside the Eastern Airline report +of a double-decked saucer, he had written: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Check rumor same type seen over Holland about this date. Also, similar +Philippine Islands report—date unknown.” +</p> + +<p> +I went back to the beginning. The first case listed was that of Kenneth Arnold, +a Boise businessman, who had set off the saucer scare. Arnold was flying his +private plane from Chehalis to Yakima, Washington, when he saw a bright flash +on his wing. +</p> + +<p> +Looking toward Mount Rainier, he saw nine gleaming disks outlined against the +snow, each one about the size of a C-54. +</p> + +<p> +“They flew close to the mountaintops, in a diagonal chainlike +line,” he said later. “It was as if they were linked +together.” +</p> + +<p> +The disks appeared to be twenty to twenty-five miles away, he said, and moving +at fantastic speed. Arnold’s estimate was twelve hundred miles an hour. +</p> + +<p> +“I watched them about three minutes,” he said. “They were +swerving in and out around the high mountain peaks. They were flat, like a pie +pan, and so shiny they reflected the sun like a mirror. I never saw anything so +fast.” +</p> + +<p> +The date was June 24, 1947. +</p> + +<p> +On this same day there was another saucer report. which received very little +notice. A Portland prospector named Fred Johnson, who was working up in the +Cascade Mountains, spotted five or six disks banking in the sun. He watched +them through his telescope several seconds. then he suddenly noticed that the +compass hand on his special watch was weaving wildly from side to side. Johnson +insisted he had not heard of the Arnold report, which was not broadcast until +early evening. +</p> + +<p> +Kenneth Arnold’s story was generally received with amusement. Most +Americans were unaware that the Pentagon had been receiving disk reports as +early as January. The news and radio comments on Arnold’s report brought +several other incidents to light, which observers had kept to themselves for +fear of ridicule. +</p> + +<p> +At Oklahoma City, a private pilot told Air Force investigators he had seen a +huge round object in the sky during the latter part of May. It was flying three +times faster than a jet, he said, and without any sound. Citizens of Weiser, +Idaho, described two strange fast-moving objects they had seen on June 12. The +saucers were heading southeast, now and then dropping to a lower altitude, then +swiftly climbing again. Several mysterious objects were reported flying at +great speed near Spokane, just three days before Arnold’s experience. And +four days after his encounter, an Air Force pilot flying near Lake Meade, +Nevada, was startled to see half a dozen saucers flash by his plane. +</p> + +<p> +Even at this early point in the scare, official reports were contradicting each +other. just after Arnold’s story broke, the Air Force admitted it was +checking on the mystery disks. On July 4 the Air Force stated that no further +investigation was needed; it was all hallucination. That same day, Wright Field +told the Associated Press that the Air Materiel Command was trying to find the +answer. +</p> + +<p> +The Fourth of July was a red-letter day in the flying-saucer mystery. At +Portland, Oregon, hundreds of citizens, including former Air Force pilots, +police, harbor pilots, and deputy sheriffs, saw dozens of gleaming disks flying +at high speed. The things; appeared to be at least forty thousand feet in the +air—perhaps much higher. +</p> + +<p> +That same day, disks were sighted at Seattle, Vancouver, and other northwest +cities. The rapidly growing reports were met with mixed ridicule and alarm. One +of the skeptical group was Captain E. J. Smith, of United Airlines. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll believe them when I see them,” he told airline +employees, before taking off from Boise the afternoon of the Fourth. +</p> + +<p> +Just about sunset, his airliner was flying over Emmett, Idaho, when Captain +Smith and his copilot, Ralph Stevens, saw five queer objects in the sky ahead. +Smith rang for the stewardess, Marty Morrow, and the three of them watched the +saucers for several minutes. Then four more of the disks came into sight. +Though it was impossible to tell their size, because their altitude was +unknown, the crew was sure they were bigger than the plane they were in. After +about ten minutes the disks disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +The Air Force quickly denied having anything resembling the! objects Captain +Smith described. +</p> + +<p> +“We have no experimental craft of that nature in Idaho—or anywhere +else,” an official said in Washington. “We’re completely +mystified.” +</p> + +<p> +The Navy said it had made an investigation, and had no answers. There had been +rumors that the disks were “souped-up” versions of the Navy’s +“Flying Flapjack,” a twin-engined circular craft known technically +as the XF-5-U-1. But the Navy insisted that only one model had been built, and +that it was now out of service. +</p> + +<p> +In Chicago, two astronomers spiked guesses that the disks might be meteors. Dr. +Girard Kieuper, director of the University of Chicago observatory, said flatly +that they couldn’t be meteors. “They’re probably +man-made,” he told the A.P. Dr. Oliver Lee, director of +Northwestern’s observatory, agreed with Kieuper. +</p> + +<p> +“The Army, Navy, and Air Force are working secretly on all sorts of +things,” he said. “Remember the A-bomb secrecy—and the radar +signals to the moon.” +</p> + +<p> +As I went through Purdy’s summary, I recalled my own reaction after the +United Airlines report. After seeing the Pentagon comment, I had called up +Captain Tom Brown, at Air Force Public Relations. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you really taking this seriously?” I asked him. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, we can’t just ignore it,” he said. “There are +too many reliable pilots telling the same story—flat, round objects able +to outmaneuver ordinary planes, and faster than anything we have. Too many +stories tally.” +</p> + +<p> +I told him I’d heard that the Civil Air Patrol in Wisconsin and other +states was starting a sky search. +</p> + +<p> +“We’ve got a jet at Muroc, and six fighters standing by at Portland +right now,” Brown said. +</p> + +<p> +“Armed?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve no report on that. But I know some of them carry photographic +equipment.” +</p> + +<p> +Two days later an airline pilot from the Coast told me that some fighters had +been armed and the pilots ordered to bring down the disks if humanly possible. +That same day, Wright Field admitted it was checking stories of disk-shaped +missiles seen recently in the Pacific northwest and in Texas. +</p> + +<p> +Following this was an A.P. story, dated July 7, quoting an unnamed Air Force +official in Washington: +</p> + +<p> +“The flying saucers may be one of three things: +</p> + +<p> +“1. Solar reflection on low-hanging clouds. [A Washington scientist, +asked for comment, said this was hardly possible.] +</p> + +<p> +“2. Small meteors which break up, their crystals catching the rays of the +sun. But it would seem that they would have been spotted falling and fragments +would have been found. +</p> + +<p> +“3. Icing conditions could have formed large hailstones, and they might +have flattened out and glided a bit, giving the impression of horizontal +movement even though falling vertically.” +</p> + +<p> +By this time everyone was getting into the act. +</p> + +<p> +“The disks are caused by the transmutation of atomic energy,” said +an anonymous scientist, supposed to be on the staff of California Tech. The +college quickly denied it. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Vannevar Bush, world-famous scientist, and Dr. Merle Tuve, inventor of the +proximity fuse, both declared they would know of any secret American +missiles—and didn’t. +</p> + +<p> +At Syracuse, New York, Dr. Harry Steckel, Veterans Administration psychiatrist, +scoffed at the suggestion of mass hysteria. “Too many sane people are +seeing the things. The government is probably conducting some revolutionary +experiments.” +</p> + +<p> +On July 8 more disks were reported. Out at Muroc Air Force Base, where +top-secret planes and devices are tested, six fast-moving silvery-white saucers +were seen by pilots and ground officers. +</p> + +<p> +That afternoon the Air Force revealed it was working on a case involving a Navy +rocket expert named C. T. Zohm. While on a secret Navy mission to New Mexico, +in connection with rocket tests, Zohm had seen a bright silvery disk flying +above the desert. He was crossing the desert with three other scientists when +he saw the strange object flashing northward at an altitude of about ten +thousand feet. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m sure it was not a meteor,” said Zohm. “It could +have been a guided missile, but I never heard of anything like it.” +</p> + +<p> +By this time, saucer reports had come in from almost forty states. Alarm was +increasing, and there were demands that radar be used to track the disks. The +Air Force replied that there was not enough radar equipment to blanket the +nation, but that its pilots were on the lookout for the saucers. +</p> + +<p> +One report mentioned a curious report from Twin Falls, Idaho. The disk sighted +there was said to have flown so low that the treetops whirled as if in a +violent storm. Someone had phoned Purdy about a disk tracked by weather-balloon +observers at Richmond, Virginia. There was another note on a sighting at Hickam +Field, Honolulu, and two reports of unidentified objects seen near Anchorage, +Alaska. +</p> + +<p> +A typed list of world-wide sightings had been made up by the staff at +<i>True</i>. It contained many cases that were new to me, reports from +Paraguay, Belgium, Turkey, Holland, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. At +the bottom of this memo Purdy had written: “Keep checking on rumor that +the Soviet has a Project Saucer, too. Could be planted.” +</p> + +<p> +From the mass of reports, John DuBarry, the aviation editor of <i>True</i>, had +methodically worked out an average picture of the disks: “The general +report is that they are round or oval (this could be an elliptical object seen +end-on), metallic looking, very bright—either shining white or silvery +colored. They can move at extremely high speed, hover, accelerate rapidly, and +outmaneuver ordinary aircraft. +</p> + +<p> +“The lights are usually seen singly—very few formations reported. +They seem to have the same speed, acceleration, and ability to maneuver. In +several cases, they have been able to evade Air Force planes in night +encounters.” +</p> + +<p> +Going over the cases, I realized that Purdy and his staff had dug up at least +fifty reports that had not appeared in the papers. (A few of these proved +incorrect, but a check with the Air Force case reports released on December 30, +1949, showed that <i>True’s</i> files contained all the important items.) +These cases included sightings at eleven Air Force bases and fourteen American +airports, reports from ships at sea, and a score of encounters by airline and +private pilots. +</p> + +<p> +Witnesses included Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force officers; state and +city police; F.B.I. agents; weather observers, shipmasters, astronomers, and +thousands of good solid American citizens. I learned later that many witnesses +had been investigated by the F.B.I. to weed out crackpot reports. +</p> + +<p> +I ended up badly puzzled. The evidence was more impressive than I had +suspected. It was plain that many reports had been entirely suppressed, or at +least kept out of the papers. There was something ominous about it. No matter +what the answer, it was serious enough to be kept carefully hidden. +</p> + +<p> +If it were a Soviet missile, I thought, God help us. They’d scooped up a +lot of Nazi scientists and war secrets. And the Germans had been far ahead of +us on guided missiles. But why would they give us a two-year warning, testing +the things openly over America? It didn’t make sense. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<p> +I went to the Pentagon the next morning. I didn’t expect to learn much, +but I wanted to make sure we weren’t tangling with security. +</p> + +<p> +I’d worked with Al Scholin and Orville Splitt, in the magazine section of +Public Relations, and I thought they’d tell me as much as anyone. When I +walked in, I sprang it on them cold. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the chance of seeing your Project ‘Saucer’ +files?” +</p> + +<p> +Al Scholin took it more or less dead-pan. Splitt looked at me a moment and then +grinned. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t tell me you believe the things are real?” +</p> + +<p> +“Maybe,” I said. “How about clearing me with Project +‘Saucer’?” +</p> + +<p> +Al shook his head. “It’s still classified secret.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘Look, Don,” said Splitt, “why do you want to fool +with that saucer business? There’s nothing to it.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘That’s a big change from what the Air Force was saying; in +1947,” I told him. +</p> + +<p> +He shrugged that off. “The Air Force has spent two years checking into +it. Everybody from Symington down will tell you the saucers are bunk.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s not what Project ‘Saucer’ says in that April +report.” +</p> + +<p> +“That report was made up a long time ago,” said Splitt. “They +just got around to releasing it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then they’ve got all the answers now?” +</p> + +<p> +“They know there’s nothing to it,” Splitt repeated. +</p> + +<p> +“In that case,” I said, “Project ‘Saucer’ +shouldn’t object to my seeing their files and pictures.” +</p> + +<p> +“What pictures?” +</p> + +<p> +“That one taken at Harmon Field, Newfoundland, for a starter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that thing,” said Splitt. “It wasn’t +anything—just a shadow on a cloud. Somebody’s been kidding +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“If it’s just a cloud shadow, why can’t I see it?” +</p> + +<p> +Splitt was getting a little nettled. +</p> + +<p> +“Look, you know how long it takes to declassify stuff. They just +haven’t got around to it. Take my word for it, the flying saucers are +bunk. I went around with Sid Shallett on some of his interviews. What +he’s got in the <i>Post</i> is the absolute gospel.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s funny about that April twenty-seventh report,” I said, +“the way it contradicts the <i>Post</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“I tell you that was an old report—” +</p> + +<p> +“I wouldn’t say that,” Al Scholin put in. “The Air +Force doesn’t claim it has all the answers. But they’ve proved a +lot of the reports were hoaxes or mistakes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Just the same,” I said, “the Air Force is on record, as of +April twenty-seventh, that it’s serious enough for everybody to be +vigilant. And they admit most of the things, in the important cases, are still +unidentified. Including the saucer Mantell was chasing.” +</p> + +<p> +“That business at Godman Field was some kind of hallucination,” +insisted Splitt. +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose all those pilots and Godman Field officers were hypnotized? +Not to mention several thousand people at Madisonville and Fort Knox?” +</p> + +<p> +“Take it easy, you guys,” said Al Scholin. “You’ve both +got a right to your opinions.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, sure,” said Splitt. He looked at me, with his grin back. +“I don’t care if you think they’re men from Mars.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let’s not go off the deep end,” I said. “Tell me this: +Did Shallett get to see any secret files at Wright Field?” +</p> + +<p> +“Absolutely not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then he had to take the Air Force word for everything?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not entirely. We set up some interviews for him.” +</p> + +<p> +“One more thing—and don’t get mad. If it’s all bunk, +why haven’t they closed Project ‘Saucer’?” +</p> + +<p> +“How do I know? Probably no one wants to take the responsibility.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then somebody high up must not think it’s bunk,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +Splitt laughed. “Have it your own way.” +</p> + +<p> +Before I left, I told them I was working with <i>True</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“I want to be on record,” I said, “as having told you this. +If there’s any security involved—if you tell me it’s +something you’re working on—naturally I’ll lay off.” +</p> + +<p> +Al Scholin said emphatically, “It’s not an Air Force device, if +that’s what you mean.” +</p> + +<p> +“Some people think it’s Russian.” +</p> + +<p> +“If it is, I don’t know it,” said Al, “and neither does +the Air Force.” +</p> + +<p> +After I left the magazine section, I tried several officers I knew. Two of them +agreed with Splitt. The third didn’t. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve been told it’s all bunk,” he said, “but you +get the feeling they’ve trying to convince themselves. They act like +people near a haunted house. They’ll swear it isn’t +haunted—but they won’t go near it.” +</p> + +<p> +Later, I asked a security major for a copy of the Project “Saucer” +report. +</p> + +<p> +“We’re out of copies right now,” he said. “I’ll +send you one next week.” +</p> + +<p> +I asked him bluntly what he thought the saucers were. +</p> + +<p> +“I doubt if anybody has the full answer,” he said seriously. +“There’s been some hysteria—also a few mistakes. But many +reports have been made by reliable pilots, including our own. You can’t +laugh those off.” +</p> + +<p> +As I drove home, I thought over what I’d heard. All I had learned was +that the Air Force seemed divided. But that could be a smoke screen. In less +than twenty-four hours, I received my first suspicious tip. It was about ten +A.M. when my phone rang. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Keyhoe? This is John Steele,” said the voice at the other end. +(Because of the peculiar role he played, then and later, I have not used his +real name.) “I’m a former Air Force Intelligence officer. I was in +the European theater during the war.” +</p> + +<p> +I waited. He hesitated a moment. +</p> + +<p> +“I heard you’re working on the flying-saucer problem,” he +said quickly. “I may have some information that would interest +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mind telling me who told you I was on it?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“No one, directly. I just happened to hear it mentioned at the Press +Club. Frankly, I’ve been curious about the flying saucers ever since +’45.” +</p> + +<p> +That startled me, but I didn’t tell him so. “Do you have any idea +what they are?” Mr. Steele said. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I’ve just begun checking. But I’d be glad to hear what +you’ve got.” +</p> + +<p> +“I may be way off,” said Steele. “But I’ve always +wondered about the ‘foo fighters’ our pilots saw over Europe near +the end of the war.” +</p> + +<p> +I thought for a second. “Wasn’t that some kind of antiaircraft +missile fired from the ground?” +</p> + +<p> +“No. Intelligence never did get any real answer, so far as I know. They +were some kind of circular gadgets, and they actually chased our planes a +number of times. We thought they were something the Nazis had +invented—and I still think so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then who’s launching them now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it’s obviously either Russia or us. If it is the +Soviet—well, that’s what’s worried me. I don’t think it +should be treated like a joke, the way some people in the Pentagon take +it.” +</p> + +<p> +I stared at the phone, trying to figure him out. +</p> + +<p> +“I’d like to talk it over with you,” I said. “Maybe +you’ve got something.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve given you about all I know,” Steele answered. +“There was an Intelligence report you might try to see—the Eighth +Air Force files should have it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a minute,” I said. “Give me your number, in case I find +anything.” +</p> + +<p> +He gave it to me without apparent hesitation. I thanked him and hung up, still +wondering. +</p> + +<p> +If it was an attempt at a plant, it was certainly crude. The mention of his +former Air Force connection would be enough to arouse suspicion, unless he +counted on his apparent frankness to offset it. +</p> + +<p> +And what about the Press Club angle? That would indicate Steele was a +newspaperman. Could this be merely an attempt to pump me and get a lead on +True’s investigation? But that would be just as crude as the other idea. +Of course, he might be sincere. But regardless of his motives, it looked bad. +Arid who had told him about me? +</p> + +<p> +I thought about that for a minute. Then I picked up the phone and dialed Jack +Daly’s number. “Jack, do you know anyone named John Steele?” +I asked him. “I think he’s a newspaperman.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nobody I know,” said Jack. “Why, what’s up?” +</p> + +<p> +I explained, and added, “I thought maybe you knew him, and he’d +heard about it from you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hell, no,” said Jack. “You ought to know I wouldn’t +leak any tip like that.” +</p> + +<p> +“It wouldn’t be a tip—I don’t know anything about this +deal yet. By the way, when you were on the <i>Star</i> did you handle anything +on ‘foo fighters’?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, that was after I left there. Bill Shippen would have covered that, +anyway.” +</p> + +<p> +I told him I would look it up in the <i>Star’s</i> morgue. Jack said he +would meet me there at three o’clock; in the meantime he would see what +he could find out about Steele. +</p> + +<p> +Jack was a little late, and I went over the <i>Star’s</i> file on the foo +fighters. Most of the facts were covered in a story dated July 6, 1947, which +had been inspired by the outbreak of the saucer scare. I copied it for later +use: +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +During the latter part of World War Two, fighter pilots in England were +convinced that Hitler had a new secret weapon. Yanks dubbed these devices +“foo fighters” or “Kraut fireballs.” +</p> + +<p> +One of the Air Force Intelligence men now assigned to check on the saucer scare +was an officer who investigated statements of military airmen that circular foo +fighters were seen over Europe and also on the bombing route to Japan. +</p> + +<p> +It was reported that Intelligence officers have never obtained satisfactory +explanation of reports of flying silver balls and disks over Nazi-occupied +Europe in the winter of 1944-45. Later, crews of B-29’S on bombing runs +to Japan reported seeing somewhat similar objects. +</p> + +<p> +In Europe, some foo fighters danced just off the Allied fighters’ +wingtips and played tag with them in power dives. Others appeared in precise +formations and on one occasion a whole bomber crew saw about 15 following at a +distance, their strange glow flashing on and off. One foo fighter chased +Lieutenant Meiers of Chicago some 20 miles down the Rhine Valley, at 300 +m.p.h., an A.P. war correspondent reported. Intelligence officers believed at +that time that the balls might be radar-controlled objects sent up to foul +ignition systems or baffle Allied radar networks. +</p> + +<p> +There is no explanation of their appearance here, unless the objects could have +been imported for secret tests in this country. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +I read the last paragraph twice. This looked like a strong lead to the answer, +in spite of the Air Force denials. There was another, less pleasant +possibility. The Russians could have seized the device and developed it +secretly, using Nazi scientists to help them. Perhaps the Nazis had been close +to an atomic engine, even if they did fail to produce the bomb. +</p> + +<p> +Jack Daly came in while I was reading the story again. +</p> + +<p> +“I got the dope on Steele,” he said. “He does pieces for a +small syndicate, and I found out he was in the Air Force. I think he was a +captain. People who know him say he’s O.K.—a straight +shooter.” +</p> + +<p> +“That still wouldn’t keep him from giving me a fake tip, if +somebody told him it was the right thing to do.” +</p> + +<p> +“Maybe not,” said Jack, “but why would they want to plant +this foo-fighter idea?” +</p> + +<p> +I showed him the clipping. He read it over and shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a lot different from disks three hundred feet in +diameter.” +</p> + +<p> +“If we got the principle—or Russia did-building big ones might not +be too hard.” +</p> + +<p> +“I still can’t swallow it,” said Jack. “These things +have been seen all over the world. How could they control them that far +away—and be sure they wouldn’t crash, where somebody could get a +look and dope out the secret?” +</p> + +<p> +We argued it back and forth without getting anywhere. “I’d give a +lot to know Steele’s angle,” I said. “If you hear anything +more on him, give me a buzz.” +</p> + +<p> +Jack nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. But I can’t dig too +hard, or he’ll hear about it.” +</p> + +<p> +On the way out, I found a phone booth and called Splitt. +</p> + +<p> +“Foo fighters?” he said. “Sure, I remember those stories. You +think those are your flying saucers?” +</p> + +<p> +I could hear him snicker. +</p> + +<p> +“Just checking angles,” I said. “Didn’t the Eighth Air +Force investigate the foo fighters?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and they found nothing to back up the pilots’ yarns. just war +nerves, apparently.” +</p> + +<p> +“How about a look at the Intelligence report?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a minute.” Splitt was gone for twice that time, then he carne +back. “Sorry, it’s classified.” +</p> + +<p> +“If all this stuff is bunk, why keep the lid on it?” I demanded. I +was getting sore again. +</p> + +<p> +“Look, Don,” said Splitt, “I don’t make the +rules.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sure, I know—sorry,” I said. I had a notion to ask him if he +knew John Steele, but hung up instead. There was no use in banging my head +against the Air Force wall. +</p> + +<p> +The next day I decided to analyze the Mantell case from beginning to end. It +looked like the key to one angle: the question of an Air Force secret missile. +Unless there was some slip-up, so that Mantell and his pilots had been ordered +to chase the disk by mistake, then it would be cold murder. +</p> + +<p> +I couldn’t believe any Air Force officer would give such an order, no +matter how tremendous the secret to be hidden. +</p> + +<p> +But I was going to find out, if possible. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<p> +For more than two weeks, I checked on the Godman Field tragedy. One fact stood +out at the start: The death of Mantell had had a profound effect on many in the +Air Force. A dozen times I was told: +</p> + +<p> +“I thought the saucers were a joke-until Mantell was killed chasing that +thing at Fort Knox.” +</p> + +<p> +Many ranking officers who had laughed at the saucer scare stopped scoffing. One +of these was General Sory Smith, now Deputy Director of Air Force Public +Relations. Later in my investigation, General Smith told me: +</p> + +<p> +“It was the Mantell case that got me. I knew Tommy Mantell. very +well—also Colonel Hix, the C.O. at Godman. I knew they were both +intelligent men—not the kind to be imagining things.” +</p> + +<p> +For fifteen months, the Air Force kept a tight-lipped silence. Meantime, rumors +began to spread. One report said that Mantell had been shot, his body riddled +with bullets; his P-51, also riddled, had simply disintegrated. Another rumor +reported Mantell as having been killed by some mysterious force; this same +force had also destroyed his fighter. The Air Force, the rumors said, had +covered up the truth by telling Mantell’s family he had blacked out from +lack of oxygen. +</p> + +<p> +Checking the last angle, I found that this was the explanation given to +Mantell’s mother, just after his death, she was told by Standiford Field +officers that he had flown too high in chasing the strange object. +</p> + +<p> +Shallet, in the <i>Saturday Evening Post</i> articles, described Project +“Saucer’s” reconstruction of the case. Mantell was said to +have climbed up to 25,000 feet, despite his firm decision to end the chase at +20,000, since he carried no oxygen. Around 25,000 feet, Shallett quoted the Air +Force investigators, Mantell must have lost consciousness. After this, his +pilotless plane climbed on up to some 30,000 feet, then dived. Between 20,000 +and 10,000 feet, Shallett suggested, the P-51 began to disintegrate, obviously +from excessive speed. The gleaming object that hypnotized Mantell into this +fatal climb was, Shallett said, either the planet Venus or a Navy cosmic-ray +research balloon. +</p> + +<p> +The Air Force Project “Saucer” report of April 27, 1949, released +just after the first Post article, makes these statements: +</p> + +<p> +“Five minutes after Mantell disappeared from his formation, the two +remaining planes returned to Godman. A few minutes later, one resumed the +search, covering territory 100 miles to the south as high as 33,000 feet, but +found nothing. +</p> + +<p> +“Subsequent investigation revealed that Mantell had probably blacked out +at 20,000 feet from lack of oxygen and had died of suffocation before the +crash. +</p> + +<p> +“The mysterious object which the flyer chased to his death was first +identified as the Planet Venus. However, further probing showed the elevation +and azimuth readings of Venus and the object at specified time intervals did +not coincide. +</p> + +<p> +“It is still considered ‘Unidentified.’ +</p> + +<p> +The Venus explanation, even though now denied, puzzled me. It was plain that +the Air Force had seriously considered offering it as the answer then abandoned +it. Apparently someone had got his signals mixed and let Shallett use the +discarded answer. And for some unknown reason, the Air Force had found it +imperative to deny the Venus story at once. +</p> + +<p> +In these first weeks of checking, I had run onto the Venus explanation in other +cases. Several Air Force officers repeated it so quickly that it had the sound +of a stock alibi. But in the daytime cases this was almost ridiculous. +</p> + +<p> +I knew of a few instances in World War II when bomber crews and antiaircraft +gunners had loosed a few bursts at Venus. But this was mostly at night, when +the planet was at peak brilliance. And more than one gunner later admitted +firing to relieve long hours of boredom. Since enemy planes did not carry +lights, there was no authentic case, to my knowledge, where plane or ground +gunners actually believed Venus was an enemy aircraft. +</p> + +<p> +Checking the astronomer’s report, I read over the concluding statement: +</p> + +<p> +“It simply could not have been Venus. They must have been desperate even +to suggest it in the first place.” Months later, in the secret Project +“Saucer” report released December 30, 1949, I found official +confirmation of this astronomer’s opinions. Since it has a peculiar +bearing on the Mantell case, I am quoting it now: +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +When Venus is at its greatest brilliance, it is possible to see it during +daytime when one knows exactly where to look. But on January 7, 1948, Venus was +less than half as bright as its peak brilliance. However, under exceptionally +good atmospheric conditions, and with the eye shielded from direct rays of the +sun, Venus might be seen as an exceedingly tiny bright point of light. . . . +However, the chances of looking at just the right spot are very few. +</p> + +<p> +It has been unofficially reported that the object was a Navy cosmic-ray +research balloon. If this can be established, it Is to be preferred as an +explanation. However, if one accepts the assumption that reports from various +other localities refer to the same object, any such device must have been a +good many miles high—25 to 50—in order to have been seen clearly, +almost simultaneously, from places 175 miles apart. +</p> + +<p> +If all reports were of a single object, in the knowledge of this investigator +no man-made object could have been large enough and far enough away for the +approximate simultaneous sightings. It is most unlikely, however, that so many +separated persons should at that time have chanced on Venus in the daylight +sky. It seems therefore much more probable that more than one object was +involved. +</p> + +<p> +The sighting might have included two or more balloons (or aircraft) or they +might have included Venus and balloons. For reasons given above, the latter +explanation seems more likely. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Two things stand out in his report: +</p> + +<p> +1. The obvious determination to fit some explanation, no matter how farfetched, +to the Mantell sighting. +</p> + +<p> +2. The impossibility that Venus—a tiny point of light, seen only with +difficulty—was the tremendous metallic object described by Mantell and +seen by Godman Field officers. +</p> + +<p> +With Venus eliminated, I went to work on the balloon theory. Since I had been a +balloon pilot before learning to fly planes, this was fairly familiar ground. +</p> + +<p> +Shallett’s alternate theory that Mantell had chased a Navy research +balloon was widely repeated by readers unfamiliar with balloon operation. Few +thought to check the speeds, heights, and distances involved. +</p> + +<p> +Cosmic-ray research balloons are not powered; they are set free to drift with +the wind. This particular Navy type is released at a base near Minneapolis. The +gas bag is filled with only a small per cent of its helium capacity before the +take-off. +</p> + +<p> +In a routine flight, the balloon ascends rapidly to a very high altitude-as +high as 100,000 feet. By this time the gas bag has swelled to full size, about +l00 feet high and 70 feet in diameter. At a set time, a device releases the +case of instruments under the balloon. The instruments descend by parachute, +and the balloon, rising quickly, explodes from the sudden expansion. +</p> + +<p> +Occasionally a balloon starts leaking, and it then remains relatively low. At +first glance, this might seem the answer to the Kentucky sightings. If the +balloon were low enough, it would loom up as a large circular object, as seen +from directly below. Some witnesses might estimate its diameter as 250 feet or +more, instead of its actual 70 feet. But this failure to recognize a balloon +would require incredibly poor vision on the part of trained +observers—state police, Army M.P.’s, the Godman Field officers, +Mantell and his pilots. +</p> + +<p> +Captain Mantell was a wartime pilot, with over three thousand hours in the air. +He was trained to identify a distant enemy plane in a split second. His vision +was perfect, and so was that of his pilots. In broad daylight they could not +fail to recognize a balloon during their thirty-minute chase. +</p> + +<p> +Colonel Hix and the other Godman officers watched the object with high-powered +glasses for long periods. It is incredible that they would not identify it as a +balloon. +</p> + +<p> +Before its appearance over Godman Field, the leaking balloon would have +drifted, at a low altitude, over several hundred miles. (A leak large enough to +bring it down from high altitude would have caused it to land and be found.) +Drifting at a low altitude, it would have been seen by several hundred thousand +people, at the very least. Many would have reported it as a balloon. But even +if this angle is ignored it still could not possibly have been a balloon at low +altitude. The fast flight from Madisonville, the abrupt stop and hour-long +hovering at Godman Field, the quick bursts of speed Mantell reported make it +impossible. To fly the go miles from Madisonville to Fort Knox in 30 minutes, a +balloon would require a wind of 180 m.p.h. After traveling at this hurricane +speed, it would then have had to come to a dead stop above Godman Field. As the +P-51’s approached, it would have had to speed tip again to 180, then to +more than 360 to keep ahead of Mantell. +</p> + +<p> +The three fighter pilots chased the mysterious object for half an hour. (I have +several times chased balloons with a plane, overtaking them in seconds.) In a +straight chase, Mantell would have been closing in at 360; the tail wind acting +on his fighter would nullify the balloon’s forward drift. +</p> + +<p> +But even if you accept these improbable factors, there is one final fact that +nullifies the balloon explanation. The strange object had disappeared when +Mantell’s wingman searched the sky, just after the leader’s death. +If it had been a balloon held stationary for an hour at a high altitude, and +glowing brightly enough to be seen through clouds, it would have remained +visible in the same general position. Seen from 33,000 feet, it would have been +even brighter, because of the clearer air. +</p> + +<p> +But the mysterious object had completely vanished in those few minutes. A +search covering a hundred miles failed to reveal a trace. +</p> + +<p> +Whether at a high or low altitude, a balloon could not have escaped the +pilot’s eyes. It would also have continued to be seen at Godman Field and +other points, through occasional breaks in the clouds. +</p> + +<p> +I pointed out these facts to one Air Force officer at the Pentagon. Next day he +phoned me: +</p> + +<p> +“I figured it out. The timing device went off and the balloon exploded. +That’s why the pilot didn’t see it.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s an odd coincidence,” I said, “that it exploded in +those five minutes after Mantell’s last report.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even so, it’s obviously the answer,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +Checking on this angle, I found: +</p> + +<p> +1. No one in the Kentucky area had reported a descending parachute. +</p> + +<p> +2. No cosmic-ray research instrument case or parachute was found in the area. +</p> + +<p> +3. No instruments were returned to the Navy from this region. And <i>all</i> +balloons and instruments released at that time were <i>fully accounted for</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Even if it had been a balloon, it would not explain the <i>later</i> January +7th reports—the simultaneous sightings mentioned by Professor Hynek in +the Project “Saucer” report. This includes the thing seen at +Lockbourne Air Force Base two hours after Mantell’s death. +</p> + +<p> +Obviously, the saucer seen flying at 500 m.p.h. over Lockbourne Field could not +have been a balloon. Even if there had been several balloons in this area (and +there were not, by official record), they could not have covered the courses +reported. In some cases, they would have been flying against the wind, at +terrific speed. +</p> + +<p> +Then what was the mysterious object? And what killed Mantell? +</p> + +<p> +Both the Air Force and the <i>Post</i> articles speculate that Mantell +carelessly let himself black out. +</p> + +<p> +Since some explanation had to be given, this might seem a good answer. But +Mantell was known for coolheaded judgment. As a wartime pilot, he was familiar +with signs of anoxia (oxygen starvation). That he knew his tolerance for +altitude is proved by his firmly declared intention to abandon the chase at +20,000 feet, since he had no oxygen equipment. +</p> + +<p> +Mantell had his altimeter to warn him. From experience, he would recognize the +first vague blurring, narrowing of vision, and other signs of anoxia. Despite +this, the “blackout” explanation was accepted as plausible by many +Americans. +</p> + +<p> +While investigating the Mantell case, I talked with several pilots and +aeronautical engineers. Several questioned that a P-51 starting a dive from +20,000 feet would have disintegrated so thoroughly. +</p> + +<p> +“From thirty thousand feet, yes,” said one engineer. “If the +idea was to explain it away, I’d pick a high altitude to start from. But +a pilotless plane doesn’t necessarily dive, as you know. +</p> + +<p> +“It might slip off and spin, or spiral down, and a few have even landed +themselves. Also, if the plane started down from twenty thousand, the pilot +wouldn’t be too far blacked out. The odds are he’d come to when he +got into thicker air—admitting he did blur out, which is only an Air +Force guess. I don’t see why they’re so positive Mantell died +before he hit the ground—unless they know something we +don’t.” +</p> + +<p> +One of the pilot group put it more bluntly. +</p> + +<p> +“It looks like a cover-up to me. I think Mantell did just what he said he +would—close in on the thing. I think he either collided with it, or more +likely they knocked him out of the air. They’d think he was trying to +bring them down, barging in like that.” +</p> + +<p> +Even if you accept the blackout answer, it still does not explain what Mantell +was chasing. it is possible that, excited by the huge, mysterious object, he +recklessly climbed beyond the danger level, though such an act was completely +at odds with his character. +</p> + +<p> +But the <i>identity</i> of the thing remains—officially—a mystery. +If it was some weird experimental craft or a guided missile, then whose was it? +Air Force officers had repeatedly told me they had no such device. General Carl +Touhy Spaatz, former Air Force chief, had publicly insisted that no such weapon +had been developed in his regime. Secretary Symington and General Hoyt +Vandenberg, present Air Force chief, had been equally emphatic. Of course, +official denials could be expected if it were a top-level secret. But if it +were a secret device, would it be tested so publicly that thousands would see +it? +</p> + +<p> +If it were an Air Force device, then I could see only one answer for the Godman +Field incident: The thing was such a closely guarded secret that even Colonel +Hix hadn’t known. That would mean that most or all Air Force Base +C.O.’s were also in ignorance of the secret device. +</p> + +<p> +Could it be a Navy experiment, kept secret from the Air Force? +</p> + +<p> +I did a little checking. +</p> + +<p> +Admiral Calvin Bolster, chief of aeronautics research experimental craft, was +an Annapolis classmate of mine. So was Captain Delmer S. Fahrney, head of the +Navy guided-missile program. Fahrney was at Point Mugu, missile-testing base in +California, and I wasn’t able to see him. But I knew him as a careful, +conscientious officer; I can’t believe he would let such a device, +piloted or not, hover over an Air Force base with no warning to its C.O. +</p> + +<p> +I saw Admiral Bolster. His denial seemed genuine; unless he’d got to be a +dead-pan poker player since our earlier days, I was sure he was telling the +truth. +</p> + +<p> +The only other alternate was Russia. It was incredible that they would develop +such a device and then expose it to the gaze of U.S. Air Force officers. It +could be photographed, its speed and maneuverability checked; it might crash, +or antiaircraft fire might bring it down, The secret might be lost in one such +test flight. +</p> + +<p> +There was one other explanation: The thing was not intended to be seen; it had +got out of control. In this event; the long hovering period at Godman Field was +caused by the need for repairs inside the flying saucer, or repairs to +remote-control apparatus. +</p> + +<p> +If it were Air Force or Navy, that would explain official concern; even if +completely free of negligence, the service responsible would be blamed for +Mantell’s death. If it were Russian, the Air Force would of course try to +conceal the fact for fear of public hysteria. +</p> + +<p> +But if the device was American, it meant that Project “Saucer” was +a cover-up unit. While pretending to investigate, it would actually hush up +reports, make false explanations, and safeguard the secret in every possible +way. Also, the reported order for Air Force pilots to pursue the disks would +have to be a fake. Instead, there would be a secret order telling them to avoid +strange objects in the sky. +</p> + +<p> +By the time I finished my check-up, I was sure of one thing: This particular +saucer had been real. +</p> + +<p> +I was almost positive of one other point-that the thing had been over 30 miles +high during part of its flight. I found that <i>after</i> Mantell’s death +it was reported simultaneously from Madisonville, Elizabethtown, and +Lexington—over a distance of 175 miles. (Professor Hynek’s analysis +later confirmed this.) +</p> + +<p> +How low it had been while hovering over Godman, and during Mantell’s +chase, there was no way to determine. But all the evidence pointed to a swift +ascent after Mantell’s last report. +</p> + +<p> +Had Mantell told Godman Tower more than the Air Force admitted? I went back to +the Pentagon and asked for a full transcript of the flight leader’s radio +messages. I got a quick turn-down. The reports, I was told, were still +classified as secret. Requests for pictures of the P-51 wreckage, and for a +report on the condition of Mantell’s body, also drew a blank. I had heard +that some photographs were taken of the Godman Field saucer from outside the +tower. But the Air Force denied knowledge of any such pictures. +</p> + +<p> +Puzzling over the riddle, I remembered John Steele, the former Intelligence +captain. If by any chance he was a plant, it would be interesting to suggest +the various answers and watch his reaction. When I phoned him to suggest +luncheon, Steele accepted at once. We met at the Occidental, on Pennsylvania +Avenue. Steele was younger than I had expected—not over twenty-five. He +was a tall man, with a crew haircut and the build of a football player. Looking +at him the first time, I expected a certain breeziness. instead, he was almost +solemn. +</p> + +<p> +“I owe you an apology,” he said in a careful voice after we’d +ordered. “You probably know I’m a syndicate writer?” +</p> + +<p> +I wondered if he’d found out Jack Daly was checking on him. +</p> + +<p> +“When you mentioned the Press Club,” I said, “I gathered you +were in the business.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m afraid you thought I was fishing for a lead.” Steele +looked at me earnestly. “I’m not working on the +story—I’m tied up on other stuff.” +</p> + +<p> +“Forget it,” I told him. +</p> + +<p> +He seemed anxious to reassure me. “I’d been worried for some time +about the saucers. I called you that night on an impulse.” +</p> + +<p> +“Glad you did,” I said. “I need every tip I can get.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did it help you any?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, though it still doesn’t fit together. But I can tell you +this: The saucers are real, or at least one of them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which one?” +</p> + +<p> +“The thing Captain Mantell was chasing near Fort Knox, before he +died.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that one.” Steele looked down at the roll he was buttering. +“I thought that case was fully explained. Wasn’t he chasing a +balloon?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Air Force says it’s still unidentified.” I told him what +I had learned. “Apparently you’re right—it’s either an +American or a Soviet missile.” +</p> + +<p> +“After what you’ve told me,” said Steele, “I +can’t believe it’s ours. It must be Russian.” +</p> + +<p> +“They’d be pretty stupid to test it over here.” +</p> + +<p> +“You said it was probably out of control.” +</p> + +<p> +“That particular one, maybe. But there have been several hundred seen +over here. If they found their controls were haywire, they wouldn’t keep +testing the things until they’d corrected that.” +</p> + +<p> +The waiter came with the soup, and Steele was silent until he left. +</p> + +<p> +“I still can’t believe it’s our weapon,” he said +slowly. “They wouldn’t have Air Force pilots alerted to chase the +things. And I happen to how they do.” +</p> + +<p> +“There’s something queer about this missile angle,” I said. +“That saucer was seen at the same time by people a hundred and +seventy-five miles apart. To be that high in the sky, and still look more than +two hundred and fifty feet in diameter, it must have been enormous.” +</p> + +<p> +Steele didn’t answer for a moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Obviously, that was an illusion,” he finally answered. +“I’d discount those estimates.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even Mantell’s? And the Godman Field officers’?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not knowing the thing’s height, how could they judge +accurately?” +</p> + +<p> +“To be seen at points that far apart, it had to be over thirty miles +high,” I told him. “It would have to be huge to show up at +all.” +</p> + +<p> +He shook his head. “I can’t believe those reports are right. It +must have been sighted at different times.” +</p> + +<p> +I let it drop. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you working on now?” Steele asked, after a minute or two. +</p> + +<p> +I said I hadn’t decided. Actually, I planned a trip to the coast, to +interview pilots who had sighted flying disks. +</p> + +<p> +“What would you do if you found it wasn’t a Soviet missile?” +said Steele. He sounded almost too casual. +</p> + +<p> +“If security was involved, I’d keep still. But the Air Force and +the Navy swear they haven’t any such things.” +</p> + +<p> +Steele looked at me thoughtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“You know, <i>True</i> might force something into the open that would be +better left secret.” He smiled ironically. “I realize that sounds +peculiar, since I suggested the Russian angle. But if it isn’t +Russian—though I still think it is—then we have nothing to worry +about.” +</p> + +<p> +I was almost sure now that he was a plant. During the rest of the luncheon, I +tried to draw him out, but Steele was through talking. When we parted, he gave +me a sober warning. +</p> + +<p> +“You and <i>True</i> should consider your moral responsibility, no matter +what you find. Even if it’s not actual security, there may be reasons to +keep still.” +</p> + +<p> +After he left me, I tried to figure it out. If the Air Force was back of this, +they must not think much of my intelligence. Or else they had been in such a +hurry to get a line on <i>True’s</i> investigation that they had no +choice but to use Steele. Of course, it was still possible he was doing this on +his own. +</p> + +<p> +Either way, his purpose was obvious. He hoped to have us swallow the +Soviet-missile answer. If we did, then we would have to keep still, even though +we found absolute proof. Obviously, it would be dangerous to print <i>that</i> +story. +</p> + +<p> +Thinking back, I recalled Steele’s apparent attempt to dismiss the +Mantell case. I was convinced now. The Godman Field affair must hold an +important clue that I had overlooked. It might even be the key to the whole +flying saucer riddle. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<p> +Shortly after my talk with Steele, I flew to the Coast. For three weeks I +investigated sightings that had been reported by airline and private pilots and +other competent witnesses. +</p> + +<p> +At first, the airline pilots were reluctant to talk. Most of them remembered +the ridicule that had followed published accounts by other airline men. One +pilot told me he had been ordered to keep still about his +experience—whether by the company or the Air Force, he would not say. But +most of them finally agreed to talk, if I kept their names out of print. +</p> + +<p> +One airline captain—I’ll call him Blake—had encountered a +saucer at night. He and his copilot had sighted the object, gleaming, in the +moonlight, half a mile to their left. +</p> + +<p> +“We were at about twelve thousand feet,” he said, when we saw this +thing pacing us. It didn’t have any running lights, but we could see the +moonlight reflecting from something like bright metal. There was a glow along +the side, like some kind of light, or exhaust.” +</p> + +<p> +“Could you make out the shape?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +Blake grinned crookedly. “You think we didn’t try? I cut in toward +it. It turned in the same direction. I pulled up about three hundred feet, and +it did the same. Finally, I opened my throttles and cut in fast, intending to +pull tip if we got too close. I needn’t have worried. The thing let out a +burst of reddish flame and streaked up out of sight. It was gone in a few +seconds.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then it must have been piloted,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“If not, it had some kind of radar-responder unit to make it veer off +when anything got near it. It matched every move I made, until the last +one.” +</p> + +<p> +I asked him what he thought the saucer was. Blake hesitated, then he gave me a +slow grin. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, my copilot thinks it was a space ship. He says no pilot here on +earth could take that many G’s, when the thing zoomed.” +</p> + +<p> +I’d heard some “men from Mars” opinions about the saucers, +but this was an experienced pilot. +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t believe that?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” Blake said. “I figure it was some new type of guided +missile. If it took as many G’s as Chuck, my copilot, thinks, then it +must have been on a beam and remote-controlled.” +</p> + +<p> +Later, I found two other pilots who had the same idea as Chuck. One captain was +afraid the flying saucers were Russian; his copilot thought they were Air Force +or Navy. I met one airline official who was indignant about testing such +missiles near the airways. +</p> + +<p> +“Even if they do have some device to make them veer off,” he said, +“I think it’s a risk. There’ll be hell to pay if one ever +hits an airliner.” +</p> + +<p> +“They’ve been flying around for two years,” a line pilot +pointed out. “Nobody’s had a close call yet. I don’t think +there’s much danger.” +</p> + +<p> +When I left the Coast, I flew to New York. Ken Purdy called in John DuBarry, +<i>True’s</i> aviation editor, to hear the details. Purdy called him +“John the Skeptic.” After I told them what I had learned Purdy +nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you think the saucers are?” asked DuBarry. +</p> + +<p> +“They must be guided missiles,” I said, “but it leaves some +queer gaps in the picture.” +</p> + +<p> +I had made up a list of possible answers, and I read it to them: +</p> + +<p> +“One, the saucers don’t exist. They’re caused by mistakes, +hysteria, and so on. Two, they’re Russian guided missiles. Three, +they’re American guided missiles. Four, the whole thing is a hoax, a +psychological-warfare trick.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean a trick of ours?” said Purdy. +</p> + +<p> +“Sure, to make the Soviets think we could reach them with a guided +missile. But I don’t think that’s the answer—I just listed it +as a possibility.” +</p> + +<p> +DuBarry considered this thoughtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“In the first place, you’d have to bring thousands of people into +the scheme, so the disks would be reported often enough to get publicity. +You’d have to have <i>some</i> kind of device, maybe something launched +from highflying bombers, to give the rumors substance. They’d certainly +do a better job than this, to put it over. And it wouldn’t explain the +world-wide sightings. Also, Captain Mantell wouldn’t kill himself just to +carry out an official hoax.” +</p> + +<p> +“John’s right,” said Purdy. “Anyway, it’s too +ponderous. It would leak like a sieve, and the dumbest Soviet agent would see +through it.” +</p> + +<p> +He looked back at my list. “Cross off Number One, There’s too much +competent testimony, beside the obvious fact that something’s being +covered up.” +</p> + +<p> +“That leaves Russian or American missiles,” I said, “as +Steele first suggested. But there are some points that just won’t fit the +missile theory.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’ve left out one answer,” said Purdy. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Interplanetary.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re kidding!” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t say I believed it,” said Purdy. “I just say +it’s possible.” +</p> + +<p> +DuBarry was watching me. “I know how you feel. That’s how it hit me +when Ken first said it,” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve heard it before,” I said. “But I never took it +seriously.” +</p> + +<p> +“Maybe this will interest you,” Purdy said. He gave me a note from +Sam Boal: +</p> + +<p> +“Just talked with D———-,” the note ran. +(D———- is a prominent aeronautical engineer, the designer of +a world-famous plane.) “He believes the disks may be interplanetary and +that the Air Force knows it—or at least suspects it. I’m enclosing +sketches showing how he thinks the disks operate.” +</p> + +<p> +“He’s not the first one who told us that,” said Purdy. +“We’ve heard the same thing from other engineers. Over a dozen +airline pilots think they’re coining from out in space. And there’s +a rocket expert at Wright Field who’s warned Project ‘Saucer’ +that the things are interplanetary. That’s why I’m not writing it +off.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you read the Project ‘Saucer’ ideas on space +travel?” DuBarry asked me. I told him my copy hadn’t reached me. He +read me some marked paragraphs in his copy of the preliminary report: +</p> + +<p> +“‘There has been speculation that the aerial phenomena might +actually be some form of penetration from another planet . . . the existence of +intelligent life on Mars is not impossible but is completely unproven . . . the +possibility of intelligent life on the Planet Venus is not considered +completely unreasonable by astronomers . . . Scientists concede that living +organisms might develop in chemical environments which are strange to us . . . +in the next fifty years we will almost certainly start exploring space . . . +the chance of space travelers existing at planets attached to neighboring stars +is very much greater than the chance of space-traveling Martians. The one can +be viewed as almost a certainty . . .’” +</p> + +<p> +DuBarry handed me the report. “Here—I practically know it by heart. +Take it with you. You can send it back later.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know the space-travel idea sounds silly at first,” said Purdy, +“but it’s the only answer that explains all the +sightings-especially those in the last century.” +</p> + +<p> +He asked DuBarry to give me their file of historic reports. While John was +getting it, Purdy went on: +</p> + +<p> +“Be careful about this man Steele. After what he said about ‘moral +responsibility’ I’m sure he’s planted.” +</p> + +<p> +I thought back to Steele’s warning. I told Purdy: “If he had the +space thing in mind, maybe he’s right. It could set off a panic that +would make that Orson Welles thing look like a picnic.” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly it could,” Purdy said. “We’d have to handle +it carefully-if it turned out to be the truth. But I think the Air Force is +making a mistake, if that’s what they’re hiding. It could break the +wrong way and be serious.” +</p> + +<p> +John DuBarry came back with the file of old reports. +</p> + +<p> +“It might interest you to know,” he said, “that the Air Force +checked all these old sightings too.” +</p> + +<p> +The idea was still a difficult one for me to believe. +</p> + +<p> +“Those space-travel suggestions might be a trick,” I said. +“The Air Force may be hinting at that to hide the guided-missile +secret.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but later on they deny the space thing,” said Purdy. +“It looks as if they’re trying to put people on guard and then play +it down, so they won’t get scared.” +</p> + +<p> +As I put the historic reports file in my brief case, Purdy handed me a letter +from an investigator named Hilton, who had been working in the Southwest. I +skimmed over his letter. +</p> + +<p> +Hilton had heard of some unusual night sightings in New Mexico. The story had +been hushed up, but he had learned some details from a pilot at Albuquerque. +</p> + +<p> +One of these mysterious “flying lights” had been seen at Las Vegas, +on December 8, 1948—just one month before Mantell was killed in Kentucky. +It was too dark to make out the shape behind the light, but all witnesses had +agreed on its performance. The thing had climbed at tremendous speed, its +upward motion shown by a bright green light. Though the green glow was much +brighter than a plane’s running light, all plane schedules were carefully +checked. +</p> + +<p> +“I think they were trying to pin it on a jet fighter,” the +Albuquerque pilot told Hilton. “But there weren’t any jets near +there. Anyway, the thing climbed too fast. It must have been making close to +nine hundred miles an hour.” +</p> + +<p> +The Air Force had also checked balloon release times—apparently just for +the record, since no balloon could even approach the saucer’s terrific +ascent. Again, they drew a blank. +</p> + +<p> +“From the way this was hushed up,” Hilton commented, “they +seem to be worried about this group of sightings. I’ve heard two reports +that the F.B.I. is tied into the deal somehow, but that’s as far as I can +get.” +</p> + +<p> +“See if you can get any lead on that,” Purdy told me. “That +F.B.I. business puzzles me. Where would they come in?” +</p> + +<p> +I said I would try to find out. But it was almost four months before we learned +the answer: The F.B.I. men had been <i>witnesses</i>. (This was later admitted +in an obscure cross-reference in the final Project “Saucer” report. +But all official answers to the strange green-light sightings had been +carefully omitted. The cases concerned were 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 230, and +231, which will be discussed later.) +</p> + +<p> +“When you go back to Washington,” said Purdy, “see what +reaction you get to the interplanetary idea.” +</p> + +<p> +I had a pretty good idea what the reaction would be, but I nodded. “O.K. +I’ll go flag a space ship and be on my way.” +</p> + +<p> +“O.K.—gag it up,” said Purdy. “But don’t sell it +short, If by any chance it’s true, it’ll be the biggest story since +the birth of Christ.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<p> +It was dark when the airliner limousine reached La Guardia Field. I had +intended taking an earlier plane, but DuBarry persuaded me to stay over for +dinner. +</p> + +<p> +We dropped into the Algonquin, next door to <i>True’s</i> office +building. Halfway through dinner, I asked John what he thought of the +space-travel answer. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, it’s possible,” he said cautiously. “The time and +space angles make it hard to take, but if we’re planning to explore space +within fifty years, there’s no reason some other planet people +couldn’t do it. Of course, if they’ve been observing us for over a +century, as those old sightings seem to indicate, they must be far ahead of us, +at least in technical progress.” +</p> + +<p> +Later on, he said thoughtfully, “Even though it’s possible, I hate +to think it’s the answer. just imagine the impact on the world. +We’d have to reorient our whole lives—and things are complicated +enough already.” +</p> + +<p> +Standing at the gate, waiting for my plane to be called, I thought over that +angle. Assuming that space travel was the solution—which I still +couldn’t believe-what would be the effect on the world? +</p> + +<p> +It was a hard thing to picture. So much depended on the visitors from space. +What would their purpose be? Would they be peaceful or hostile? Why had they +been observing the earth so intensively in the past few years? +</p> + +<p> +I could think of a hundred questions. What would the space people be like? +Would they be similar to men and women on earth, or some fearsome Buck Rogerish +creatures who would terrify the average American—including myself? +</p> + +<p> +It was obvious they would be far superior to us in many ways. But their +civilization might be entirely different. Evolution might have developed their +minds, and possibly their bodies, along lines we couldn’t even grasp. +Perhaps we couldn’t even communicate with them. +</p> + +<p> +What would be the net effect of making contact with beings from a distant +planet? Would earthlings be terrified, or, if it seemed a peaceful exploration, +would we bc intrigued by the thought of a great adventure? It would depend +entirely on the space visitors’ motives, and how the world was prepared +for such a revelation. +</p> + +<p> +The more I thought about it, the more fantastic thc thing seemed. +</p> + +<p> +And yet it hadn’t been too long since airplane flight was considered an +idiot’s dream. This scene here at La Guardia would have seemed pure +fantasy in 1900—thc huge Constellations and DC-6’s; the +double-decked Stratocruisers, sweeping in from all over the country; the big +ships at Pan-American, taking off for points all over the globe. We’d +come a long way in the forty-six years since the Wright brothers’ first +flight. +</p> + +<p> +But space travel! +</p> + +<p> +The gateman checked my ticket, and I went out to the Washington plane. It was a +luxury ship, a fifty-two-passenger, four-engined DC-6, scheduled to be in the +capital one hour after take-off. By morning this plane, the Aztec, would be in +Mexico City. +</p> + +<p> +The couple going up the gangway ahead of me were in their late sixties. Fifty +years ago, what would they have said if someone had predicted this flight? The +answer to that was easy; at that time, high-school songbooks featured a +well-known piece entitled “Darius Green and His Flying Machine.” +Darius, it seems, was a simple-minded lad who actually thought he could fly. +</p> + +<p> +Fifty years. That was the time the Air Force had estimated it would take us to +start exploring space. Would Americans come to accept space travel as +matter-of-factly as the people now boarding this plane? The youngsters would, +probably; the older ones, as a rule, would be a little more cautious. +</p> + +<p> +In the oval lounge at the rear of the plane, I took out the file of old +sighting reports. Glancing through it, I, saw excerpts from nineteenth-century +astronomical and scientific journals and extracts from official gazettes. Most +of the early sightings had been in Great Britain and on the Continent, with a +few reports scattered around the world. The American reports did not begin +until the latter part of the century. +</p> + +<p> +The DC-6 rolled out and took off. For a few minutes I watched the lights of +Manhattan and Greater New York twinkling below. The Empire State Building tower +was still above us, as the plane banked over the East River. +</p> + +<p> +We climbed quickly, and the familiar outline of Manhattan took shape like a map +pin-pointed with millions of lights. +</p> + +<p> +Any large city seen from the air at night has a certain magic, New York most of +all. Looking down, I thought: What would a spaceman think, seeing this +brilliantly lighted city, the towering skyscrapers? Would other planets have +such cities, or would it be something new and puzzling to a visitor from space? +</p> + +<p> +Turning back to the old reports, I skipped through until I found the American +sightings. One of the first was an incident at Bonham, Texas, in the summer of +1873. +</p> + +<p> +It was broad daylight when a strange, fast-moving object appeared in the sky, +southwest of the town. For a moment, the people of Bonham stared at the thing, +not believing their eves. The only flying device then known was the drifting +balloon. But this thing was tremendous, and speeding so fast its outlines were +almost a blur. +</p> + +<p> +Terrified farmers dived under their wagons. Townspeople fled indoors. Only a +few hardy souls remained in the streets. The mysterious object circled Bonham +twice, then raced off to the cast and vanished. Descriptions of the strange +machine varied from round or oval to cigar-shaped. (The details of the Bonham +sighting were later confirmed for me by Frank Edwards, Mutual network +newscaster, who investigated this case.) +</p> + +<p> +Twenty-four hours after the Bonham incident, a device of the same description +appeared at Fort Scott, Kansas. Panic-stricken soldiers fled the parade ground +as the thing flashed overhead. In a few seconds it disappeared, circling toward +the north. +</p> + +<p> +Until now, I had supposed that the term “saucer” was original with +Kenneth Arnold. Actually, the first to compare a flying object with a saucer +was John Martin, a farmer who lived near Denison, Texas. The Denison Daily News +of January 25, 1878, gives the following account: +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +From Mr. John Martin, a farmer who lives some six miles south of this city, we +learn the following strange story: Tuesday morning while out hunting, his +attention was directed to a dark object high up in the southern sky. The +peculiar shape and velocity with which the object seemed to approach riveted +his attention and he strained his eves to discover its character. +</p> + +<p> +When first noticed, it appeared to be about the size of an orange, which +continued to grow in size. After gazing at it for some time Mr. Martin became +blind from long looking and left off viewing it for a time in order to rest his +eyes. On resuming his view, the object was almost overhead and had increased +considerably in size, and appeared to be going through space at wonderful +speed. +</p> + +<p> +When directly over him it was about the size of a large saucer and was +evidently at great height. Mr. Martin thought it resembled, as well as he could +judge, a balloon. It went as rapidly as it had come and was soon lost to sight +in the heavenly skies. Mr. Martin is a gentleman of undoubted veracity and this +strange occurrence, if it was not a balloon, deserves the attention of our +scientists. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +In the file, I saw a memo DuBarry had written: +</p> + +<p> +“I would take the very early reports with caution. For instance, the one +on August 9, 1762, which describes an odd, spindle-shaped body traveling at +high speed toward the sun. I recall that Charles Fort accepted this, along with +other early sightings, as evidence of space ships. But this particular thing +might have been a meteor—meteors as such were almost unknown then. The +later reports are more convincing, and it is also easier to check the sources, +especially those from 1870 on.” +</p> + +<p> +From 1762 to 1870, the reports were meager. Some described mysterious lights in +the sky; a few mentioned round objects seen in daylight. Even though they were +not so fully documented as later ones, one point struck me. In those days, +there was no telegraph, telephone, or radio to spread news rapidly and start a +flood of rumors. A sighting in Scotland could not be the cause of a similar one +two days later in the south of France. +</p> + +<p> +Beginning in 870, there was a series of reports that went on to the turn of the +century. In the London <i>Times</i>, September 26, 1870, there was a +description of a queer object that was seen crossing the moon. It was reported +as elliptical, with some kind of tail, and it took almost thirty seconds to +complete its passage of the moon. Then in 1871, a large, round body was sighted +above Marseilles, France. This was on August 1. It moved slowly across the sky, +apparently at great height, and was visible about fifteen minutes. +</p> + +<p> +On March 22, 1880, several brilliantly luminous objects were reported seen at +Kattenau, Germany. Sighted just before sunrise, they were described as rising +from the horizon and moving from east to west. The account was published in the +<i>British Nature Magazine</i>, Volume 22, page 64. +</p> + +<p> +The next report in the file mentioned briefly a strange round object seen in +the skies over Bermuda. The source for this account was the Bermuda Royal +Gazette. This was in 1885. That same year, an astronomer and other witnesses +reported a gigantic aerial object at Adrianople, Turkey. On November 1, the +weird apparition was seen moving across the sky. Observers described it as +round and four to five times the size of the moon. +</p> + +<p> +This estimate is similar to the Denison, Texas, comparison with an orange. The +object would actually be huge to be seen at any great height. But unless the +true height were known, any estimate of size would be guesswork. +</p> + +<p> +On March 19, 1887, two strange objects fell into the sea near a Dutch +barkentine. As described by the skipper, Captain C. D. Sweet, one of the +objects was dark, the other brightly luminous. The glowing object fell with a +loud roaring sound; the shipmaster was positive it was not a meteor. +</p> + +<p> +In New Zealand, a year later, an oval-shaped disk was reported speeding high +overhead. This was on May 4, 1888. About two years after this, several large +aerial bodies were sighted hovering over the Dutch East Indies. +</p> + +<p> +Most accounts described them as roughly triangular, about one hundred feet on +the base and two hundred feet on the sides. But some observers thought they +might be longer and narrower, with a rounded base; this would make them agree +with more recent stories of cone-shaped objects with rounded tops seen in +American skies. +</p> + +<p> +On August 26, 1894, a British admiral reported sighting a large disk with a +projection like a tail. And a year after this, both England and Scotland buzzed +with stories of triangular-shaped objects like those seen in the Dutch East +Indies. Although many officials scoffed at the stories, more than one +astronomer stuck to his belief that the mysterious things might be coming from +outer space. Since planes and dirigibles were then unknown, there was no one on +earth who could have been responsible for them. +</p> + +<p> +In 1897, sightings in the United States began to be more frequent. One of the +strangest reports describes an incident that began on April 9. Flying at a +great height, a huge cigar-shaped device was seen in the Midwest. Short wings +projected from the sides of the object, according to reports of astronomers who +watched it through telescopes. +</p> + +<p> +For almost a week, the aerial visitor was sighted around the Midwest, as far +south as St. Louis and as far west as Colorado. Several times, red, green, and +white lights were seen to flash in the sky; some witnesses thought the crew of +this strange craft might be trying to signal the earth. +</p> + +<p> +On April 16, the thing, whatever it was, disappeared from the Midwest. But on +April 19, the same object—or else a similar one—appeared over West +Virginia. Early that morning the town of Sisterville was awakened by blasts of +the sawmill whistle. Those who went outside their homes saw a strange sight. +From a torpedo-shaped object overhead, dazzling searchlights were pointing +downward, sweeping the countryside. The thing appeared to be about two hundred +feet long, some thirty feet in diameter, with stubby wings and red and green +lights along the sides. For almost ten minutes the aerial visitor circled the +town, then it swung eastward and vanished. +</p> + +<p> +The next report was published in the U.S. Weather Bureau’s monthly +<i>Weather Review</i>. On page 115 in the March 1904 issue, there is an account +of an odd sighting at sea. On February 24, 1904, a mysterious light had been +seen above the Atlantic by crew members of the U.S.S. <i>Supply</i>. It was +moving swiftly, and evidently at high altitude. The report was attested by +Lieutenant Frank H. Schofield, U.S.N. +</p> + +<p> +On July 2, 1907, a mysterious explosion occurred, in the heavens near +Burlington, Vermont. Some witnesses described a strange, torpedo-shaped device +circling above. Shortly after it was seen, a round, luminous object flashed +down from the sky, then exploded, (<i>Weather Review</i>, 1907, page 310.) +</p> + +<p> +Another cigar-shaped craft was reported at a low altitude over Bridgewater, +Massachusetts, in 1905. Like the one at Sisterville, it carried searchlights, +which swept back and forth across the countryside. After a few moments, the +visitor rose in a steep climb, and the searchlights blinked out. +</p> + +<p> +There was no report for 1909 in America, though an odd aerial object was +sighted near the Galapagos Islands. But in 1910, one January morning, a large +silvery cigar-shaped device startled Chattanooga. After about five minutes, the +thing sped away, appearing over Huntsville, Alabama, shortly afterward. It made +a second appearance over Chattanooga the next day, then headed east and was +never seen again. +</p> + +<p> +In <i>Popular Astronomy</i>, January 27, 1012, a Dr. F. B. Harris described an +intensely black object that he saw crossing the moon. As nearly as he could +tell, it was gigantic in size—though again there was no way to be sure of +its distance from him or the moon. With careful understatement, Dr. Harris +said, “I think a very interesting and curious phenomenon happened that +night.” +</p> + +<p> +A strange shadow was noted on the clouds at Fort Worth, Texas, on April 8, 19, +3. It appeared to be caused by some large body hovering motionless above the +clouds. As the cloud layer moved, the shadow remained in the same position. +Then it changed size, diminishing, and quickly disappeared, as if it had risen +vertically. A report on this was given in the Weather Bureau <i>Review</i> of +that year, Number 4-599. +</p> + +<p> +By 1919, dirigibles were of course well known to most of the world. When a +dirigible-shaped object appeared over Huntington, West Virginia, in July of +that year, there was no great alarm. It was believed to be an American blimp, +though the darkness—it was eleven at night—prevented observers from +being sure. But a later check-up proved it was not an American ship, nor was it +from any country possessing such craft. +</p> + +<p> +For some time after this, there were few authentic reports. Then in 1934, +Nicholas Roerich, head of the American-Roerich expedition into Tibet, had a +remarkable experience that bears on the saucer riddle. +</p> + +<p> +On pages 361 and 362 of his book <i>Altai Himalaya</i>, Roerich describes the +incident. The expedition party was in the wilds of Tibet one morning when a +porter noticed the peculiar actions of a buzzard overhead. He called +Roerich’s attention to it; then they all saw something high in the sky, +moving at great speed from north to south. Watching it through binoculars, +Roerich saw it was oval-shaped, obviously of huge size, and reflecting the +sun’s rays like brightly polished metal. While he trailed it with his +glasses, the object suddenly changed direction, from south to southwest. It was +gone in a few moments. +</p> + +<p> +This was the last sighting listed before World War II. +</p> + +<p> +When I had finished, I stared out the plane window, curiously disturbed. Like +most people, I had grown up believing the earth was the center of +everything—life, intelligence, and religion. Now, for the first time in +my life, that belief was shaken. +</p> + +<p> +It was a curious thing. I could accept the idea that we would eventually +explore space, land on the moon, and go on to distant planets. I had read of +the plans, and I knew our engineers and scientists would somehow find a way. It +did not disturb my belief in our superiority. +</p> + +<p> +But faced with this evidence of a superior race in the universe, my mind +rebelled. For years, I had been accustomed to thinking in comic-strip terms of +any possible spacemen—Buck Rogers stuff, with weird-looking space ships +and green-faced Martians. +</p> + +<p> +But now, if these sightings were true, the shoe was on the other foot. We would +be faced with a race of beings at least two hundred years ahead of our +civilization—perhaps thousands. In their eyes, we might look like +primitives. +</p> + +<p> +My conjectures before the take-off had just been idle thinking; I had not +really believed this could be the answer. But now the question came back +sharply. How would we react to a sudden appearance of space ships, bringing +that higher race to the earth? If we were fully prepared, educated to this +tremendous adventure, it might come off without trouble. Unprepared, we would +be thrown into panic. +</p> + +<p> +The lights of Philadelphia showed up ahead, and a thought struck me. What would +Philadelphians of 1776 have thought to see this DC-6 flying across their city +at three hundred miles an hour? What would the sentries at Valley Forge have +done, a year later, if this lighted airliner had streaked over their heads? +</p> + +<p> +Madness. Stampede. Those were the plain answers. +</p> + +<p> +But there was a difference now. We had had modern miracles, radio, television, +supersonic planes, and the promise of still more miracles. <i>We</i> could be +educated, or at least partly prepared, to accept space visitors. +</p> + +<p> +In fifty years we had learned to fly. In fifty years more, we would be +exploring space. Why should we believe such creative intelligence was limited +to the earth? It would be incredible if the earth, out of all the millions of +planets, proved the only inhabited spot in the whole universe. +</p> + +<p> +But, instinctively, I still fought against believing that the flying saucers +were space ships. Eventually, we would make contact with races on other +planets; they undoubtedly would someday visit the earth. But if it could be put +off . . . a problem for later generations to handle . . . +</p> + +<p> +If the disks proved American guided missiles, it would be an easier answer. +</p> + +<p> +Looking through the Project “Saucer” report DuBarry had loaned me, +I read the space-travel items, hoping to find some hint that this was a smoke +screen. On page 18, in a discussion on Mars, I found this comment: +</p> + +<p> +“Reports of strange objects seen in the skies have been handed down +through the generations. However, scientists believe that if Martians were now +visiting the earth without establishing contact, it could be assumed that they +have just recently succeeded in space travel, and that their civilization would +be practically abreast of ours. This because they find it hard to believe that +any technically established race would come here, flaunt its ability in +mysterious ways over the years, but each time simply go way without ever +establishing contact.” +</p> + +<p> +There could be several answers to that. The Martians might not be able to live +in our atmosphere, except in their sealed space ships. They, or some other +planet race, could have observed us periodically to check on our slow progress. +Until we began to approach their level of civilization, or in some way caused +them concern, they would probably see no reason for trying to make contact. But +somehow I found a vague comfort in the argument, full of holes though it was. +</p> + +<p> +Searching further, I found other space-travel comments. On one page, the Air +Force admitted it was almost a certainty that space travelers would be +operating from planets outside the solar system. But on the following page, I +discovered this sentence: “Thus, although visits from outer space are +believed to be possible, they are thought to be highly improbable.” +</p> + +<p> +What was the answer? Was this just a wandering discussion of possibilities, +badly put together, or was it a hint of the truth? it could be the first step +in preparing America for a revelation. It could also be a carefully thought-out +trick. +</p> + +<p> +This whole report might be designed to conceal a secret weapon. If the Air +Force or the Navy did have a secret missile, what better way to distract +attention? The old sighting reports could have been seized on as a buildup for +space travel hints. +</p> + +<p> +Then suddenly it hit me. Even if it were a smoke screen, what of those old +reports? They still remained to be answered. There was only one possible +explanation, unless you discarded the sightings as lies. That meant +discrediting many reliable witnesses—naval officers, merchant +shipmasters, explorers, astronomers, ministers, and responsible public +officials. +</p> + +<p> +Besides all these, there had been thousands of other witnesses, where large +groups had seen the objects. The answer seemed inevitable, but I held it off. I +didn’t want to believe it, with all the changes it might bring, the +unpredictable effect upon our civilization. If I kept on checking I might find +evidence that would bring a different explanation for the present saucers. +</p> + +<p> +DuBarry had put another group of reports in the envelope; this series covered +the World War II phase and on up to the outbreak of the saucer scare in the +United States. Some of it, about the foo fighters, I already knew. This was +tied in with the mystery rockets reported over Sweden. The first Swedish +sightings had occurred during the early part of the war. Most of the so-called +“ghost rockets” were seen at night, moving at tremendous speed. +Since they came from the direction of Germany, most Swedes believed that guided +rockets were the answer. +</p> + +<p> +During the summer of 1946, after the Russians had taken over Peenemunde, the +Nazi missile test base, ghost rockets again were reported flying over Sweden. +Some were said to double back and fly into Soviet areas. Practically all were +seen at night, and therefore none had been described as a flying disk. Instead, +they were said to be colored lights, red, green, blue, and orange, often +blurred from their high speed. +</p> + +<p> +But there was a puzzling complication. Mystery lights, and sometimes flying +disks, were simultaneously reported over Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Spain, and +even French Morocco. Either there were <i>two</i> answers, or some nation had +developed missiles with an incredibly long range. +</p> + +<p> +By January 1947, ghost-rocket sightings in Europe had diminished to less than +one a month. Oddly enough, the first disk report admitted by Project +“Saucer” was in this same month. The first ’47 case detailed +by Project “Saucer” occurred at Richmond, Virginia. It was about +the middle of April. A Richmond weather observer had released a balloon and was +tracking it with a theodolite when a strange object crossed his field of +vision. He swung the theodolite and managed to track the thing, despite its +high speed. (The actual speed and altitude—the latter determined by a +comparison of the balloon’s height at various times—have never been +released. Nor has the Air Force released this observer’s report on the +object’s size, which Project “Saucer” admitted was more +accurate than most witnesses’ estimates.) +</p> + +<p> +About the seventeenth of May 1947, a huge oval-shaped saucer ten times longer +than its diameter was sighted by Byron Savage, an Oklahoma City pilot. Two days +later, another fast-flying saucer was reported at Manitou Springs, Colorado. In +the short time it was observed, it was seen to change direction twice, +maneuvering at an unbelievable speed. +</p> + +<p> +Then on June 24 came Kenneth Arnold’s famous report, which set off the +saucer scare. The rest of the story I now knew almost by heart. +</p> + +<p> +When the DC-6 landed at Washington, I had made one decision. Since it was +impossible to check up on most of the old sightings, I would concentrate on +certain recent reports—cases in which the objects had been described as +space ships. +</p> + +<p> +As I waited for a taxi, I looked up at the sky. It was a clear summer night, +without a single cloud. Beyond the low hill to the west I could see the stars. +</p> + +<p> +I can still remember thinking, <i>If it’s true, then the stars will never +again seem the same</i>. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<p> +Next morning, in the broad light of day, the idea of space visitors somehow had +lost its menace. If the disks were space ships, at least they had shown no sign +of hostility, so far as I knew. Of course, there was Mantell; but if he had +been downed by some weapon on the disk, it could have been self-defense. In +most cases, the saucers retreated at the first sign of pursuit. +</p> + +<p> +My mind was still reluctant to accept the space-travel answer, in spite of the +old reports. But I kept thinking of the famous aircraft designer who thought +the disks were space craft; the airline pilots Purdy had mentioned; +Blake’s copilot, Chuck. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Now that I recalled it, Blake had been more embarrassed than seemed called for +when he told about Chuck. Perhaps he had been the one who believed the saucers +were space ships, instead of his absent copilot. +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast, I went over the list of sightings since June 1947. There were +several saucers that actually had been described as projectile-like ships. The +most famous of all was the Eastern Airlines case. +</p> + +<p> +It was 8:30 P.M., July 23, 1948, when an Eastern Airlines DC-3 took off from +Houston, Texas, on a flight to Atlanta and Boston. The airliner captain was +Clarence S. Chiles. During the war, he had been in the Air Transport Command, +with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He had 8,500 flying hours. His first +officer was John B. Whitted, a wartime pilot on B-29’s. Both men were +known in Eastern as careful, conservative pilots. +</p> + +<p> +It was a bright, moonlit night, with scattered clouds overhead. The DC-3 was +twenty miles west of Montgomery, at 2:45 A.M., when a brilliant projectile-like +craft came hurtling along the airway. +</p> + +<p> +Chiles saw it first and took it to be a jet plane. But the next instant both +pilots saw that this was no jet fighter. +</p> + +<p> +“It was heading southwest,” Chiles said later, “exactly +opposite to our course. Whatever it was, it flashed down toward us at terrific +speed. We veered to the left. It veered sharply, too, and passed us about seven +hundred feet to the right. I saw then that it had no wings.” +</p> + +<p> +The mystery ship passed on Whitted’s side, and he had a fairly close +look. +</p> + +<p> +“The thing was about one hundred feet long, cigar-shaped, and +wingless,” he described it. “It was about twice the diameter of a +B-twenty-nine, with no protruding fins.” +</p> + +<p> +Captain Chiles said the cabin appeared like a pilot compartment, except for its +eerie brilliance. Both he and Whitted agreed it was as bright as a magnesium +flare. They saw no occupants, but at their speed this was not. surprising. +</p> + +<p> +“An intense dark-blue glow came from the side of the ship,” Chiles +reported. (It was later suggested by engineers that the strange glare could +have come from a power plant of unusual type.) “It ran the entire length +of the fuselage—like a blue fluorescent light. The exhaust was a +red-orange flame, with a lighter color predominant around the outer +edges.” +</p> + +<p> +Both pilots said the flame extended thirty to fifty feet behind the ship. As it +passed, Chiles noted a snout like a radar pole. Both he and Whitted glimpsed +two rows of windows. +</p> + +<p> +“Just as it went by,” said Chiles, “the pilot pulled up as if +he had seen the DC-three and wanted to avoid its. There was a tremendous burst +of flame from the rear. It zoomed into the clouds, its jet wash rocking our +DC-three.” +</p> + +<p> +Chiles’s estimate of the mystery ship’s speed was between five +hundred and seven hundred miles an hour. +</p> + +<p> +As the object vanished, Chiles went back into the cabin to check with the +passengers. Most had been asleep or were drowsing. But one man confirmed that +they were in their right senses. This passenger, Clarence McKelvie of Columbus, +Ohio, told them (and a Project “Saucer” team later) that he had +seen a brilliant streak of light flash past his window. It had gone too swiftly +for him to catch any details. +</p> + +<p> +The A.P. interviewed Mr. McKelvie soon after he landed, and ran the following +story: +</p> + +<p> +“Kennett Square, Pa., July 24 (AP) . Clarence L. McKelvie, assistant +managing editor of the American Education Press, said he was the only passenger +on the EAL Houston-Boston plane who was not asleep when the phantom craft was +sighted. +</p> + +<p> +“‘I saw no shape or form,’ Mr. McKelvie said. ‘I was on +the right side of the plane, and suddenly I saw this strange eerie streak out +of my window. It was very intense, not like lightning or anything I had ever +seen.’ +</p> + +<p> +“The Columbus man said he was too startled and the object moved too +quickly for him to adjust his eyes to it.” +</p> + +<p> +In Washington, Air Force officials insisted they could shed no light on the +mystery. Out in Santa Monica, General George C. Kenney, then chief of the +Strategic Air Command, declared the Air Force had nothing remotely like the +ship described. +</p> + +<p> +“I wish we did,” General Kenney told reporters. “I’d +sure like to see that.” +</p> + +<p> +The publicized story of this “space ship” set off another +scare—also the usual cracks about screwball pilots. But Chiles and +Whitted were not screwballs; they were highly respected pilots. The +passenger’s confirmation added weight. But even if all three had been +considered deluded, the Air Force investigators could not get around the +reports from Robbins Air Force Base. +</p> + +<p> +Just about one hour before the DC-3 incident, a strange flaming object came +racing southward through the night skies over Robbins Field, at Macon, Georgia. +Observers at the air base were astounded to see what appeared to be a huge, +wingless craft streak overhead, trailing a varicolored exhaust. (The +witnesses’ description tallied with those of Chiles and Whitted.) The +mystery ship vanished swiftly; all observers agreed that it disappeared from +the line of sight just like a normal aircraft. +</p> + +<p> +While I was working on this case, a contact in Washington gave me an +interesting tip. +</p> + +<p> +“Within forty-eight hours after that Eastern sighting, Air Force +engineers rushed out blueprint plans and elevations of the ‘space +ship,’ based on what the two pilots told them.” +</p> + +<p> +Whether or not this was true, I found that the Air Force engineers did compute +the probable speed and lift of the mystery craft. The ship was found to be +within the bounds of aerodynamic laws for operations in our atmosphere. Here is +the Air Force statement: +</p> + +<p> +“Application of the Prandtl theory of lift indicated that a fuselage of +the dimensions reported by Chiles and Whitted could support a load comparable +to the weight of an aircraft of this size, at flying speeds in the sub-sonic +range.” (This supports Chiles’s estimate of 500-700 m.p.h.) +</p> + +<p> +Four days after the space-ship story was published, a Navy spokesman was quoted +as hinting it might have been a high-atmosphere rocket gone astray from the +proving grounds in New Mexico. The brief report appeared on the editorial page +of the Washington <i>Star</i> on July 28, 1947. It ran as follows: +</p> + +<p> +“The Navy says that naval technicians have been testing a +3,000-mile-per-hour rocket in New Mexico. If one went astray, it could travel +across our continent in a short time.” +</p> + +<p> +At first glance I thought this might be the real answer to the Chiles-Whitted +case. But after a few minutes I saw it was almost impossible. +</p> + +<p> +First, rockets at White Sands are launched and controlled with utmost care. +There have been no reported cases of such a long-distance runaway. +</p> + +<p> +Second, if such a rocket had gone astray, it would certainly have caused wild +confusion at White Sands until they found where it landed. Hundreds of people +would have known about it; the story would be certain to leak out. +</p> + +<p> +Third, such a rocket would have had to travel from White Sands to Macon, +Georgia, then circle around south of this city for over forty minutes. (If it +had kept on at the speed observed at Robbins Field, it would have passed +Montgomery long before the DC-3 reached the area.) In addition, the rocket +would have had to veer sharply away from the airliner, as both pilots +testified, and then zoom into the clouds. No high-atmosphere test rocket has +automatic controls such as this would require. And if it had gone astray from +White Sands, the station’s remote control would no longer be guiding it. +</p> + +<p> +The Eastern Airlines “space ship,” then, was not just a fugitive +rocket. But it could be a new type of aircraft, something revolutionary, +developed in absolute secrecy. +</p> + +<p> +Other airline pilots had reported flying disks racing along the airways, though +none that I knew of had described projectile-like objects. Chiles and Whitted +insisted the mystery ship was not a disk, and the report from Robbins Field +agreed on this point. Man-made devices or not, it seemed fairly certain there +was more than one type of saucer. +</p> + +<p> +The more I studied the evidence, the harder it was to believe that this was an +earth-made ship. Such a wingless rocket ship would require tremendous jet power +to keep it in the air. Even our latest jet bombers could not begin to approach +its performance. +</p> + +<p> +Going back over the Project “Saucer” preliminary report, I found +strong evidence that the Air Force was worried. In their investigation, Project +teams had screened 225 military and civilian flight schedules. After nine +months, they reported that the mysterious object was no conventional aircraft. +</p> + +<p> +On April 27, 1949, the Air Force admitted that Project “Saucer” had +failed to find the answer. The “space ship” was officially listed +as unidentified. +</p> + +<p> +“But Wright Field is still working on it,” an Air Force officer +told me. “Both Chiles and Whitted are responsible pilots, and McKelvie +has a reputation for making careful statements. Even without the Robbins Field +confirmation, no one could doubt that they saw something.” +</p> + +<p> +The Chiles-Whitted “space ship” was not the first of this type to +be reported. Another wingless aircraft was sighted in August 1947, by two +pilots for an Alabama flying service. It was at Bethel, Alabama, just after +sunset, when a huge black wingless craft swept across their course. Silhouetted +against the evening sky, it loomed larger than a C-54. The pilots saw no wings, +motors, or jet exhausts. +</p> + +<p> +Swinging in behind the mystery ship, they attempted to follow. But at their +speed of 170 m.p.h. they were quickly outdistanced. Careful checking showed +there were no other planes nearby that could have been mistaken for this +strange craft. +</p> + +<p> +On New Year’s Day, 1948, a similar rocket-shaped object was sighted at +Jackson, Mississippi. It was first seen by a former Air Force pilot and his +passenger, and later by witnesses on the ground. Before the pilot could begin +to close in, the odd wingless ship pulled away. Speeding up from 200 to 500 +m.p.h., it swiftly disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +Besides these two cases, already on record, I had the tips Purdy had given me. +One wingless ship was supposed to have been seen three or four days before the +Chiles-Whitted sighting; like the thing they reported, the unidentified craft +was a double-decked “space ship” but moving at even higher speed. +At first I ran into a stone wall trying to check this story. Then I found a +lead conforming that this was a foreign report. It finally proved to be from +The Hague. +</p> + +<p> +The tip had been right. This double-decked, wingless ship had been sighted on +July 20, 1948—four days before the Eastern case. Witnesses had reported +it at a high altitude, moving at fantastic speed. +</p> + +<p> +While working on this report, I verified another tip. We had heard a rumor of a +space-ship sighting at Clark Field, in the Philippine Islands. Although I +didn’t learn the date, I found that there was such a record. +</p> + +<p> +(In the final Project “Saucer” report, the attempt to explain away +this sighting was painfully evident. Analyzing this case, Number 206, the Air +Force said: “If the facts are correct, there is no astronomical +explanation. A few points favor the daytime meteor hypothesis—snow-white +color, speed faster than a jet, the roar, similarity to sky-writing and the +time of day. But the tactics, if really performed, oppose it strenuously: the +maneuvers in and out of cloud banks, turns of 180 degrees or more, Possibly +these were illusions, caused by seeing the object intermittently through +clouds. The impression of a fuselage with windows could even more easily have +been a sign of imagination.” +</p> + +<p> +(With this conjecture, Project “Saucer” listed the sighting as +officially answered. The Hague space-ship case was unexplained.) +</p> + +<p> +In following up the Jackson and Bethel reports, I talked with two officials in +the Civil Aeronautics Administration. One of these was Charley Planck, who +handled public relations. I found that the pilots concerned had good records; +C.A.A. men who knew them discounted the hoax theory. +</p> + +<p> +“Charley, there’s a rumor that airline pilots have been ordered not +to talk,” I told Planck. “You know anything about it?” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean ordered by the Air Force or the companies?” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“The Air Force <i>and</i> the C.A.A.” +</p> + +<p> +“If the C.A.A.’s in on it, it’s a top-level deal,” said +Charley. “I think it’s more likely the companies—with or +without a nudge from the Air Force.” +</p> + +<p> +While we were talking, an official from another agency came in. Because the +lead he gave me was off the record, I’ll call him Steve Barrett. I knew +Steve fairly well. We were both pilots with service training; our paths had +crossed during the war, and I saw him now and then at airports around +Washington. +</p> + +<p> +When the saucer scare first broke, Steve had been disgusted. “Damn fools +trying to get publicity,” he snorted. “The way Americans fall for a +gag! Even the Air Force has got the jitters.” +</p> + +<p> +So I was a little surprised to find he now thought the disks were real. +</p> + +<p> +“What sold you?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“The radar reports,” said Steve. “I know of half a dozen +cases where they’ve tracked the things. One was in Japan. The thing was +climbing so fast no one believed the radarmen at first. Then they got some more +reports. One was up in Canada. There was a case in New Mexico, and I think a +Navy destroyer tracked a saucer up in the North Atlantic.” +</p> + +<p> +“What did they find out?” said Charley Planck. +</p> + +<p> +Steve shrugged. “I don’t know all the answers. Whatever they are, +the things can go like hell.” +</p> + +<p> +I had a hunch he was holding back. I waited until he had finished with Charley, +and then went, down the hall with him. “You think the saucers are guided +missiles?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“If I thought so, I wouldn’t be talking,” he said flatly, +“That’s not a dig at you. But I was cleared last year for some +secret electronics work, and it might be used in some way with guided +missiles.” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t know that, Steve.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s O.K.,” he said. “I don’t mind talking, +because can’t believe the saucers are guided missiles. Maybe few of the +things sighted out in the Southwest have beer our test rockets, but that +doesn’t explain the radar reports in Canada and Japan.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’d already heard about a radar case in Labrador,” I told +Steve. He looked at me quickly. +</p> + +<p> +“Where’d you pick that up;” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>True</i> passed it on to me,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“They’ve had some trouble tracking the things, they maneuver so +fast,” said Steve. “It sounds crazy, but I’ve been told they +hit more than ten thousand miles an hour.” +</p> + +<p> +“You believe it.?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it’s not impossible. Those saucers were tracked about fifty +miles up, where there’s not much resistance.” +</p> + +<p> +The elevator door opened. Steve waited until we were outside of the Commerce +Building. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s one other thing that gets me,” he said. +“Unless the radar boys are way off, some of those saucers are enormous. I +just can’t see a guided missile five hundred feet in diameter.” He +stopped for a moment. “I suppose this will sound screwy to +you—” +</p> + +<p> +“You think they’re interplanetary,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +Steve was quickly on the defensive. “I haven’t bought it yet, but +it’s not as crazy as it sounds.” +</p> + +<p> +Without mentioning names, I told him about the aircraft designer and the +airline pilots. +</p> + +<p> +“They’re in good company,” said Steve. “You know the +Air Institute?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sure—the Air Force school down at Montgomery.” +</p> + +<p> +“Six months ago, I was talking with an officer who’d been +instructing there.” Steve looked at me, deadly serious. “He told me +they are now teaching that the saucers are probably space ships.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<p> +Three days after my meeting with Steve Barrett, I was on a Mainliner 300, +starting, a new phase of the saucer investigation. By the time I returned, I +hoped to know the truth about Project “Saucer.” +</p> + +<p> +As the ship droned westward, fourteen thousand feet above the Alleghenies, I +thought of what Steve had told me. I believed, that he had told me about the +radar tracking. And I was fairly sure he believed the Air Institute story. But +I wasn’t so certain the story itself was true. +</p> + +<p> +It would hardly be a gag; Steve wasn’t easily taken in. It was more +likely that one Institute officer, or perhaps several, believed the saucers +were space craft and aired their personal opinions. The Institute wasn’t +likely to give an official answer to something that Project +“Saucer” still declared unsolved. +</p> + +<p> +If it were possible to get an inside look at Project “Saucer” +operations, I could soon tell whether it was an actual investigation or a +deliberate cover-up for something else. Whichever it was, the wall of official. +secrecy still hid it. +</p> + +<p> +As a formality, I had called the Pentagon again and asked to talk with some of +the Project officers. As I expected, I was turned down. The only alternative +was to dig out the story by talking with pilots and others who had been. +quizzed by Project teams. I had several leads, and <i>True</i> had arranged +some interviews for me. +</p> + +<p> +My first stop was Chicago, where I met an airline official and two commercial +pilots. I saw the pilots first. Since they both talked in confidence, I will +not use their right names. One, a Midwesterner I already knew, I’ll call +Pete Farrell; the other, a wartime instructor, Art Green. +</p> + +<p> +Pete was about thirty-one, stocky, blue-eyed, with a pleasant, intelligent +face. Art Green was a little older, a lean, sunburned, restless man with an +emphatic voice. Pete had served with the Air Force during the war; he was now +part owner of a flying school, also a pilot in the Air National Guard. Green +was working for an air charter service +</p> + +<p> +We met at the Palmer House. Art Green didn’t need much prompting to talk +about Project “Saucer.” After reporting a disk, seen during a West +Coast Right, he had been thoroughly grilled by a Project “Saucer” +team. +</p> + +<p> +“They practically took me apart,” he said irritably. +“They’ve got a lot of trick questions. Some of ’em are +figured out to trip up anybody faking a story. The way they worked on me, +you’d think I committed a murder. +</p> + +<p> +“Then they tried to sell me on the idea I’d seen a balloon, or +maybe a plane, with the sun shining on it when it banked. I told them to go to +the devil—I knew what I saw. After seventeen years, I’ve got enough +sense to tell a ship or a balloon when I see it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did they believe you?” I asked him. +</p> + +<p> +“If they did, they didn’t let on. Two of ’em acted as if they +thought I was nuts. The other guy-I think he was Air Force +Intelligence—acted decent. He said not to get steamed up about the +Aero-Medical boys; it was their job to screen out the crackpots. +</p> + +<p> +“And on top of that, I found out later the F.B.I. had checked up on me to +find out if I was a liar or a screwball. They went around to my boss, people in +my neighborhood—even the pilots in my outfit. My outfit’s still +razzing me. I wouldn’t report another saucer if one flew through my +cockpit.” +</p> + +<p> +Pete Farrell hadn’t encountered any Project “Saucer” teams +personally, but he had some interesting angles. Some of the information had +come from commercial and private pilots in the Midwest, part of it through +National Guard contacts. +</p> + +<p> +“I can tell you one thing,” Pete said. “Guard pilots got the +same order as the Air Force. If we saw anything peculiar flying around, we were +to do our damnedest to identify it.” +</p> + +<p> +“What about trying to bring one down? I’ve heard that was in one +order.” +</p> + +<p> +Pete hesitated for a second. “Look, I told you that much because +it’s been in the papers. But I’m still in the Guard. I can’t +tell you the order itself. It was confidential.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I’m not in the Guard,” said Art Green. He lit a +cigarette, blew out the match. “Why don’t you look into the Gorman +case? Get thc dope on that court-martial angle.” +</p> + +<p> +I’d heard of the Gorman case, but the court-martial thing was new to me. +Gorman, I recalled, was a fighter pilot in the North Dakota Air National Guard. +He had a mystifying encounter with a strange, fast-moving “light” +over Fargo Airport in the fall of 1948. +</p> + +<p> +“That case is on my list,” I told Green. “But I don’t +remember anything about a court-martial.” +</p> + +<p> +“It wasn’t in the papers. But all the pilots up that way know about +it. In his report, Gorman said something about trying to ram the thing. The +idea got around that Air Force orders had said to try this. Anyway, it got into +the papers and Gorman almost got court-martialed. If his family hadn’t +had some influence in the state, the Air Force probably would have pushed +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you sure about this?” I said. “You know how those things +build up.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ask Gorman,” he said. “Or ask some of the pilots at +Fargo.” +</p> + +<p> +Before I left them, Green double-checked my report on his sighting, which +Hilton had forwarded. As in the majority of cases, he had seen just one disk. +It had hovered at a very high altitude, gleaming in the sun, then had suddenly +accelerated and raced off to the north. +</p> + +<p> +“I couldn’t tell its size or speed,” said Green. “But +if it was as high as I think, it must have been pretty big.” +</p> + +<p> +Pete told me later that Green believed the disk had been at least twenty miles +high, because it was well above clouds at thirty thousand feet. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s kind of hard to believe,” said Pete. “The thing +would have to be a lot bigger than a B-twenty-nine, and the speed over two +thousand miles an hour.” +</p> + +<p> +“You know what they said about the Mantell saucer,” I reminded him. +“Some of the Godman Field people said it was at least three hundred feet +in diameter.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve heard it was twice that,” said Pete. +</p> + +<p> +“You know any Kentucky National Guard pilots?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“One or two,” said Pete. “But they couldn’t tell me +anything. It was hushed up too fast.” +</p> + +<p> +That evening I talked with the airline official, whom I knew well enough to +call by his first name. I put it to him bluntly. +</p> + +<p> +“Dick, if you’re under orders not to talk, just tell me. Fm trying +to find out whether Project ‘Saucer’ has muzzled airline +pilots.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean the ones who’ve sighted things? Perhaps, in a few cases. +But most of the pilots know what happened to Captain Emil Smith, on United, and +those Eastern pilots. They keep still so they won’t be laughed at. Also +the airlines don’t like their pilots to talk for publication.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve heard of several cases,” I said, “where Air Force +Intelligence is supposed to have warned pilots to keep mum. Two of the reports +come pretty straight.” +</p> + +<p> +He made a gesture. “That could be. I’m not denying that airline +pilots—and that includes ours—see these things all the time. +They’ve been sighted on the Seattle-Alaska route, and between Anchorage +and Japan. I know of several saucers that pilots have seen between Honolulu and +the mainland. Check with Pan-American—you’ll find their pilots have +seen them, too.” +</p> + +<p> +“What happens to those reports?” +</p> + +<p> +“They go to Operations,” said Dick. “Of course, if something +really important happens, the pilot may radio the tower before he lands. Then +the C.A.A. gets word to the Air Force, and they rush some Intelligence officers +to quiz the pilots. if it’s not too hot, they’d come from Wright +Field—regular Project ‘Saucer’ teams. Otherwise, they’d +send the nearest Intelligence officers to take over temporarily.” +</p> + +<p> +I asked him if he had ever been in on one of thee sessions. Dick said he +hadn’t. +</p> + +<p> +“But a couple of pilots talked to me later. They said these Air Force men +seemed quite upset about it; they pounced on everything these boys said about +the thing’s appearance—how it maneuvered and so on.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do your pilots think the saucers are?” +</p> + +<p> +Dick gave me a slightly ironic grin. “Why ask me? Captain Blake says +you’ve been getting it firsthand.” +</p> + +<p> +“I wasn’t pulling a fast one,” I protested. +“We’re not going to quote actual names or sources, unless people. +O.K. it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sure, I know that,” said Dick. “But you’ve got thc +answer already. Some pilots say interplanetary, some say guided missiles. A +few—a very few—still think it’s all nonsense, because they +haven’t seen any.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you think?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know the answer,” said Dick, “but I’m +positive of one thing. Either the Air Force is sitting on a big secret, or +they’re badly scared because they don’t know the answer.” +</p> + +<p> +During the next week or so, I covered several northwest and mountain states. +Although I was chiefly trying to find out about Project “Saucer,” I +ran onto two sightings that were not on my list. +</p> + +<p> +One of these had occurred in California, at Fairfield Suisan Air Force Base. A +Seattle man who had been stationed there gave me the details. It was on the +night of December 1918, with unusually high winds sweeping across the airfield. +At times the gusts reached almost seventy miles an hour. Suddenly a weird ball +of light flashed into view, at a height of a thousand feet. As the men on the +base watched it, astonished, the mysterious light abruptly shot skyward. In an +incredibly short time, it reached an altitude of twenty thousand feet and +vanished. +</p> + +<p> +“Was there any shape outlined behind the light?” I asked the +Seattle man. +</p> + +<p> +“Nobody saw any,” he replied. “It looked just like I +said—a ball of light, going like a streak.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did it leave any smoke behind it?” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean like an engine, or a jet?” He shook his head. “Not +a thing. And it didn’t make a sound—even when it shot up like +that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you hear any guesses about it, or reports later on?” +</p> + +<p> +“Some major who didn’t see it said it must have been a balloon. +Anybody with brains could see that was screwy. No balloon ever went up that +fast—and besides, the thing was going against the wind.” +</p> + +<p> +The second incident occurred at Salmon Dam, Idaho, on August 13, 1947. When I +heard the date, it sounded familiar. I checked my sightings file and saw it was +the same day as the strange affair at Twin Falls, Idaho. +</p> + +<p> +In the Twin Falls case, the disk was sighted by observers in a canyon. There +was one interesting difference from the usual description. This disk was +sky-blue, or else its gleaming surface somehow reflected the sky because of the +angle of vision. Although it was not close to the treetops, the observers were +amazed to see the trees whip violently when the disk raced overhead, as though +the air was boiling from the object’s swift passage. +</p> + +<p> +At Salmon Dam, that same day, two miners heard an odd roaring sound and stared +into the sky. Several miles away, two brightly gleaming disks were circling at +high speed. +</p> + +<p> +“It was like two round mirrors whirling around the sky,” one of the +men was later quoted as saying. “They couldn’t have been any +ordinary planes; not round like that. And they were going too fast.” +</p> + +<p> +During this part of my trip, I also was told that one saucer had fallen into a +mountain lake. This came to me secondhand. The lone witness was said to have +rushed over to his car to get his camera as the disk approached. When it +plunged toward the lake, he was so startled that he failed to snap the picture +until the moment it struck. This story sounded so flimsy that I didn’t +bother to list it. +</p> + +<p> +Months later, a Washington newsman confirmed at least part of the lake story. +When he first related it, I thought he had fallen for a gag. +</p> + +<p> +“I heard that yarn,” I said. “Don’t tell me you believe +it?” +</p> + +<p> +“I come from Idaho,” he told me. “And I happen to know the +fellow who took the picture. Maybe it wasn’t a disk, but something fell +into that lake.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you see the picture?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, at the Pentagon.” At my surprised look, he added, “That +was long before they clamped down. I was talking to an Air Force officer about +this lake thing, and he showed me the picture.” +</p> + +<p> +“What did it look like?” +</p> + +<p> +“You couldn’t tell much about it-just a big splash and a blur where +something went under. Maybe a magnifying glass would bring it out, but I +didn’t get a chance to try it.” +</p> + +<p> +It was early in 1950 when he told me this. I asked at the Pentagon if this +picture was in the Wright Field files, and if so whether I could see it. My +inquiries drew blank looks. No one remembered such a photograph. And even if it +were in the Project “Saucer” files, I couldn’t see it. +</p> + +<p> +This was more than two months after Project “Saucer” had been +officially closed and its secrets presumably all revealed. +</p> + +<p> +The rest of my interviews during this 1949 trip helped to round out my picture +of Project “Saucer” operations. +</p> + +<p> +Some witnesses seemed afraid to talk; a few flatly refused. I found no proof of +official pressure, but I frequently had the feeling that strong hints had been +dropped. +</p> + +<p> +Though one or two witnesses showed resentment at investigators’ methods, +most of them seemed more annoyed at the loss of time involved. One man had been +checked first by the police, then by the sheriff’s office; an Air Force +team had spent hours questioning him, returning the next day, and finally the +F.B.I. had made a character check. What he told me about the Air Force +interrogation confirmed one of Art Green’s statements. +</p> + +<p> +“One Intelligence captain tried to tell me I’d seen a weather +balloon. I called up the airport and had them check on release schedules. They +said next day it didn’t fit any schedules around this area. Anyway, the +wind wasn’t right, because the thing I saw was cutting into the wind at a +forty-five-degree angle.” +</p> + +<p> +Other witnesses told me that investigators had suggested birds, meteors, +reflections on clouds, shooting stars, and starshells as probable explanations +of what they had seen. I learned of one pilot who had been startled by seeing a +group of disks racing past his plane. Air Force investigators later suggested +that he had flown through a flock of birds, or perhaps a cluster of balloons. +</p> + +<p> +On the flight back to Washington, I reread all the information the Air Force +had released on Project “Saucer.” Suddenly a familiar phrase caught +my eye. I read over the paragraph again: +</p> + +<p> +“Preliminary study of the more than 240 domestic and thirty foreign +incidents by Astro-Physicist Hynek indicates that an over-all total of about +30% can probably be explained away as astronomical phenomena.” +</p> + +<p> +<i>Explained away</i>. +</p> + +<p> +I went through the report line by line. On page 17 I found this: +</p> + +<p> +“Available preliminary reports now indicate that a great number of +sightings can be explained away as ordinary occurrences which have been +misrepresented as a result of human errors.” +</p> + +<p> +On page 22 I ran onto another use of the phrase: +</p> + +<p> +“The obvious explanation for most of the spherical-shaped objects +reported, as already mentioned, is that they are meteorological or similar type +balloons. This, however, does not explain reports that they travel at high +speed or maneuver rapidly. But ‘Saucer’ men point out that the +movement could be explained away as an optical illusion or actual acceleration +of the balloon caused by a gas leak and later exaggerated by observers. . . . +There are scores of possible explanations for the scores of different type +sightings reported.” +</p> + +<p> +Explained away . . . It might not mean anything. It could be just an +unfortunate choice of words. But suppose that the real mission of Project +“Saucer” was to cover up something. Or that its purpose was to +investigate something serious, at the same time covering it up, step by step. +The Project “Saucer” teams, then, would check on reports and +simultaneously try to divert attention from the truth, suggesting various +answers to explain the sightings. Back at Wright Field, analysts and +Intelligence officers would go over the general picture and try to work up +plausible explanations, which, if necessary, could even be published. +</p> + +<p> +“Explaining away” would be one of the main purposes of Project +personnel. These words would probably be used in discussions of ways and means; +they would undoubtedly would be used in secret official papers. And since this +published preliminary report had been made up from censored secret files, the +use of those familiar words might have been overlooked, since, read casually, +they would appear harmless. If the report had been thrown together hastily, the +use of these telltale words could be easily understood, and so could the +report’s strange contradictions. +</p> + +<p> +As an experiment, I fixed the idea firmly in mind that Project +“Saucer” was a cover-up unit. Then I went back once more and read +the items quoted above. The effect was almost startling. +</p> + +<p> +It was as though I were reading confidential suggestions for diverting +attention and explaining away the sightings; suggestions made by Project +members and probably circulated for comment. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, wait a minute,” I said to myself. “You may be dreaming +up this whole thing.” +</p> + +<p> +Trying to get back to a neutral viewpoint, I skimmed through the other details +of Project operations, as described in the report. +</p> + +<p> +The order creating Project “Saucer” was signed on December 30, +1947. (The actual code name was not “Saucer,” but since for some +reason the Air Force still has not published the name, I have followed their +usage of “Saucer” in its place.) +</p> + +<p> +On January 22, 1948, two weeks after Captain Mantell’s death, the project +officially began operations. (Preliminary investigation at Godman Field had +been done by local Intelligence officers.) Project “Saucer” was set +up under the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field. +</p> + +<p> +Contracts were made with an astrophysicist (Professor Joseph Hynek), also a +prominent scientist (still unidentified), and a group of evaluation experts +(Rand Corporation). Arrangements were made for services by the Air Weather +Service, Andrews Field; the U. S. Weather Bureau; the Electronics Laboratory, +Cambridge Field Station; the A.M.C. Aero-Medical Laboratory; the Army and Navy +Departments; the F.B.I.; the Department of Commerce, Civil Aeronautics +Administration; and various other government and private agencies. In addition, +the services of rocket experts, guided-missile authorities, space-travel +planners, and others (in the defense services or assigned to them) were made +available as desired. Under the heading “How Incidents Are +Investigated,” the Project “Saucer” report says: +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +But the hoaxes and crank letters in reality play a small part in Project +“Saucer.” +</p> + +<p> +Actually, it is a serious, scientific business of constant investigation, +analysis and evaluation which thus far has yielded evidence pointing to the +conclusion that much of the saucer scare is no scare at all, but can be +attributed to astronomical phenomena, to conventional aerial objects, to +hallucinations and to mass psychology. +</p> + +<p> +But the mere existence of some yet unidentified flying objects necessitates a +constant vigilance on the part of Project “Saucer” personnel and +the civilian population. Investigation is greatly stepped up when observers +report incidents as soon as possible to the nearest military installation or to +Headquarters, A.M.C., direct. +</p> + +<p> +A standard questionnaire is filled out under the guidance of interrogators. In +each case, time, location, size and shape of object, approximate altitude, +speed, maneuvers, color, length of time in sight, sound, etc., are carefully +noted. This information is sent in its entirety, together with any fragments, +soil photographs, drawings, etc., to Headquarters, A.M.C. Here, highly trained +evaluation teams take over. The information is broken down and filed on summary +sheets, plotted on maps and graphs and integrated with the rest of the +material, giving an easily comprehended over-all picture. +</p> + +<p> +Duplicate copies on each incident arc sent to other investigating agencies, +including technical labs within the Air Materiel Command. These are studied in +relation to many factors such as guided missile research activity, weather, and +many others, atmospheric sounding balloon launchings, commercial and military +aircraft flights, flights of migratory birds and a myriad of other +considerations which might furnish explanations. +</p> + +<p> +Generally, the flying objects are divided into four groups: Flying disks, +torpedo or cigar-shaped bodies with no wings or fins visible in flight, +spherical or balloon-shaped objects and balls of light. The first three groups +are capable of flight by aerodynamic or aerostatic means and can be propelled +and controlled by methods known to aeronautical engineers. As for the lights, +their actions—unless they were suspended from a higher object or were the +product of hallucination—remain unexplained. +</p> + +<p> +Eventually, reports are sent back to Project “Saucer” headquarters, +often marking incidents closed. The project, however, is a young one-much of +its investigation is still under way. +</p> + +<p> +Currently, a psychological analysis is being made by A.M.C.’s +Aero-Medical laboratory to determine what percentage of incidents are probably +based on errors of the human mind and senses. Available preliminary reports now +indicate that a great number can be explained away as ordinary occurrences +which have been misrepresented as a result of these human errors. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Near the end of the last page, a paragraph summed tip the report. +</p> + +<p> +“The ‘Saucers’ are not a joke. Neither are they cause for +alarm to the population. Many of the incidents already have answers. Meteors. +Balloons. Falling stars. Birds in flight. Testing devices, etc. Some of them +still end in question marks.” +</p> + +<p> +From what I had learned on this trip, I strongly doubted the answer suggested. +All but the “testing devices.” What did they mean by that? It could +be a hint at guided missiles; they had already mentioned guided-missile +research activity in another spot. +</p> + +<p> +But if <i>that</i> was what lay behind this elaborate project, they would +hardly be hinting at it. If the answer was space travel, then such hints made +sense, They would be part of the cover-up plan. Everyone—including the +Soviet Union—knew we were working on guided missiles. It would do no harm +to use this as one of the “myriad explanations” for the flying +saucers. +</p> + +<p> +I was still trying to figure it out when my plane let down for the landing at +Washington. I had hoped by this time to know the truth about Project +“Saucer.” Instead, it was a deeper mystery than ever. +</p> + +<p> +True, I had found out how they operated—outside of Wright Field. Some of +the incidents had been enlightening. By now, I was certain that Project +“Saucer” was trying hard to explain away the sightings and hide the +real answer. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<p> +When I reached home, I found a brief letter from Ken Purdy. +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +Dear Don: +</p> + +<p> +The Mantell and Eastern cases both look good. I don’t see how they can +brush them off. It looks more like the interplanetary answer to me, but we +won’t decide on treatment until we’re sure. [I had suggested two or +three angles, if this proved the real answer.] +</p> + +<p> +Who would be the best authority to check our disk operation theory and give us +more details on directional control? I’d like to have it checked by two +more engineers. +</p> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +KEN +</p> + +<p> +Next day, I dug out my copy of Boal’s interview with +D———, the famous aircraft designer. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly the flying saucers are possible,” the designer had told +Boal. “Give me enough money and I’ll build you one. It might have +to be a model because the fuel would be a problem. If the saucers that have +been seen came from other worlds, which isn’t at all Buck Rogerish, they +may be powered with atomic energy or by the energy that produces cosmic +rays—which is many times more powerful—or by some other fuel or +natural force that our research hasn’t yet discovered. But the circular +airfoil is quite feasible. +</p> + +<p> +“It wouldn’t have the stability of the conventional airplane, but +it would have enormous maneuverability—it could rise vertically, hover, +descend vertically, and fly at extremely high speed, with the proper power. +Don’t take my word for it. Check with other engineers.” +</p> + +<p> +Before looking up a private engineer I had in mind, I went to the National +Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The N.A.C.A. is America’s most +authoritative source of aerodynamic knowledge. I knew they had already tried +out disk-shaped airfoils, and I asked about this first. I found that two +official N.A.C.A. reports, Technical Note 539 and Report 431, discuss tests on +circular and elliptical Clark Y airfoils. Both reports state that these designs +were found practical. +</p> + +<p> +Later, I talked with one of the top engineers in the N.A.C.A. Without showing +him D———’s sketch, I asked how a disk might operate. +</p> + +<p> +“It could be built with variable-direction jet or rocket nozzles,” +be said. “The nozzles would be placed around the rim, and by changing +their direction the disk could be made to rise and descend vertically. It could +hover, fly straight ahead, and make sharp turns. +</p> + +<p> +“Its direction and velocity would be governed by the number of nozzles +operating, the power applied, and the angle at which they were tilted. They +could be pointed toward the ground, rearward, in a lateral direction, or in +various combinations. +</p> + +<p> +“A disk flying level, straight ahead, could be turned swiftly to right or +left by shifting the angles of the nozzles or cutting off power from part of +the group. This method of control would operate in the earth’s atmosphere +and also, using rocket power, in free space, where conventional controls would +be useless.” +</p> + +<p> +The method he had described was not the one which D——— had +outlined. +</p> + +<p> +“What about a rotating disk?” I asked the N.A.C.A. man. +“Suppose you had one with a stationary center, and a large circular +section rotating around it? The rotating part would have a camber built into +it, or it would have slotted vanes.” +</p> + +<p> +He gave me a curious look, “Where’d you get that idea about the +camber?” +</p> + +<p> +I told him it had come to me from <i>True</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“It could be done,” he said. “The slotted-vanes method has +already been tried. There’s an engineer in Glendale, California, +who’s built a model. His name’s E. W. Kay.” +</p> + +<p> +He gave me a few details on how a cambered or slotted-vane rotating disk might +operate, then interrupted himself to ask me what I thought the saucers were. +</p> + +<p> +“They’re either interplanetary or some secret development,” I +said. ‘What do you think?” +</p> + +<p> +“The N.A.C.A. has no proof they even exist,” he answered. +</p> + +<p> +When I left the building a few minutes later, I was still weighing that +statement. If the Air Force or the Navy had a secret disk device, the N.A.C.A. +would almost certainly know about it. The chances were that any disk-shaped +missile or new type of circular aircraft would first have been tested in the +N.A.C.A. wind tunnels at Langley Field. If the saucers were interplanetary, the +N.A.C.A.—at least top officials—would probably have been in on any +discussion of the disks’ performance. Either way, the N.A.C.A.’s +official attitude could be expected to match the Pentagon’s. +</p> + +<p> +After lunch, I took a taxi to the office of the private engineer. Like +D———, he has asked that he not be quoted by name. The name I +am using, Paul Redell, will serve that purpose. Redell is a well-known +aeronautical engineer. He has worked with major aircraft companies and served +as a special consultant to government agencies and the industries. He is also a +competent pilot. +</p> + +<p> +Although I had known him several years, he refused at first to talk about the +saucers. Then I realized he thought I meant to quote him. I showed him some of +the material I had roughed out, in which names were omitted or changed as +requested. +</p> + +<p> +“All right,” Redell said finally. “What do you want to +know?” +</p> + +<p> +“Anything you can tell us. But first, your ideas on these +sketches.” I showed him D———’s drawings and then +gave him the high points of the investigation. When I mentioned the +mystery-light incident at Fairfield Suisan Air Force Base, Redell sat up +quickly. +</p> + +<p> +“The Gorman case again!” +</p> + +<p> +“We heard about some other ‘light’ cases,” I said. +“One was at Las Vegas.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know about that one. That is, it you mean the green light—wait a +minute!” Redell frowned into space for a few seconds, “You say that +Fairfield Suisan sighting was on December third? Then the Las Vegas sighting +was only a few days later. It was the first week of the month, I’m +positive.” +</p> + +<p> +“Those light reports have got me stumped,” I said. “A light +just can’t fly around by itself. And those two-foot disks—” +</p> + +<p> +“You haven’t worked on the Gorman case?” asked Redell. +</p> + +<p> +I told him I hadn’t thought it was coming up on my schedule. +</p> + +<p> +“Leave these sketches here,” he said. “Look into that Gorman +sighting. Then check on our plans for space exploration. I’ll give you +some sources. When you get through, come on back and we’ll talk it +over.” +</p> + +<p> +The Gorman “saucer dogfight” had been described in newspapers; the +pilot had reported chasing a swiftly maneuvering white light, which had finally +escaped him. Judging from the Project “Saucer” preliminary report, +this case had baffled all the Air Force investigators. When I met George +Gorman, I found him to be intelligent, coolheaded, and very firmly convinced of +every detail in his story. I had learned something about his background. He had +had college training. During the war, he had been an Air Force instructor, +training French student pilots. In Fargo, his home, he had a good reputation, +not only for veracity but as a businessman. Only twenty-six, he was part owner +of a construction company, and also the Fargo representative for a +hardware-store chain. Even knowing all this, I found it hard at first to +believe some of the dogfight details. But the ground observers confirmed them. +</p> + +<p> +It was about nine o’clock in the evening, October 1, 1948. Gorman, now an +Air National Guard lieutenant, had been on a practice flight in an F-51 +fighter. The other pilots on this practice patrol had already landed. Gorman +had just been cleared by the C.A.A. operator in the Fargo Airport tower when he +saw a fast-moving light below his circling fighter. +</p> + +<p> +From his altitude, 4,500 feet, it appeared to be the tail light of a swiftly +flying plane. As nearly as he could tell, it was 1,000 feet high, moving at +about 250 m.p.h. Gorman called the tower to recheck his clearance. He was told +the only other plane in the area was a Piper Cub. Gorman Could see the Cub +plainly outlined below him. There was a night football game going on, and the +field was brightly lighted. But the Cub was nowhere near the strange light. +</p> + +<p> +As the mystery light raced above the football field. Gorman noticed an odd +phenomenon. Instead of seeing the silhouette of a plane, he saw no shape at all +around the light. By contrast, he could see the Cub’s outline clearly. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime, the airport traffic controller, L. D. Jensen, had also spotted the +queer light. Concerned with the danger of collision—he said later that +he, too, thought it a plane’s tail light—he trained his binoculars +on it. Like Gorman, he was unable to distinguish a shape near the light. +Neither could another C.A.A. man who was with him in the tower, a Fargo +resident named Manuel E. Johnson. +</p> + +<p> +Up in the F-51, Gorman dived on the light, which was steadily blinking on and +off. +</p> + +<p> +“As I closed in,” he told Project “Saucer” men later, +“it suddenly became steady and pulled up into a sharp left turn. It was a +clear white and completely roundabout six to eight inches in diameter. +</p> + +<p> +“I thought it was making a pass at the tower. I dived after it and +brought my manifold pressure up to sixty, but I couldn’t catch the +thing.” +</p> + +<p> +Gorman reported his speed at full power as 350 to 400 miles per hour. During +the maneuvers that followed, both the C.A.A. men watched from the tower. Jensen +was using powerful night glasses, but still no shape was visible near the +mysterious light. The fantastic dogfight continued for twenty minutes. Gorman +described it in detail. +</p> + +<p> +“When I attempted to turn with the light, I blacked out temporarily, +owing to excessive speed. I am in fairly good physical condition, and I +don’t believe there are many, if any, pilots who could withstand the turn +and speed effected by the light and remain conscious.” +</p> + +<p> +During these sharp maneuvers, the light climbed quickly, then made another left +bank. +</p> + +<p> +“I put my fifty-one into a sharp turn and tried to cut it off,” +said Gorman. “By then we were at about seven thousand feet, Suddenly it +made a sharp right turn and we headed straight at each other. Just when we were +about to collide I guess I lost my nerve. I went into a dive and the light +passed over my canopy at about five hundred feet. Then it made a left circle +about one thousand feet above and I gave chase again.” +</p> + +<p> +When collision seemed imminent a second time, the object shot straight into the +air. Gorman climbed after it at full throttle. +</p> + +<p> +Just about this time, two. other witnesses, a private pilot and his passenger, +saw the fast-moving light. The pilot was Dr. A. D. Cannon, an oculist; his +passenger was Einar Nelson. Dr. Cannon later told investigators the light was +moving at high speed. He thought it might be a Canadian jet fighter from over +the border. (A careful check with Canadian air officials ruled out this +answer.) After landing at the airport, Dr. Cannon and Mr. Nelson again watched +the light, saw it change direction and disappear. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, Gorman was making desperate efforts to catch the thing. He was now +determined to ram it, since there seemed nothing solid behind it to cause a +dangerous crash. If his fighter was disabled, or if it caught fire, he could +bail out. +</p> + +<p> +But despite the F-51’s fast climb, the light still outdistanced him. At +14,000 feet, Gorman’s plane went into a power stall, He made one last +try, climbing up to 17,000 feet. A few moments later, the light turned in a +north-northwest direction and quickly disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout the dogfight, Gorman noticed no deviation on his instruments, +according to the Project “Saucer” report. Gorman did not confirm or +deny this when I talked with him. But he did agree with the rest of the Project +statement. He did not notice any sound, odor, or exhaust trail. +</p> + +<p> +Gorman’s remarks about ramming the light reminded me of what Art Green +had said. When I asked Gorman about the court-martial rumor, he gave me a +searching glance. +</p> + +<p> +“Where did you hear that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Several places,” I told him. “At Chicago, in Salt Lake +City—in fact, we’ve been hearing it all over.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, there’s nothing to it,” Gorman declared. He changed +the subject. +</p> + +<p> +Some time afterward, a Fargo pilot told me there had been trouble over the +ramming story. +</p> + +<p> +“But it wasn’t Gorman’s fault. Somebody else released that +report to the A. P. The news story didn’t actually say there was an Air +Force order to ram it, but the idea got around, and we heard that Washington +squawked. Gorman had a pretty rough time of it for a while. Some of the +newspapers razzed his story. And the Project ‘Saucer’ teams really +worked on him. I guess they were trying to scare him into saying he was +mistaken, and it was a balloon.” +</p> + +<p> +When I asked Gorman about this, he denied he’d had rough treatment by the +Project teams. +</p> + +<p> +“Sure, they asked about a thousand questions, and I could tell they +thought it might be a hoax at first. But that was before they quizzed the +others who saw it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Anybody suggest it was a balloon?” I said casually. +</p> + +<p> +“At first, they were sure that’s what it was,” answered +Gorman. “You see, there was a weather balloon released here. You know the +kind, it has a lighted candle on it. The Project teams said I’d chased +after that candle and just imagined the light’s maneuvers—confused +it with my own movement, because of the dark.” +</p> + +<p> +Gorman grinned. “They had it just about wrapped up—until they +talked to George Sanderson. He’s the weather observer. He was tracking +the balloon with a theodolite, and he showed them his records. The time and +altitudes didn’t fit, and the wind direction was wrong. The balloon was +drifting in the opposite direction. Both the tower men backed him up. So that +killed the weather-balloon idea.” +</p> + +<p> +The next step by Project “Saucer” investigators had been to look +for some unidentified aircraft. This failed, too. Obviously, it was only +routine; the outline of a conventional plane would certainly have been seen by +Gorman and the men in the tower. +</p> + +<p> +An astronomical check by Professor Hynek ruled out stars, fireballs, and +comets—a vain hope, to begin with. The only other conventional answer, as +the Project report later stated, was hallucination. In view of all the +testimony, hallucination had to he ruled out. Finally, the investigators +admitted they had no solution. +</p> + +<p> +The first Project “Saucer” report, on April 27, 1949, left the +Gorman “mystery light” unidentified. +</p> + +<p> +In the <i>Saturday Evening Post</i> of May 7, 1949, Sidney Shallett analyzed +the Gorman case, in the second of his articles on flying saucers. Shallet +suggested this solution: that Gorman had chased one of the Navy’s giant +cosmic-ray research balloons. Each of these huge balloons is lighted, so that +night-flying planes will not collide with the gas bag or the instrument case +suspended below. Shallett concluded that Gorman was suffering from a +combination of vertigo and confusion with the light on the balloon. +</p> + +<p> +As already mentioned, these huge Navy balloons are filled with only a small +amount of helium before their release at Minneapolis. They then rise swiftly to +very high altitudes, unless a leak develops. In Shallett’s words, +“These balloons travel high and fast. . . .” +</p> + +<p> +Fargo is about two hundred miles from Minneapolis. Normally, a cosmic-ray +research balloon would have reached a very high altitude by the time it had +drifted this far. The only possible answer to its low-altitude sighting would +be a serious leak. +</p> + +<p> +If a leaking balloon had come down to one thousand feet at Fargo, it would +either have remained at that height or kept on descending. The mystery light +was observed at this altitude moving at high speed. If a Cub’s outline +was visible against the lighted football field, the massive shape of even a +partly deflated balloon would have stood out like an elephant. Even before +release, the partially inflated gas bags are almost a hundred feet tall. The +crowd at the football game would certainly have seen such a monstrous shape +above the glare of the floodlights, for the plastic balloons gleam brightly in +any light rays. The two C.A.A. men, watching with binoculars, could not +possibly have missed it. +</p> + +<p> +For the cosmic-balloon answer to be correct, this leaking gas bag would have +had to rise swiftly to seventeen thousand feet—after a loss of helium had +forced it down to one thousand. As a balloon pilot, I know this is impossible. +The Project “Saucer” report said unequivocally: “The object +could outturn and outspeed the F-51, and was able to attain a much steeper +climb and to maintain a constant rate of climb far in excess of the Air Force +fighter.” +</p> + +<p> +A leaking balloon? More and more, I became convinced that Secretary Forrestal +had persuaded some editors that it was their patriotic duty to conceal the +answer, whatever it was. +</p> + +<p> +That thought had begun to worry me, because of my part in this investigation. +Perhaps John Steele had been right, and we shouldn’t be trying to dig out +the answer. But I had already told Purdy, and he had agreed, that if national +security was involved, we would drop the thing completely. +</p> + +<p> +By the time I had proved the balloon answer wrong, I was badly puzzled. The +idea of a disembodied light was the hardest thing to swallow that I’d +come across so far. +</p> + +<p> +And yet there were the other light reports—the strange sighting at +Fairfield Suisan Field, the weird green lights at Las Vegas and Albuquerque. +And there was the encounter that Lieutenant H. G. Combs had had one night above +Andrews Field, near Washington, D. C. +</p> + +<p> +This incident had occurred on November 18, 1948, six weeks after Gorman’s +experience. Combs, flying with another lieutenant named Jackson, was about to +land his T-6, at 9:45 P.M., when a strange object loomed up near him. It looked +like a grayish globe, and it gave off an odd, fuzzy light. +</p> + +<p> +Combs chased the weird object for over ten minutes, during which it appeared to +evade every move he made. Once, its speed was nearly six hundred miles an hour, +as closely as he could estimate. In a final attempt to identify it, Combs +zoomed the T-6 up at a steep angle and flashed his landing lights on it. Before +he could get a good look, the globe light whirled off to the east and vanished. +</p> + +<p> +Since Combs’s story had been in the newspapers, Project +“Saucer” evidently had felt in wise to give some explanation. When +I read it, in the preliminary report, I was amazed. Here was the concluding +sentence: +</p> + +<p> +“The mystery was cleared up when the object was identified positively as +a cluster of cosmic-ray research balloons.” +</p> + +<p> +Even one of the giant balloons would have been hard to take as the explanation. +Combs was almost sure to have collided with it in his head-on passes. But an +entire cluster! I tried to picture the T-6 zooming and twisting through the +night sky, with several huge balloons in its path. It would be a miracle if +Combs got through without hitting one of them, even if each balloon was +lighted. But he had seen only one light; so had Lieutenant Jackson. That would +mean all the rest of the balloons were unlighted—an unbelievable +coincidence. +</p> + +<p> +It was not until months afterward that I found Project “Saucer” had +withdrawn this “solution.” In its final report, this case, Number +207, was listed in the “Unidentified” group. How the +balloon-cluster explanation ever got into the first report is still a mystery. +</p> + +<p> +When I talked with Gorman, I told him I was baffled by the idea of a light +maneuvering through the skies with no airfoil to support it. +</p> + +<p> +“I know,” he said. “It got me, too, at first.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean you know the answer?” I demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s just my personal opinion,” said Gorman. “But +I’d rather not have it printed. You see, I got some ideas from all the +questions those Project teams asked me. If my hunch turns out to be right, I +might be talking about an official secret.” +</p> + +<p> +I tried to pry some hint out of him, but Gorman just smiled and shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“I can tell you this much,” he said, “because it’s been +mentioned in print. There was <i>thought</i> behind every move the light made. +It wasn’t any radar-responder gadget making it veer away from my +ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because it reacted differently at different times. If it had been a +mechanical control, it would have turned or climbed the same way each time I +got near it. Instead, it was as if some intelligent mind was directing every +turn like a game of chess, and always one move ahead of me. Maybe you can +figure out the rest.” +</p> + +<p> +That was all I could get out of him. It bothered me, because Combs’s +report indicated the same thing. I had a strong temptation to skip the +space-plans research and tell Redell what Gorman had told me. But Redell had an +orderly mind, and he didn’t like to be pushed. +</p> + +<p> +Reluctantly, I gave up the idea. I had a feeling Redell knew the answer to the +mystery lights, and it wasn’t easy to put off the solution. +</p> + +<p> +The letter that came from Art Green, while I was working on the space plans, +didn’t make it easier: +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +Dear Keyhoe: +</p> + +<p> +Just heard about your Seattle visit. That Fairfield Suisan thing is on the +level; several Air Force pilots have told me about it. +</p> + +<p> +When you get to Fargo, ask Gorman what they found when they checked his ship +with a Geiger counter. If he says it was negative, then he must be under +orders. I happen to know better. +</p> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +Yours, <br/> +ART GREEN +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<p> +My first step, in checking on our space plans, was to look up official +announcements. I found that on December 29, 1948, Defense Secretary James +Forrestal had released this official statement: +</p> + +<p> +“The Earth Satellite Vehicle Program, which is being carried out +independently by each military service, has been assigned to the Committee on +Guided Missiles for co-ordination. +</p> + +<p> +“To provide an integrated program, the Committee has recommended that +current efforts be limited to studies and component design. Well-defined areas +of such research have been allocated to each of the three military +departments.” +</p> + +<p> +Appropriation bills had already provided funds for space exploration plans. The +Air Force research was indicated by General Curtis E. LeMay, who was then +Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and Development. In outlining plans for +an Air Engineering Design Center at Wright Field, General LeMay included these +space-exploration requisites: +</p> + +<p> +“Flight and survival equipment for ultra-atmospheric operations, +including space vehicles, space bases, and devices for use therein.” +</p> + +<p> +The idea of exploring space is, of course, nothing new. For many years, writers +of imaginative fiction have described trips to the moon and distant planets. +More recently, comic books and strips have gone in heavily for space-travel +adventures. +</p> + +<p> +As a natural result of this, the first serious rocket experiments in this +country were labeled screwball stunts, about on a par with efforts to break +through the sonic barrier. The latter had been “proved” impossible +by aeronautical engineers; as for rocket flight, it was too silly for serious +consideration. Pendray, Goddard, and other rocket pioneers took some vicious +ridicule before America woke up to the possibilities. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime, German scientists had gone far ahead. Their buzz bomb, a low-altitude +semi-guided missile, was just the beginning. Even the devastating V-2, which +soared high into the stratosphere before falling on England, was just a step in +their tremendous space program. If the Nazis could have hung on a year or two +more, the war might have had a grimly different ending. +</p> + +<p> +When the Allies seized Nazi secrets, some of the German plans were revealed. +Among them was one for a huge earth satellite. From this base, which would +circle the earth some five hundred miles away, enormous mirrors would focus the +sun’s rays on any desired spot. The result: swift, fiery destruction of +any city or base refusing to surrender. +</p> + +<p> +First publication of this scheme brought the usual jeers. Many people, +including some reputable scientists, believed it had been just a propaganda +plan that even Goebbels had discarded as hopeless. +</p> + +<p> +Then the Pentagon announced the U.S. Earth Satellite Vehicle Program, along +with plans for a moon rocket, The artificial satellite is to be a large +rocket-propelled projectile. In its upward flight, it will have to reach a +speed of 23,000 miles an hour, to escape the earth’s pull of gravity. At +a height of about 500 miles, special controls will turn the projectile and +cause it to circle the earth. These controls will be either automatic or +operated from the ground, by radar. Theoretically, once such a vehicle is +beyond gravity’s magnetism, it can coast along in the sky forever. Its +rocket power will be shut off; the only need for such power would be if the +satellite veered off course. A momentary burst from the jets would be +sufficient to bring it back to its orbit. +</p> + +<p> +Circling the earth in about two hours, this first satellite is expected to be +used as a testing station. Instruments will record and transmit vital +information to the earth—the effect of cosmic rays, solar radiation, fuel +required for course corrections, and many other items. +</p> + +<p> +A second space base farther out will probably be the next step. It may be +manned, or it may be under remote control like the first. Perhaps the first +satellite vehicle will be followed by a compartmented operating base, a sort of +aerial aircraft carrier, with other rocket ships operating to and fro on the +earth shuttle. The moon rocket is expected to add to our information about +space, so that finally we will emerge with an interplanetary space craft. +</p> + +<p> +The first attempts may fail. The first satellite may fall back and have to be +guided to an ocean landing. Or its controls might not bring it into the planned +orbit. In this case, it could coast on out into space and be lost. But sooner +or later, effective controls will be found. Then the manned space ships will +follow. +</p> + +<p> +Once in free space, there will be no gravitational pull to offset. The space +ship and everything in it will be weightless. Shielding is expected to prevent +danger from cosmic rays and solar radiation. +</p> + +<p> +The danger from meteorites has been partly discounted in one scientific study. +(“Probability that a meteorite will hit or penetrate a body situated in +the vicinity of the earth,” by G. Grimminger, <i>Journal of Applied +Physics</i>, Vol. 19, No. 10, pp. 947-956, October 1948) In this study, it is +stated that a meteorite is unlikely to penetrate the thick shell our space +vehicles will undoubtedly have. However, this applies only to the earth’s +atmosphere. Longer studies, using remote-controlled vehicles in space, may take +years before it will be safe to launch a manned space ship. Radar or other +devices may have to be developed to detect approaching meteorites at a distance +and automatically change a space ship’s course. The change required would +be infinitesimal, using power for only a fraction of a second. +</p> + +<p> +But before we are ready for interplanetary travel, we will have to harness +atomic power or some other force not now available, such as cosmic rays. +Navigation at such tremendous speeds is another great problem, on which special +groups are now at work. A Navy scientific project recently found that strange +radio signals are constantly being sent out from a “hot spot” in +the Milky Way; other nebulae or “hot” stars may be similarly +identified by some peculiarity in their radio emanations. If so, these could be +used as check points in long-range space travel. +</p> + +<p> +Escape from the earth’s gravity is possible even now, according to +Francis H. Clauser, an authority on space travel plans. But the cost would be +prohibitive, with our present rocket motors, and practical operations must wait +for higher velocity rocket power, atomic or otherwise. (“Flight beyond +the Earth’s Atmosphere, “<i>S.A.E. Quarterly Transactions</i>, Vol. +2, No, 4, October 1948.) +</p> + +<p> +Already, a two-stage rocket has gone more than 250 miles above the earth. This +is the V-2-Wac Corporal combination. The V-2 rocket is used to power the first +part of the flight, dropping off when its fuel is exhausted. The Wac Corporal +then proceeds on its own fuel, reaching a fantastic speed in the thin air +higher up. +</p> + +<p> +Hundreds of technical problems must be licked before the first satellite +vehicle can be launched successfully. Records on our V-2 rockets indicate some +of the obstacles. On the take-off, their present swift acceleration would +undoubtedly kill anyone inside. When re-entering the earth’s atmosphere +the nose of a V-2 gets red-hot. +</p> + +<p> +Both the acceleration and deceleration must be controlled before the first +volunteers will be allowed to hazard their lives in manned rockets. Willi Ley, +noted authority on space-travel problems, believes that pilots may have to +accept temporary blackout as a necessity on the take-off. (Two of his books, +<i>Rockets and Space Travel</i> and <i>Outer Space</i>, give fascinating and +well-thought-out pictures of what we may expect in years to come.) +</p> + +<p> +Some authorities believe that our space travel will be confined to our own +solar system for a long time, perhaps forever. The trip to the moon, though now +a tremendous project, would be relatively simple compared with a journey +outside our system. Escape from the moon, for the return trip, would be easier +than leaving the earth; because of its smaller mass, to escape the moon’s +gravitational pull would take a speed of about 5,000 miles an hour, against +23,000 for the earth. Navigation would be much simpler. Our globe would loom up +in the heavens, much larger and brighter than the moon appears to us. Radar +beams would also be a guide. +</p> + +<p> +The greatest obstacle to reaching far-distant planet is the time required. In +the Project “Saucer” study of space travel, Wolf 359 was named as +the nearest star likely to have possibly inhabited areas. Wolf 359 is eight +light-years from the earth. The limiting speed in space, according to +Einstein’s law, would be just under the speed of light—186,000 +miles per second. At this speed, Einstein states, matter is converted into +energy. It is a ridiculous assumption, but even if atomic power, or some force +such as cosmic rays, made an approach to that speed possible, it would still +take eight years to reach Wolf 359. The round trip would take sixteen. +</p> + +<p> +There have been a few scientists who dispute Einstein’s law, though no +one has disproved it. If the speed of light is not an absolute limit for space +ships, then travel to remote parts of the universe may someday be possible. +</p> + +<p> +Otherwise, a trip outside our solar system could be a lifetime expedition. Most +space travel would probably be limited to the planets of our sun—the +moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the others. +</p> + +<p> +Although it may be many years before the first manned space ship leaves the +earth, we are already at work on the problems the crews would face. I learned +some of the details from a Navy flight surgeon with whom I had talked about +take-off problems. +</p> + +<p> +“They’re a lot further than that” he told me. “Down at +Randolph Field, the Aero-Medical research lab has run into some mighty queer +things. Ever hear of ‘dead distance’?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, that’s a new one.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it sounds crazy, but they’ve figured out that a space ship +would be going faster than anyone could think.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you think instantaneously,” I objected. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no. It takes a fraction of a second, even for the fastest thinker. +Let’s say the ship was making a hundred miles a second—and +that’s slow compared with what they expect eventually. Everything would +happen faster than your nerve impulses could register it. Your comprehension +would always be lagging a split second behind the space ship’s +operation.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t see why that’s so serious,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose radar or some other device warned you a meteorite was coming +toward you head-on. Or maybe some instrument indicated an error in navigation. +By the time your mind registered the thought, the situation would have +changed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then all the controls would have to be automatic,” I said. I told +him that I had heard about plans for avoiding meteorites. “Electronic +controls would be faster than thought.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s probably the answer,” he agreed. “Of course, at +a hundred miles a second it might not be too serious. But if they ever get up +to speeds like a thousand miles a second, that mental lag could make an +enormous difference, whether it was a meteorite heading toward you or a matter +of navigation.” +</p> + +<p> +One of the problems he mentioned was the lack of gravity. I had already learned +about this. Once away from the earth’s pull, objects in the space ship +would have no weight. The slightest push could send crewmen floating around the +sealed compartment. +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose you spilled a cup of coffee,” said the flight surgeon. +“What would happen?” +</p> + +<p> +I said I hadn’t thought it out. +</p> + +<p> +“The Randolph Field lab can tell you,” he said. “The coffee +would stay right there in the air. So would the cup, if you let go of it. But +there’s a more serious angle—your breath.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’d have artificial air,” I began. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, they’ve already worked that out. But what about the breath +you exhale? It contains carbon dioxide, and if you let it stay right there in +front of your face you’d be sucking it back into your lungs. After a +while, it would asphyxiate you. So the air has to be kept in motion, and +besides that the ventilating system has to remove the carbon dioxide.” +</p> + +<p> +“What about eating?” I asked. “Swallowing is partly gravity, +isn’t it?” +</p> + +<p> +He nodded. “Same as drinking, though the throat muscles help force the +food down. I don’t know the answer to that. In fact, everything about the +human body presents a problem. Take the blood circulation. The amount of energy +required to pump blood through the veins would be almost negligible. What would +that do to your heart?” +</p> + +<p> +“I couldn’t even guess,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, that’s all the Aero-Medical lab can do—guess at it. +They’ve been trying to work out some way of duplicating the effect of +zero gravity, but there’s just no answer. If you could build a machine to +neutralize gravity, you could get all the answers, except to the ‘dead +distance’ question. +</p> + +<p> +“For instance, there’s the matter of whether the human body would +even function without gravity. All down through the stages of evolution, +man’s organs have been used to that downward pull. Take away gravity, and +your whole body might stop working. Some of the Aero-Medical men I’ve +talked with don’t believe that, but they admit that long trips outside of +gravity might have odd effects. +</p> + +<p> +“Then there’s the question of orientation. Here on earth, orienting +yourself depends on the feeling you get from the pull of gravity, plus your +vision. just being blindfolded is enough to disorient some people. Taking away +the pull of gravity might be a lot worse. And of course out in space your only +reference points would be distant stars and planets. We’ve been used to +locating stars from points on the earth, where we know their position. But how +about locating them from out in space, with a ship moving at great speed? +Inside the space ship, it would be something like being in a submarine. +Probably only the pilot compartment would have glass ports, and those would be +covered except in landing—maybe even then. Outside vision might be by +television, so you couldn’t break a glass port and let out your pressure. +</p> + +<p> +“But to go back to the submarine idea. It would be like a sub, with this +big difference: In the submarine you can generally tell which way is down, +except maybe in a crash dive when you may lose your equilibrium for a moment. +But in the space ship, you could be standing with your feet on one spot, and +another crewman might be—relative to you—standing upside down. You +might be floating horizontally, the other man vertically. The more you think +about it, the crazier it gets. But they’ve got to solve all those +problems before we can tackle space.” +</p> + +<p> +To make sure I had the details right, I checked on the Air Force research. I +found that the Randolph Field laboratory is working on all these problems, and +many more. +</p> + +<p> +Although plans arc not far enough advanced to make it certain, probably animals +will be sent up in research rockets to determine the effect of no gravity +before any human beings make such flights. The results could be televised back +to the earth. +</p> + +<p> +All through my check-up on space exploration plans, one thing struck me: I met +no resistance. There was no official reticence about the program; on the +contrary, nothing about it seemed secret. +</p> + +<p> +Even though it was peacetime, this was a little curious, because of the +potential war value of an earth satellite vehicle. Even if the Nazi scheme for +destruction proved just a dream, an orbiting space base could be used for other +purposes. In its two-hour swing around the earth, practically all of the globe +could be observed-directly, by powerful telescopes, or indirectly, by a +combination of radar and television. Long-range missiles could be guided to +targets, after being launched from some point on the earth. As the missiles +climbed high into the stratosphere, the satellite’s radar could pick them +up and keep them on course by remote control. +</p> + +<p> +There were other possibilities for both attack and defense. Ordinarily, +projects with wartime value are kept under wraps, or at least not widely +publicized. Of course, the explanation might be very simple: The completion of +the satellite vehicle was so remote that there seemed no need for secrecy. But +in that case, why had the program been announced at all? +</p> + +<p> +If the purpose had been propaganda, it looked like a weak gesture. The Soviets +would not be greatly worried by a dream weapon forty or fifty years off. +Besides that, the Pentagon, as a rule, doesn’t go for such propaganda. +There was only one conventional answer that made any sense. If we had heard +that the Soviets were about to announce such a program, as a propaganda trick, +it would be smart to beat them to it. But I had no proof of, any such Russian +intention. +</p> + +<p> +The date on Secretary Forrestal’s co-ordination announcement was December +30, 1948. One day later, the order creating Project “Saucer” had +been signed. That didn’t prove anything; winding up the year, Forrestal +could have signed a hundred orders. I was getting too suspicious. +</p> + +<p> +At any rate, I had now analyzed the Gorman case and checked on our space plans. +Tomorrow I would see Redell and find out what he knew. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<p> +When I called Redell’s office I found he had flown to Dallas and would +not be back for two days. By the time he returned, I had written a draft of the +Gorman case, with my answer to the balloon explanation. When I saw him, the +next morning, I asked him to look it over. +</p> + +<p> +Redell lighted his pipe and then read the draft, nodding to himself now and +then. +</p> + +<p> +“I think that’s correct analysis,” he said when he finished. +“That was a very curious case. You know, Project ‘Saucer’ +even had psychiatrists out there. If Gorman had been the only witness, I think +they’d have called it a hallucination. As it was, they took a crack at +him and the C.A.A. men in their preliminary report.” +</p> + +<p> +Though I recalled that there had been a comment, I didn’t remember the +wording. Redell looked it up and read it aloud: +</p> + +<p> +“‘From a psychological aspect, the Gorman incident raised the +question, “Is it possible for an object without appreciable shape or +known aeronautical configuration to appear to travel at variable speeds and +maneuver intelligently?”’” +</p> + +<p> +“Hallucination might sound like a logical answer,” I said, +“until you check all the testimony. But there are just too many witnesses +who confirm Gorman’s report. Also, he seems like a pretty level-headed +chap.” +</p> + +<p> +Redell filled his pipe again. “But you still can’t quite accept +it?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m positive they saw the light—but what the devil was it? +How could it fly without some kind of airfoil?” +</p> + +<p> +“Maybe it didn’t. You remember Gorman described an odd fuzziness +around the edge of the light? It’s in this Air Force report. That could +have been a reflection from the airfoil.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but Gorman would have seen any solid—” I stopped, as +Redell made a negative gesture. +</p> + +<p> +“It could be solid and still not show up,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“You mean it was transparent? Sure, that would do it!” +</p> + +<p> +“Let’s say the airfoil was a rotating plastic disk, absolutely +transparent. The blurred, fuzzy look could have been caused by the whirling +disk. Neither Gorman nor the C.A.A. men in the tower could possibly see the +disk itself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Paul, I think you’ve hit it,” I said. “I can see thc +rest of it—the thing was under remote control, radio or radar. And from +the way it flew rings around Gorman, whoever controlled it must have been able +to see the F-51, either with a television ‘eye’ or by radar,” +</p> + +<p> +“Or by some means we don’t understand,” said Redell. He went +on carefully, “In all these saucer cases, keep this in mind: We may be +dealing with some totally unknown principle—something completely beyond +our comprehension.” +</p> + +<p> +For a moment, I thought he was hunting at some radical discovery by +Soviet—captured Nazi scientists. Then I realized what he meant. +</p> + +<p> +“You think they’re interplanetary,” I murmured. +</p> + +<p> +“Why not?” Redell looked surprised. “Isn’t that your +idea? I got that impression.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but I didn’t think you believed it. When you said to check on +our space plans, I thought you had some secret missile in mind.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I had another reason. I wanted you to see all the problems involved +in space travel. If you accept the interplanetary answer, you have to accept +this, too—whoever is looking us over has licked all those problems years +ago. Technically, they’d be hundreds of years ahead of us—maybe +thousands. It has a lot to do with what they’d be up to here.” +</p> + +<p> +When I mentioned the old sighting reports, I found that Redell already knew +about them. He was convinced that the earth had been under observation a long +time, probably even before the first recorded sightings. +</p> + +<p> +“I know some of those reports aren’t authentic,” he admitted. +“But if you accept even one report of a flying disk or rocket-shaped +object before the twentieth century, then you have to accept the basic idea. In +the last forty years, you might blame the reports on planes and dirigibles. But +there was no propelled aircraft until 1903. Either all those early sightings +were wrong, or some kind of fast aerial machine has been flying periodically +over the earth for at least two centuries. +</p> + +<p> +I told him I was pretty well convinced, but that <i>True</i> faced a problem. +There was some conflicting evidence, and part of it seemed linked with guided +missiles. I felt sure we could prove the space-travel answer, but we had to +stay clear of discussing any weapons that were still a secret. +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t believe that guided missiles are the answer to the Godman +Field saucer and the Chiles-Whitted case, or this business at Fargo. But +we’re got to be absolutely sure before we print anything.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, let’s analyze it,” said Redell. “Let’s see +if all the saucers could be explained as something launched from the +earth.” +</p> + +<p> +He reached for a pad and a pencil. +</p> + +<p> +“First, let’s take your rotating disk. That would be a lot simpler +to build than the stationary disk with variable jet nozzles. With a disk +rotated at high speed you get a tremendous lift, whether it’s slotted or +cambered, as long as there’s enough air to work on.” +</p> + +<p> +“The helicopter principle,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +Redell nodded. “The most practical propulsion would be with two or more +jets out on the rim, to spin your rotating section. But to get up enough speed +for the jets to be efficient, you’d have to whirl the disk mechanically +before the take-off. Here’s one way. You could have a square hole in the +center; then the disk launching device would have a square shaft, rotated by an +engine or a motor. As the speed built up, the cambered disk would ride up the +shaft and free itself, rising vertically, with the jets taking over the job of +whirling the cambered section. +</p> + +<p> +“The lift would be terrific, far more than any normal aircraft. I +don’t believe any human being could take the G’s involved in a +maximum power climb; they’d have to use remote control. When it got to +the desired altitude, your disk could be flown in any direction by tilting it +that way. The forward component from that tremendous lift would result in a +very high speed. The disk could also hover, and descend vertically.” +</p> + +<p> +“What about maneuvering?” I asked, thinking of Gorman’s +experience. +</p> + +<p> +“It could turn faster than any pilot could stand,” said Redell. +“Of course, a pilot’s cockpit could be built into a large disk; but +there’d have to be some way of holding down the speed, to avoid too many +G’s in tight maneuvers.” +</p> + +<p> +“Most of the disks don’t make any noise,” I said. “At +least, that’s the general report. You’d hear ordinary jets for +miles.” +</p> + +<p> +“Right, and here’s another angle. Ram jets take a lot of fuel. Even +with some highly efficient new jet, I can’t see the long ranges reported. +Some of these saucers have been seen all over the world. No matter which +hemisphere they were launched from, they’d need an eight-thousand-mile +range, at least, to explain all of the sightings. The only apparent answer +would be some new kind of power, probably atomic. We certainly didn’t +have atomic engines for aircraft in 1947, when the first disks were seen here. +And we don’t have them now, though we’re working on it. Even if we +had such an engine, it wouldn’t be tiny enough to power the small +disks.” +</p> + +<p> +“Anyway,” I said, “we’d hardly be flying them all over +everywhere. The cost would be enormous, and there’d always be a danger of +somebody getting the secret if a disk landed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Plus the risk of injuring people by radiation. just imagine an +atomic-powered disk dropping into a city. The whole idea’s +ridiculous.” +</p> + +<p> +“That seems to rule out the guided-missile answer,” I began. But +Redell shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“Disk-shaped missiles are quite feasible. I’m talking about range, +speed, and performance. Imagine for a moment that we have disk-type missiles +using the latest jet or rocket propulsion—either piloted or +remote-controlled. The question is, could such disks fit specific sightings +like the one at Godman Field and the case at Fargo?” +</p> + +<p> +Redell paused as if some new thought had struck him. +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a minute, here’s an even better test. I happen to know about +this case personally. Marvin Miles—he’s an aviation writer in Los +Angeles—was down at White Sands Proving Ground some time ago. He talked +with a Navy rocket expert who was in charge of naval guided-missile projects. +This Navy man—he’s a commander in the regular service—told +Miles they’d seen four saucers down in that area.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re sure he wasn’t kidding Miles?” I said. Then I +remembered Purdy’s tip about a White Sands case. +</p> + +<p> +“I told you I checked on this myself,” Redell said, a little +annoyed. “After Miles told me about it, I asked an engineer who’d +been down there if it was true. He gave me the same story, figures and all. The +first saucer was tracked by White Sands observers with a theodolite. Then they +worked out its performance with ballistics formulas.” +</p> + +<p> +Redell looked at me grimly. +</p> + +<p> +“The thing was about fifty miles up. And it was making over fifteen +thousand miles an hour!” +</p> + +<p> +One of the witnesses, said Redell, was a well-known scientist from the General +Mills aeronautical research laboratory in Minneapolis, which was working with +the Navy. (A few days later, I verified this fact and the basic details of +Redell’s account. But it was not until early in January 1950 that I +finally identified the officer as Commander Robert B. McLaughlin and got his +dramatic story.) +</p> + +<p> +“Here are two more items Miles told me,” Redell went on. +“This Navy expert said the saucer actually looked elliptical, or +egg-shaped. And while it was being tracked it suddenly made a steep +climb—so steep no human being could have lived through it.” +</p> + +<p> +“One thing is certain,” I said. “That fifty-mile altitude +knocks out the rotating disk. Up in that thin air it wouldn’t have any +lift.” +</p> + +<p> +“Right,” said Redell. “And the variable jet type would +require an enormous amount of fuel. Regardless, those G’s mean it +couldn’t have had any pilot born on this earth.” +</p> + +<p> +According to Marvin Miles, this White Sands saucer had been over a hundred feet +long. (Later, Commander McLaughlin stated that it was 105 feet.) If this were +an American device, then it meant that we had already licked many of the +problems on which the Earth Satellite Vehicle designers were supposed to be +just starting. Their statements, then, would have to be false—part of an +elaborate cover-up. +</p> + +<p> +“If we had such an advanced design,” said Redell, “and I just +don’t believe it possible—would we gamble on a remote-control +system? No such system is perfect. Suppose it went wrong. At that speed, over +fifteen thousand miles an hour, your precious missile or strato ship could be +halfway around the globe in about forty-five minutes. That is, if the fuel held +out. Before you could regain control, you might lose it in the sea. Or it might +come down behind the Iron Curtain. Even if it were I smashed to bits, it would +tip off the Soviets. They might claim it was a guided-missile attack. Almost +anything could hap pen.” +</p> + +<p> +“It could have a time bomb in it,” I suggested. “if it got +off course or out of control, it would blow itself up.” +</p> + +<p> +Redell emphatically shook his head. “I’ve heard that idea before, +but it won’t hold up. What if your ship’s controls went haywire and +the thing blew up over a crowded city? Imagine the panic, even if no actual +damage was done. No, sir—nobody in his right mind is going to let a huge +ship like that go barging around unpiloted. It would be criminal negligence. +</p> + +<p> +“If the White Sands calculations were correct, then this particular +saucer was no earth-made device. Perhaps in coming years, we could produce such +a ship, with atomic power to drive it. But not now.” +</p> + +<p> +Redell went over several other cases. +</p> + +<p> +“Take the Godman Field saucer. At one time, it was seen at places one +hundred and seventy-five miles apart, as you know. Even to have been seen at +all from both places, it would. have to have been huge—much larger than +two hundred and fifty feet in diameter. The human eye wouldn’t resolve an +object that size, at such a distance and height.” +</p> + +<p> +It was an odd thing; I had, gone over the Mantell case a dozen times. I knew +the object was huge. But I had never tried to figure out the object’s +exact size. +</p> + +<p> +“How big do you think it was?” I asked quickly. This could be the +key I had tried to find. +</p> + +<p> +“I haven’t worked it out,” said Redell. “But I can give +you a rough idea. The human eye can’t resolve any object that subtends +less than three minutes of arc. For instance, a plane with a hundred-foot wing +span would only be a speck twenty miles away, if you saw it at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“But this thing was seen clearly eighty-seven miles away—or even +more, if it wasn’t midway between the two cities. Why, it would have to +be a thousand feet in diameter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even larger.” Redell was silent a moment. “What was the word +Mantell used—‘tremendous’?” I tried to visualize the +thing, but my mind balked. One thing was certain now. It was utterly impossible +that any nation on earth could have built such an enormous airborne machine. +just to think of the force required to hold it in the sky was enough to stagger +any engineer. We were years away—perhaps centuries—from any such +possibility. +</p> + +<p> +As if he had read my thoughts, Redell said soberly, “There’s no +other possible answer. It was a huge space ship—perhaps the largest ever +to come into our atmosphere.” +</p> + +<p> +It was clear now why such desperate efforts had been made to explain away the +object Mantell had chased. +</p> + +<p> +“What about that Eastern Airlines sighting?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, first,” said Redell, “it wasn’t any +remote-control guided missile. I’ll say it again; it would be sheer +insanity. Suppose that thing had crashed in Macon. At that speed it could have +plowed its way for blocks, right through the buildings. It could have killed +hundreds of people, burned the heart out of the city. +</p> + +<p> +“If it was a missile, or some hush-hush experimental job, then it was +piloted. But they don’t test a job like that on any commercial airways. +And they don’t fool around at five thousand feet where people will see +the thing streaking by and call the newspapers. +</p> + +<p> +“To power a hundred-foot wingless ship, especially at those speeds, would +take enormous force. Not as much as a V-two rocket, but tremendous power. The +fuel load would be terrific. Certainly, the pilot wouldn’t be circling +around Georgia and Alabama for an hour, buzzing airliners. I’ll stake +everything that we couldn’t duplicate that space ship’s performance +for less than fifty million dollars. It would take something brand-new in +jets.” +</p> + +<p> +Redell paused. He looked at me grimly. “And the way I’d have to +soup it up, it would be a damned dangerous ship to fly. No pilot would +deliberately fly it that low. He’d stay up where he’d have a chance +to bail out.” +</p> + +<p> +I told him what I had heard about the blueprints the Air Force was said to have +rushed. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course they were worried,” said Redell. “And probably +they still are. But I don’t think they need be; so far, there’s +been nothing menacing about these space ships.” +</p> + +<p> +When I got him back to the Gorman case, Redell drew a sketch on his pad, +showing me his idea of the disk light. He estimated the transparent rim as not +more than five feet in diameter. +</p> + +<p> +“Possibly smaller,” he said. “You recall that Gorman said the +light was between six and eight inches in diameter. He also said it seemed to +have depth—that was in the Air Force report.” +</p> + +<p> +“You think all the mechanism was hidden by the light?” +</p> + +<p> +“Only possible answer,” said Redell. “But just try to imagine +crowding a motor, or jet controls for rim jets, along with remote controls and +a television device, in that small space. Plus your fuel supply. I don’t +know any engineer who would even attempt it. To carry that much gear, it would +take a fair-sized plane. You could make a disk large enough, but the mechanism +and fuel section would be two or three feet across, at least. So Gorman’s +light must have been powered and controlled by some unique means. The same +principle applies to all the other light reports I’ve heard. No shape +behind them, high speed, and intelligent maneuvers. That thing was guided from +some interplanetary ship, hovering at a high altitude,” Redell declared. +“But I haven’t any idea what source of power it used.” +</p> + +<p> +Until then, I had forgotten about Art Green’s letter. I told Redell what +Art had said about the Geiger counter. +</p> + +<p> +“I knew they went over Gorman’s fighter with a Geiger +counter,” Redell commented. “But they said the reaction was +negative. If Green is right, it’s interesting. It would mean they have +built incredibly small atomic engines. But with a race so many years ahead of +us, it shouldn’t be surprising. Of course, they may also be using some +other kind of power our scientists say is impossible.” +</p> + +<p> +I was about to ask him what he meant when his secretary came in. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Carson is waiting,” she told Redell. “He had a +four-o’clock appointment.” +</p> + +<p> +As I started to leave, Redell looked at his calendar. +</p> + +<p> +“I hate to break this up; it’s a fascinating business What about +coming in Friday? I’d like to see the rest of those case reports.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fine,” I said. “I’ve got a few more questions, +too.” +</p> + +<p> +Going out, I made a mental note of the Friday date. Then the figure clicked; it +was just three months since I’d started on this assignment. +</p> + +<p> +Three months ago. At that time I’d only been half sure that the saucers +were real. If anyone had said I’d soon believe they were space ships, +I’d have told him he was crazy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<p> +Before my date with Redell, I went over all the material I had, hoping to find +some clue to the space visitors’ planet. It was possible, of course, that +there was more than one planet involved. +</p> + +<p> +Project “Saucer” had discussed the possibilities in it! report of +April 27, 1949. I read over this section again: +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +Since flying saucers first hit the headlines almost two years ago, there has +been wide speculation that the aerial phenomena might actually be some form of +penetration from another planet. +</p> + +<p> +Actually, astronomers are largely in agreement that only one member of the +solar system beside Earth is capable of supporting life. That is Mars. Even +Mars, however, appears to be relatively desolate and inhospitable, so that a +Martian race would be more occupied with survival than we are on Earth. +</p> + +<p> +On Mars, there exists an excessively slow loss of atmosphere, oxygen and water, +against which intelligent beings, if they do exist there, may have protected +themselves by scientific control of physical conditions. This might have been +done, scientists speculate, by the construction of homes and cities underground +where the atmospheric pressure would be greater and thus temperature extremes +reduced. The other possibilities exist, of course, that evolution may have +developed a being who can withstand the rigors of the Martian climate, or that +the race—if it ever did exist—has perished. +</p> + +<p> +In other words, the existence of intelligent life on Mars, where the rare +atmosphere is nearly devoid of oxygen and water and where the nights are much +colder than our Arctic winters, is not impossible but is completely unproven. +</p> + +<p> +The possibility of intelligent life also existing on the planet Venus is not +considered completely unreasonable by astronomers. The atmosphere of Venus +apparently consists mostly of carbon dioxide with deep clouds of formaldehyde +droplets, and there seems to be little or no water. Yet, scientists concede +that living organisms might develop in chemical environments which are strange +to us. Venus, however, has two handicaps. Her mass and gravity are nearly as +large as the Earth (Mars is smaller) and her cloudy atmosphere would discourage +astronomy, hence space travel. </p> +</div> + +<p> +The last argument, I thought, did not have too much weight. We were planning to +escape the earth’s gravity; Martians could do the same, with their +planet. As for the cloudy atmosphere, they could have developed some system of +radio or radar investigation of the universe. The Navy research units, I knew, +were probing the far-off Crab nebula in the Milky Way with special radio +devices. This same method, or something far superior, could have been developed +on Venus, or other planets surrounded by constant clouds. +</p> + +<p> +After the discussion of solar-system planets, the Project “Saucer” +report went on to other star systems: +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +Outside the solar system other stars—22 in number—have satellite +planets. Our sun has nine. One of these, the Earth, is ideal for existence of +intelligent life. On two others there is a possibility of life. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Therefore, astronomers believe reasonable the thesis that there could be at +least one ideally habitable planet for each of the 22 other eligible stars. +</p> + +<p> +After publication of our findings in <i>True</i>, several astronomers said that +many planets may be inhabited. One of these was Dr. Carl F. von Weizacker, +noted University of Chicago physicist. On January 10, 1950, Dr. von Weizacker +stated: “Billions upon billions of stars found in the heavens may each +have their own planets revolving about them. It is possible that these planets +would have plant and animal life on them similar to the earth’s.” +</p> + +<p> +After narrowing the eligible stars down to twenty-two the Project +“Saucer” report goes on: +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +The theory is also employed that man represents the average in advancement and +development. Therefore, one-half the other habitable planets would be behind +man in development, and the other half ahead. It is also assumed that any +visiting race could be expected to be far in advance of man. Thus, the chance +of space travelers existing at planets attached to neighboring stars is very +much greater than the chance of space-traveling Martians. The one can be viewed +as almost a certainty (if you accept the thesis that the number of inhabited +planets is equal to those that are suitable for life and that intelligent life +is not peculiar to the Earth) .” +</p> +</div> + +<p> +The most likely star was Wolf 359—eight light-years away. I thought for a +minute about traveling that vast distance. It was almost appalling, considered +in terms of man’s life span. Of course, dwellers on other planets might +live much longer. +</p> + +<p> +If the speed of light was not an absolute limit, almost any space journey would +then be possible. Since there would be no resistance in outer space, it would +be simply a matter of using rocket power in the first stages to accelerate to +the maximum speed desired. In the latter phase, the rocket’s drive would +have to be reversed, to decelerate for the landing. +</p> + +<p> +The night before my appointment with Redell, I was checking a case report when +the phone rang. It was John Steele. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you still working on the saucers?” he asked. “If you +are, I have a suggestion—something that might be a real lead.” +</p> + +<p> +“I could use a lead right now,” I told him. +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t give you the source, but it’s one I consider +reliable,” said Steele. “This man says the disks are British +developments.” +</p> + +<p> +This was a new one. I hadn’t considered the British. Steele talked for +over half an hour, expanding the idea. The saucers, his informant said, were +rotating disks with cambered surfaces—originally a Nazi device. Near the +end of the war, the British had seized all the models, along with the German +technicians and scientists who had worked on the project. +</p> + +<p> +The first British types had been developed secretly in England, according to +this account. But the first tests showed a dangerous lack of control; the disks +streaked up to high altitudes, hurtling without direction. Some had been seen +over the Atlantic, some in Turkey, Spain, and other parts of Europe. +</p> + +<p> +The British then had shifted operations to Australia, where a guided-missile +test range had been set up. (This part, I knew, could be true; there was such a +range.) After improving their remote-control system, which used both radio and +radar, they had built disks up to a hundred feet in diameter. These were +launched out over the Pacific, the first ones straight eastward over open sea. +British destroyers were stationed at 100-mile and later 500-mile intervals, to +track the missiles by radar and correct their courses. At a set time, when +their fuel was almost exhausted, the disks came down vertically and landed in +the ocean. Since part of the device was sealed, the disks would float; then a +special launching ship would hoist them abroad, refuel them, and launch them +back toward a remote base in Australia, where they were landed by remote +control. +</p> + +<p> +Since then, Steele said, the disks’ range and speed had been greatly +increased. The first tests of the new disks was in the spring of 1947, his +informant had told him. The British had rushed the project, because of Soviet +Russia’s menacing attitude. Their only defense in England, the British +knew, would be some powerful guided missile that could destroy Soviet bases +after the first attack. +</p> + +<p> +In order to check the range and speeds accurately, it was necessary to have +observers in the Western Hemisphere—the disks were now traversing the +Pacific. The ideal test range, the British decided, was one extending over +Canada, where the disks could be tracked and even landed. +</p> + +<p> +If the account was right, said Steele, a base had been set up in the desolate +Hudson Bay country. Special radar-tracking stations had also been established, +to guide the missiles toward Australia and vessels at sea. These stations also +helped to bring in missiles from Australia. +</p> + +<p> +Some of the disk missiles were supposed to have been launched from a British +island in the South Pacific; others came all the way from Australia. Still +others were believed to have been launched by a mother ship stationed between +the Galapagos Islands and Pitcairn. +</p> + +<p> +It was these new disks that had been seen in the United States, Alaska, Canada, +and Latin America, Steele’s informant had told him. At first, the +sightings were due to imperfect controls; the disks sometimes failed to keep +their altitude, partly because of conflicting radio and radar beams from the +countries below. Responding to some of these mixed signals, Steele said, the +disks had been known to reverse course, hover or descend over radar and radio +stations, or circle around at high speeds until their own control system picked +them up again. +</p> + +<p> +For this reason, the British had arranged a simple detonator system, operated +either by remote control or automatically under certain conditions. In this +way, no disk would crash over land, with the danger of hitting a populated +area. If it descended below a certain altitude, the disk would automatically +speed up its rotation, then explode at a high altitude. When radar trackers saw +that a disk was off course and could not be realigned, the nearest station then +sent a special signal to activate the detonator system. This was always done, +Steele had been told, when a disk headed toward Siberia; there had previously +been a few cases when Australian-launched disks had got away from controllers +and appeared over Europe. +</p> + +<p> +I listened to Steele’s account with mixed astonishment and suspicion. It +sounded like a pipe dream; but if it was, it had been carefully thought out, +especially the details that followed. +</p> + +<p> +At first, Steele said, American defense officials had been completely baffled +by the disk reports. Then the British, learning about the sightings, had +hastily explained to top-level American officials. An agreement had been worked +out. We were to have the benefit of their research and testing and working +models, in return for helping to conceal the secret. We were also to aid in +tracking and controlling the missiles when they passed over this country. +</p> + +<p> +“And I gather we paid in other ways,” Steele said. “My source +says this played a big part in increasing our aid to Britain, including certain +atomic secrets.” +</p> + +<p> +That could make sense. Sharing such a secret would be worth all the money and +supplies we had poured into England. If America and Great Britain both had a +superior long-range missile, it would be the biggest factor I knew for holding +off war. But the long ranges involved in Steele’s explanation made the +thing incredible. +</p> + +<p> +“How are they powered? What fuel do they use?” I asked him. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s the one thing I couldn’t get,” said Steele. +“This man told me it was the most carefully guarded secret of all. +They’ve tapped a new source of power.” +</p> + +<p> +“If he means atomic engines,” I said, “I don’t believe +it. I don’t think anyone is that far along.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” Steele said earnestly, “he said it wasn’t +that. And the rest of the story hangs together.” +</p> + +<p> +Privately, I thought of two or three holes, but I let that go. +</p> + +<p> +“If it’s British,” I said, “do you think we should even +hint at it?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t see any harm,” Steele answered. “The Russians +undoubtedly know the truth. They have agents everywhere. It might do a lot of +good for American-British relations. Anyway, it would offset any fear that the +saucers are Soviet weapons.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you’re not worried about that angle any more?” +</p> + +<p> +Steele laughed. “No, but it had me going for a while. It was a big relief +to find out the disks are British.” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the disks’ ceiling?” I asked, abruptly. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh—sixty thousand feet, at least,” said Steele. After a +moment he added quickly, “That’s just a guess—they probably +operate much higher. I didn’t think to ask.” +</p> + +<p> +Before I hung up, he asked me what I thought, of the British explanation. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s certainly more plausible than the Soviet idea,” I said. +I thanked him for calling me, and put down the phone. I was tempted to point +out the flaws in his story. But I didn’t. +</p> + +<p> +If he was sincere, it would be poor thanks for what he had told me. If he was +trying to plant a fake explanation, it wouldn’t hurt to let him think +I’d swallowed it. When I saw Redell, I told him about Steele. +</p> + +<p> +“It does look like an attempt to steer you away from the interplanetary +answer,” Redell agreed, “though he may be passing on a tip he +believes.” +</p> + +<p> +“You think there could be any truth in the British story?” +</p> + +<p> +“Would the British risk a hundred-foot disk crashing in some American +city?” said Redell. “No remote control is perfect, and neither is a +detonator system. By some freak accident, a disk might come down in a place +like Chicago, and then blow up. I just can’t see the British—any +more than ourselves—letting huge unpiloted missiles go barging around the +world, flying along airways and over cities. Certainly, they could have +automatic devices to make them veer away from airliners—but what if a +circuit failed?” +</p> + +<p> +“I go along with that,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t say the British don’t have some long-range +missiles,” Redell broke in. “Every big nation has a guided-missile +project. But no guided missile on earth can explain the Mantell case and the +others we’ve discussed.” +</p> + +<p> +I showed him the material I had on the Nazi disk experiments. Redell skimmed +through it and nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“I can tell you a little more,” he said. “Some top Nazi +scientists were convinced we were being observed by space visitors. +They’d searched all the old reports. Some sighting over Germany set them +off about 1940. That’s what I was told. I think that’s where they +first got the idea of trying out oval and circular airfoils. +</p> + +<p> +“Up to then, nobody was interested. The rotation idea uses the same +principle as the helicopter, but nobody had even followed that through. The +Nazis went to work on the disks. They also began to rush space-exploration +plans—the orbiting satellite idea. I think they realized these space +ships were using some great source of power we hadn’t discovered on +earth. I believe that’s what they were after—that power secret. If +they’d succeeded, they’d have owned the world. As it was, that +space project caused them to leap ahead of everybody with rockets.” +</p> + +<p> +When I asked Redell how he thought the space ships were powered, he shrugged. +</p> + +<p> +“Probably cosmic rays hold the answer. Their power would be even greater +than atomic power. There’s another source I’ve heard mentioned, but +most people scoff at it. That’s the use of electromagnetic fields in +space. The earth has its magnetic field, of course, and so does the sun. +Probably all planets do. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s a man named Fernand Roussel who wrote a book called <i>The +Unifying Principle of Physical Phenomena</i>, about 1943. He goes into the +electromagnetic-field theory. If he’s right, then there must be some way +to tap this force and go from one planet to another without using any fuel. +You’d use your first planet’s magnetic field to start you off and +then coast through space until you got into the field of the next planet. At +least, that’s how I understand it. But you’d be safer sticking to +atomic power. That’s been proved.” +</p> + +<p> +Most of our conversations had been keyed to the technical side of the +flying-saucer problem. But before I left this time, I asked Redell how the +thought of space visitors affected him. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, at first I had a queer feeling about it,” he answered. +“But once you accept it, it’s like anything else. You get used to +the idea.” +</p> + +<p> +“One thing bothers me,” I said. “When I try to picture them, +I keep remembering the crazy-looking things in some of the comics. What do you +suppose they’re really like?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve thought about it for months.” Redell slowly shook his +head. “I haven’t the slightest idea.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<p> +That evening, after my talk with Redell, the question kept coming back in my +mind. What were they like? And what were they doing here? +</p> + +<p> +From the long record of sightings, it was possible to get an answer to the +second question. Observation of the earth followed a general pattern. According +to the reports, Europe, the most populated area, had been more closely observed +than the rest of the globe until about 1870. By this time, the United States, +beginning to rival Europe in industrial progress, had evidently become of +interest to the space-ship crews. +</p> + +<p> +From then on, Europe and the Western Hemisphere, chiefly North America, shared +the observers’ attention. The few sightings reported at other points +around the world indicate an occasional check-up on the earth in general. +Apparently World War I had not greatly concerned the space observers. One +reason might be that our aerial operations were still at a relatively low +altitude. +</p> + +<p> +But World War II had drawn more attention, and this had obviously increased +from 1947 up to the present time. Our atomic-bomb explosions and the V-2 +high-altitude experiments might be only coincidence, but I could think of no +other development that might seriously concern dwellers on other planets. +</p> + +<p> +It was a strange thing to think of some far-off race keeping track of the +earth’s progress. If Redell was right, it might even have started in +prehistoric time; a brief survey, perhaps once a century or even further +spaced, then gradually more frequent observation as cities appeared on the +earth. +</p> + +<p> +Somewhere on a distant planet there would be records of that long survey. I +wondered how our development would appear to that far-advanced race. They would +have seen the slow sailing ships, the first steamships, the lines of steel +tracks that carried our first trains. +</p> + +<p> +Watching for our first aircraft, they would see the drifting balloons that +seemed an aerial miracle when the Montgolfiers first succeeded. More than a +century later, they would have noted the slow, clumsy airplanes of the early +1900’s. From our gradual progress to the big planes and bombers of today, +they could probably chart our next steps toward the stratosphere—and then +space. +</p> + +<p> +During the last two centuries, they would have watched a dozen wars, each one +fiercer than the last, spreading over the globe. Adding up all the things they +had seen, they could draw an accurate picture of man, the earth creature, and +the increasingly fierce struggle between the earth races. +</p> + +<p> +The long survey held no sign of menace. If there had been a guiding purpose of +attack and destruction, it could have been carried out years ago. It was almost +certain that any planet race able to traverse space would have the means for +attack. +</p> + +<p> +More than once, during this investigation, I had been asked: “If the +saucers are interplanetary, why haven’t they landed here? Why +haven’t their crews tried to make contact with us?” +</p> + +<p> +There was always the possibility that the planet race or races could not +survive on earth, or that their communications did not include the methods that +we used. But I found that hard to believe. Such a superior race would certainly +be able to master our radio operations, or anything else that we had developed, +in a fairly short time. And it should be equally simple to devise some means of +survival on earth, just as we were already planning special suits and helmets +for existence on the moon. During a talk with a former Intelligence officer, I +got a key to the probable explanation. +</p> + +<p> +“Why don’t you just reverse it—list what we intend to do when +we start exploring space? That’ll give you the approximate picture of +what visitors to the earth would be doing.” +</p> + +<p> +Naturally, all the details of space plans have not been worked out, but the +general plan is clear. After the first successful earth satellites, we will +either attempt a space base farther out or else launch a moon rocket. Probably +many round trips to the moon will be made before going farther in space. Which +planet will be explored first, after the moon? +</p> + +<p> +According to Air Force reports, it is almost a certainty that planets outside +the solar system are inhabited. But because of the vast distances involved, +expeditions to our neighboring planets may be tried before the more formidable +journeys. More than one prominent astronomer believes that life, entirely +different from our own, may exist on some solar planets. Besides Mars, Jupiter, +and Venus, there are five more that, like the earth, revolve around the sun. +</p> + +<p> +One of the prominent authorities is Dr. H. Spencer Jones, Astronomer Royal. In +his book <i>Life on Other Worlds</i>, Dr. Jones points out that everything +about us is the result of changing processes, begun millenniums ago and still +going on. We cannot define life solely in our own terms; it can exist in +unfamiliar forms. +</p> + +<p> +“It is conceivable,” Dr. Jones states in his book, “that we +could have beings, the cells of whose bodies contained silicon instead of the +carbon which is an essential constituent of our cells and of all other living +cells on the earth. And that because of this essential difference between the +constitution of those cells and the cells of which animal and plant life on the +earth are built up, they might be able to exist at temperatures so high that no +terrestrial types of life could survive.” +</p> + +<p> +According to Dr. Jones, then, life could be possible on worlds hotter and drier +than ours; it could also exist on a very much colder one, such as Mars. +</p> + +<p> +Even if a survey of the sun’s planets proved fruitless, it would decide +the question of their being populated. Also, it would provide valuable +experience for the much longer journeys into space. +</p> + +<p> +No one expects such a survey until we have a space vehicle able to make the +round trip. One-way trips would tell us nothing, even if volunteers offered to +make such suicidal journeys. +</p> + +<p> +The most probable step will be to launch a space vehicle equipped with supplies +for a long time, perhaps a year or two, within the solar system. Since Mars has +been frequently mentioned as a source of the flying saucers, let’s assume +it would be the first solar-system planet to be explored from the earth. +</p> + +<p> +As the space ship neared Mars, it could be turned to circle the planet in an +orbit, just like our planned earth satellite vehicle. Once in this orbit, it +could circle indefinitely without using fuel except to correct its course. +</p> + +<p> +From this space base, unmanned remote-control “observer” units with +television “eyes” or other transmitters would be sent down to +survey the planet at close range. If it then seemed fairly safe, a manned unit +could be released to make a more thorough check-up. +</p> + +<p> +Such preliminary caution would be imperative. Our explorers would have no idea +of what awaited them. The planet might be uninhabited. It might be peopled by a +fiercely barbarous race unaware of civilization as we know it. Or it might have +a civilization far in advance of ours. +</p> + +<p> +The explorers would first try to get a general idea of the whole planet. Then +they would attempt to examine the most densely populated areas, types of +armature, any aircraft likely to attack them. Combing the radio spectrum, they +would pick up and record sounds and signals in order to decipher the language. +</p> + +<p> +As on earth, they might hear a hodgepodge of tongues. The next step would be to +select the most technically advanced nation, listen in, and try to learn its +language, or record it for deciphering afterward on earth. +</p> + +<p> +Our astronomers already have analyzed Mars’s atmosphere, but the +explorers would have to confirm their reports, to find out whether the +atmosphere at the surface would support their lungs if they landed. The easiest +way would be to send down manned or unmanned units with special apparatus to +scoop in atmosphere samples. Later analysis would tell whether earthlings would +need oxygen-helmet suits such as we plan to use on the moon. +</p> + +<p> +But before risking flight at such low altitudes, the explorers would first +learn everything possible about the planet’s aircraft, if any. They would +try to determine their top ceiling, maximum speed, maneuverability, and if +possible their weapons. Mitch of this could be done by sending down +remote-control “observer” disks, or whatever type we decide to use. +A manned unit might make a survey at night, or in daytime with clouds nearby to +shield it. By hovering over the planet’s aircraft bases, the explorers +could get most of the picture, and also decide whether the bases were suitable +for their own use later. +</p> + +<p> +It might even be necessary to lure some Martian aircraft into pursuit of our +units, to find out their performance. But our explorers would above all avoid +any sign of hostility; they would hastily. withdraw to show they had no warlike +intentions. +</p> + +<p> +If the appearance of our observer units and manned craft caused too violent +reactions on the planet, the explorers would withdraw to their orbiting space +vehicle and either wait for a lull or else start the long trip back home. +Another interplanetary craft from the earth might take its place later to +resume periodic surveys. +</p> + +<p> +In this way, a vast amount of information could be collected without once +making contact with the strange race. If they seemed belligerent or +uncivilized, we would probably end our survey and check on the next possibly +inhabited planet. If we found they were highly civilized, we would undoubtedly +attempt later contact. But it might take a long time, decades of observation +and analysis, before we were ready for that final step. +</p> + +<p> +We might find a civilization not quite so advanced as ours. It might not yet +have developed radio and television. We would then have no way of getting a +detailed picture, learning the languages, or communicating with. the Martians. +Analysis of their atmosphere might show a great hazard to earthlings, one +making it impossible to land or requiring years of research to overcome. There +might be other obstacles beyond our present understanding. +</p> + +<p> +This same procedure would apply to the rest of the solar-system planets and to +more distant systems. Since Wolf 359 is the nearest star outside our system +that is likely to have inhabited planets, one of these planets would probably +be listed as the first to explore in far-distant space. It would be a +tremendous undertaking, unless the speed of light can be exceeded in space. +Since Wolf 359 is eight light-years from the earth, even if a space ship +traveled at the theoretical maximum—just under 186,00 miles a +second—it would take over sixteen years for the round trip. Detailed +observation of the planet would add to this period. +</p> + +<p> +If we assume half that speed—which would still be an incredible +attainment with our present knowledge—our space explorers would have to +dedicate at least thirty-two years to the hazardous, lonely round trip. +However, there has never been a lack of volunteers for grand undertakings in +the history of man. +</p> + +<p> +It is quite possible that in our survey of the solar-system planets we would +find some inhabited, but not advanced enough to be of interest to us. +Periodically, we might make return visits to note their progress. Meantime, our +astronomers would watch these planets, probably developing new, higher powered +telescopes for the purpose, to detect any signs of unusual activity. Any +tremendous explosion on a planet would immediately concern us. +</p> + +<p> +Such an explosion, on Mars, was reported by astronomers on January 16, 1950. +The cause and general effects are still being debated. Sadao Saeki, the +Japanese astronomer who first reported it at Osaka, believes it was of volcanic +nature. +</p> + +<p> +The explosion created a cloud over an area about seven hundred miles in +diameter and forty miles high. It was dull gray with a yellowish tinge and a +different color from the atmospheric phenomena customarily seen near Mars. +Saeki believes the blast might have destroyed any form of life existing on the +planet, but even though the telescopic camera recorded a violent explosion, +other authorities do not believe the planet was wrecked. The canals first +discovered on Mars by Giovanni Schiaparelli, about 1877, are still apparent on +photographs. +</p> + +<p> +Mars is now being carefully watched by astronomers. If there are more of the +strange explosions, the planet will be scanned constantly for some clue to +their nature. If a mysterious explosion on Mars, or any other planet, were +found of atomic origin, it would cause serious concern on earth. Suppose for a +moment that it happened many years from now, when we will have succeeded in +space explorations. At this time, let us assume our explorers have found that +Mars is experimenting with high-altitude rockets; some of them have been seen, +rising at tremendous speed, in the upper atmosphere of Mars. +</p> + +<p> +Then comes this violent explosion. A scientific analysis of the cloud by +astrophysicists here on earth proves it was of atomic origin. +</p> + +<p> +The first reaction would undoubtedly be an immediate resurvey of Mars. As +quickly as possible, we would establish an orbiting space base—out of +range of Martian rockets—and try to find how far they had advanced with +atomic bombs. +</p> + +<p> +Samples of the Martian atmosphere would be collected and analyzed for telltale +radiation. Observer units would be flown over the planet, with instruments to +locate atom-bomb plants and possibly uranium deposits. The rocket-launching +bases would also come under close observation. We would try to learn how close +the scientists were to escaping the pull of gravity. Since Mars’s gravity +is much less than the earth’s, the Martians would not have so far to +progress before succeeding in space travel. +</p> + +<p> +The detailed survey by our space-base observers would probably show that there +was no immediate danger to the earth. It might take one hundred +years—perhaps five hundred—before the Martians could be a problem. +Eventually, the time would come when Mars would send out space-ship explorers. +They would undoubtedly discover that the earth was populated with a technically +advanced civilization. Any warlike ideas they had in mind could be quickly +ended by a show of our superior space craft and our own atomic +weapons—probably far superior to any on Mars. It might even be possible +that by then we would have finally outlawed war; if so, a promise to share the +peaceful benefits of our technical knowledge might be enough to bring Martian +leaders into line. +</p> + +<p> +Regardless of our final decision, we would certainly keep a lose watch on +Mars—or any other planet that seemed a possible threat. +</p> + +<p> +Now, if our space-exploration program is just reversed, it will give a +reasonable picture of how visitors from space might go about investigating the +earth. Such an investigation would tie in with the general pattern of authentic +flying-saucer reports: +</p> + +<p> +1. World-wide sightings at long intervals up to the middle of the nineteenth +century. +</p> + +<p> +2. Concentration on Europe, as the most advanced section of the globe, until +late in the nineteenth century. +</p> + +<p> +3. Frequent surveys of America in the latter part of the nineteenth century, as +we began to develop industrially, with cities springing up across the land. +</p> + +<p> +4. Periodic surveys of both America and Europe during the gradual development +of aircraft, from the early 1900’s up to World War II. +</p> + +<p> +5. An increase of observation during World War II, after German V-2’s +were launched up into the stratosphere. +</p> + +<p> +6. A steadily increasing survey after our atomic-bomb explosions in New Mexico, +Japan, Bikini, and Eniwetok. +</p> + +<p> +7. A second spurt of observations following atom-bomb explosions in Soviet +Russia. +</p> + +<p> +8. Continuing observations of the earth at regular intervals, with most +attention concentrated on the United States, the present leader in atomic +weapons. (Saucers have been reported seen over the Soviet Union, but the number +is unknown. There is some evidence that Russia has an investigative unit +similar to Project “Saucer.”) +</p> + +<p> +There are other points of similarity to the program of American space +exploration that I have outlined. Most of the extremely large saucers have been +at high altitudes, some of them many miles above the earth. At that height, a +space ship would be in no danger from our planes and antiaircraft guns and +rockets. The smaller disks and the mystery lights have been seen at low +altitudes. Occasionally a larger saucer has been seen to approach the earth +briefly, as at Lockbourne Air Force Base, at Bethel, Alabama, at Macon and +Montgomery, and other places. It has been suggested that this was for the +purpose of securing atmospheric samples. It could also be to afford personal +observation by the crews. +</p> + +<p> +The numerous small disks seen in the first part of the scare, in 1947, fit the +pattern for preliminary and close observation by remote-controlled observer +units. As the scare increased, the daytime sightings decreased for a while, and +mystery lights began to be seen more often. This apparent desire to avoid +unfavorable attention could have been caused by our pilots’ repeated +attempts to chase the strange flying objects. +</p> + +<p> +Authentic reports have described sightings; over the following Air Force bases: +Chanute, Newark, Andrews, Hickam, Robbins, Godman, Clark, Fairfield Suisan, +Davis-Monthan, Harmon, Wright-Patterson, Holloman, Clinton County Air Force +Base, and air bases in Alaska, Germany, and the Azores. Saucers have also been +sighted over naval air stations at Dallas, Alameda, and Key West, and from the +station at Seattle. They have been reported maneuvering over the White Sands +Proving Ground, over areas containing atomic developments, above the Muroc Air +Base testing area, and over the super-secret research base near Albuquerque. +</p> + +<p> +Several times saucers have paced both military and civil aircraft; their +actions strongly indicate deliberate encounters to learn our planes’ +speed and performance. +</p> + +<p> +It seems obvious that both the planes and the bases were being observed, and in +some cases photographed by remote-control units or manned space ships. +</p> + +<p> +Although I thought it improbable that the location of our uranium deposits +would be of interest to space men, a Washington official told me it would be +relatively simple to detect the ore areas with airborne instruments. +</p> + +<p> +“The Geological Survey has already developed special Geiger counters for +planes,” he told me. “They had a little trouble from cosmic-ray +noise. They finally had to cover the Geigers with lead shields. Whenever an +important amount of radiation is present in the ground, the plane crew gets a +signal, and they spot the place on their map. It’s a quick way of +locating valuable deposits.” +</p> + +<p> +When I told him what I had in mind, he suggested an angle I had not considered. +</p> + +<p> +“Mind you,” he said, “I’m not completely sold on the +interplanetary answer. But assuming it’s correct that we’re being +observed, I can think of a stronger reason than fear of some distant attack. +Some atomic scientists say that a super-atomic bomb, or several set off at +once, could knock the earth out of its orbit. It sounds fantastic, but so is +the A-bomb. It’s just possible that some solar-planet race discovered the +dangers long ago. They would have good reason to worry if they found we were on +that same track. There may be some other atomic weapon we don’t suspect, +even worse than the A-bomb, one that could destroy the earth and seriously +affect other planets.” +</p> + +<p> +At the time, I thought this was just idle speculation. But since then, several +atomic scientists have confirmed this official’s suggestion. One of these +was Dr. Paul Elliott, a nuclear physicist who worked on the A-bomb during the +war. +</p> + +<p> +According to Dr. Elliott, if several hydrogen bombs were exploded +simultaneously at a high altitude, it could speed up the earth’s rotation +or change its orbit. He based his statement on the rate of energy the earth +receives from the sun, a rate equal to some four pounds of hydrogen exploded +every second. Still other atomic scientists have said that H-bomb explosions +might even knock a large chunk out of the earth, with unpredictable results. +</p> + +<p> +A dramatic picture of what might happen if the earth were forced far out of its +orbit is indicated in the much-discussed book <i>Worlds in Collision</i>, by +Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, recently published by Macmillan. After many years of +research, Dr. Velikovsky presents strong evidence that the planet Venus, when +still a comet resulting from eruption from a larger planet, moved erratically +about the sky and violently disturbed both the earth and Mars. +</p> + +<p> +When the comet approached the earth, our planet was forced out of its orbit, +according to Worlds in Collision. For a time, the world was on the brink of +destruction. Quoting many authentic ancient records, including the +Quiché manuscript of the Mayas, the Ipuwer papyrus of the Egyptians, and +the Visiddhi-Magga of the Buddhists, Dr. Velikovsky describes the cataclysm +that took place. “The face of the earth changed,” he writes in his +book. The details, reinforced by the Zend-Avesta of the Persians, tell of +tremendous hurricanes, of a major upheaval in the earth’s surface, of +oceans rushing over many parts of the land, while rivers were driven from their +beds. Some of the events in this period are mentioned in the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +Professor Horace M. Kallen, former dean of the New School of Social Research, +strongly endorses Dr. Velikovsky’s statements: “It is my belief +that Velikovsky has supported his theses with substantial evidence and made an +effective and persuasive argument.” +</p> + +<p> +Many other authorities endorse this work, which is documented with impressive +references. But even if this particular account is not accepted, all +astronomers agree that the effect of a comet passing near the earth would be +appalling. <i>Worlds in Collision</i> states that Mars, like the earth, was +pulled out of its orbit by the comet’s erratic passage. It may be that +this near disaster to the earth and Mars is known on other solar planets, or +remembered on Mars itself, if the planet is inhabited. +</p> + +<p> +The possibility of super-bomb explosions on the earth understandably disturb +any dwellers on other solar-system planets. +</p> + +<p> +This may be what was back of the Project “Saucer” statement on the +probable motives of any visitors from space. I mentioned this Air Force +statement in an earlier chapter, but it may be of interest to repeat it at this +time. The comment appeared in a confidential analysis of Intelligence reports, +in the formerly secret Project “Saucer” document, “Report on +Unidentified Aerial and Celestial Objects.” It reads as follows: +</p> + +<p> +“Such a civilization might observe that on earth we now have atomic bombs +and are fast developing rockets. In view of the past history of mankind, they +should be alarmed. We should therefore expect at this time above all to behold +such visitations. +</p> + +<p> +“Since the acts of mankind most easily observed from a distance are +A-bomb explosions, we should expect some relation to obtain between the time of +the A-bomb explosions, the time at which the space ships are seen, and the time +required for such ships to arrive from and return to home base.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<p> +It was early in October 1949 when I finished the reversal of our +space-exploration plans. I spent the next two days running down a sighting +report from a town in Pennsylvania. Like three or four other tips that had +seemed important at first, it turned out to be a dud. +</p> + +<p> +When I got back home, I found Ken Purdy had been trying to reach me. I phoned +him at True, and he asked me to fly up to New York the next day. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve just heard there’s another magazine working on the +saucer story,” he told me. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is it?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know yet. It may be just a rumor, but we can’t take +a chance. We’ve got to get this in the January book.” +</p> + +<p> +That night I gathered up all the material. It looked hopeless to condense it +into one article, and I knew that Purdy had even more investigators’ +reports waiting for me in New York. Flying up the next morning, I suddenly +thought of a talk I’d had with an air transport official. It was in +Washington; I had just told him about the investigation. +</p> + +<p> +“If they are spacemen,” he said, “they’d probably have +a hard time figuring out this country by listening to our broadcasts. Imagine +tuning in soap operas, ‘The Lone Ranger,’ and a couple of crime +yarns, along with newscasts about strikes and murders and the cold war. They +might pick up some of those kid programs about rocket ships. A few days of +listening to that stuff—well, it would give them one hell of a +picture.” +</p> + +<p> +Except for some hoax reports, this was the first funny suggestion I’d had +about the spacemen. But now, thinking seriously about it, I realized he had an +important point. It was possible that men from another planet might have to +reorient even their way of thinking to understand the earth’s ways. It +would not be automatic, despite their superior technical progress. Evolution +might have produced basic differences in their understanding of life. Humor, +for instance, might be totally lacking in their make-up. +</p> + +<p> +What would they be like? +</p> + +<p> +I’d tried to imagine how they might look, without getting anywhere. Dr. +H. Spencer Jones hadn’t helped much with his <i>Life on Other Worlds</i>. +I couldn’t begin to visualize beings with totally different cells, +perhaps able to take terrific heat or bitter cold as merely normal weather. +</p> + +<p> +There were all kinds of possibilities. If they lived on Mars, for instance, +perhaps they couldn’t take the heavier gravity of the earth. They might +be easily subject to our diseases, especially if they had destroyed disease +germs on their planet—a natural step for an advanced race. +</p> + +<p> +It was possible, I knew, that the spacemen might look grotesque to us. But I +clung to a Stubborn feeling that they would resemble man. That came, of course, +from an inborn feeling of man’s superiority over all living things. It +carried over into a feeling that any thinking, intelligent being, whether on +Mars or Wolf 359’s planets, should have evolved in the same form. +</p> + +<p> +I gave up trying to imagine how the spacemen might look. There was simply +nothing to go on. But there were strong indications of how they thought and +reacted. Certain qualities were plainly evident. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Intelligence</i>. No one could dispute that. It took a high order of +mentality to construct and operate a space ship. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Courage</i>. It would take brave men to face the hazards of space. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Curiosity</i>. Without this quality, they would never have thought to +explore far-distant planets. +</p> + +<p> +There were other qualities that seemed almost equally certain. These spacemen +apparently lacked belligerence; there had been no sign of hostility through all +the years. They were seemingly painstaking and extremely methodical. +</p> + +<p> +It was still not much of a picture. But somehow, it was encouraging. Glancing +down from the plane’s window, I thought: How does this look to them? Our +farms, our cities, the railroads there below; the highways, with the speeding +cars and trucks; the winding river, and far off to the right, the broad stretch +of the Atlantic. What would they think of America? +</p> + +<p> +Manhattan came into sight, as the pilot let down for the landing. An odd +thought popped into my mind. How would a spaceman react if he saw a Broadway +show? +</p> + +<p> +Not long before, I had seen South Pacific. I could still hear Ezio +Pinza’s magnificent voice as he sang “Some Enchanted +Evening.” +</p> + +<p> +Was music a part of spacemen’s lives, or would it be something new and +strange, perhaps completely distasteful? +</p> + +<p> +They might live and think on a coldly intelligent level, without a touch of +what we know as emotion. To them, our lives might seem meaningless and dull. We +ourselves might appear grotesque in form. +</p> + +<p> +But in their progress, there must have been struggle, trial and error, some +feeling of triumph at success. Surely these would be emotional forces, bound to +reflect in the planet races. Perhaps, in spite of some differences, we would +find a common bond—the bond of thinking, intelligent creatures trying to +better themselves. +</p> + +<p> +The airliner landed and taxied in to unload. +</p> + +<p> +As I went down the gangway I suddenly realized something. My last vague fear +was gone. +</p> + +<p> +It had not been a personal fear of the visitors from space. It had been a +selfish fear of the impact on my life. I realized that now. +</p> + +<p> +It might be a long time before they would try to make contact. But I had a +conviction that when it came, it would be a peaceful mission, not an ultimatum. +It could even be the means of ending wars on earth. +</p> + +<p> +But I had been conditioned to this thing. I had had six months of preparation, +six months to go from complete skepticism to slow, final acceptance. +</p> + +<p> +What if it had been thrown at me in black headlines? +</p> + +<p> +Even a peaceful contact by beings from another planet would profoundly affect +the world. The story in <i>True</i> might play an important part in that final +effect. Carefully done, it could help prepare Americans for the official +disclosure. +</p> + +<p> +But if it weren’t done right, we might be opening a Pandora’s box. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<p> +That morning, at <i>True</i>, we made the final decisions on how to handle the +story. Using the evidence of the Mantell case, the Chiles-Whitted report, +Gorman’s mystery-light encounter, and other authentic cases, along with +the records of early sightings, we would state our main conclusion: <i>that the +flying saucers were interplanetary</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In going over the mass of reports, Purdy and I both realized that a few +sightings did not fit the space-observer pattern. Most of these reports came +from the southwest states, where guided-missile experiments were going on. +</p> + +<p> +Purdy agreed with Paul Redell that any long-range tests would be made over the +sea or unpopulated areas, with every attempt at secrecy. +</p> + +<p> +“They might make short-range tests down there in New Mexico and +Arizona-maybe over Texas,” he said. “But they’d never risk +killing people by shooting the things all over the country.” +</p> + +<p> +“They’ve already set up a three-thousand-mile range for the longer +runs,” I added. “It runs from Florida into the South Atlantic. And +the Navy missiles at Point Mugu are launched out over the Pacific. Any guided +missiles coming down over settled areas would certainly be an accident. Besides +all that, no missile on earth can explain these major cases.” +</p> + +<p> +Purdy was emphatic about speculating on our guided-missile research. +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose you analyzed these minor cases that look like missile tests. You +might accidentally give away something important, like their range and speeds. +Look what the Russians did with the A-bomb hints Washington let out.” +</p> + +<p> +It was finally decided that we would briefly mention the guided missiles, along +with the fact that the armed services had flatly denied any link with the +saucers. +</p> + +<p> +“After all, interplanetary travel is the main story,” said Purdy. +“And the Mantell case alone proves we’ve been observed from space +ships, even without the old records.” +</p> + +<p> +The question of the story’s impact worried both of us. public acceptance +of intelligent life on other planets would affect almost every phase of our +existence-business, defense planning, philosophy, even religion. Of course, the +immediate effect was more important. Personally, I thought that most Americans +could take even an official announcement without too much trouble. But I could +be wrong. +</p> + +<p> +“The only yardstick—and that’s not much good—is that +‘little men’ story,” said Purdy. “A lot of people have +got excited about it, but they seem more interested than scared.” +</p> + +<p> +The story of the “little men from Venus” had been circulating for +some time. In the usual version, two flying saucers had come down near our +southwest border. In the space craft were several oddly dressed men, three feet +high. All of them were dead; the cause was usually given as inability to stand +our atmosphere. The Air Force was said to have hushed up the story, so that the +public could be educated gradually to the truth. Though it had all the earmarks +of a well-thought-out hoax, many newspapers had repeated the story. It had even +been broadcast as fact on several radio newscasts. But there had been no signs +of public alarm. +</p> + +<p> +“It looks as if people have come a long way since that Orson Welles +scare,” I said to Purdy. +</p> + +<p> +“But there isn’t any menace in this story,” he objected. +“The crews were reported dead, so everybody got the idea that spacemen +couldn’t live if they landed. What if a space ship should suddenly come +down over a big city—say New York—low enough for millions of people +to see it?” +</p> + +<p> +“it might cause a stampede,” I said, +</p> + +<p> +Purdy snorted. “it would be a miracle if it didn’t, unless people +had been fully prepared. if we do a straight fact piece, just giving the +evidence, it will start the ball rolling. People at least will be thinking +about it.” +</p> + +<p> +Before I left for Washington, I told Purdy of my last visit to the Pentagon. I +had informed Air Force press relations officials of True’s intention to +publish the space-travel answer. There had been no attempt to dissuade me. And +I had been told once again that there was no security involved; that Project +“Saucer” had found nothing threatening the safety of America. +</p> + +<p> +At this time I had also asked if Project “Saucer” files were now +available. The Wright Field unit, I was told, still was a classified project, +both its files and its photographs secret. This had been the first week in +October. +</p> + +<p> +When I asked if there was any other information on published cases, the answer +again was negative. The April 27th report, according to Press Branch officials, +was still an accurate statement of Air Force opinions and policies. So far as +they knew, no other explanations had be n found for the unidentified saucers. +</p> + +<p> +‘I in absolutely convinced now,” I told Purdy, “that +here’s an official policy to let the thing leak out. It explains why +Forrestal announced our Earth Satellite Vehicle program, years before we could +even start to build it. It also would explain those Project +‘Saucer’ hints in the April report.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think we’re being used as a trial balloon,” Purdy said +thoughtfully. “We’ve let them know what we’re doing. If +they’d wanted to stop us, the Air Force could easily have done it. All +they’d have to do would be call us in, give us the dope off the record, +and tell us it was a patriotic duty to keep still. Just the way they did about +uranium and atomic experiments during the war.” +</p> + +<p> +He still did not have the name of the other magazine supposed to be working on +the saucers. But it seemed a reliable tip (it later proved to be true), and +from then on we worked under high pressure. +</p> + +<p> +In writing the article, I used only the most authentic recent sightings; all of +the cases were in the Air Force reports. When it came to the Mantell case, I +stuck to published estimates of the strange object’s size; a mysterious +ship 250 to 300 feet in diameter was startling enough. At first, I chose Mars +to illustrate our space explorations. But Mars had been associated with the +Orson Welles stampede. Most discussions of the planet had a menacing note, +perhaps because of its warlike name. +</p> + +<p> +In the end, I switched to a planet of Wolf 359. The thought of those eight +light-years would have a comforting effect on any nervous readers. The chance +of any mass visitation would seem remote, if not impossible. But it would still +put across the space-travel story. +</p> + +<p> +As finally revised, the article, written under my byline, stated the following +points as the conclusions reached by <i>True</i>: +</p> + +<p> +1. For the past 175 years, the earth has been under systematic close-range +examination by living, intelligent observers from another planet. +</p> + +<p> +2. The intensity of this observation, and the frequency of the visits to the +earth’s atmosphere, have increased markedly during the past two years. +</p> + +<p> +3. The vehicles used for this observation and for interplanetary transport by +the explorers have been classed as follows: Type I, a small, nonpilot-carrying +disk-shaped craft equipped with some form of television or impulse transmitter; +Type II, a very large, metallic, disk-shaped aircraft operating on the +helicopter principle; Type III, a dirigible-shaped, wingless aircraft that, in +the Earth’s atmosphere, operates in conformance with the Prandtl theory +of lift. +</p> + +<p> +4. The discernible patterns of observation and exploration shown by the +so-called flying disks varies in no important particular from well-developed +American plans for the exploration of space, expected to come to fruition +within the next fifty years. There is reason to believe, however, that some +other race of thinking beings is a matter of two and a quarter centuries ahead +of us. +</p> + +<p> +Following these points, I added a brief comment on the possibility of guided +missiles, adding that the Air Force had convincingly denied this as an +explanation of any sightings. As Purdy had suggested, I carefully omitted ten +minor cases that I thought might be linked with guided-missile research. If +disclosing the facts about space travel helped to divert attention from any +secret tests, so much the better. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>True</i> accepts the official denial of any secret device,” I +stated, “because the weight of the evidence, especially the world-wide +sightings, does not support such a belief.” +</p> + +<p> +Most readers, of course, would know that some guided-missile experiments were +going on, and that <i>True</i> was fully aware of it. But our main purpose +would be achieved. +</p> + +<p> +The fact that the earth had been observed by beings from another planet would +be fully presented. Some readers, of course, would reject even the fact that +the saucers existed. Others would cling to the idea that they were of earthly +origin. But the mass of evidence would make most readers think. At the very +least, it would plant one strong suggestion: <i>that we, men and women of the +earth, are not the only intelligent species in the universe</i>. When the +article was finished, it was tried out on True’s staff, then on a picked +group that had not known about the investigation. One editor summed up the +average opinion: +</p> + +<p> +“It will cause a lot of discussion, but the way it’s written, it +shouldn’t start any panic.” +</p> + +<p> +The January issue, in which the story ran, was due on the stands shortly after +Christmas. With my family, I had gone to Ottumwa, Iowa, to spend the holidays +with my mother and sister. While I was there, the story broke unexpectedly on +radio networks. +</p> + +<p> +Frank Edwards, Mutual network newscaster, led off the radio comment. He was +followed by Walter Winchell, Lowell Thomas, Morgan Beatty, and most of the +other radio commentators. The wire services quickly picked it up; some papers +ran front-page stories. +</p> + +<p> +The publicity was far more than I had expected. I phoned a reporter in +Washington whose beat includes the Pentagon. +</p> + +<p> +“The Air Force is running around in circles,” he told me. +“They knew your story was due, but nobody thought it would raise such a +fuss. I think they’re scared of hysteria. They’re getting a barrage +of wires and telephone calls.” +</p> + +<p> +That night, as I was packing to rush back east, he called with the latest news. +</p> + +<p> +“They’re going to deny the whole thing,” he said. +“But’ I heard one Press Branch guy say it might not be enough +—they’re trying to figure some way to knock it down fast.” +</p> + +<p> +Next day, while changing trains at Chicago, I saw the Air Force statement. The +press release was dated December 27, 1949. Without mentioning <i>True</i>, the +Air Force flatly denied having any evidence that flying saucers exist. After +examining 375 reports, the release said, Project “Saucer” had found +that they were caused by: +</p> + +<p> +1. Misinterpretation of various conventional objects. +</p> + +<p> +2. A mild form of mass hysteria or “war nerves.” +</p> + +<p> +3. Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or to seek +publicity. +</p> + +<p> +Evaluation of the reports of unidentified flying objects, said the Air Force, +demonstrates that they constitute no direct threat to the national security of +the United States. +</p> + +<p> +Then came the clincher: Project “Saucer,” said the Air Force, had +been discontinued, now that all the reports had been explained. +</p> + +<p> +It was plain that the release had been hastily prepared. It completely +contradicted the detailed Project “Saucer” report, issued eight +months before, that had called for constant vigilance, after admitting that +most important cases were unsolved. Anyone familiar with the situation would +see the discrepancy at once. +</p> + +<p> +From Washington I flew to New York, where I found <i>True</i> in a turmoil. +Long-distance calls were pouring in. Letters on flying saucers had swamped the +mail room. Reporters were hounding Purdy for more information. +</p> + +<p> +A hurried analysis of the first hundred letters showed a trend that later mail +confirmed. Less than 5 per cent of the readers ridiculed the article. Between +15 and 20 per cent said they were not convinced; a few of these admitted they +could not refute the evidence. About half the readers accepted the possibility; +most of these said they saw no reason why other planets should not be +inhabited. The remainder, between 25 and 30 per cent, said they were completely +convinced. +</p> + +<p> +Even the disbelievers asked for more information. The intelligence level of the +average letter was gratifyingly high. Comments came from scientists, engineers, +airline and private pilots, college professors, officers of the armed services, +and a wide variety of others—including far more women than +<i>True’s</i> readership usually includes. +</p> + +<p> +Several confidential tips had come in when I arrived. Most of them were from +usually reputable sources. We were given evidence that Project +“Saucer” was still in operation; since its true code name was not +“Saucer,” it could be continued without violating the Air Force +press release. This same information was received from a dozen sources within +the next two weeks. We were also told that there had been 722 cases, instead of +375. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime, a number of astronomers had come out with statements, pro and con. +One of these was Dr. Dean B. McLaughlin, of the University of Michigan. +</p> + +<p> +“No one knows what the saucers are as yet,” Dr. McLaughlin said. +“They could be anything, and I’m willing to be convinced once the +evidence is presented.” +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Bart J. Bok of Harvard was on the fence: “After all,” he said, +“all sort of things float around in space. But I’m not convinced +the saucers are anything apart from the earth.” +</p> + +<p> +Another Harvard astronomer, Dr. Armin J. Deutsch, took an oblique poke at True +and me. “I don’t think anyone—and that includes +astronomers—knows enough about them to reach any conclusions.” +</p> + +<p> +After this came the comment of Dr. Carl F. von Weizacker—that billions of +stars may have planets, and many could be inhabited. +</p> + +<p> +Within a few days we had a huge stack of clippings, some supporting +<i>True</i>, some deriding us. In the midst of all this, I read +scientists’ comments on Einstein’s new unified-field theory, which +had been printed about the time <i>True</i> appeared on the stands. A +discussion by Lincoln Barnett, author of <i>The Universe and Dr. Einstein</i>, +explained the basic premise—that gravitation and electromagnetic force +are inseparable. As I read it, I thought of what Redell had said. If +gravitation were a manifestation of electromagnetic force, was it possible that +an advanced race had found a way—as unique as splitting the atom—to +offset gravity and utilize that force? +</p> + +<p> +It was during these first tense days that we ran down the White Sands story. +This also ended another puzzle—the identity of the magazine that we had +feared might scoop us. The race had been closer than we knew. The editors of a +national magazine had learned of Commander McLaughlin and the sightings at +White Sands. Two of the staff had carefully investigated the details. Convinced +that the report was accurate, they had planned to run the story in an early +issue. +</p> + +<p> +Since <i>True</i> had appeared first with the space-travel story, the editors +agreed to release the McLaughlin report for use in our March issue. The basic +facts were in close agreement with what Redell had told me. +</p> + +<p> +The ellipsoid-shaped saucer had been tracked at a height of 56 miles, its speed +5 miles per second. This was 18,000 miles per hour, even faster than Redell had +said. The strange craft, 105 feet in length, had climbed as swiftly as Marvin +Miles had described it—an increase in altitude of about 25 miles in 10 +seconds. +</p> + +<p> +Commander McLaughlin stated in his article that he was convinced the object was +a space ship from another planet, operated by animate, intelligent beings. He +also described two small circular objects, about twenty inches in diameter, +that streaked up beside a Navy high-altitude missile. After maneuvering around +it for a moment, both disks accelerated, passed the fast-moving Navy missile, +and disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +It is Commander McLaughlin’s opinion that the saucers come from Mars. +Pointing out that Mars was in a good position to see our surface on July 16, +1945, he believes that the flash of the first A-bomb, at Alamogordo Base, a +point not far from White Sands, was caught by powerful telescopes. +</p> + +<p> +During the first week of January, I appeared on “We, the People,” +with Lieutenant George Gorman. When I saw Gorman, before rehearsals, he seemed +oddly constrained. I had a feeling that he had been warned about talking +freely. During rehearsals, he changed his lines in the script. When the writers +argued over a point, Gorman told them: +</p> + +<p> +“I can say only what was in my published report—nothing +else.” +</p> + +<p> +The day before the broadcast, a program official told me they had been told to +include the Air Force denial in the script. That afternoon I learned that the +Air Force planned to monitor the broadcast. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime, an A.P. story carried a new Air Force announcement. Formerly secret +Project “Saucer” files would be opened to newsmen at the Pentagon, +giving the answers to all the saucer reports. +</p> + +<p> +Just after my return to Washington, I saw an I.N.S. story that was widely +printed. It was an interview with Major Jerry Boggs, a Project +“Saucer” Intelligence officer who served as liaison man between +Wright Field and the Pentagon. Major Boggs had been asked for specific answers +to the Mantell, Chiles-Whitted, and Gorman cases. +</p> + +<p> +The answers he gave amazed me. I picked up the phone and called the Air Force +Press Branch. After some delay, I was told that Major Boggs was being briefed +for assignment to Germany. An interview would be almost impossible. +</p> + +<p> +“He wasn’t too busy to talk with I.N.S.,” I said. “All +I want is thirty minutes.” +</p> + +<p> +Later, Jack Shea, a civilian press official I had known for some time, arranged +for the meeting. I was also to talk with General Sory Smith, Deputy Director +for Air Information. +</p> + +<p> +Major Jesse Stay, a Press Branch officer, took me to General Smith’s +office for the interview. Both Jesse and Jack Shea, pleasant, obliging chaps +who had helped me in the past, tried earnestly to convince me the saucers +didn’t exist. Jesse was still trying when Major Boggs came in. +</p> + +<p> +Boggs looked to be in his twenties, younger than I had expected. He was trim, +well built, with a quietly alert face. Two rows of ribbons testified to his +wartime service. When Jesse Stay introduced me, Boggs gave me a curiously +searching look. It could have been merely his usual way of appraising people he +met. But all through our talk, I had a strong feeling that he was on his guard. +</p> + +<p> +I had written out some questions, but first I mentioned the I.N.S. story. +</p> + +<p> +“Were you quoted correctly on the Mantell case?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I was.” Major Boggs looked me squarely in the eye. +“Captain Mantell was chasing the planet Venus.” +</p> + +<p> +It was so incredible that I shook my head. “Major, Venus; was practically +invisible that day. We’ve checked with astronomers. Is that the official +Air Force answer?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, it is,” Boggs said. His eyes never left my face. I glanced +across at General Sory Smith, then back at the intelligence major. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a flat contradiction of Project +‘Saucer’s’ report. Last April, after they had checked for +fifteen months, they said positively it was <i>not</i> Venus. It was still +unidentified.” +</p> + +<p> +Boggs said, in a slow, unruffled voice, “They rechecked after that +report.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why did they recheck, after fifteen months?” I asked him. +“‘They must have gone over those figures long before that, for +errors.” +</p> + +<p> +If my question annoyed him, Boggs gave no sign. +</p> + +<p> +There’s no other possible answer,” he said. “Mantell was +chasing Venus.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<p> +For a moment after Boggs’s last answer, I had an impulse to end the +interview. I had a feeling I was facing a sphinx—a quiet, courteous +sphinx in an Air Force uniform. +</p> + +<p> +I was sure now why Major Jerry Boggs had been chosen for his job, the +all-important connecting link with the project at Wright Field. No one would +ever catch this man off guard, no matter what secret was given him to conceal. +And it was more than the result of Air Force Intelligence training. His manner, +his voice carried conviction. He would have convinced anyone who had not +carefully analyzed the Godman Field tragedy. +</p> + +<p> +I made one more attempt. “Do the Godman Field witnesses—Colonel Hix +and the rest—believe the Venus answer?” +</p> + +<p> +“I haven’t asked them,” said Boggs, “so I +couldn’t say.” +</p> + +<p> +“What about the Chiles-Whitted case?” I asked. “You were +quoted as saying they saw a meteor—a bolide that exploded in a shower of +sparks.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right,” said Boggs. +</p> + +<p> +“And Gorman was chasing a lighted balloon?” +</p> + +<p> +Again the Intelligence major nodded. I pointed, out that all three of the cases +mentioned had been listed as unidentified in the April report. +</p> + +<p> +“They’d had those cases for months,” I said. “What new +facts did they learn?” +</p> + +<p> +Boggs said calmly, “They just made a final analysis, and those were the +answers.” +</p> + +<p> +We looked at each other a moment. Major Boggs patiently waited. I began to +realize how a lawyer must feel with an imperturbable witness. And Boggs’s +unfailing courtesy began to make me embarrassed. +</p> + +<p> +“Major,” I said, “I hope you’ll realize this is not a +personal matter. As an Intelligence officer, if you’re told to give +certain answers—” +</p> + +<p> +He smiled for the first time. “That’s all right—but I’m +not hiding a thing. There’s just no such thing as a flying saucer, so far +as we’ve found out.” +</p> + +<p> +“We’ve been told,” I said, “that Project +‘Saucer’ isn’t closed—that you just changed its code +name.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s not so,” Boggs said emphatically. “The +contracts are ended, and all personnel transferred to other duty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then the announcement wasn’t caused by <i>True’s</i> +article?” +</p> + +<p> +Both General Smith and Major Jesse Stay shook their heads quickly. Boggs leaned +forward, eyeing me earnestly. +</p> + +<p> +“As a matter of fact, we’d finished the investigation months +ago—around the end of August, or early in September. We just hadn’t +got around to announcing it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Last October,” I said, “I was told the investigation was +still going on. They said there were no new answers to the cases just +mentioned.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Press Branch hadn’t been informed yet,” Boggs explained +simply. +</p> + +<p> +“It seems very strange to me,” I said. “In April, the Air +Force called for vigilance by the civilian population. It said the project was +young, much of its work still under way.” +</p> + +<p> +Jesse Stay interrupted before Boggs could reply. +</p> + +<p> +“Don, the Press Branch will have to take the blame for that. The report +wasn’t carefully checked. There were several loose statements in +it.” +</p> + +<p> +This was an incredible statement. I was sure Jesse knew it. +</p> + +<p> +“But the case reports you quoted came from Wright Field. As of April +twenty-seventh, 1949, all the major cases were officially unsolved. Then in +August or early September, the whole thing’s cleaned up, from what Major +Boggs says. That’s pretty hard to believe.” +</p> + +<p> +No one answered that one. Major Boggs was waiting politely for the next +question. I picked up my list. The rest of the interview was in straight +question-and-answer style: +</p> + +<p> +Q. Do you know about the White Sands sightings in April 1948? The ones +Commander R. B. McLaughlin has written up? +</p> + +<p> +A. Yes, we checked the reports. We just don’t believe them. +</p> + +<p> +Q. One of the witnesses was Charles B. Moore, the director of the Navy +cosmic-ray project at Minneapolis, He’s considered a very reputable +engineer. Did you know he confirms the first report—the one about the +saucer 56 miles up, at a speed of eighteen thousand miles per hour. +</p> + +<p> +A. Yes, I knew about him. We think he was mistaken, like the others. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Mr. Moore says it was absolutely sure it was not hallucination. He says it +should be carefully investigated. +</p> + +<p> +A. We did investigate. We just don’t believe they saw anything. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Could I see the complete file on that case? Also on Mantell, Gorman, and the +Eastern Airlines cases? +</p> + +<p> +A. That’s out of my province. +</p> + +<p> +Q. If Project “Saucer” is ended, then all the files should be +opened. +</p> + +<p> +A. Well, the summaries have been cleared, and you can see them. +</p> + +<p> +Q. No, I mean the actual files. Is there any reason I shouldn’t see them? +</p> + +<p> +A. There’d be a lot of material to search through. Each case has a +separate book, and some of them are pretty bulky. +</p> + +<p> +Q. There were 722 cases in all, weren’t there? +</p> + +<p> +A. No, nowhere near that. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Then 375 is the total figure—I mean the number of cases Project +“Saucer” listed? +</p> + +<p> +A. There were a few more—something over four hundred. I don’t know +the exact figure. +</p> + +<p> +Q. I’ve been told that Project “Saucer” had the Air Force put +out a special order for pilots to chase flying saucers. Is that right? +</p> + +<p> +A. Yes, that’s right. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Did that include National Guard pilots? +</p> + +<p> +A. Yes, it did. When the project first started checking on saucers we were +naturally anxious to get hold of one of the things. We told the pilots to do +practically anything in reason, even if they had to grab one by the tail. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Were any of those planes armed? +</p> + +<p> +A. Only if they happened to have guns for some other mission, like gunnery +practice. +</p> + +<p> +Q. We’ve heard of one case where fighters chased a saucer to a high +altitude. One of them emptied his guns at it. +</p> + +<p> +A. You must mean that New Jersey affair. The plane was armed for another +reason. +</p> + +<p> +Q. No, I meant a case reported out at Luke Field. Three fighters took off, if +the story sent us is correct. Apparently it made quite a commotion. That was +back in 1945. +</p> + +<p> +A. It might have happened. I don’t know. +</p> + +<p> +Q. What was this New Jersey case? +</p> + +<p> +A. I’d rather not discuss any more cases without having the books here. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Has Project “Saucer” released its secret pictures? +</p> + +<p> +A. What pictures? There weren’t any that amounted to anything. Maybe half +a dozen. They didn’t show anything, just spots on film or weather +balloons at a distance. +</p> + +<p> +Q. In the Kenneth Arnold case, didn’t some forest rangers verify his +report? +</p> + +<p> +A. Well, there were some people who claimed they saw the same disks. But we +found out later they’d heard about it on the radio. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Didn’t they draw some sketches that matched Arnold’s? +</p> + +<p> +A. I never heard about it. +</p> + +<p> +Q. I’d like to go back to the Mantell case a second. If Venus was so +bright—remember Mantell thought it was a huge metallic object—why +didn’t the pilot who made the search later on— +</p> + +<p> +A. Well, it was Venus, that’s positive. But I can’t remember all +the details without the case books. +</p> + +<p> +Q. One more question, Major. Have any reports been received at Wright Field +since Project “Saucer” closed? There was a case after that date, an +airliner crew— +</p> + +<p> +At this point, Major Jesse Stay broke in. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s all up to the local commanders now. If they want to receive +reports of anything unusual, all right. And if they want to investigate them, +that’s up to each commander. But no Project ‘Saucer’ teams +will check on reports. That’s all ended.” +</p> + +<p> +There at the last, it had been a little. like a courtroom scene, and I was glad +the interview was over. Major Boggs was unruffled as ever. I apologized for the +barrage of questions, and thanked him for being so decent about it. +</p> + +<p> +“It was interesting, getting your viewpoint,” he said. He smiled, +still the courteous sphinx, and went on out. +</p> + +<p> +After Bogs had left, I talked with General Smith alone. I told him I was not +convinced, +</p> + +<p> +“I’d like to see the complete files on these cases I +mentioned,” I explained. “Also, I’d like to talk with the +last commanding officer or senior Intelligence officer attached to Project +‘Saucer.’” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m not sure about the senior officer,” General Smith +answered. “He may have been detached already. But I don’t see any +reason why you can’t see those files. I’ll phone Wright Field and +call you.” +</p> + +<p> +I was about to leave, but he motioned for me to sit down. +</p> + +<p> +“I can understand how you feel about the Mantell report,” General +Smith said earnestly. “I knew Tommy Mantell very well. And Colonel Hix is +a classmate of mine. I knew neither one was the kind to have hallucinations. +That case got me, at first.” +</p> + +<p> +“You believe Venus is the true answer?” I asked him. +</p> + +<p> +He seemed surprised. “It must be, if Wright Field says so.” +</p> + +<p> +When I went back to the Press Branch, I asked Jack Shea for the case-report +summaries that Boggs had mentioned, He got them for me—two collections of +loose-leaf mimeographed sheets enclosed in black binders. So these were the +“secret files”! +</p> + +<p> +Across the hall, in the press room, I opened one book at random. The first +thing I saw was this: +</p> + +<p> +“A meteorologist should compute the approximate energy required to +evaporate as much cloud as shown in the incident 26 photographs.” +</p> + +<p> +Photographs. Major Boggs had said there were no important pictures. I tucked +the binders under my arm and went out to my car. Perhaps these books hinted at +more than Boggs had realized. But that didn’t seem likely. As liaison +man, he should know all the answers. I was almost positive that he did. +</p> + +<p> +But I was equally sure they weren’t the answers he had given me. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<p> +That night I went through the Project “Saucer” summary of cases. It +was a strange experience. +</p> + +<p> +The first report I checked was the Mantell case. Nothing that Boggs had said +had changed my firm opinion. I knew the answer was not Venus, and I was certain +Boggs knew it, too. +</p> + +<p> +The Godman Field incident was listed as Case 33. The report also touches on the +Lockbourne Air Base sighting. As already described, the same mysterious object, +or a similar one, was seen moving at five hundred miles an hour over Lockbourne +Field. It was also sighted at other points in Ohio. +</p> + +<p> +The very first sentence in Case 33 showed a determined attempt to explain away +the object that Mantell chased: +</p> + +<p> +“Detailed attention should be given to any possible astronomical body or +phenomenon which might serve to identify the object or objects.” +</p> + +<p> +(Some of the final Project report on Mantell has been given in an earlier +chapter. I am repeating a few paragraphs below, to help in weighing Major +Boggs’s answer.) +</p> + +<p> +These are official statements of the Project astronomer: +</p> + +<p> +“On January 7, 1948, Venus was less than half its full brilliance. +However, under exceptionally good atmospheric conditions, and with the eye +shielded from the direct rays of the sun, Venus might be seen as an exceedingly +tiny bright point of light. It is possible to see it in daytime when one knows +exactly where to look. Of course, the chances of looking at the right spot are +very few. +</p> + +<p> +“It has been unofficially reported that the object was a Navy cosmic ray +balloon. If this can be established it is to be preferred as an explanation. +However, if reports from other localities refer to the same object, any such +device must have been a good many miles high—25 to 50—in order to +have been seen clearly, almost simultaneously, from places 175 miles +apart.” +</p> + +<p> +This absolutely ruled out the balloon possibility, as the investigator fully +realized. That he must have considered the space-ship answer at this point is +strongly indicated in the following sentence: +</p> + +<p> +“If all reports were of a single object, in the knowledge of this +investigator no man-made object could have been large enough and far enough +away for the approximate simultaneous sightings.” +</p> + +<p> +The next paragraph of this Project “Saucer” report practically +nullified Major Boggs’s statement that Venus was the sole explanation: +</p> + +<p> +“It is most unlikely, however, that so many separate persons should at +that time have chanced on Venus in the daylight sky. It seems therefore much +more probable that more than one object was involved. The sighting might have +included two or more balloons (or aircraft) or they might have included Venus +(in the fatal chase) and balloons. . . . Such a hypothesis, however, does still +necessitate the inclusion of at least two other objects than Venus, and it +certainly is coincidental that so many people would have chosen this one day to +be confused (to the extent of reporting the matter) by normal airborne objects. +. . .” +</p> + +<p> +Farther on in the summaries, I found a report that has an extremely significant +bearing on the Mantell case. This was Case 175, in which the same consultant +attempts to explain a strange daylight sighting at Santa Fe, New Mexico. +</p> + +<p> +One of the Santa Fe observers described the mysterious aerial object as round +and extremely bright, “like a dime in the sky.” Here is what the +Project “Saucer” investigator had to say: +</p> + +<p> +“The magnitude of Venus was -3.8 (approximately the same as on January 7, +1948). it could have been visible in the daylight sky. It would have appeared, +however, more like a pinpoint of brilliant light than ‘like a dime in the +sky.’ It seems unlikely that it would be noticed at all. . . . +Considering discrepancies in the two reports, I suggest the moon in a gibbous +phase; in daytime this is unusual and most people are not used to it, so that +they fail to identify it. While this hypothesis has little to correspond to +either report, it is worth mentioning. +</p> + +<p> +“It seems far more probable that some type of balloon was the object in +this case.” +</p> + +<p> +Both the Godman Field and the Santa Fe cases were almost identical, so far as +the visibility of Venus was concerned. In the Santa Fe case, which had very +little publicity, Project “Saucer” dropped the Venus explanation as +a practically impossible answer. But in Case 33, it had tried desperately to +make Venus loom up as a huge gleaming object during Mantell’s fatal +chase. +</p> + +<p> +There was only one explanation: Project “Saucer” must have known +the truth from the start-that Mantell had pursued a tremendous space ship. That +fact alone, if it had exploded in the headlines at that time, might have caused +dangerous panic. To make it worse, Captain Mantell had been killed. Even if he +had actually died from blacking out while trying to follow the swiftly +ascending space ship, few would have believed it. The story would spread like +wildfire: <i>Spacemen kill an American Air Force Pilot!</i> +</p> + +<p> +This explained the tight lid that had been clamped down at once on the Mantell +case. It was more than a year before that policy had been changed; then the +first official discussions of possible space visitors had begun to appear. +</p> + +<p> +<i>True’s</i> plans to announce the interplanetary answer would have +fitted a program of preparing the people. But the Air Force had not expected +such nation-wide reaction from <i>True’s</i> article; that much I knew. +Evidently, they had not suspected such a detailed analysis of the Godman Field +case, in particular. I could see now why Boggs, Jesse Stay, and the others had +tried so hard to convince me that we had made a mistake. +</p> + +<p> +It was quite possible that we had revived that first Air Force fear of +dangerous publicity. But Mantell had been dead for two years. News stories +would not have the same impact now, even if they did report that spacemen had +downed the pilot. And I doubted that there would be headlines. Unless the Air +Force supplied some convincing details, the manner of his death would still be +speculation. +</p> + +<p> +Apparently I had been right; this case was the key to the riddle. It had been +the first major sighting in 1948. Project “Saucer” had been started +immediately afterward. In searching for a plausible answer, which could be +published if needed, officials had probably set the pattern for handling all +other reports, “Explaining away” would be a logical program, until +the public could be prepared for an official announcement. +</p> + +<p> +As I went through other case reports, I found increasing evidence to back up +this belief. +</p> + +<p> +Case 1, the Muroc Air Base sightings, had plainly baffled Project men seeking a +plausible answer. Because of the Air Force witnesses, they could not ignore the +reports. Highly trained Air Force test pilots and ground officers had seen two +fast-moving silver-colored disks circling over the base. +</p> + +<p> +Flying at speeds of from three to four hundred miles an hour, the disks whirled +in amazingly tight maneuvers. Since they were only eight thousand feet above +the field, these turns could be clearly seen. +</p> + +<p> +“It is tempting to explain the object as ordinary aircraft observed under +unusual light conditions,” the case report reads. “But the evidence +of tight circles, if maintained, is strongly contradictory.” +</p> + +<p> +Although Case 1 was technically in the “unexplained” group, Wright +Field had made a final effort to explain away the reports. Said the Air +Materiel Command: +</p> + +<p> +“The sightings were the result of misinterpretation of real stimuli, +probably research balloons.” +</p> + +<p> +In all the world’s history, there is no record of a +three-hundred-mile-an-hour wind. To cover the distance involved, the drifting +balloons would have had to move at this speed, or faster. If a +three-hundred-mile wind had been blowing at eight thousand feet, nothing on +earth could have stood it, Muroc Air Base would have been blown off the map. +What did the Muroc test pilots <i>really</i> see that day? +</p> + +<p> +While searching for the Chiles-Whitted report, ran across the Fairfield Suisan +mystery-light case, which I had learned about in Seattle. This was Case 215. +The Project “Saucer” comment reads: +</p> + +<p> +“If the observations were exactly as stated by the witnesses, the ball of +light could not be a fireball. . . . A fireball would not have come into view +at 1,000 feet and risen to 20,000. If correct, there is no astronomical +explanation. Under unusual conditions, a fireball might appear to rise somewhat +as a result of perspective. The absence of trail and sound definitely does not +favor the meteor hypothesis, but . . . does not rule it out finally. It does +not seem likely any meteor or auroral phenomenon could be as bright as +this.” +</p> + +<p> +Then came one of the most revealing lines in all the case reports: +</p> + +<p> +“In the almost hopeless absence of any other natural explanation, one +must consider the possibility of the object’s having been a meteor, even +though the description does not fit very well.” +</p> + +<p> +One air-base officer, I recalled, had insisted that the object had been a +lighted balloon. Checking the secret report from the Air Weather Service, I +found this: +</p> + +<p> +“Case 2 15. Very high winds, 60-70 miles per hour from southwest, all +levels. Definitely prohibits any balloon from southerly motion.” +</p> + +<p> +<i>This case is officially listed as answered</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In Case 19, where a cigar-shaped object was seen at Dayton, Ohio, the Project +investigator made a valiant attempt to fit an answer: +</p> + +<p> +“Possibly a close pair of fireballs, but it seems unlikely. If one were +to stretch the description to its very limits and make allowances for untrained +observers, he could say that the cigar-like shape might have been illusion +caused by rapid motion, and that the bright sunlight might have made both the +objects and the trails nearly invisible. +</p> + +<p> +“This investigator does not prefer that interpolation, and it should he +resorted to only if all other possible explanations fail.” +</p> + +<p> +<i>This case, too, is officially listed as answered</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Case 24, which occurred June 12, 1947, twelve days before the Arnold sighting, +shows the same determined attempt to find an explanation, no matter how +farfetched. +</p> + +<p> +In this case, two fast-moving objects were seen at Weiser, Idaho, Twice they +approached the earth, then swiftly circled upward. The Project investigator +tried hard to prove that these might have been parts of a double fireball. But +at the end, he said, “In spite of all this, this investigator would +prefer a terrestrial explanation for the incident.” +</p> + +<p> +It was plain that this report had not been planned originally for release to +the public. No Project investigator would have been so frank. With each new +report, I was more and more convinced that these had been confidential +discussions of various possible answers, circulated between Project +“Saucer” officials. Why they had been released now was still a +puzzle, though I began to see a glimmer of the answer. +</p> + +<p> +The Chiles-Whitted sighting was listed as Case 144. As I started on the report, +I wondered if Major Boggs’s “bolide” answer would have any +more foundation than these other “astronomical” cases. +</p> + +<p> +The report began with these words: +</p> + +<p> +“There is no astronomical explanation, if we accept the report at face +value. But the sheer improbability of the facts as stated, particularly in the +absence of any known aircraft in the vicinity, makes it necessary to see +whether any other explanation, even though farfetched, can be +considered.” +</p> + +<p> +After this candid admission of his intentions, the Project consultant earnestly +attempts to fit the two pilots’ space ship description to a slow-moving +meteor. +</p> + +<p> +“It will have to be left to the psychologists,” he goes on, +“to tell us whether the immediate trail of a bright meteor could produce +the subjective impression of a ship with lighted windows. Considering only the +Chiles-Whitted sighting, the hypothesis seems very improbable.” +</p> + +<p> +As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, observers at Robbins Air Force Base, +Macon, Georgia, saw the same mysterious object streak overhead, trailing +varicolored flames. This was about one hour before Chiles and Whitted saw the +onrushing space ship. +</p> + +<p> +To bolster up the meteor theory, the Project consultant suggests a one-hour +error in time. The explanation: The airliner would be on daylight-saving time. +</p> + +<p> +“If there is no time difference,” he proceeds, “the. object +must have been an extraordinary meteor. . . . in which case it would have +covered the distance from Macon to Montgomery in a minute or two.” +</p> + +<p> +Having checked the time angle before, I knew this was incorrect. Both reports +were given in eastern standard time. And in a later part of the Project report, +the consultant admits this fact. But he has an alternate answer: “If the +difference in time is real, the object was some form of known aircraft, +regardless of its bizarre nature.” +</p> + +<p> +The “bizarre nature” is not specified. Nor does the Project +“Saucer” report try to fit the Robbins Field description to any +earth-made aircraft. The air-base observers were struck by the object’s +huge size, its projectile-like shape, and the weird flames trailing behind. +Except for the double-deck windows, the air-base men’s description +tallied with the pilots’. With the ship at five thousand feet or higher, +its windows would not have been visible from the ground. All the observers +agreed on the object’s very high speed. +</p> + +<p> +Neither of the Project “Saucer” alternate answers will fit the +facts. +</p> + +<p> +1. The one-hour interval has been proved correct. Therefore, as the Project +consultant admits, it could not be a meteor. +</p> + +<p> +2. The Robbins Field witnesses have flatly denied it was a conventional plane. +The Air Force screened 225 airplane schedules, and proved there was no such +plane in the area. No ordinary aircraft would have caused the brilliant streak +that startled the DC-3 passenger and both of the pilots. +</p> + +<p> +Major Boggs’s bolide answer had gone the way of his Venus explanation. I +wondered if the Gorman light-balloon solution would fade out the same way. But +the Project report on Gorman (Case 172) merely hinted at the balloon answer. In +the Appendix, there was a brief comment: “Note that standard 30 inch and +65 inch weather balloons have vertical speeds of 600 and 1100 feet per minute, +respectively.” +</p> + +<p> +In all the reports I have mentioned, and on through both the case books, one +thing was immediately obvious. All the testimony, all the actual evidence was +missing. These were only the declared conclusions of Project +“Saucer.” Whether they matched the actual conclusions in Wright +Field secret files there was no way of knowing. +</p> + +<p> +But even in these sketch reports, I found some odd hints, clues to what Project +officials might really be thinking. +</p> + +<p> +After an analysis of two Indianapolis cases, one investigator reports: +</p> + +<p> +“Barring hallucination, these two incidents and 17, 75 and 84 seem the +most tangible from the standpoint of description, of all those reported, and +the most difficult to explain away as sheer nonsense.” +</p> + +<p> +Case 17, I found, was that of Kenneth Arnold. But in spite of the above +admission that this case cannot be explained away, it is officially listed as +answered. +</p> + +<p> +Case 75 struck a familiar note. This was the strange occurrence at Twin Falls, +Idaho, on which <i>True</i> had had a tip months before. A disk moving through +a canyon at tremendous speed had whipped the treetops as if by a violent +hurricane. The report was brief, but one sentence stood out with a startling +effect: +</p> + +<p> +“Twin Falls, Idaho, August 13, 1847,” the report began. +“There is clearly nothing astronomical in this incident. . . . Two points +stand out, the sky-blue color, and the fact that the trees ‘spun around +on top as if they were in a vacuum.’” +</p> + +<p> +Then came the sentence that made me sit up in my chair. +</p> + +<p> +“Apparently it must be classed with the other bona fide disk +sightings.” +</p> + +<p> +<i>The other bona fide sightings!</i> +</p> + +<p> +Was this a slip? Or had the Air Force deliberately left this report in the +file? If they had, what was back of it—what was back of releasing all of +these telltale case summaries? +</p> + +<p> +I skimmed through the rest as quickly as possible looking for other clues. Here +are a few of the things that. caught my eye: +</p> + +<p> +Case 10. United Airlines report . . . despite conjectures, no logical +explanation seems possible. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 122. Holloman Air Force Base, April 6, 1948. [This was the Commander +McLaughlin White Sands report.] No logical explanation. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 124. North Atlantic, April 18, 1948 . . . radar sighting . . . no +astronomical explanation. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 127. Yugoslav-Greek frontier, May 7, 1948 . . . information too limited. . +. . +</p> + +<p> +Case 168. Arnheim, The Hague, July 20, 1948 . . . object seen four times . . . +had two decks and no wings . . . very high speed comparable to a V-2. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 183. Japan, October 15, 1948. Radar experts should determine acceleration +rates. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 188. Goose Bay, Labrador, October 29, 1948. Not astronomical . . . picked +up by radar . . . radar experts should evaluate the sightings . . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 189. Goose Bay, Labrador, October 31, 1948 . . . not astronomical . . . +observed on radarscope. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 196. Radarscope observation . . . object traveling directly into the wind. +. . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 198. Radar blimp moving at high speed and continuously changing direction. +. . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 222. Furstenfeldbruck, Germany, November 23, 1948 . . . object plotted by +radar DF at 27,000 feet . . . short time later circling at 40,000 feet . . . +speed estimated 200-500 m.p.h. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 223 . . . seventeen individuals saw and reported object . . . green flare +. . . all commercial and government airfield questioned . . . no success. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 224. Las Vegas, New Mexico, December 8, 1948 . . . description exactly as +in 223 . . . flare reported traveling very high speed . . . very accurate +observation made by two F.B.I. agents. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 231 . . . another glowing green flare just as described above. . . . +</p> + +<p> +Case 233 . . . definitely no balloon . . . made turns . . . accelerated from +200 to 500 miles per hour . . . . +</p> + +<p> +Going back over this group of cases, I made an incredible discovery: All but +three of these unsolved cases were officially listed as answered. +</p> + +<p> +The three were the United Airlines case, the White Sands sightings, and the +double-decked space-ship report from The Hague. +</p> + +<p> +Going back to the first report, I checked all the summaries. Nine times out of +ten, the explanations were pure conjecture. Sometimes no answer was even +attempted. +</p> + +<p> +Although 375 cases were mentioned, the summaries ended with Case 244. Several +cases were omitted. I found clues to some of these in the secret Air Weather +Service report, including the mysterious “green light” sightings at +Las Vegas and Albuquerque. +</p> + +<p> +Of the remaining 228 cases, Project “Saucer” lists all but 34 as +explained. These unsolved cases are brought up again for a final attempt at +explaining them away. In the appendix, the Air Materiel Command carefully +states: +</p> + +<p> +“It is not the intent to discredit the character of observers, but each +case has undesirable elements and these can’t be disregarded.” +</p> + +<p> +After this perfunctory gesture, the A.M.C. proceeds to discredit completely the +testimony of highly trained Air Force test pilots and officers at Muroc. (The +300-400 m.p.h. research balloon explanation.) +</p> + +<p> +The A.M.C. then brushes off the report of Captain Emil Smith and the crew of a +United Airline plane. On July 4, 1947, nine huge flying disks were counted by +Captain Smith and his crew. The strange objects were in sight for about twelve +minutes; the crew watched them for the entire period and described them in +detail later. +</p> + +<p> +Despite Project “Saucer’s” admission that it had no answer, +the A.M.C. contrived one. Ignoring the evidence of veteran airline pilots, it +said: +</p> + +<p> +“Since the sighting occurred at sunset, when illusory effect are most +likely, the objects could have been ordinary aircraft, balloons, birds, or pure +illusion.” +</p> + +<p> +In only three cases did the A.M.C. admit it had no answer. Even here, it was +implied that the witnesses were either confused or incompetent. +</p> + +<p> +In its press release of December 27, 1949, the Air Force had mentioned 375 +cases. It implied that all of these were answered. The truth was just the +reverse, as was proved by these case books. Almost two hundred cases still were +shown to be unsolved-although the real answers might be hidden in Wright Field +files. +</p> + +<p> +These two black books puzzled me. Why had the Air Force lifted its secrecy on +these case summaries? Why had Major Boggs given me those answers, when these +books would flatly refute them? +</p> + +<p> +I thought I new the reason now but there was only one way to make sure. The +actual Wright Field files should tell the answer. +</p> + +<p> +When I phoned General Sory Smith, his voice sounded a little peculiar. “I +called Wright Field,” he said. “But they said you wouldn’t +find anything of value out there.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean they refused to let me see their files?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I didn’t say that. But they’re short of personnel. They +don’t want to take people off other jobs to look up the records.” +</p> + +<p> +“I won’t need any help,” I said. “Major Boggs said each +case had a separate book. If they’d just show me the shelves, I could do +the job in two days.” +</p> + +<p> +There was a long silence. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll ask them again,” the General said finally. “Call +me sometime next week.” +</p> + +<p> +I said I would, and hung up. The message from Wright Field hadn’t +surprised me. But Smith’s changed manner did. He had sounded oddly +disturbed. +</p> + +<p> +While I was waiting for Wright Field’s answer, Ken Purdy phoned. He told +me that staff men from <i>Time</i> and <i>Life</i> magazines were seriously +checking on the “little men” story. Both Purdy and I were sure this +was a colossal hoax, but there was just a faint chance that someone had been on +the fringe of a real happening and had made up the rest of the story. +</p> + +<p> +They key man in the story seemed to be one George Koehler, of Denver, Colorado. +The morning after Purdy called, I took a plane to Denver. During the flight I +went over the “little men” story again. It had been printed in over +a hundred papers. +</p> + +<p> +According to the usual version, George Koehler had accidentally learned of two +crashed saucers at a radar station on our southwest border. The ships were made +of some strange metal. The cabin was stationary, placed within a large rotating +ring. +</p> + +<p> +Here is the story as it was told in the <i>Kansas City Star</i>: +</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"> +<p> +In flight, the ring revolved at a high rate of speed, while the cabin remained +stationary like the center of a gyroscope. +</p> + +<p> +Each of the two ships seen by Koehler were occupied by a crew of two. In the +badly damaged ship, these bodies were charred so badly that little could be +learned from them. The occupants of the other ship, while dead when they were +found, were not burned or disfigured, and, when Koehler saw them, were in a +perfect state of preservation. Medical reports, according to Koehler, showed +that these men were almost identical with earth-dwelling humans, except for a +few minor differences. They were of a uniform height of three feet, were +uniformly blond, beardless, and their teeth were completely free of fillings or +cavities. They did not wear undergarments, but had their bodies taped. +</p> + +<p> +The ships seemed to be magnetically controlled and powered. +</p> + +<p> +In addition to a piece of metal, Koehler had a clock or automatic calendar +taken from one of the crafts. +</p> + +<p> +Koehler said that the best assumption as to the source of the ships was the +planet Venus. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +When I arrived at Denver, I went to the radio station where Koehler worked. I +told him that if he had proof that we could print, we would buy the story. +</p> + +<p> +As the first substantial proof, I asked to see the piece of strange metal he +was supposed to have. Koehler said it had been sent to another city to be +analyzed. I asked to see pictures of the crashed saucers. These, too, proved to +be somewhere else. So did the queer “space clock” that Koehler was +said to have. +</p> + +<p> +By this time I was sure it was all a gag. I had the feeling that Koehler, back +of his manner of seeming indignation at my demands, was hugely enjoying +himself. I cut the interview short and called Ken Purdy in New York. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, thank God that’s laid to rest,” he said when I told +him. +</p> + +<p> +But even though the “little men” story had turned out-as +expected—a dud, Koehler had done me a good turn. An old friend, William +E. Barrett, well-known fiction writer, now lived in Denver. Thanks to +Koehler’s gag, I had a pleasant visit with Bill and his family. +</p> + +<p> +On the trip back, I bought a paper at the Chicago airport. On an inside page I +ran across Koehler’s name. According to the A.P., he had just admitted +the whole thing was a big joke. +</p> + +<p> +But in spite of this, the “little men” story goes on and on. +Apparently not even Koehler can stop it now. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<p> +For two weeks after my return to Washington, General Sory Smith held off a +final answer about my trip to Wright Field. Meantime, Ken Purdy had called him +backing my request to see the Project files. +</p> + +<p> +It was obvious to me that Wright Field was determined not to open the files. +But the General was trying to avoid making it official. +</p> + +<p> +“Why can’t you accept my word there’s nothing to the +saucers?” he asked me one day. “You’re impeaching my personal +veracity.” +</p> + +<p> +But finally he saw there was no other way out. He told me I had been officially +refused permission to see the Wright Field files. Some time later, Ken Purdy +phoned General Smith. +</p> + +<p> +“General, if the Air Force wants to talk to us off the record, +we’ll play ball. <i>True</i> will either handle it from then on whatever +way you think best or we’ll keep still.” +</p> + +<p> +Whether this offer was relayed higher up, I don’t know. But nothing came +of it. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime, saucer reports had begun to come in from all over the country. Some +even came from abroad. Some of these 1950 sightings have already been mentioned +in early chapters. Besides the strange affair at Tucson on February 1, there +were several other cases in February. Three of these were in South America. One +saucer was reported near the naval air station at Alameda, California. Some +were sighted in Texas, New Mexico, and other parts of the Southwest. +</p> + +<p> +In March, the wave of sightings reached such a height that the Air Force again +denied the saucers’ existence. This followed a report that a flying disk +had crashed near Mexico City and that the wreckage had been viewed by U. S. Air +Force officials. +</p> + +<p> +Scores of Orangeburg, South Carolina, residents watched a disk that hovered +over that city on March 10. It was described as silver-bright, turning slowly +in the air before it disappeared. The day before this, residents of Van Nuys, +California, saw a bright disk moving swiftly four hundred feet in the air. Seen +through a telescope, it appeared to be fifty feet in diameter. +</p> + +<p> +Disks were reported at numerous places in Mexico, including Guadalajara, +Juárez, Mazatlán, and Durango. On the twelfth of March, the crew +and passengers of an American Airlines ship saw a large gleaming disk high +above Monterrey airport in Mexico. +</p> + +<p> +Captain W. R. Hunt, the senior airline pilot, watched the disk through a +theodolite at the airport. This disk and most of the others seen in Mexico were +similar in description to the one sighted at Dayton, Ohio, on March 8. This was +the large metallic saucer that hovered high over Vandalia Airport, until Air +Force and National Guard fighters raced up after it. The disk rose vertically +into the sky at incredible speed, hovered a while longer, and then vanished. +</p> + +<p> +Within twenty-four hours this mystery disk had been “identified” as +the planet Venus. (It was broad daylight.) Newspapers quoted “trained +astronomical officials in Dayton” as the source for this explanation. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the Mexican government newspaper, <i>El Nacional</i>, quoted “a +famous and reputable astronomer” as saying the numerous disks reported +over Mexico “carry visitors from Mars.” +</p> + +<p> +One of the strangest reports came from the naval air station at Dallas, Texas. +It was about 11:30 A.M. on March 16 when CPO Charles Lewis saw a disk streak up +at a B-36 bomber. The disk appeared about twenty to twenty-five feet in +diameter, Lewis reported. Racing at incredible speed, it shot up under the +bomber, hung there for a second, then broke away at a 45-degree angle. +Following this, it shot straight up into the air and disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +Captain M. A. Nation, C. O. of the station, said it was “I the second +report in ten days. On March 7, said Captain Nation, a tower control operator +named C. E. Edmundson saw a similar disk flying so fast it was almost a blur. +</p> + +<p> +“He estimated its speed at three thousand to four thousand miles per +hour,” Captain Nation stated. “Of course, he had no instruments to +compute the speed, so that’s a pure estimate.” +</p> + +<p> +It was some time before this when I heard the first crazy rumor about the +guided-missile display. This story, which had new details every time I heard it +described the Air Force as refusing to let the Navy announce a new type of +missile. According to the rumors, the Air Force was trying to prove its own +missile far superior, to keep the Navy from invading its long-range bombing +domain. Then the Army joined the pitched battle with still a third guided +missile, according to the rumors. +</p> + +<p> +And the flying disks? Army, Navy, and Air Force missiles, launched in droves +all over the country to prove whose was the best? A public missile race, with +the joint Chiefs of Staff to decide the winner! +</p> + +<p> +It seems fantastic that this theory would be believed by any intelligent +person. In effect, it accuses the armed services of deliberate, criminal +negligence, of endangering millions in the cities below. +</p> + +<p> +I am convinced that some of these rumors led to at least one of the published +guesses about our missile program. One widely publicized story stated that the +flying saucers seen hurtling through our skies are actually two types of secret +weapons. One, according to radio and newspaper accounts, is a disk that whizzes +through space, halts suspended in the air, soars to thirty thousand feet, drops +to one thousand feet, and then usually disintegrates in the air. +</p> + +<p> +These saucers, it was said, ranged from 20 inches to 250 feet in diameter. They +were supposed to be pilotless—and harmless. +</p> + +<p> +The second type was said to be a jet version of the Navy’s circular +airfoil “Flying Flapjack.” It was credited with fantastic speed. +</p> + +<p> +The “true disks,” however, were mainly Air Force devices, according +to the report. +</p> + +<p> +“Some are guided, others are not,” said the radio commentator who +released this story. “They can stay stationary, dash off to right or +left, and move like lightning. But they are utterly harmless.” +</p> + +<p> +In these “harmless” disks there was supposed to be an explosive +charge that destroyed them in mid-air at a predetermined time. +</p> + +<p> +Within a few days after this story was broadcast, the <i>United States News and +World Report</i> declared that the saucers are real, and identified them as jet +models of Navy “Flying Flapjacks.” This magazine, which is not an +official publication despite its name, mentioned the variable-direction jet +principle that I had previously described in the True article. +</p> + +<p> +These two flying-saucer “explanations” brought denials from the +White House, the Navy, and the Air Force. +</p> + +<p> +The Air Force flatly declared that: +</p> + +<p> +1. None of the armed forces is conducting secret experiments with disk-shaped +flying objects that could be a basis for the reported phenomena. +</p> + +<p> +2. There is no evidence that the latter stem from the activities of any foreign +nation. +</p> + +<p> +Before this, President Truman stated he knew nothing of any such objects being +developed by the United States or any other nation. +</p> + +<p> +The Navy denial came immediately after the first broadcast story. It ran: +</p> + +<p> +“The Navy is not engaged in research or in flying any jet-powered, +circular-shaped aircraft.” +</p> + +<p> +The Navy added that one model of a pancake-shaped aircraft, called the +Zimmerman Skimmer, was built but was never flown. However, a small, +three-thousand-pound scale model did fly and was under radio control during +flight. This last device is now being rumored as the Navy’s unpiloted +“missile,” said to have been launched over the country like the +so-called “harmless” disks. +</p> + +<p> +Even though all these accounts have been officially denied, many Americans may +still believe they are true. I have no desire to criticize the authors of these +stories; I believe that in following up certain guided-missile leads they were +misled into accepting the conclusions they gave. +</p> + +<p> +But these stories, particularly the accounts of huge unpiloted disks, may have +planted certain fears in the public mind-fears that are completely unwarranted. +For this reason, I have personally checked at Washington in regard to the +dangers of unpiloted missiles. Here aye the facts I learned: +</p> + +<p> +1. Neither the Army, Navy, nor Air Force has at any time staged any +guided-missile competition as rumored. +</p> + +<p> +2. No unpiloted missiles or remote-controlled experimental craft have been +tested over American cities or heavily populated areas. +</p> + +<p> +3. No unpiloted missile carrying dangerous explosives, whether for destruction +of the device or other purposes, has been deliberately launched or tested over +heavily populated areas. +</p> + +<p> +In regard to the so-called jet-propelled “Flying Flapjack,” I have +been assured by Admiral Calvin Bolster, of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, that +this type of plane has never been produced. I concede that he might make this +statement to conceal a secret development, but there is one fact of which every +American can be certain: Neither this type, nor the radio-controlled smaller +model, has been or will be flown or launched over areas where people would be +endangered. +</p> + +<p> +The three armed services are working on guided missiles. They are not risking +American lives by launching such missiles at random across the United States, +</p> + +<p> +Although most of our guided-missile projects are secret, it is possible to give +certain facts about guided-missile developments in general. +</p> + +<p> +The first successful long-range missiles were produced by the Germans. These +were the buzz-bomb and. the V-2 rocket. But research in various other types was +carried on during the war. Some of this was with oval and round types of +airfoils. As already stated by Paul Redell, there is strong evidence that the +disk-shaped foil resulted from German observations of either space ships or +remote-control disk-shaped “observer units.” All the Nazi +space-exploration plans followed this discovery that we were being observed by +a race from another planet. +</p> + +<p> +After the end of World War II, the international guided-missile race began, +with the British, Russians, and ourselves as the chief contenders. Numerous +types have been developed-winged bombs, small radar-guided projectiles launched +from planes, and ground-to-plane plane-to-ground, and plane-to-plane missiles, +equipped with target homing devices. +</p> + +<p> +In certain recent types, the range can be stated as several hundred miles. So +far as I have learned, after weeks of rechecking this point, not a single +long-range missile has been identified as Russian. +</p> + +<p> +Since this country is working closely with Great Britain on global defense +problems, it is no violation of security to say that we have probably exchanged +certain guided-missile information. In regard to the British long-range missile +picture outlined to me by John Steele, I can state two major facts: +</p> + +<p> +1. The British have categorically denied testing such long-range missiles over +American territory, where they might endanger American citizens. There is +convincing evidence that they are telling the truth. +</p> + +<p> +2. There is no British missile now built, or planned, that could explain the +objects seen by Captain Mantell, Chiles and Whitted, and witnesses in most of +the major sightings. +</p> + +<p> +The preceding statement applies equally to American-built missiles. There is no +experimental craft or guided missile even remotely considered in this country +that would begin to approach the dimensions and performance of the space ships +seen in these cases. +</p> + +<p> +There is concrete evidence that the United States is as well advanced as any +other nation in guided-missile development. Certain recent advances should +place us in the lead, unless confidential reports on Soviet progress are +completely wrong. +</p> + +<p> +If American scientists and engineers can learn the source of the space +ships’ power and adapt it to our use, it may well be the means for ending +the threat of war. The Soviet scientists are well aware of this; their research +into cosmic rays and other natural forces has been redoubled since the +flying-saucer reports of 1947. +</p> + +<p> +The secret of the space ships’ power is more important than even the +hydrogen bomb. It may someday be the key to the fate of the world. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<p> +After one year’s investigation of the flying saucers and Air Force +operations, I have come to the following conclusions: +</p> + +<p> +1. The Air Force was puzzled, and badly worried when the disks first were +sighted in 1947. +</p> + +<p> +2. The Air Force began to suspect the truth soon after Mantell’s +death—perhaps even before. +</p> + +<p> +3. Project “Saucer” was set up to investigate and at the same time +conceal from the public the truth about the saucers. +</p> + +<p> +4. During the spring of 1949 this policy, which had been strictly maintained by +Forrestal, underwent an abrupt change. On top-level orders, it was decided to +let the facts gradually leak out, in order to prepare the American people. +</p> + +<p> +5. This was the reason for the April 27, 1949, report, with its suggestions +about space visitors. +</p> + +<p> +6. While I was preparing the article for the January 1950 issue of <i>True</i>, +it had been considered in line with the general education program. But the +unexpected public reaction was mistaken by the Air Force for hysteria, +resulting in their hasty denial that the saucers existed. +</p> + +<p> +7. Because the Air Force feared any closer analysis of the Mantell case, Major +Boggs was instructed to publicize the Venus explanation. Although it had been +denied, the Air Force knew that most people had forgotten this or had never +known it. +</p> + +<p> +8. Major Boggs, having stated this answer publicly (along with the other +Chiles-Whitted and Gorman answers), was forced to stick to it, though he knew +it was wrong and that the case summaries would prove it. +</p> + +<p> +9. The case summaries were released to a small number of Washington newsmen, to +continue planting the space-travel thought; this decision being made after +<i>True’s</i> reception proved to the Air Force that the public was +better prepared than had been thought. +</p> + +<p> +In regard to the flying saucers themselves, I believe that in the majority of +cases, space ships are the answer: +</p> + +<p> +1. The earth has been under periodic observation from another planet, or other +planets, for at least two centuries. +</p> + +<p> +2. This observation suddenly increased in 1947, following, the series of A-bomb +explosions begun in 1945. +</p> + +<p> +3. The observation, now intermittent, is part of a long-range survey and will +continue indefinitely. No immediate attempt to contact the earth seems evident. +There may be some unknown block to making contact, but it is more probable that +the spacemen’s plans are not complete. +</p> + +<p> +I believe that the Air Force is still investigating the saucer sightings, +either through the Air Materiel Command or some other headquarters. It is +possible that some Air Force officials still fear a panic when the truth is +officially revealed. In that case, we may continue for a long time to see +routine denials alternating with new suggestions of interplanetary travel. +</p> + +<p> +The education problem is complicated by two imperative needs. We must try to +learn as much as we can about the space ships’ source of power, and at +the same time try to prevent clues to this information from reaching an enemy +on earth, +</p> + +<p> +If censorship is suddenly imposed on all flying-saucer reports, this will be +the chief reason. This would also help solve a minor problem where partial +censorship now exists. A few test missiles launched from a southwest base have +been seen by citizens at a distance from the proving grounds. In some cases, +their reports have got into local papers, though the wire services did not +carry them. +</p> + +<p> +These missile tests are peculiarly different from the general run of +flying-saucer reports. Contrasted with the Chiles-Whitted, Mantell, and other +space-ship sightings, they stand out with a certain pattern, easy to recognize. +News or radio reports of these tests might accidentally give an enemy clues to +the type, speed, and range of this particular missile, once he learned the +pattern. Periodic censorship, or even a complete blackout of sighting reports, +may be enforced during the next year or so. +</p> + +<p> +For the purposes mentioned, such action would be justified. But whenever such +censorship is lifted, the complete truth about space visitors should be told at +the same time: the full details of all the major cases, the size of the Godman +Field space ship, any attempted landings or other efforts at contact by +interplanetary visitors, and all other details that now are official secrets. +</p> + +<p> +I also believe that a certain group of disk sightings in this country is linked +with our guided missiles. Official announcements, of course, may be delayed a +long time. With this exception, I believe that Americans should be told the +truth, now. +</p> + +<p> +When the announcement of our guided missiles is made, some Americans not +familiar with the facts may accept it as a full answer. If officials are not +yet ready to reveal the space-travel facts, the Mantell evidence and other key +cases may be deliberately glossed over. +</p> + +<p> +But even if all the evidence—the world-wide sightings, the old records, +the Chiles-Whitted and other cases—should be completely ignored, +Americans cannot escape eventual contact with dwellers on other planets. Even +though space visitors never attempt contact with us, sooner or later earthlings +will be traveling to distant planets—planets that scientists have said +are almost surely inhabited. +</p> + +<p> +The American people have proved their ability to take incredible things. We +have survived the stunning impact of the Atomic Age. We should be able to take +the Interplanetary Age, when it comes, without hysteria. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Flying Saucers are Real + +Author: Donald Keyhoe + +Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5883] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 15, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL *** + + + + +This eBook was supplied by John B. Hare and Sacred-Texts.com. + + + + The Flying Saucers Are Real + + by Donald Keyhoe + + +Preface from Sacred-Text.com + +This was one of the first books published about the UFO phenomena. We +are fortunate that it ended up in the public domain. + +It is a template for much of what would follow: the paranoia, the +government disinformation, the inescapable conclusion that the saucers +are not of this earth. Keyhoe, with his spare, matter of fact writing +style, which also conveys a profound sense of wonder, has to be the +prototype for the deadpan Fox Mulder of the X-Files. + +On one hand we can see the birth of a key modern mythology. On the +other, there is a body of almost naive evidence in this text +unpolluted by that very mythology. The case studies are real. The +witnesses were highly reliable. These cases are still unexplained. + + THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL + + by Donald Keyhoe + + New York + + + + + To Helen, + + with love + +Donald E. Keyhoe, who relates here his investigation of the flying +saucers, writes with twenty-five years of experience in observing +aeronautical developments. + +He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He flew in +active service with the Marine Corps, managed the tour of the historic +plane in which Bennett and Byrd made their North Pole flight, was aide +to Charles Lindbergh after the famous Paris flight, and was chief of +information for the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce. + + + + Author's Note + +ON APRIL 27, 1949, the U.S. Air Force stated: + +"The mere existence of some yet unidentified flying objects +necessitates a constant vigilance on the part of Project 'Saucer' +personnel, and on the part of the civilian population. + +"Answers have been--and will be--drawn from such factors as guided +missile research activity, balloons, astronomical phenomena. . . . But +there are still question marks. + +"Possibilities that the saucers are foreign aircraft have also been +considered. . . . But observations based on nuclear power plant +research in this country label as 'highly improbable' the existence on +Earth of engines small enough to have Powered the saucers. + +"Intelligent life on Mars . . . is not impossible but is completely +unproven. The possibility of intelligent life on the Planet Venus is +not considered completely unreasonable by astronomers. + +"The saucers are not jokes. Neither are they cause for alarm." +[1] + +On December 27, 1949, the Air Force denied the existence of flying +saucers.[2] + +On December 30, 1949, the Air Force revealed part of a secret Project +"Saucer" report to members of the press at Washington. The official +report stated: + +"It will never be possible to say with certainty that any individual +did not see a space ship, an enemy missile, or some other object." + +Discussing the motives of possible visitors from space, the report +also stated: + +"Such a civilization might observe that on Earth we now have atomic +bombs and are fast developing rockets. In view of the past history of +mankind, they should be + +[1. Project "Saucer" Preliminary Study of Flying Saucers. + +2. Air Force Press Release 629-49.' + +{p. 6} + +alarmed. We should therefore expect at this time above all to behold +such visitations." + +(In its April 22 report, Project "Saucer" stated that space travel +outside the solar system is almost a certainty.) + +On February 22, 1950, the Air Force again denied the existence of +flying saucers. On this same date, two saucers reported above Key West +Naval Air Station were tracked by radar; they were described as +maneuvering at high speed fifty miles above the earth. The Air Force +refused to comment. + +On March 9, 1950, a large metallic disk was pursued by F-51 and jet +fighters and observed by scores of Air Force officers at Wright Field, +Ohio. On March 18, an Air Force spokesman again denied that saucers +exist and specifically stated that they were not American guided +missiles or space-exploration devices. + +I have carefully examined all Air Force saucer reports made in the +last three years. For the past year, I have taken part in a special +investigation of the flying-saucer riddle. + +I believe that the Air Force statements, contradictory as they appear, +are part of an intricate program to prepare America--and the +world--for the secret of the disks. + +{p. 7} + + + + CHAPTER I + +IT WAS A strange assignment. + +I picked up the telegram from my desk and read it a third time. + +NEW YORK, N. Y., MAY 9, 1949 + +HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY. FIRST TIP HINTED +GIGANTIC HOAX TO COVER UP OFFICIAL SECRET. BELIEVE IT MAY HAVE BEEN +PLANTED TO HIDE REAL ANSWER. LOOKS LIKE TERRIFIC STORY. CAN YOU TAKE +OVER WASHINGTON END? + + KEN W. PURDY, EDITOR, TRUE MAGAZINE + +I glanced out at the Potomac, recalling the first saucer story. As a +pilot, I'd been skeptical of flying disks. Then reports had begun to +pour in from Air Force and airline pilots. Apparently alarmed, the Air +Force had ordered fighters to pursue the fast-flying saucers. In one +mysterious chase, a pilot had been killed, and his death was +unexplained. That had been seventeen months ago. Since then, the whole +flying-saucer riddle had been hidden behind a curtain of Air Force +secrecy. + +And now, an assignment from True magazine on flying saucers. + +Twenty-four hours later, I was in Ken Purdy's office. + +"I've had men on this for two months," he told me. "I might as well +warn you, it's a tough story to crack." + +"You think it's a Russian missile?" I asked him. "Or an Air Force +secret?" + +"We've had several answers. None of them stacks up. But I'm positive +one was deliberately planted when they found we were checking." + +He told me the whole story of the work that had been done by the staff +of True and of the reports sent in by competent writers. The deeper he +delved into the mystery, the tougher the assignment got. The more I +learned about flying saucers, the less I knew. + +"There's one angle I want rechecked," Purdy said. + +"You've heard of the Mantell case?" + +{p. 8} + +I nodded. + +"O.K. Try to get the details of Mantell's radio report to Godman +Tower. Before he was killed, he described the thing he was chasing--we +know that much. Project 'Saucer' gave out a hint, but they've never +released the transcript. Here's another lead. See if you can find +anything about a secret picture, taken at Harmon Field, +Newfoundland--it was around July 1947. I'll send you other ideas as I +get them." + +Before I left, Purdy wished me hick and told me that he would work in +closest harmony with me. + +"But watch out for fake tips," he said. "You'll probably run into some +people at the Pentagon who'll talk to you 'off the record.' That +handcuffs a writer. Look out they don't lead you into a blind alley. +Even the Air Force statements and the Project 'Saucer' report +contradict each other." + +For six months, I worked with other investigators to solve the mystery +of the disks. We checked a hundred sighting reports, frequently +crossing the trail of Project "Saucer" teams and F.B.I. agents. Old +records gave fantastic leads. So did Air Force plans for exploring +space. Rocket experts, astronomers, Air Force officials and pilot gave +us clues pointing to a startling solution. Many intelligent +persons--including scientists--believe that the saucers contain spies +from another planet. + +When this first phase was ended, we were faced with a hard decision. +We had uncovered important facts, We knew the saucers were real. If it +was handled carefully, we believed the story would be in line with a +secret Air Force policy. + +It was finally decided to publish certain alternate conclusions. The +Air Force was informed of True's intentions; no attempt was made to +block publication. + +In the January 1950 issue of True, I reported that we had reached the +following conclusions: + +1 The earth has been observed periodically by visitors from another +planet. + +2. This observation has increased markedly in the past two years. + +"The only other possible explanation," I wrote, "is that, + +{p. 9} + +the saucers are extremely high-speed, long-range devices developed +here on earth. Such an advance (which the Air Force has denied) would +require an almost incredible leap in technical progress even for +American scientists and designers." + +Nation-wide press and radio comment followed the appearance of the +article. This publicity was obviously greater than the Air Force had +expected. Within twenty-four hours the Pentagon was deluged with +telegrams, letters, and long-distance calls. Apparently fearing a +panic, the Air Force hastily stated that flying-saucer reports--even +those made by its own pilots and high-ranking officers--were mistakes +or were caused by hysteria.[1] + +But three days later, when it was plain that many Americans calmly +accepted True's disclosures, the Air Force released a secret project +"Saucer" file containing this significant statement: + +"It will never be possible to say with certainty that any individual +did not see a space ship, an enemy missile or other object." + +In this same document there appears a confidential analysis of Air +intelligence reports.[2] It is this summary that contains the official +suggestion Of. space visitors' motives. After stating that such a +civilization would obviously be far ahead of our own, the report adds: + +"Since the acts of mankind most easily observed from a distance are +A-bomb explosions, we should expect some relation to obtain between +the time of the A-bomb explosions, the time at which the space ships +are seen, and the time required for such ships to arrive from and +return to home base." + +(In a previous report, which alternately warned and reassured the +public, the Air Force stated that space travel outside the solar +system is almost a certainty.[3]) + +Since 1949 there has been a steady increase in saucer sightings. Most +of them have been authentic reports, which Air Force denials cannot +disprove. In January, mystery + +[1. Air Force press release 629-49, December 27, 1949. + +2. Air Force Project "Saucer" December 30, 1949. + +3. Air Force report M-26-49, Preliminary Studies on Flying saucers, +April 27, 1949.] + +{p. 10} + +disks were reported over Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, and +several other states. On the Seattle Anchorage route, an air freighter +was paced for five minutes by a night-flying saucer. When the pilots +tried to close in, the strange craft zoomed at terrific speed. Later, +the airline head reported that Intelligence officers had quizzed the +pilots for hours. + +"From their questions," he said, "I could tell they had a good idea of +what the saucers are. One officer admitted they did, but he wouldn't +say any more." + +Another peculiar incident occurred at Tucson, Arizona, on February 1. +Just at dusk, a weird, fiery object raced westward over the city, +astonishing hundreds in the streets below. The Tucson Daily Citizen +ran the story next day with a double-banner headline: + + FLYING SAUCER OVER TUCSON? + + B-29 FAILS TO CATCH OBJECT + +Flying saucer? Secret experimental plane? Or perhaps a scout craft + from Mars? Certainly the strange aircraft that blazed a smoke + trail over Tucson at dusk last night defies logical explanation. + It was as mystifying to experienced pilots as to groundlings who + have trouble in identifying conventional planes. + Cannonballing through the sky, some 30,000 feet aloft, was a fiery + object shooting westward so fast it was impossible to gain any + clear impression of its shape or size. . . . + At what must have been top speed the object spewed out light + colored smoke, but almost directly over Tucson it appeared to + hover for a few seconds. The smoke puffed out an angry black and + then be came lighter as the strange missile appeared to gain + speed" + +The radio operator in the Davis-Monthan air force base control tower + contacted First Lt. Roy L. Jones, taking off for a cross-country + flight in a B-29, and asked him to investigate. Jones revved up + his swift aerial tanker and still the unknown aircraft steadily + pulled away toward California. Dr. Edwin F. Carpenter, head of + the University of + +{p. 11} + +Arizona department of astronomy, said he was certain that the object + was not a meteor or other natural phenomenon. . . . + Switchboards Swamped + Switchboards at the Pima county sheriff's office and Tucson police + station were jammed with inquiries. Hundreds saw the object. Tom + Bailey, 1411 E. 10th Street, thought it was a large airplane on + fire. [A later check showed no planes missing.] He said it wavered + from left to right as it passed over the mountains. Bailey also + noticed that the craft appeared to slow perceptibly over Tucson. + He said the smoke apparently came out in a thin, almost invisible + stream, gaining substance within a few seconds. + +This incident had an odd sequel the following day. Its significance +was not lost on the Daily Citizen. It ran another front-page story, +headlined: + + WHAT DO YOU MEAN ONLY VAPOR TRAIL? + +As though to prove itself blameless for tilting hundreds of Tucson + heads skyward, the U.S. Air Force yesterday afternoon spent hours + etching vapor trails through the skies over the city. + The demonstration proved conclusively to the satisfaction of most + that the strange path of dark smoke blazed across the evening sky + at dusk Wednesday was no vapor trail and did not emanate from any + conventional airplane. + The Wednesday night spectacle was entirely dissimilar. Then, heavy + smoke boiled and swirled in a broad, dark ribbon fanning out at + least a mile in width and stretching across the sky in a straight + line. Since there was no proof as to what caused the strange + predark manifestation, and because even expert witnesses were + unable to explain the appearance, the matter remains a subject for + interesting speculation. + +There is strong evidence that this story was deliberately kept off the +press wires. The Associated Press and other wire services in +Washington had no report. Requests for details by Frank Edwards, +Mutual newscaster, and other + +{p. 12} + +radio commentators ran into a blank wall. At the Pentagon I was told +that the Air Force had no knowledge of the sighting or the vapor-trail +maneuvers. + +On February 22 two similar glowing objects were seen above Boca Chica +Naval Air Station at Key West. A plane sent tip to investigate was +hopelessly outdistanced; it was obvious the things were at a great +height. Back at the station, radarmen tracked the objects as they +hovered for a moment above Key West. They were found to be at least +fifty miles above the earth. After a few seconds, they accelerated at +high speed and streaked out of sight. + +On the following day Commander Augusto Orrego, a Chilean naval +officer, reported that saucers had flown above his antarctic base. + +"During the bright antarctic night," be said, "we saw flying saucers, +one above the other, turning at tremendous speeds. We have photographs +to prove what we saw." + +Early in March, Ken Purdy phoned the latest development in the +investigation. He had just received a tip predicting a flurry of +saucer publicity during March. It had come from an important source in +Washington. + +"You know what it probably means," he said. "The same thing we talked +about last month. But why were we tipped off in advance?" + +"It's one more piece in the pattern," I said. "If the tip's on the +level, then they're stepping up the program." + +Within three days, reports began to pour in--from Peru, Cuba, Mexico, +Turkey, and other parts of the world. Then on March 9 a gleaming +metallic disk was sighted over Dayton, Ohio. Observers at Vandalia +Airport phoned Wright-Patterson Field. Scores of Air Force pilots and +groundmen watched the disk, as fighters raced up in pursuit. The +mysterious object streaked vertically skyward, hovered for a while +miles above the earth, and then disappeared. A secret report was +rushed to the Civil Aeronautics Authority in Washington, then turned +over to Air Force Intelligence. + +Soon after this Dr. Craig Hunter, director of a medical supply firm, +reported a huge elliptical saucer flying at a low altitude in +Pennsylvania. He described it as metallic, with a slotted outer rim +and a rotating ring just inside. {p. 13} On top of this sighting, +thousands of people at Farmington, New Mexico, watched a large +formation of disks pass high above the city. + +Throughout all these reports, the Air Force refused to admit the +existence of flying saucers. On March 18 it flatly denied they were +Air Force secret missiles or space-exploration devices. + +Three days later, a Chicago and Southern airliner crew saw a +fast-flying disk near Stuttgart, Arkansas. The circular craft, +blinking a strange blue-white light, pulled up in an arc at terrific +speed. The two pilots said they glimpsed lighted ports on the lower +side as the saucer zoomed above them. The lights had a soft +fluorescence, unlike anything they had seen. + +There was one peculiar angle in the Arkansas incident. There was no +apparent attempt to muzzle the two pilots, as in earlier airline +cases. Instead, a United Press interview was quickly arranged, for +nation-wide publication. In this wire story Captain Jack Adams and +First Officer G. W. Anderson made two statements: + +"We firmly believe that the flying saucer we saw over Arkansas was a +secret experimental type aircraft--not a visitor from outer space. . . + +"We know the Air Force has denied there is anything to this +flying-saucer business, but we're both experienced pilots and we're +not easily fooled." + +The day after this story appeared, I was discussing it with an airline +official in Washington. + +"That's an odd thing," he said. "The Air Force could have persuaded +those pilots--or the line president--to hush the thing up. It looks as +if they wanted that story broadcast." + +"You mean the whole thing was planted?" + +"I won't say that, though it could have been. Probably they did see +something. But they might have been told what to say about it." + +"Any idea why?" + +He looked at me sharply. "You and Purdy probably know the answer. At a +guess, I'd say it might have been planned to offset that Navy +commander's report--the one on the White Sands sightings." + +{p. 14} + +The White Sands case had puzzled many skeptics, because the Pentagon +had cleared the published report. The author, Commander R. B. +McLaughlin, was a regular Navy officer. As a Navy rocket expert, he +had been stationed at the White Sands Rocket Proving Ground in New +Mexico. In his published article he described three disk sightings at +White Sands. + +One of the disks, a huge elliptical craft, was tracked by scientists +with precision instruments at five miles per second. That's 18,000 +miles per hour. It was found to be flying fifty-six miles above the +earth. Two other disks, smaller types, were watched from five +observation posts on hills at the proving ground. Circling at +incredible speed, the two disks paced an Army high-altitude rocket +that had just been launched, then speeded up and swiftly outclimbed +the projectile. + +Commander McLaughlin's report, giving dates and factual details, was +cleared by the Department of Defense. So was a later nation-wide +broadcast. + +Then the Air Force made its routine denial. + +Why was McLaughlin, a regular Navy officer subject to security +screening, permitted to give out this story? Was it an incredible +slip-up? Or was it part of some carefully thought-out plan? I believe +it was part of an elaborate program to prepare the American people for +a dramatic disclosure. + +For almost a year I have watched the behind-the-scenes maneuvers of +those who guide this program. In the following chapters I have tried +to show the strange developments in our search for the answer; the +carefully misleading tips, the blind alleys we entered, the unexpected +assistance, the confidential leads, and the stunning contradictions. + +It has been a complicated jigsaw puzzle. Only by seeing all parts of +this intricate picture can you begin to glimpse the reasons for this +stubbornly hidden secret. + +The official explanation may be imminent. When it is finally revealed, +I believe the elaborate preparation--even the wide deceit +involved--will be fully justified in the minds of the American people. + +{p. 15} + + + + CHAPTER II + +IT HAS BEEN over two years since the puzzling death of Captain Thomas +Mantell. + +Mantell died mysteriously in the skies south of Fort Knox. But before +his radio went silent, he sent a strange message to Godman Air Force +Base. The men who heard it will never forget it. + +It was January 7, 1948. + +Crowded into the Godman Field Tower, a group of Air Force officers +stared up at the afternoon sky. For just an instant, something gleamed +through the broken clouds south of the base. + +High above the field, three P-51 fighters climbed with swift urgency. +Heading south, they quickly vanished. + +The clock in the tower read 2:45. + +Colonel Guy Hix, the C.O., slowly put down his binoculars. If the +thing was still there, the clouds now hid it. All they could do was +wait. + +The first alarm had come from Fort Knox, when Army M.P.'s had relayed +a state police warning. A huge gleaming object had been seen in the +sky, moving toward Godman Field. Hundreds of startled people had seen +it at Madisonville, ninety miles away. + +Thirty minutes later, it had zoomed up over the base. + +Colonel Hix glanced around at the rest of the men in the tower. They +all had a dazed look. Every man there had seen the thing, as it +barreled south of the field. Even through the thin clouds, its +intermittent red glow had hinted at some mysterious source of power. +Something outside their understanding. + +It was Woods, the exec, who had estimated its size. Hix shook his +head. That was unbelievable. But something had hung over Godman Field +for almost an hour. The C.O. turned quickly as the loud-speaker, tuned +to the P-51's, suddenly came to life. + +"Captain Mantell to Godman . . . Tower Mantell to Godman Tower . . ." + +{p. 16} + +The flight leader's voice had a strained tone. + +"I've sighted the thing!" he said. "It looks metallic--and it's +tremendous in size!" + +The C.O. and Woods stared at each other. No one spoke. + +"The thing's starting to climb," Mantell said swiftly. "It's at twelve +o'clock high, making half my speed. I'll try to close in." + +In five minutes, Mantell reported again. The strange metallic object +had speeded up, was now making 360 or more. + +At 3:08, Mantell's wingman called in. Both he and the other pilot had +seen the weird object. But Mantell had outclimbed them and was lost in +the clouds. + +Seven minutes dragged by. The men in the tower sweated out the +silence. Then, at 3:15, Mantell made a hasty contact. + +"It's still above me, making my speed or better. I'm going up to +twenty thousand feet. If I'm no closer, I'll abandon chase." + +It was his last report. + +Minutes later, his fighter disintegrated with terrific force. The +falling wreckage was scattered for thousands of feet. + +When Mantell failed to answer the tower, one of his pilots began a +search. Climbing to 33,000 feet, he flew a hundred miles to the south. + +But the thing that lured Mantell to his death had vanished from the +sky. + +Ten days after Mantell was killed, I learned of a curious sequel to +the Godman affair. + +An A.P. account in the New York Times had caught my attention. The +story, released at Fort Knox, admitted Mantell had died while chasing +a flying saucer. Colonel Hix was quoted as having watched the object, +which was still unidentified. But there was no mention of Mantell's +radio messages--no hint of the thing's tremendous size. + +Though I knew the lid was probably on, I went to the Pentagon. When +the scare had first broken, in the summer of '47, I had talked with +Captain Tom Brown, who was handling saucer inquiries. But by now Brown +had been + +{p. 17} + +shifted, and no one in the Press Branch would admit knowing the +details of the Mantell saucer chase. + +"We just don't know the answer," a security officer told me. + +"There's a rumor," I said, "it's a secret Air Force missile that +sometimes goes out of control." + +"Good God, man!" he exploded. "If it was, do you think we'd be +ordering pilots to chase the damned things?" + +"No--and I didn't say I believed it." I waited until he cooled down. +"This order you mentioned--is it for all Air Force pilots, or special +fighter units?" + +"I didn't say it was a special order," he answered quickly. "All +pilots have routine instructions to report unusual items." + +"They had fighters alerted on the Coast, when the scare first broke," +I reminded him. "Are those orders still in force?" + +He shook his head. "No, not that I know of." After a moment he added, +"All I can tell you is that the Air Force is still investigating. We +honestly don't know the answer." + +As I went out the Mall entrance, I ran into Jack Daly, one of +Washington's veteran newsmen. Before the war, Jack and I had done +magazine pieces together, usually on Axis espionage and communist +activity. I told him I was trying to find the answer to Mantell's +death. + +"You heard anything?" I asked him. + +"Only what was in the A.P. story," said Jack. "But an I.N.S. man told +me they had a saucer story from Columbus, Ohio--and it might have been +the same one they saw at Fort Knox." + +"I missed that. What was it?" + +"They sighted the thing at the Air Force field outside of Columbus. It +was around sundown, about two hours after that pilot was killed in +Kentucky." + +"Anybody chase it?" I asked. + +"No. They didn't have time to take off, I guess. This I.N.S. guy said +it was going like hell. Fast as a jet, anyway." + +"Did he say what it looked like?" + +{p. 18} + +"The Air Force boys said it was as big as a C-47," said Jack. "Maybe +bigger. It had a reddish-orange exhaust streaming out behind. They +could see it for miles." + +"If you hear any more, let me know," I said. Jack promised he would. + +"What do you think they are?" he asked me. + +"It's got me stumped. Russia wouldn't be testing missiles over here. +Anyway, I can't believe they've got anything like that. And I can't +see the Air Force letting pilots get killed to hide something we've +got." + +One week later, I heard that a top-secret unit had been set up at +Wright Field to investigate all saucer reports. When I called the +Pentagon, they admitted this much, and that was all. + +In the next few months, other flying-disk stories hit the front pages. +Two Eastern Airline pilots reported a double-decked mystery ship +sighted near Montgomery, Alabama. I learned of two other sightings, +one over the Pacific Ocean and one in California. The second one, seen +through field glasses, was described as rocket-shaped, as large as a +B-29. There were also rumors of disks being tracked by radar, but it +was almost a year before I confirmed these reports. + +When Purdy wired me, early in May of '49, I had half forgotten the +disks. It had been months since any important sightings had been +reported. But his message quickly revived my curiosity. If he thought +the subject was hot, I knew he must have reasons. When I walked into +his office at 67 West 44th, Purdy stubbed out his cigarette and shook +hands. He looked at me through his glasses for a moment. Then he said +abruptly: + +"You know anything about the disks?" + +"If you mean what they are--no." + +He motioned for me to sit down. Then he swiveled his chair around, his +shoulders hunched forward, and frowned out the window. + +"Have you seen the Post this week?" + +I told him no. + +"There's something damned queer going on. For fifteen months, Project +'Saucer' is buttoned up tight. Top secret. Then suddenly, Forrestal +gets the Saturday Evening Post + +{p. 19} + +to run two articles, brushing the whole thing off. The first piece +hits the stands--and then what happens?" + +Purdy swung around, jabbed his finger at a document on. his desk. + +"That same day, the Air Force rushes out this Project 'Saucer' report. +It admits they haven't identified the disks in any important cases. +They say it's still serious enough--wait a minute--"he thumbed through +the stapled papers--" 'to require constant vigilance by Project +"Saucer" personnel and the civilian population.'" + +"You'd think the Post would make a public kick," I said. + +"I don't mean it's an out-and-out denial," said Purdy. "It doesn't +mention the Post--just contradicts it. In fact, the report contradicts +itself. It looks as if they're trying to warn people and yet they're +scared to say too much." + +I looked at the title on the report: "A Digest of Preliminary Studies +by the Air Materiel Command, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, on 'Flying +Saucers.'" + +"Have the papers caught it yet?" I asked Purdy. + +"You mean its contradicting the Post?" He shook his head. "No, the +Pentagon press release didn't get much space. How many editors would +wade through a six-thousand-word government report? Even if they did, +they'd have to compare it, item for item, with the Post piece." + +"Who wrote the Post story?" + +Purdy lit a cigarette and frowned out again at the skyscrapers. + +"Sidney Shallett--and he's careful. He had Forrestal's backing. The +Air Force flew him around, arranged interviews, supposedly gave him +inside stuff. He spent two months on it. They O.K.'d his script, which +practically says the saucers are bunk. Then they reneged on it." + +"Maybe some top brass suddenly decided it was the wrong policy to +brush it off," I suggested. + +"Why the quick change?" demanded Purdy. "Let's say they sold the Post +on covering up the truth, in the interests of security. It's possible, +though I don't believe it. Or they could simply have fed them a fake +story. Either + +{p. 20} + +Way, why did they rush this contradiction the minute the Post hit the +stands?" + +"Something serious happened," I said, "after the Post went to press." + +"Yes, but what?" Purdy said impatiently. "That's what we've got to +find out." + +"Does Shallett's first piece mention Mantell's death?" + +"Explains it perfectly. You know what Mantell was chasing? The planet +Venus!" + +"That's the Post's answer?" I said, incredulously. + +"It's what the Air Force contract astronomer told Shallett. I've +checked with two astronomers here. They say that even when Venus is at +full magnitude you can barely see it in the daytime even when you're +looking for it. It was only half magnitude that day, so it was +practically invisible." + +"How'd the Air Force expect anybody to believe that answer?" I said. + +Purdy shrugged. "They deny it was Venus in this report. But that's +what they told Shallett--that all those Air Force officers, the +pilots, the Kentucky state police, and several hundred people at +Madisonville mistook Venus for a metallic disk several hundred feet in +diameter." + +"It's a wonder Shallett believed it." + +"I don't think he did. He says if it wasn't Venus, it must have been a +balloon." + +"What's the Air Force answer?" I asked Purdy. + +"Look in the report. They say whatever Mantell chased--they call it a +'mysterious object'--is still unidentified." + +I glanced through the case report, on page five. It quoted Mantell's +radio report that the thing was metallic and tremendous in size. +Linked with the death of Mantell was the Lockbourne, Ohio, report, +which tied in with what Jack Daly had told me, over a year before. I +read the report: + +"On the same day, about two hours later, a sky phenomenon was observed +by several watchers over Lockbourne Air Force Base, Columbus, Ohio. It +was described as 'round or oval, larger than a C-47, and traveling in +level + +{p. 21} + +flight faster than 500 miles per hour.' The object was followed from +the Lockbourne observation tower for more than 20 minutes. Observers +said it glowed from white to amber, leaving an amber exhaust trail +five times its own length. It made motions like an elevator and at one +time appeared to touch the ground. No sound was heard. Finally, the +object faded and lowered toward the horizon." + +Purdy buzzed for his secretary, and she brought me a copy of the first +Post article. + +"You can get a copy of this Air Force report in Washington," Purdy +told me. "This is the only one I have. But you'll find the same answer +for most of the important cases--the sightings at Muroc Air Base, the +airline pilots' reports, the disks Kenneth Arnold saw--they're all +unidentified." + +"I remember the Arnold case. That was the first sighting." + +"You've got contacts in Washington," Purdy went on. "Start at the +Pentagon first. They know we're working on it. Sam Boal, the first man +on this job, was down there for a day or two." + +"What did he find out?" + +"Symington told him the saucers were bunk. Secretary Johnson admitted +they had some pictures--we'd heard about a secret photograph taken at +Harmon Field, Newfoundland. The tip said this saucer scared hell out +of some pilots and Air Force men up there. + +"A major took Boal to some Air Force colonel and Boal asked to see the +pictures. The colonel said they didn't have any. He turned red when +the major said Symington had told Boal about the pictures." + +"Did Boal get to see them?" I said. + +"No," grunted Purdy, "and I'll bet twenty bucks you won't, either. But +try, anyway. And check on a rumor that they've tracked some disks with +radar. One case was supposed to be at an Air Force base in Japan." + +As I was leaving, Purdy gave me a summary of sighting reports. + +"Some of these were published, some we dug up ourselves," he said. "We +got some confidential stuff from + +{p. 22} + +airline pilots. It's pretty obvious the Air Force has tried to keep +them quiet." + +"All right," I said. "I'll get started. Maybe things aren't sewed up +so tightly, now this report is out." + +"We've found out some things about Project 'Saucer,' said Purdy. +"Whether it's a cover-up or a real investigation, there's a lot of +hush-hush business to it. They've got astronomers and astrophysicists +working for them, also rocket expects, technical analysts, and Air +Force Special Intelligence. We've been told they can call on any +government agency for help--and I know they're using the F.B.I." + +It was building up bigger than I had thought. + +"If national security is involved," I told Purdy, "they can shut us up +in a hurry." + +"If they tell me so, O.K.," said Purdy. He added grimly, "But I think +they're making a bad mistake. They probably think they're doing what's +right. But the truth might come out the wrong way." + +"It is possible," I thought, "that the saucers belong to Russia." + +"If it turns out to be a Soviet missile, count me out," I said. "We'd +have the Pentagon and the F.B.I. on our necks." + +"All right, if that's the answer." He chuckled. "But you may be in for +a jolt." + +{p. 23} + + + CHAPTER III + +JUST THE idea of gigantic flying disks was incredible enough. It was +almost as hard to believe that such missiles could have been developed +without something leaking out. Yet we had produced the A-bomb in +comparative secrecy, and I knew we were working on long-range guided +missiles. There was already a plan for a three-thousand-mile test +range. Our supersonic planes had hit around two thousand miles an +hour. Our two-stage rockets had gone over two hundred miles high, +according to reports. If an atomic engine had been secretly developed, +it could explain the speed and range of the saucers. + +But I kept coming back to Mantell's death and the Air Force orders for +pilots to chase the saucers. If the disks were American missiles, that +didn't jibe. + +When I reached the lobby, I found it was ten after four. I caught a +taxi and made the Congressional Limited with just one minute to spare. +In the club car, I settled down to look at Purdy's summary. + +Skipping through the pages, I saw several familiar cases. Here and +there, Purdy had scrawled brief comments or suggestions. Beside the +Eastern Airline report of a double-decked saucer, he had written: + +"Check rumor same type seen over Holland about this date. Also, +similar Philippine Islands report--date unknown." + +I went back to the beginning. The first case listed was that of +Kenneth Arnold, a Boise businessman, who had set off the saucer scare. +Arnold was flying his private plane from Chehalis to Yakima, +Washington, when he saw a bright flash on his wing. + +Looking toward Mount Rainier, he saw nine gleaming disks outlined +against the snow, each one about the size of a C-54. + +"They flew close to the mountaintops, in a diagonal chainlike line," +he said later. "It was as if they were linked together." + +The disks appeared to be twenty to twenty-five miles + +{p. 24} + +away, he said, and moving at fantastic speed. Arnold's estimate was +twelve hundred miles an hour. + +"I watched them about three minutes," he said. "They were swerving in +and out around the high mountain peaks. They were flat, like a pie +pan, and so shiny they reflected the sun like a mirror. I never saw +anything so fast." + +The date was June 24, 1947. + +On this same day there was another saucer report. which received very +little notice. A Portland prospector named Fred Johnson, who was +working up in the Cascade Mountains, spotted five or six disks banking +in the sun. He watched them through his telescope several seconds. +then he suddenly noticed that the compass hand on his special watch +was weaving wildly from side to side. Johnson insisted he had not +heard of the Arnold report, which was not broadcast until early +evening. + +Kenneth Arnold's story was generally received with amusement. Most +Americans were unaware that the Pentagon had been receiving disk +reports as early as January. The news and radio comments on Arnold's +report brought several other incidents to light, which observers had +kept to themselves for fear of ridicule. + +At Oklahoma City, a private pilot told Air Force investigators he had +seen a huge round object in the sky during the latter part of May. It +was flying three times faster than a jet, he said, and without any +sound. Citizens of Weiser, Idaho, described two strange fast-moving +objects they had seen on June 12. The saucers were heading southeast, +now and then dropping to a lower altitude, then swiftly climbing +again. Several mysterious objects were reported flying at great speed +near Spokane, just three days before Arnold's experience. And four +days after his encounter, an Air Force pilot flying near Lake Meade, +Nevada, was startled to see half a dozen saucers flash by his plane. + +Even at this early point in the scare, official reports were +contradicting each other. just after Arnold's story broke, the Air +Force admitted it was checking on the mystery disks. On July 4 the Air +Force stated that no further investigation was needed; it was all + +{p. 25} + +hallucination. That same day, Wright Field told the Associated Press +that the Air Materiel Command was trying to find the answer. + +The Fourth of July was a red-letter day in the flying-saucer mystery. +At Portland, Oregon, hundreds of citizens, including former Air Force +pilots, police, harbor pilots, and deputy sheriffs, saw dozens of +gleaming disks flying at high speed. The things; appeared to be at +least forty thousand feet in the air--perhaps much higher. + +That same day, disks were sighted at Seattle, Vancouver, and other +northwest cities. The rapidly growing reports were met with mixed +ridicule and alarm. One of the skeptical group was Captain E. J. +Smith, of United Airlines. + +"I'll believe them when I see them," he told airline employees, before +taking off from Boise the afternoon of the Fourth. + +Just about sunset, his airliner was flying over Emmett, Idaho, when +Captain Smith and his copilot, Ralph Stevens, saw five queer objects +in the sky ahead. Smith rang for the stewardess, Marty Morrow, and the +three of them watched the saucers for several minutes. Then four more +of the disks came into sight. Though it was impossible to tell their +size, because their altitude was unknown, the crew was sure they were +bigger than the plane they were in. After about ten minutes the disks +disappeared. + +The Air Force quickly denied having anything resembling the! objects +Captain Smith described. + +"We have no experimental craft of that nature in Idaho--or anywhere +else," an official said in Washington. "We're completely mystified." + +The Navy said it had made an investigation, and had no answers. There +had been rumors that the disks were "souped-up" versions of the Navy's +"Flying Flapjack," a twin-engined circular craft known technically as +the XF-5-U-1. But the Navy insisted that only one model had been +built, and that it was now out of service. + +In Chicago, two astronomers spiked guesses that the disks might be +meteors. Dr. Girard Kieuper, director of the University of Chicago +observatory, said flatly that they couldn't be meteors. + +{p. 26} + +"They're probably man-made," he told the A.P. Dr. Oliver Lee, director +of Northwestern's observatory, agreed with Kieuper. + +"The Army, Navy, and Air Force are working secretly on all sorts of +things," he said. "Remember the A-bomb secrecy--and the radar signals +to the moon." + +As I went through Purdy's summary, I recalled my own reaction after +the United Airlines report. After seeing the Pentagon comment, I had +called up Captain Tom Brown, at Air Force Public Relations. + +"Are you really taking this seriously?" I asked him. + +"Well, we can't just ignore it," he said. "There are too many reliable +pilots telling the same story--flat, round objects able to outmaneuver +ordinary planes, and faster than anything we have. Too many stories +tally." + +I told him I'd heard that the Civil Air Patrol in Wisconsin and other +states was starting a sky search. + +"We've got a jet at Muroc, and six fighters standing by at Portland +right now," Brown said. + +"Armed?" + +"I've no report on that. But I know some of them carry photographic +equipment." + +Two days later an airline pilot from the Coast told me that some +fighters had been armed and the pilots ordered to bring down the disks +if humanly possible. That same day, Wright Field admitted it was +checking stories of disk-shaped missiles seen recently in the Pacific +northwest and in Texas. + +Following this was an A.P. story, dated July 7, quoting an unnamed Air +Force official in Washington: + +"The flying saucers may be one of three things: + +"1. Solar reflection on low-hanging clouds. [A Washington scientist, +asked for comment, said this was hardly possible.] + +"2. Small meteors which break up, their crystals catching the rays of +the sun. But it would seem that they would have been spotted falling +and fragments would have been found. + +"3. Icing conditions could have formed large hailstones, and they +might have flattened out and glided a bit, giving + +{p. 27} + +the impression of horizontal movement even though falling vertically." + +By this time everyone was getting into the act. + +"The disks are caused by the transmutation of atomic energy," said an +anonymous scientist, supposed to be on the staff of California Tech. +The college quickly denied it. + +Dr. Vannevar Bush, world-famous scientist, and Dr. Merle Tuve, +inventor of the proximity fuse, both declared they would know of any +secret American missiles--and didn't. + +At Syracuse, New York, Dr. Harry Steckel, Veterans Administration +psychiatrist, scoffed at the suggestion of mass hysteria. "Too many +sane people are seeing the things. The government is probably +conducting some revolutionary experiments." + +On July 8 more disks were reported. Out at Muroc Air Force Base, where +top-secret planes and devices are tested, six fast-moving +silvery-white saucers were seen by pilots and ground officers. + +That afternoon the Air Force revealed it was working on a case +involving a Navy rocket expert named C. T. Zohm. While on a secret +Navy mission to New Mexico, in connection with rocket tests, Zohm had +seen a bright silvery disk flying above the desert. He was crossing +the desert with three other scientists when he saw the strange object +flashing northward at an altitude of about ten thousand feet. + +"I'm sure it was not a meteor," said Zohm. "It could have been a +guided missile, but I never heard of anything like it." + +By this time, saucer reports had come in from almost forty states. +Alarm was increasing, and there were demands that radar be used to +track the disks. The Air Force replied that there was not enough radar +equipment to blanket the nation, but that its pilots were on the +lookout for the saucers. + +One report mentioned a curious report from Twin Falls, Idaho. The disk +sighted there was said to have flown so low that the treetops whirled +as if in a violent storm. Someone had phoned Purdy about a disk +tracked + +{p. 28} + +by weather-balloon observers at Richmond, Virginia. There was another +note on a sighting at Hickam Field, Honolulu, and two reports of +unidentified objects seen near Anchorage, Alaska. + +A typed list of world-wide sightings had been made up by the staff at +True. It contained many cases that were new to me, reports from +Paraguay, Belgium, Turkey, Holland, Germany, and the Scandinavian +countries. At the bottom of this memo Purdy had written: "Keep +checking on rumor that the Soviet has a Project Saucer, too. Could be +planted." + +From the mass of reports, John DuBarry, the aviation editor of True, +had methodically worked out an average picture of the disks: "The +general report is that they are round or oval (this could be an +elliptical object seen end-on), metallic looking, very bright--either +shining white or silvery colored. They can move at extremely high +speed, hover, accelerate rapidly, and outmaneuver ordinary aircraft. + +"The lights are usually seen singly--very few formations reported. +They seem to have the same speed, acceleration, and ability to +maneuver. In several cases, they have been able to evade Air Force +planes in night encounters." + +Going over the cases, I realized that Purdy and his staff had dug up +at least fifty reports that had not appeared in the papers. (A few of +these proved incorrect, but a check with the Air Force case reports +released on December 30, 1949, showed that True's files contained all +the important items.) These cases included sightings at eleven Air +Force bases and fourteen American airports, reports from ships at sea, +and a score of encounters by airline and private pilots. + +Witnesses included Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force officers; +state and city police; F.B.I. agents; weather observers, shipmasters, +astronomers, and thousands of good solid American citizens. I learned +later that many witnesses had been investigated by the F.B.I. to weed +out crackpot reports. + +I ended up badly puzzled. The evidence was more impressive than I had +suspected. It was plain that many + +{p. 29} + +reports had been entirely suppressed, or at least kept out of the +papers. There was something ominous about it. No matter what the +answer, it was serious enough to be kept carefully hidden. + +If it were a Soviet missile, I thought, God help us. They'd scooped up +a lot of Nazi scientists and war secrets. And the Germans had been far +ahead of us on guided missiles. But why would they give us a two-year +warning, testing the things openly over America? It didn't make sense. + +{p. 30} + + + CHAPTER IV + +I WENT to the Pentagon the next morning. I didn't expect to learn +much, but I wanted to make sure we weren't tangling with security. + +I'd worked with Al Scholin and Orville Splitt, in the magazine section +of Public Relations, and I thought they'd tell me as much as anyone. +When I walked in, I sprang it on them cold. + +"What's the chance of seeing your Project 'Saucer' files?" + +Al Scholin took it more or less dead-pan. Splitt looked at me a moment +and then grinned. + +"Don't tell me you believe the things are real?" + +"Maybe," I said. "How about clearing me with Project 'Saucer'?" + +Al shook his head. "It's still classified secret." + +"'Look, Don," said Splitt, "why do you want to fool with that saucer +business? There's nothing to it." + +'"That's a big change from what the Air Force was saying; in 1947," I +told him. + +He shrugged that off. "The Air Force has spent two years checking into +it. Everybody from Symington down will tell you the saucers are bunk." + +"That's not what Project 'Saucer' says in that April report." + +"That report was made up a long time ago," said Splitt. "They just got +around to releasing it." + +"Then they've got all the answers now?" + +"They know there's nothing to it," Splitt repeated. + +"In that case," I said, "Project 'Saucer' shouldn't object to my +seeing their files and pictures." + +"What pictures?" + +"That one taken at Harmon Field, Newfoundland, for a starter." + +"Oh, that thing," said Splitt. "It wasn't anything--just a shadow on a +cloud. Somebody's been kidding you." + +"If it's just a cloud shadow, why can't I see it?" + +Splitt was getting a little nettled. + +{p. 31} + +"Look, you know how long it takes to declassify stuff. They just +haven't got around to it. Take my word for it, the flying saucers are +bunk. I went around with Sid Shallett on some of his interviews. What +he's got in the Post is the absolute gospel." + +"It's funny about that April twenty-seventh report," I said, "the way +it contradicts the Post." + +"I tell you that was an old report--" + +"I wouldn't say that," Al Scholin put in. "The Air Force doesn't claim +it has all the answers. But they've proved a lot of the reports were +hoaxes or mistakes." + +"Just the same," I said, "the Air Force is on record, as of April +twenty-seventh, that it's serious enough for everybody to be vigilant. +And they admit most of the things, in the important cases, are still +unidentified. Including the saucer Mantell was chasing." + +"That business at Godman Field was some kind of hallucination," +insisted Splitt. + +"I suppose all those pilots and Godman Field officers were hypnotized? +Not to mention several thousand people at Madisonville and Fort Knox?" + +"Take it easy, you guys," said Al Scholin. "You've both got a right to +your opinions." + +"Oh, sure," said Splitt. He looked at me, with his grin back. "I don't +care if you think they're men from Mars." + +"Let's not go off the deep end," I said. "Tell me this: Did Shallett +get to see any secret files at Wright Field?" + +"Absolutely not." + +"Then he had to take the Air Force word for everything?" + +"Not entirely. We set up some interviews for him." + +"One more thing--and don't get mad. If it's all bunk, why haven't they +closed Project 'Saucer'?" + +"How do I know? Probably no one wants to take the responsibility." + +"Then somebody high up must not think it's bunk," I said. + +Splitt laughed. "Have it your own way." + +Before I left, I told them I was working with True. + +"I want to be on record," I said, "as having told you + +{p. 32} + +this. If there's any security involved--if you tell me it's something +you're working on--naturally I'll lay off." + +Al Scholin said emphatically, "It's not an Air Force device, if that's +what you mean." + +"Some people think it's Russian." + +"If it is, I don't know it," said Al, "and neither does the Air +Force." + +After I left the magazine section, I tried several officers I knew. +Two of them agreed with Splitt. The third didn't. + +"I've been told it's all bunk," he said, "but you get the feeling +they've trying to convince themselves. They act like people near a +haunted house. They'll swear it isn't haunted--but they won't go near +it." + +Later, I asked a security major for a copy of the Project "Saucer" +report. + +"We're out of copies right now," he said. "I'll send you one next +week." + +I asked him bluntly what he thought the saucers were. + +"I doubt if anybody has the full answer," he said seriously. "There's +been some hysteria--also a few mistakes. But many reports have been +made by reliable pilots, including our own. You can't laugh those +off." + +As I drove home, I thought over what I'd heard. All I had learned was +that the Air Force seemed divided. But that could be a smoke screen. +In less than twenty-four hours, I received my first suspicious tip. It +was about ten A.M. when my phone rang. + +"Mr. Keyhoe? This is John Steele," said the voice at the other end. +(Because of the peculiar role he played, then and later, I have not +used his real name.) "I'm a former Air Force Intelligence officer. I +was in the European theater during the war." + +I waited. He hesitated a moment. + +"I heard you're working on the flying-saucer problem," he said +quickly. "I may have some information that would interest you." + +"Mind telling me who told you I was on it?" I asked. + +"No one, directly. I just happened to hear it mentioned at the Press +Club. Frankly, I've been curious about the flying saucers ever since +'45." + +That startled me, but I didn't tell him so. + +{p. 53} + +"Do you have any idea what they are?" Mr. Steele said. + +"No, I've just begun checking. But I'd be glad to hear what you've +got." + +"I may be way off," said Steele. "But I've always wondered about the +'foo fighters' our pilots saw over Europe near the end of the war." + +I thought for a second. "Wasn't that some kind of antiaircraft missile +fired from the ground?" + +"No. Intelligence never did get any real answer, so far as I know. +They were some kind of circular gadgets, and they actually chased our +planes a number of times. We thought they were something the Nazis had +invented--and I still think so." + +"Then who's launching them now?" + +"Well, it's obviously either Russia or us. If it is the Soviet--well, +that's what's worried me. I don't think it should be treated like a +joke, the way some people in the Pentagon take it." + +I stared at the phone, trying to figure him out. + +"I'd like to talk it over with you," I said. "Maybe you've got +something." + +"I've given you about all I know," Steele answered. "There was an +Intelligence report you might try to see--the Eighth Air Force files +should have it." + +"Wait a minute," I said. "Give me your number, in case I find +anything." + +He gave it to me without apparent hesitation. I thanked him and hung +up, still wondering. + +If it was an attempt at a plant, it was certainly crude. The mention +of his former Air Force connection would be enough to arouse +suspicion, unless he counted on his apparent frankness to offset it. + +And what about the Press Club angle? That would indicate Steele was a +newspaperman. Could this be merely an attempt to pump me and get a +lead on True's investigation? But that would be just as crude as the +other idea. Of course, he might be sincere. But regardless of his +motives, it looked bad. Arid who had told him about me? + +I thought about that for a minute. Then I picked up the phone and +dialed Jack Daly's number. + +{p. 34} + +"Jack, do you know anyone named John Steele?" I asked him. "I think +he's a newspaperman." + +"Nobody I know," said Jack. "Why, what's up?" + +I explained, and added, "I thought maybe you knew him, and he'd heard +about it from you." + +"Hell, no," said Jack. "You ought to know I wouldn't leak any tip like +that." + +"It wouldn't be a tip--I don't know anything about this deal yet. By +the way, when you were on the Star did you handle anything on 'foo +fighters'?" + +"No, that was after I left there. Bill Shippen would have covered +that, anyway." + +I told him I would look it up in the Star's morgue. Jack said he would +meet me there at three o'clock; in the meantime he would see what he +could find out about Steele. + +Jack was a little late, and I went over the Star's file on the foo +fighters. Most of the facts were covered in a story dated July 6, +1947, which had been inspired by the outbreak of the saucer scare. I +copied it for later use: + +During the latter part of World War Two, fighter pilots in England + were convinced that Hitler had a new secret weapon. Yanks dubbed + these devices "foo fighters" or "Kraut fireballs." + One of the Air Force Intelligence men now assigned to check on the + saucer scare was an officer who investigated statements of + military airmen that circular foo fighters were seen over Europe + and also on the bombing route to Japan. + It was reported that Intelligence officers have never obtained + satisfactory explanation of reports of flying silver balls and + disks over Nazi-occupied Europe in the winter of 1944-45. Later, + crews of B-29'S on bombing runs to Japan reported seeing somewhat + similar objects. + In Europe, some foo fighters danced just off the Allied fighters' + wingtips and played tag with them in power dives. Others appeared + in precise formations and on one occasion a whole bomber crew + +{p. 35} + +saw about 15 following at a distance, their strange glow flashing on + and off. One foo fighter chased Lieutenant Meiers of Chicago some + 20 miles down the Rhine Valley, at 300 m.p.h., an A.P. war + correspondent reported. Intelligence officers believed at that + time that the balls might be radar-controlled objects sent up to + foul ignition systems or baffle Allied radar networks. + There is no explanation of their appearance here, unless the + objects could have been imported for secret tests in this country. + +I read the last paragraph twice. This looked like a strong lead to the +answer, in spite of the Air Force denials. There was another, less +pleasant possibility. The Russians could have seized the device and +developed it secretly, using Nazi scientists to help them. Perhaps the +Nazis had been close to an atomic engine, even if they did fail to +produce the bomb. + +Jack Daly came in while I was reading the story again. + +"I got the dope on Steele," he said. "He does pieces for a small +syndicate, and I found out he was in the Air Force. I think he was a +captain. People who know him say he's O.K.--a straight shooter." + +"That still wouldn't keep him from giving me a fake tip, if somebody +told him it was the right thing to do." + +"Maybe not," said Jack, "but why would they want to plant this +foo-fighter idea?" + +I showed him the clipping. He read it over and shook his head. + +"That's a lot different from disks three hundred feet in diameter." + +"If we got the principle--or Russia did-building big ones might not be +too hard." + +"I still can't swallow it," said Jack. "These things have been seen +all over the world. How could they control them that far away--and be +sure they wouldn't crash, where somebody could get a look and dope out +the secret?" + +We argued it back and forth without getting anywhere. + +{p. 36} + +"I'd give a lot to know Steele's angle," I said. "If you hear anything +more on him, give me a buzz." + +Jack nodded. "I'll see what I can do. But I can't dig too hard, or +he'll hear about it." + +On the way out, I found a phone booth and called Splitt. + +"Foo fighters?" he said. "Sure, I remember those stories. You think +those are your flying saucers?" + +I could hear him snicker. + +"Just checking angles," I said. "Didn't the Eighth Air Force +investigate the foo fighters?" + +"Yes, and they found nothing to back up the pilots' yarns. just war +nerves, apparently." + +"How about a look at the Intelligence report?" I asked. + +"Wait a minute." Splitt was gone for twice that time, then he carne +back. "Sorry, it's classified." + +"If all this stuff is bunk, why keep the lid on it?" I demanded. I was +getting sore again. + +"Look, Don," said Splitt, "I don't make the rules." + +"Sure, I know--sorry," I said. I had a notion to ask him if he knew +John Steele, but hung up instead. There was no use in banging my head +against the Air Force wall. + +The next day I decided to analyze the Mantell case from beginning to +end. It looked like the key to one angle: the question of an Air Force +secret missile. Unless there was some slip-up, so that Mantell and his +pilots had been ordered to chase the disk by mistake, then it would be +cold murder. + +I couldn't believe any Air Force officer would give such an order, no +matter how tremendous the secret to be hidden. + +But I was going to find out, if possible. + +{p. 37} + + + + CHAPTER V + +FOR MORE than two weeks, I checked on the Godman Field tragedy. One +fact stood out at the start: The death of Mantell had had a profound +effect on many in the Air Force. A dozen times I was told: + +"I thought the saucers were a joke-until Mantell was killed chasing +that thing at Fort Knox." + +Many ranking officers who had laughed at the saucer scare stopped +scoffing. One of these was General Sory Smith, now Deputy Director of +Air Force Public Relations. Later in my investigation, General Smith +told me: + +"It was the Mantell case that got me. I knew Tommy Mantell. very +well--also Colonel Hix, the C.O. at Godman. I knew they were both +intelligent men--not the kind to be imagining things." + +For fifteen months, the Air Force kept a tight-lipped silence. +Meantime, rumors began to spread. One report said that Mantell had +been shot, his body riddled with bullets; his P-51, also riddled, had +simply disintegrated. Another rumor reported Mantell as having been +killed by some mysterious force; this same force had also destroyed +his fighter. The Air Force, the rumors said, had covered up the truth +by telling Mantell's family he had blacked out from lack of oxygen. + +Checking the last angle, I found that this was the explanation given +to Mantell's mother, just after his death, she was told by Standiford +Field officers that he had flown too high in chasing the strange +object. + +Shallet, in the Saturday Evening Post articles, described Project +"Saucer's" reconstruction of the case. Mantell was said to have +climbed up to 25,000 feet, despite his firm decision to end the chase +at 20,000, since he carried no oxygen. Around 25,000 feet, Shallett +quoted the Air Force investigators, Mantell must have lost +consciousness. After this, his pilotless plane climbed on up to some +30,000 feet, then dived. Between 20,000 and 10,000 feet, Shallett +suggested, the P-51 began to disintegrate, obviously from excessive +speed. The gleaming object that + +{p. 38} + +hypnotized Mantell into this fatal climb was, Shallett said, either +the planet Venus or a Navy cosmic-ray research balloon. + +The Air Force Project "Saucer" report of April 27, 1949, released just +after the first Post article, makes these statements: + +"Five minutes after Mantell disappeared from his formation, the two +remaining planes returned to Godman. A few minutes later, one resumed +the search, covering territory 100 miles to the south as high as +33,000 feet, but found nothing. + +"Subsequent investigation revealed that Mantell had probably blacked +out at 20,000 feet from lack of oxygen and had died of suffocation +before the crash. + +"The mysterious object which the flyer chased to his death was first +identified as the Planet Venus. However, further probing showed the +elevation and azimuth readings of Venus and the object at specified +time intervals did not coincide. + +"It is still considered 'Unidentified.' + +The Venus explanation, even though now denied, puzzled me. It was +plain that the Air Force had seriously considered offering it as the +answer then abandoned it. Apparently someone had got his signals mixed +and let Shallett use the discarded answer. And for some unknown +reason, the Air Force had found it imperative to deny the Venus story +at once. + +In these first weeks of checking, I had run onto the Venus explanation +in other cases. Several Air Force officers repeated it so quickly that +it had the sound of a stock alibi. But in the daytime cases this was +almost ridiculous. + +I knew of a few instances in World War II when bomber crews and +antiaircraft gunners had loosed a few bursts at Venus. But this was +mostly at night, when the planet was at peak brilliance. And more than +one gunner later admitted firing to relieve long hours of boredom. +Since enemy planes did not carry lights, there was no authentic case, +to my knowledge, where plane or ground gunners actually believed Venus +was an enemy aircraft. + +{p. 39} + +Checking the astronomer's report, I read over the concluding +statement: + +"It simply could not have been Venus. They must have been desperate +even to suggest it in the first place." Months later, in the secret +Project "Saucer" report released December 30, 1949, I found official +confirmation of this astronomer's opinions. Since it has a peculiar +bearing on the Mantell case, I am quoting it now: + +When Venus is at its greatest brilliance, it is possible to see it + during daytime when one knows exactly where to look. But on + January 7, 1948, Venus was less than half as bright as its peak + brilliance. However, under exceptionally good atmospheric + conditions, and with the eye shielded from direct rays of the sun, + Venus might be seen as an exceedingly tiny bright point of light. + . . . However, the chances of looking at just the right spot are + very few. + It has been unofficially reported that the object was a Navy + cosmic-ray research balloon. If this can be established, it Is to + be preferred as an explanation. However, if one accepts the + assumption that reports from various other localities refer to the + same object, any such device must have been a good many miles + high--25 to 50--in order to have been seen clearly, almost + simultaneously, from places 175 miles apart. + If all reports were of a single object, in the knowledge of this + investigator no man-made object could have been large enough and + far enough away for the approximate simultaneous sightings. It is + most unlikely, however, that so many separated persons should at + that time have chanced on Venus in the daylight sky. It seems + therefore much more probable that more than one object was + involved. + The sighting might have included two or more balloons (or + aircraft) or they might have included Venus and balloons. For + reasons given above, the latter explanation seems more likely. + +{p. 40} + +Two things stand out in his report: + +1. The obvious determination to fit some explanation, no matter how +farfetched, to the Mantell sighting. + +2. The impossibility that Venus--a tiny point of light, seen only with +difficulty--was the tremendous metallic object described by Mantell +and seen by Godman Field officers. + +With Venus eliminated, I went to work on the balloon theory. Since I +had been a balloon pilot before learning to fly planes, this was +fairly familiar ground. + +Shallett's alternate theory that Mantell had chased a Navy research +balloon was widely repeated by readers unfamiliar with balloon +operation. Few thought to check the speeds, heights, and distances +involved. + +Cosmic-ray research balloons are not powered; they are set free to +drift with the wind. This particular Navy type is released at a base +near Minneapolis. The gas bag is filled with only a small per cent of +its helium capacity before the take-off. + +In a routine flight, the balloon ascends rapidly to a very high +altitude-as high as 100,000 feet. By this time the gas bag has swelled +to full size, about l00 feet high and 70 feet in diameter. At a set +time, a device releases the case of instruments under the balloon. The +instruments descend by parachute, and the balloon, rising quickly, +explodes from the sudden expansion. + +Occasionally a balloon starts leaking, and it then remains relatively +low. At first glance, this might seem the answer to the Kentucky +sightings. If the balloon were low enough, it would loom up as a large +circular object, as seen from directly below. Some witnesses might +estimate its diameter as 250 feet or more, instead of its actual 70 +feet. But this failure to recognize a balloon would require incredibly +poor vision on the part of trained observers--state police, Army +M.P.'s, the Godman Field officers, Mantell and his pilots. + +Captain Mantell was a wartime pilot, with over three thousand hours in +the air. He was trained to identify a distant enemy plane in a split +second. His vision was perfect, and so was that of his pilots. In +broad daylight + +{p. 41} + +they could not fail to recognize a balloon during their thirty-minute +chase. + +Colonel Hix and the other Godman officers watched the object with +high-powered glasses for long periods. It is incredible that they +would not identify it as a balloon. + +Before its appearance over Godman Field, the leaking balloon would +have drifted, at a low altitude, over several hundred miles. (A leak +large enough to bring it down from high altitude would have caused it +to land and be found.) Drifting at a low altitude, it would have been +seen by several hundred thousand people, at the very least. Many would +have reported it as a balloon. But even if this angle is ignored it +still could not possibly have been a balloon at low altitude. The fast +flight from Madisonville, the abrupt stop and hour-long hovering at +Godman Field, the quick bursts of speed Mantell reported make it +impossible. To fly the go miles from Madisonville to Fort Knox in 30 +minutes, a balloon would require a wind of 180 m.p.h. After traveling +at this hurricane speed, it would then have had to come to a dead stop +above Godman Field. As the P-51's approached, it would have had to +speed tip again to 180, then to more than 360 to keep ahead of +Mantell. + +The three fighter pilots chased the mysterious object for half an +hour. (I have several times chased balloons with a plane, overtaking +them in seconds.) In a straight chase, Mantell would have been closing +in at 360; the tail wind acting on his fighter would nullify the +balloon's forward drift. + +But even if you accept these improbable factors, there is one final +fact that nullifies the balloon explanation. The strange object had +disappeared when Mantell's wingman searched the sky, just after the +leader's death. If it had been a balloon held stationary for an hour +at a high altitude, and glowing brightly enough to be seen through +clouds, it would have remained visible in the same general position. +Seen from 33,000 feet, it would have been even brighter, because of +the clearer air. + +But the mysterious object had completely vanished in + +{p. 42} + +those few minutes. A search covering a hundred miles failed to reveal +a trace. + +Whether at a high or low altitude, a balloon could not have escaped +the pilot's eyes. It would also have continued to be seen at Godman +Field and other points, through occasional breaks in the clouds. + +I pointed out these facts to one Air Force officer at the Pentagon. +Next day he phoned me: + +"I figured it out. The timing device went off and the balloon +exploded. That's why the pilot didn't see it." + +"It's an odd coincidence," I said, "that it exploded in those five +minutes after Mantell's last report." + +"Even so, it's obviously the answer," he said. + +Checking on this angle, I found: + +1. No one in the Kentucky area had reported a descending parachute. + +2. No cosmic-ray research instrument case or parachute was found in +the area. + +3. No instruments were returned to the Navy from this region. And all +balloons and instruments released at that time were fully accounted +for. + +Even if it had been a balloon, it would not explain the later January +7th reports--the simultaneous sightings mentioned by Professor Hynek +in the Project "Saucer" report. This includes the thing seen at +Lockbourne Air Force Base two hours after Mantell's death. + +Obviously, the saucer seen flying at 500 m.p.h. over Lockbourne Field +could not have been a balloon. Even if there had been several balloons +in this area (and there were not, by official record), they could not +have covered the courses reported. In some cases, they would have been +flying against the wind, at terrific speed. + +Then what was the mysterious object? And what killed Mantell? + +Both the Air Force and the Post articles speculate that Mantell +carelessly let himself black out. + +Since some explanation had to be given, this might seem a good answer. +But Mantell was known for coolheaded judgment. As a wartime pilot, he +was familiar with signs of anoxia (oxygen starvation). That he knew +his tolerance for altitude is proved by his firmly declared + +{p. 43} + +intention to abandon the chase at 20,000 feet, since he had no oxygen +equipment. + +Mantell had his altimeter to warn him. From experience, he would +recognize the first vague blurring, narrowing of vision, and other +signs of anoxia. Despite this, the "blackout" explanation was accepted +as plausible by many Americans. + +While investigating the Mantell case, I talked with several pilots and +aeronautical engineers. Several questioned that a P-51 starting a dive +from 20,000 feet would have disintegrated so thoroughly. + +"From thirty thousand feet, yes," said one engineer. "If the idea was +to explain it away, I'd pick a high altitude to start from. But a +pilotless plane doesn't necessarily dive, as you know. + +"It might slip off and spin, or spiral down, and a few have even +landed themselves. Also, if the plane started down from twenty +thousand, the pilot wouldn't be too far blacked out. The odds are he'd +come to when he got into thicker air--admitting he did blur out, which +is only an Air Force guess. I don't see why they're so positive +Mantell died before he hit the ground--unless they know something we +don't." + +One of the pilot group put it more bluntly. + +"It looks like a cover-up to me. I think Mantell did just what he said +he would--close in on the thing. I think he either collided with it, +or more likely they knocked him out of the air. They'd think he was +trying to bring them down, barging in like that." + +Even if you accept the blackout answer, it still does not explain what +Mantell was chasing. it is possible that, excited by the huge, +mysterious object, he recklessly climbed beyond the danger level, +though such an act was completely at odds with his character. + +But the identity of the thing remains--officially--a mystery. If it +was some weird experimental craft or a guided missile, then whose was +it? Air Force officers had repeatedly told me they had no such device. +General Carl Touhy Spaatz, former Air Force chief, had publicly +insisted that no such weapon had been developed in his regime. +Secretary Symington and General Hoyt Vandenberg, + +{p. 44} + +present Air Force chief, had been equally emphatic. Of course, +official denials could be expected if it were a top-level secret. But +if it were a secret device, would it be tested so publicly that +thousands would see it? + +If it were an Air Force device, then I could see only one answer for +the Godman Field incident: The thing was such a closely guarded secret +that even Colonel Hix hadn't known. That would mean that most or all +Air Force Base C.O.'s were also in ignorance of the secret device. + +Could it be a Navy experiment, kept secret from the Air Force? + +I did a little checking. + +Admiral Calvin Bolster, chief of aeronautics research experimental +craft, was an Annapolis classmate of mine. So was Captain Delmer S. +Fahrney, head of the Navy guided-missile program. Fahrney was at Point +Mugu, missile-testing base in California, and I wasn't able to see +him. But I knew him as a careful, conscientious officer; I can't +believe he would let such a device, piloted or not, hover over an Air +Force base with no warning to its C.O. + +I saw Admiral Bolster. His denial seemed genuine; unless he'd got to +be a dead-pan poker player since our earlier days, I was sure he was +telling the truth. + +The only other alternate was Russia. It was incredible that they would +develop such a device and then expose it to the gaze of U.S. Air Force +officers. It could be photographed, its speed and maneuverability +checked; it might crash, or antiaircraft fire might bring it down, The +secret might be lost in one such test flight. + +There was one other explanation: The thing was not intended to be +seen; it had got out of control. In this event; the long hovering +period at Godman Field was caused by the need for repairs inside the +flying saucer, or repairs to remote-control apparatus. + +If it were Air Force or Navy, that would explain official concern; +even if completely free of negligence, the service responsible would +be blamed for Mantell's death. If it were Russian, the Air Force would +of course try to conceal the fact for fear of public hysteria. + +But if the device was American, it meant that Project + +{p. 45} + +"Saucer" was a cover-up unit. While pretending to investigate, it +would actually hush up reports, make false explanations, and safeguard +the secret in every possible way. Also, the reported order for Air +Force pilots to pursue the disks would have to be a fake. Instead, +there would be a secret order telling them to avoid strange objects in +the sky. + +By the time I finished my check-up, I was sure of one thing: This +particular saucer had been real. + +I was almost positive of one other point-that the thing had been over +30 miles high during part of its flight. I found that after Mantell's +death it was reported simultaneously from Madisonville, Elizabethtown, +and Lexington--over a distance of 175 miles. (Professor Hynek's +analysis later confirmed this.) + +How low it had been while hovering over Godman, and during Mantell's +chase, there was no way to determine. But all the evidence pointed to +a swift ascent after Mantell's last report. + +Had Mantell told Godman Tower more than the Air Force admitted? I went +back to the Pentagon and asked for a full transcript of the flight +leader's radio messages. I got a quick turn-down. The reports, I was +told, were still classified as secret. Requests for pictures of the +P-51 wreckage, and for a report on the condition of Mantell's body, +also drew a blank. I had heard that some photographs were taken of the +Godman Field saucer from outside the tower. But the Air Force denied +knowledge of any such pictures. + +Puzzling over the riddle, I remembered John Steele, the former +Intelligence captain. If by any chance he was a plant, it would be +interesting to suggest the various answers and watch his reaction. +When I phoned him to suggest luncheon, Steele accepted at once. We met +at the Occidental, on Pennsylvania Avenue. Steele was younger than I +had expected--not over twenty-five. He was a tall man, with a crew +haircut and the build of a football player. Looking at him the first +time, I expected a certain breeziness. instead, he was almost solemn. + +"I owe you an apology," he said in a careful voice after + +{p. 46} + +we'd ordered. "You probably know I'm a syndicate writer?" + +I wondered if he'd found out Jack Daly was checking on him. + +"When you mentioned the Press Club," I said, "I gathered you were in +the business." + +"I'm afraid you thought I was fishing for a lead." Steele looked at me +earnestly. "I'm not working on the story--I'm tied up on other stuff." + +"Forget it," I told him. + +He seemed anxious to reassure me. "I'd been worried for some time +about the saucers. I called you that night on an impulse." + +"Glad you did," I said. "I need every tip I can get." + +"Did it help you any?" + +"Yes, though it still doesn't fit together. But I can tell you this: +The saucers are real, or at least one of them." + +"Which one?" + +"The thing Captain Mantell was chasing near Fort Knox, before he +died." + +"Oh, that one." Steele looked down at the roll he was buttering. "I +thought that case was fully explained. Wasn't he chasing a balloon?" + +"The Air Force says it's still unidentified." I told him what I had +learned. "Apparently you're right--it's either an American or a Soviet +missile." + +"After what you've told me," said Steele, "I can't believe it's ours. +It must be Russian." + +"They'd be pretty stupid to test it over here." + +"You said it was probably out of control." + +"That particular one, maybe. But there have been several hundred seen +over here. If they found their controls were haywire, they wouldn't +keep testing the things until they'd corrected that." + +The waiter came with the soup, and Steele was silent until he left. + +"I still can't believe it's our weapon," he said slowly. "They +wouldn't have Air Force pilots alerted to chase the things. And I +happen to how they do." + +"There's something queer about this missile angle," I said. "That +saucer was seen at the same time by people a + +{p. 47} + +hundred and seventy-five miles apart. To be that high in the sky, and +still look more than two hundred and fifty feet in diameter, it must +have been enormous." + +Steele didn't answer for a moment. + +"Obviously, that was an illusion," he finally answered. "I'd discount +those estimates." + +"Even Mantell's? And the Godman Field officers'?" + +"Not knowing the thing's height, how could they judge accurately?" + +"To be seen at points that far apart, it had to be over thirty miles +high," I told him. "It would have to be huge to show up at all." + +He shook his head. "I can't believe those reports are right. It must +have been sighted at different times." + +I let it drop. + +"What are you working on now?" Steele asked, after a minute or two. + +I said I hadn't decided. Actually, I planned a trip to the coast, to +interview pilots who had sighted flying disks. + +"What would you do if you found it wasn't a Soviet missile?" said +Steele. He sounded almost too casual. + +"If security was involved, I'd keep still. But the Air Force and the +Navy swear they haven't any such things." + +Steele looked at me thoughtfully. + +"You know, True might force something into the open that would be +better left secret." He smiled ironically. "I realize that sounds +peculiar, since I suggested the Russian angle. But if it isn't +Russian--though I still think it is--then we have nothing to worry +about." + +I was almost sure now that he was a plant. During the rest of the +luncheon, I tried to draw him out, but Steele was through talking. +When we parted, he gave me a sober warning. + +"You and True should consider your moral responsibility, no matter +what you find. Even if it's not actual security, there may be reasons +to keep still." + +After he left me, I tried to figure it out. If the Air Force was back +of this, they must not think much of my intelligence. Or else they had +been in such a hurry to get a line on True's investigation that they +had no choice but + +{p. 48} + +to use Steele. Of course, it was still possible he was doing this on +his own, + +Either way, his purpose was obvious. He hoped to have us swallow the +Soviet-missile answer. If we did, then we would have to keep still, +even though we found absolute proof. Obviously, it would be dangerous +to print that story. + +Thinking back, I recalled Steele's apparent attempt to dismiss the +Mantell case. I was convinced now. The Godman Field affair must hold +an important clue that I had overlooked. It might even be the key to +the whole flying saucer riddle. + +{p. 49} + + + + CHAPTER VI + +SHORTLY after my talk with Steele, I flew to the Coast. For three +weeks I investigated sightings that had been reported by airline and +private pilots and other competent witnesses. + +At first, the airline pilots were reluctant to talk. Most of them +remembered the ridicule that had followed published accounts by other +airline men. One pilot told me he had been ordered to keep still about +his experience--whether by the company or the Air Force, he would not +say. But most of them finally agreed to talk, if I kept their names +out of print. + +One airline captain--I'll call him Blake--had encountered a saucer at +night. He and his copilot had sighted the object, gleaming, in the +moonlight, half a mile to their left. + +"We were at about twelve thousand feet," he said, when we saw this +thing pacing us. It didn't have any running lights, but we could see +the moonlight reflecting from something like bright metal. There was a +glow along the side, like some kind of light, or exhaust." + +"Could you make out the shape?" I asked. + +Blake grinned crookedly. "You think we didn't try? I cut in toward it. +It turned in the same direction. I pulled up about three hundred feet, +and it did the same. Finally, I opened my throttles and cut in fast, +intending to pull tip if we got too close. I needn't have worried. The +thing let out a burst of reddish flame and streaked up out of sight. +It was gone in a few seconds." + +"Then it must have been piloted," I said. + +"If not, it had some kind of radar-responder unit to make it veer off +when anything got near it. It matched every move I made, until the +last one." + +I asked him what he thought the saucer was. Blake hesitated, then he +gave me a slow grin. + +"Well, my copilot thinks it was a space ship. He says no pilot here on +earth could take that many G's, when the thing zoomed." + +{p. 50} + +I'd heard some "men from Mars" opinions about the saucers, but this +was an experienced pilot. + +"You don't believe that?" I said. + +"No," Blake said. "I figure it was some new type of guided missile. If +it took as many G's as Chuck, my copilot, thinks, then it must have +been on a beam and remote-controlled." + +Later, I found two other pilots who had the same idea as Chuck. One +captain was afraid the flying saucers were Russian; his copilot +thought they were Air Force or Navy. I met one airline official who +was indignant about testing such missiles near the airways. + +"Even if they do have some device to make them veer off," he said, "I +think it's a risk. There'll be hell to pay if one ever hits an +airliner." + +"They've been flying around for two years," a line pilot pointed out. +"Nobody's had a close call yet. I don't think there's much danger." + +When I left the Coast, I flew to New York. Ken Purdy called in John +DuBarry, True's aviation editor, to hear the details. Purdy called him +"John the Skeptic." After I told them what I had learned Purdy nodded. + +"What do you think the saucers are?" asked DuBarry. + +"They must be guided missiles," I said, "but it leaves some queer gaps +in the picture." + +I had made up a list of possible answers, and I read it to them: + +"One, the saucers don't exist. They're caused by mistakes, hysteria, +and so on. Two, they're Russian guided missiles. Three, they're +American guided missiles. Four, the whole thing is a hoax, a +psychological-warfare trick." + +"You mean a trick of ours?" said Purdy. + +"Sure, to make the Soviets think we could reach them with a guided +missile. But I don't think that's the answer--I just listed it as a +possibility." + +DuBarry considered this thoughtfully. + +"In the first place, you'd have to bring thousands of people into the +scheme, so the disks would be reported often enough to get publicity. +You'd have to have some kind of device, maybe something launched from +highflying bombers, to give the rumors substance. They'd + +{p. 51} + +certainly do a better job than this, to put it over. And it wouldn't +explain the world-wide sightings. Also, Captain Mantell wouldn't kill +himself just to carry out an official hoax." + +"John's right," said Purdy. "Anyway, it's too ponderous. It would leak +like a sieve, and the dumbest Soviet agent would see through it." + +He looked back at my list. "Cross off Number One, There's too much +competent testimony, beside the obvious fact that something's being +covered up." + +"That leaves Russian or American missiles," I said, "as Steele first +suggested. But there are some points that just won't fit the missile +theory." + +"You've left out one answer," said Purdy. + +"What's that?" + +"Interplanetary." + +"You're kidding!" I said. + +"I didn't say I believed it," said Purdy. "I just say it's possible." + +DuBarry was watching me. "I know how you feel. That's how it hit me +when Ken first said it," + +"I've heard it before," I said. "But I never took it seriously." + +"Maybe this will interest you," Purdy said. He gave me a note from Sam +Boal: + +"Just talked with D-------," the note ran. (D------- is a prominent +aeronautical engineer, the designer of a world-famous plane.) "He +believes the disks may be interplanetary and that the Air Force knows +it--or at least suspects it. I'm enclosing sketches showing how he +thinks the disks operate." + +"He's not the first one who told us that," said Purdy. "We've heard +the same thing from other engineers. Over a dozen airline pilots think +they're coining from out in space. And there's a rocket expert at +Wright Field who's warned Project 'Saucer' that the things are +interplanetary. That's why I'm not writing it off." + +"Have you read the Project 'Saucer' ideas on space travel?" DuBarry +asked me. I told him my copy hadn't reached me. He read me some marked +paragraphs in his copy of the preliminary report: + +{p. 52} + +"'There has been speculation that the aerial phenomena might actually +be some form of penetration from another planet . . . the existence of +intelligent life on Mars is not impossible but is completely unproven +. . . the possibility of intelligent life on the Planet Venus is not +considered completely unreasonable by astronomers . . . Scientists +concede that living organisms might develop in chemical environments +which are strange to us . . . in the next fifty years we will almost +certainly start exploring space . . . the chance of space travelers +existing at planets attached to neighboring stars is very much greater +than the chance of space-traveling Martians. The one can be viewed as +almost a certainty . . .'" + +DuBarry handed me the report. "Here--I practically know it by heart. +Take it with you. You can send it back later." + +"I know the space-travel idea sounds silly at first," said Purdy, "but +it's the only answer that explains all the sightings-especially those +in the last century." + +He asked DuBarry to give me their file of historic reports. While John +was getting it, Purdy went on: + +"Be careful about this man Steele. After what he said about 'moral +responsibility' I'm sure he's planted." + +I thought back to Steele's warning. I told Purdy: "If he had the space +thing in mind, maybe he's right. It could set off a panic that would +make that Orson Welles thing look like a picnic." + +"Certainly it could," Purdy said. "We'd have to handle it carefully-if +it turned out to be the truth. But I think the Air Force is making a +mistake, if that's what they're hiding. It could break the wrong way +and be serious." + +John DuBarry came back with the file of old reports. + +"It might interest you to know," he said, "that the Air Force checked +all these old sightings too." + +The idea was still a difficult one for me to believe. + +"Those space-travel suggestions might be a trick," I said. "The Air +Force may be hinting at that to hide the guided-missile secret." + +"Yes, but later on they deny the space thing," said Purdy. "It looks +as if they're trying to put people on guard and then play it down, so +they won't get scared." + +{p. 53} + +As I put the historic reports file in my brief case, Purdy handed me a +letter from an investigator named Hilton, who had been working in the +Southwest. I skimmed over his letter. + +Hilton had heard of some unusual night sightings in New Mexico. The +story had been hushed up, but he had learned some details from a pilot +at Albuquerque. + +One of these mysterious "flying lights" had been seen at Las Vegas, on +December 8, 1948--just one month before Mantell was killed in +Kentucky. It was too dark to make out the shape behind the light, but +all witnesses had agreed on its performance. The thing had climbed at +tremendous speed, its upward motion shown by a bright green light. +Though the green glow was much brighter than a plane's running light, +all plane schedules were carefully checked. + +"I think they were trying to pin it on a jet fighter," the Albuquerque +pilot told Hilton. "But there weren't any jets near there. Anyway, the +thing climbed too fast. It must have been making close to nine hundred +miles an hour." + +The Air Force had also checked balloon release times--apparently just +for the record, since no balloon could even approach the saucer's +terrific ascent. Again, they drew a blank. + +"From the way this was hushed up," Hilton commented, "they seem to be +worried about this group of sightings. I've heard two reports that the +F.B.I. is tied into the deal somehow, but that's as far as I can get." + +"See if you can get any lead on that," Purdy told me. "That F.B.I. +business puzzles me. Where would they come in?" + +I said I would try to find out. But it was almost four months before +we learned the answer: The F.B.I. men had been witnesses. (This was +later admitted in an obscure cross-reference in the final Project +"Saucer" report. But all official answers to the strange green-light +sightings had been carefully omitted. The cases concerned were 223, +224, 225, 226, 227, 230, and 231, which will be discussed later.) + +{p. 54} + +"When you go back to Washington," said Purdy, "see what reaction you +get to the interplanetary idea." + +I had a pretty good idea what the reaction would be, but I nodded. +"O.K. I'll go flag a space ship and be on my way." + +"O.K.--gag it up," said Purdy. "But don't sell it short, If by any +chance it's true, it'll be the biggest story since the birth of +Christ." + +{p. 55} + + + + CHAPTER VII + +IT WAS DARK when the airliner limousine reached La Guardia Field. I +had intended taking an earlier plane, but DuBarry persuaded me to stay +over for dinner. + +We dropped into the Algonquin, next door to True's office building. +Halfway through dinner, I asked John what he thought of the +space-travel answer. + +"Oh, it's possible," he said cautiously. "The time and space angles +make it hard to take, but if we're planning to explore space within +fifty years, there's no reason some other planet people couldn't do +it. Of course, if they've been observing us for over a century, as +those old sightings seem to indicate, they must be far ahead of us, at +least in technical progress." + +Later on, he said thoughtfully, "Even though it's possible, I hate to +think it's the answer. just imagine the impact on the world. We'd have +to reorient our whole lives--and things are complicated enough +already." + +Standing at the gate, waiting for my plane to be called, I thought +over that angle. Assuming that space travel was the solution--which I +still couldn't believe-what would be the effect on the world? + +It was a hard thing to picture. So much depended on the visitors from +space. What would their purpose be? Would they be peaceful or hostile? +Why had they been observing the earth so intensively in the past few +years? + +I could think of a hundred questions. What would the space people be +like? Would they be similar to men and women on earth, or some +fearsome Buck Rogerish creatures who would terrify the average +American--including myself? + +It was obvious they would be far superior to us in many ways. But +their civilization might be entirely different. Evolution might have +developed their minds, and possibly their bodies, along lines we +couldn't even grasp. Perhaps we couldn't even communicate with them. + +What would be the net effect of making contact with beings from a +distant planet? Would earthlings be terrified, + +{p. 56} + +or, if it seemed a peaceful exploration, would we bc intrigued by the +thought of a great adventure? It would depend entirely on the space +visitors' motives, and how the world was prepared for such a +revelation. + +The more I thought about it, the more fantastic thc thing seemed. + +And yet it hadn't been too long since airplane flight was considered +an idiot's dream. This scene here at La Guardia would have seemed pure +fantasy in 1900--thc huge Constellations and DC-6's; the double-decked +Stratocruisers, sweeping in from all over the country; the big ships +at Pan-American, taking off for points all over the globe. We'd come a +long way in the forty-six years since the Wright brothers' first +flight. + +But space travel! + +The gateman checked my ticket, and I went out to the Washington plane. +It was a luxury ship, a fifty-two-passenger, four-engined DC-6, +scheduled to be in the capital one hour after take-off. By morning +this plane, the Aztec, would be in Mexico City. + +The couple going up the gangway ahead of me were in their late +sixties. Fifty years ago, what would they have said if someone had +predicted this flight? The answer to that was easy; at that time, +high-school songbooks featured a well-known piece entitled "Darius +Green and His Flying Machine." Darius, it seems, was a simple-minded +lad who actually thought he could fly. + +Fifty years. That was the time the Air Force had estimated it would +take us to start exploring space. Would Americans come to accept space +travel as matter-of-factly as the people now boarding this plane? The +youngsters would, probably; the older ones, as a rule, would be a +little more cautious. + +In the oval lounge at the rear of the plane, I took out the file of +old sighting reports. Glancing through it, I, saw excerpts from +nineteenth-century astronomical and scientific journals and extracts +from official gazettes. Most of the early sightings had been in Great +Britain and on the Continent, with a few reports scattered around the +world. The American reports did not begin until the latter part of the +century. + +{p. 57} + +The DC-6 rolled out and took off. For a few minutes I + +watched the lights of Manhattan and Greater New York twinkling below. +The Empire State Building tower was still above us, as the plane +banked over the East River. + +We climbed quickly, and the familiar outline of Manhattan took shape +like a map pin-pointed with millions of lights. + +Any large city seen from the air at night has a certain magic, New +York most of all. Looking down, I thought: What would a spaceman +think, seeing this brilliantly lighted city, the towering skyscrapers? +Would other planets have such cities, or would it be something new and +puzzling to a visitor from space? + +Turning back to the old reports, I skipped through until I found the +American sightings. One of the first was an incident at Bonham, Texas, +in the summer of 1873. + +It was broad daylight when a strange, fast-moving object appeared in +the sky, southwest of the town. For a moment, the people of Bonham +stared at the thing, not believing their eves. The only flying device +then known was the drifting balloon. But this thing was tremendous, +and speeding so fast its outlines were almost a blur. + +Terrified farmers dived under their wagons. Townspeople fled indoors. +Only a few hardy souls remained in the streets. The mysterious object +circled Bonham twice, then raced off to the cast and vanished. +Descriptions of the strange machine varied from round or oval to +cigar-shaped. (The details of the Bonham sighting were later confirmed +for me by Frank Edwards, Mutual network newscaster, who investigated +this case.) + +Twenty-four hours after the Bonham incident, a device of the same +description appeared at Fort Scott, Kansas. Panic-stricken soldiers +fled the parade ground as the thing flashed overhead. In a few seconds +it disappeared, circling toward the north. + +Until now, I had supposed that the term "saucer" was original with +Kenneth Arnold. Actually, the first to compare a flying object with a +saucer was John Martin, a farmer who lived near Denison, Texas. The +Denison Daily News of January 25, 1878, gives the following account: + +{p. 58} + +From Mr. John Martin, a farmer who lives some six miles south of this + city, we learn the following strange story: Tuesday morning while + out hunting, his attention was directed to a dark object high up + in the southern sky. The peculiar shape and velocity with which + the object seemed to approach riveted his attention and he + strained his eves to discover its character. + When first noticed, it appeared to be about the size of an orange, + which continued to grow in size. After gazing at it for some time + Mr. Martin became blind from long looking and left off viewing it + for a time in order to rest his eyes. On resuming his view, the + object was almost overhead and had increased considerably in size, + and appeared to be going through space at wonderful speed. + When directly over him it was about the size of a large saucer and + was evidently at great height. Mr. Martin thought it resembled, as + well as he could judge, a balloon. It went as rapidly as it had + come and was soon lost to sight in the heavenly skies. Mr. Martin + is a gentleman of undoubted veracity and this strange occurrence, + if it was not a balloon, deserves the attention of our scientists. + +In the file, I saw a memo DuBarry had written: + +"I would take the very early reports with caution. For instance, the +one on August 9, 1762, which describes an odd, spindle-shaped body +traveling at high speed toward the sun. I recall that Charles Fort +accepted this, along with other early sightings, as evidence of space +ships. But this particular thing might have been a meteor--meteors as +such were almost unknown then. The later reports are more convincing, +and it is also easier to check the sources, especially those from 1870 +on." + +From 1762 to 1870, the reports were meager. Some described mysterious +lights in the sky; a few mentioned round objects seen in daylight. +Even though they were not so fully documented as later ones, one point +struck me. In those days, there was no telegraph, telephone, or radio +to spread news rapidly and start a flood of rumors. {p. 59} A sighting +in Scotland could not be the cause of a similar one two days later in +the south of France. + +Beginning in 870, there was a series of reports that went on to the +turn of the century. In the London Times, September 26, 1870, there +was a description of a queer object that was seen crossing the moon. +It was reported as elliptical, with some kind of tail, and it took +almost thirty seconds to complete its passage of the moon. Then in +1871, a large, round body was sighted above Marseilles, France. This +was on August 1. It moved slowly across the sky, apparently at great +height, and was visible about fifteen minutes. + +On March 22, 1880, several brilliantly luminous objects were reported +seen at Kattenau, Germany. Sighted just before sunrise, they were +described as rising from the horizon and moving from east to west. The +account was published in the British Nature Magazine, Volume 22, page +64. + +The next report in the file mentioned briefly a strange round object +seen in the skies over Bermuda. The source for this account was the +Bermuda Royal Gazette. This was in 1885. That same year, an astronomer +and other witnesses reported a gigantic aerial object at Adrianople, +Turkey. On November 1, the weird apparition was seen moving across the +sky. Observers described it as round and four to five times the size +of the moon. + +This estimate is similar to the Denison, Texas, comparison with an +orange. The object would actually be huge to be seen at any great +height. But unless the true height were known, any estimate of size +would be guesswork. + +On March 19, 1887, two strange objects fell into the sea near a Dutch +barkentine. As described by the skipper, Captain C. D. Sweet, one of +the objects was dark, the other brightly luminous. The glowing object +fell with a loud roaring sound; the shipmaster was positive it was not +a meteor. + +In New Zealand, a year later, an oval-shaped disk was reported +speeding high overhead. This was on May 4, 1888. About two years after +this, several large aerial bodies were sighted hovering over the Dutch +East Indies. {p. 60} Most accounts described them as roughly +triangular, about one hundred feet on the base and two hundred feet on +the sides. But some observers thought they might be longer and +narrower, with a rounded base; this would make them agree with more +recent stories of cone-shaped objects with rounded tops seen in +American skies. + +On August 26, 1894, a British admiral reported sighting a large disk +with a projection like a tail. And a year after this, both England and +Scotland buzzed with stories of triangular-shaped objects like those +seen in the Dutch East Indies. Although many officials scoffed at the +stories, more than one astronomer stuck to his belief that the +mysterious things might be coming from outer space. Since planes and +dirigibles were then unknown, there was no one on earth who could have +been responsible for them. + +In 1897, sightings in the United States began to be more frequent. One +of the strangest reports describes an incident that began on April 9. +Flying at a great height, a huge cigar-shaped device was seen in the +Midwest. Short wings projected from the sides of the object, according +to reports of astronomers who watched it through telescopes. + +For almost a week, the aerial visitor was sighted around the Midwest, +as far south as St. Louis and as far west as Colorado. Several times, +red, green, and white lights were seen to flash in the sky; some +witnesses thought the crew of this strange craft might be trying to +signal the earth. + +On April 16, the thing, whatever it was, disappeared from the Midwest. +But on April 19, the same object--or else a similar one--appeared over +West Virginia. Early that morning the town of Sisterville was awakened +by blasts of the sawmill whistle. Those who went outside their homes +saw a strange sight. From a torpedo-shaped object overhead, dazzling +searchlights were pointing downward, sweeping the countryside. The +thing appeared to be about two hundred feet long, some thirty feet in +diameter, with stubby wings and red and green lights along the sides. +For almost ten minutes the aerial visitor circled the town, then it +swung eastward and vanished. + +The next report was published in the U.S. Weather Bureau's monthly +Weather Review. On page 115 in the + +{p. 61} + +March 1904 issue, there is an account of an odd sighting at sea. On +February 24, 1904, a mysterious light had been seen above the Atlantic +by crew members of the U.S.S. Supply. It was moving swiftly, and +evidently at high altitude. The report was attested by Lieutenant +Frank H. Schofield, U.S.N. + +On July 2, 1907, a mysterious explosion occurred, in the heavens near +Burlington, Vermont. Some witnesses described a strange, +torpedo-shaped device circling above. Shortly after it was seen, a +round, luminous object flashed down from the sky, then exploded, +(Weather Review, 1907, page 310.) + +Another cigar-shaped craft was reported at a low altitude over +Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1905. Like the one at Sisterville, it +carried searchlights, which swept back and forth across the +countryside. After a few moments, the visitor rose in a steep climb, +and the searchlights blinked out. + +There was no report for 1909 in America, though an odd aerial object +was sighted near the Galapagos Islands. But in 1910, one January +morning, a large silvery cigar-shaped device startled Chattanooga. +After about five minutes, the thing sped away, appearing over +Huntsville, Alabama, shortly afterward. It made a second appearance +over Chattanooga the next day, then headed east and was never seen +again. + +In Popular Astronomy, January 27, 1012, a Dr. F. B. Harris described +an intensely black object that he saw crossing the moon. As nearly as +he could tell, it was gigantic in size--though again there was no way +to be sure of its distance from him or the moon. With careful +understatement, Dr. Harris said, "I think a very interesting and +curious phenomenon happened that night." + +A strange shadow was noted on the clouds at Fort Worth, Texas, on +April 8, 19, 3. It appeared to be caused by some large body hovering +motionless above the clouds. As the cloud layer moved, the shadow +remained in the same position. Then it changed size, diminishing, and +quickly disappeared, as if it had risen vertically. A report on this +was given in the Weather Bureau Review of that year, Number 4-599 + +{p. 62} + +By 1919, dirigibles were of course well known to most of the world. +When a dirigible-shaped object appeared over Huntington, West +Virginia, in July of that year, there was no great alarm. It was +believed to be an American blimp, though the darkness--it was eleven +at night--prevented observers from being sure. But a later check-up +proved it was not an American ship, nor was it from any country +possessing such craft. + +For some time after this, there were few authentic reports. Then in +1934, Nicholas Roerich, head of the American-Roerich expedition into +Tibet, had a remarkable experience that bears on the saucer riddle. + +On pages 361 and 362 of his book Altai Himalaya, Roerich describes the +incident. The expedition party was in the wilds of Tibet one morning +when a porter noticed the peculiar actions of a buzzard overhead. He +called Roerich's attention to it; then they all saw something high in +the sky, moving at great speed from north to south. Watching it +through binoculars, Roerich saw it was oval-shaped, obviously of huge +size, and reflecting the sun's rays like brightly polished metal. +While he trailed it with his glasses, the object suddenly changed +direction, from south to southwest. It was gone in a few moments. + +This was the last sighting listed before World War II. + +When I had finished, I stared out the plane window, curiously +disturbed. Like most people, I had grown up believing the earth was +the center of everything--life, intelligence, and religion. Now, for +the first time in my life, that belief was shaken. + +It was a curious thing. I could accept the idea that we would +eventually explore space, land on the moon, and go on to distant +planets. I had read of the plans, and I knew our engineers and +scientists would somehow find a way. It did not disturb my belief in +our superiority. + +But faced with this evidence of a superior race in the universe, my +mind rebelled. For years, I had been accustomed to thinking in +comic-strip terms of any possible spacemen--Buck Rogers stuff, with +weird-looking space ships and green-faced Martians. + +But now, if these sightings were true, the shoe was on the other foot. +We would be faced with a race of beings + +{p. 63} + +at least two hundred years ahead of our civilization--perhaps +thousands. In their eyes, we might look like primitives. + +My conjectures before the take-off had just been idle thinking; I had +not really believed this could be the answer. But now the question +came back sharply. How would we react to a sudden appearance of space +ships, bringing that higher race to the earth? If we were fully +prepared, educated to this tremendous adventure, it might come off +without trouble. Unprepared, we would be thrown into panic. + +The lights of Philadelphia showed up ahead, and a thought struck me. +What would Philadelphians of 1776 have thought to see this DC-6 flying +across their city at three hundred miles an hour? What would the +sentries at Valley Forge have done, a year later, if this lighted +airliner had streaked over their heads? + +Madness. Stampede. Those were the plain answers. + +But there was a difference now. We had had modern miracles, radio, +television, supersonic planes, and the promise of still more miracles. +We could be educated, or at least partly prepared, to accept space +visitors. + +In fifty years we had learned to fly. In fifty years more, we would be +exploring space. Why should we believe such creative intelligence was +limited to the earth? It would be incredible if the earth, out of all +the millions of planets, proved the only inhabited spot in the whole +universe. + +But, instinctively, I still fought against believing that the flying +saucers were space ships. Eventually, we would make contact with races +on other planets; they undoubtedly would someday visit the earth. But +if it could be put off . . . a problem for later generations to handle +. . . + +If the disks proved American guided missiles, it would be an easier +answer. + +Looking through the Project "Saucer" report DuBarry had loaned me, I +read the space-travel items, hoping to find some hint that this was a +smoke screen. On page 18, in a discussion on Mars, I found this +comment: + +"Reports of strange objects seen in the skies have been handed down +through the generations. However, scientists believe that if Martians +were now visiting the earth + +{p. 64} + +without establishing contact, it could be assumed that they have just +recently succeeded in space travel, and that their civilization would +be practically abreast of ours. This because they find it hard to +believe that any technically established race would come here, flaunt +its ability in mysterious ways over the years, but each time simply go +way without ever establishing contact." + +There could be several answers to that. The Martians might not be able +to live in our atmosphere, except in their sealed space ships. They, +or some other planet race, could have observed us periodically to +check on our slow progress. Until we began to approach their level of +civilization, or in some way caused them concern, they would probably +see no reason for trying to make contact. But somehow I found a vague +comfort in the argument, full of holes though it was. + +Searching further, I found other space-travel comments. On one page, +the Air Force admitted it was almost a certainty that space travelers +would be operating from planets outside the solar system. But on the +following page, I discovered this sentence: "Thus, although visits +from outer space are believed to be possible, they are thought to be +highly improbable." + +What was the answer? Was this just a wandering discussion of +possibilities, badly put together, or was it a hint of the truth? it +could be the first step in preparing America for a revelation. It +could also be a carefully thought-out trick. + +This whole report might be designed to conceal a secret weapon. If the +Air Force or the Navy did have a secret missile, what better way to +distract attention? The old sighting reports could have been seized on +as a buildup for space travel hints. + +Then suddenly it hit me. + +Even if it were a smoke screen, what of those old reports? + +They still remained to be answered. There was only one possible +explanation, unless you discarded the sightings as lies. That meant +discrediting many reliable witnesses--naval officers, merchant +shipmasters, explorers, astronomers, ministers, and responsible public +officials. {p. 65} Besides all these, there had been thousands of +other witnesses, where large groups had seen the objects. + +The answer seemed inevitable, but I held it off. I didn't want to +believe it, with all the changes it might bring, the unpredictable +effect upon our civilization. + +If I kept on checking I might find evidence that would bring a +different explanation for the present saucers. + +DuBarry had put another group of reports in the envelope; this series +covered the World War II phase and on up to the outbreak of the saucer +scare in the United States. Some of it, about the foo fighters, I +already knew. This was tied in with the mystery rockets reported over +Sweden. The first Swedish sightings had occurred during the early part +of the war. Most of the so-called "ghost rockets" were seen at night, +moving at tremendous speed. Since they came from the direction of +Germany, most Swedes believed that guided rockets were the answer. + +During the summer of 1946, after the Russians had taken over +Peenemunde, the Nazi missile test base, ghost rockets again were +reported flying over Sweden. Some were said to double back and fly +into Soviet areas. Practically all were seen at night, and therefore +none had been described as a flying disk. Instead, they were said to +be colored lights, red, green, blue, and orange, often blurred from +their high speed. + +But there was a puzzling complication. Mystery lights, and sometimes +flying disks, were simultaneously reported over Greece, Portugal, +Turkey, Spain, and even French Morocco. Either there were two answers, +or some nation had developed missiles with an incredibly long range. + +By January 1947, ghost-rocket sightings in Europe had diminished to +less than one a month. Oddly enough, the first disk report admitted by +Project "Saucer" was in this same month. The first '47 case detailed +by Project "Saucer" occurred at Richmond, Virginia. It was about the +middle of April. A Richmond weather observer had released a balloon +and was tracking it with a theodolite when a strange object crossed +his field of vision. He swung the theodolite and managed to track the +thing, despite its high speed. (The actual speed and altitude--the +latter determined by a comparison of the balloon's height at + +{p. 66} + +various times--have never been released. Nor has the Air Force +released this observer's report on the object's size, which Project +"Saucer" admitted was more accurate than most witnesses' estimates.) + +About the seventeenth of May 1947, a huge oval-shaped saucer ten times +longer than its diameter was sighted by Byron Savage, an Oklahoma City +pilot. Two days later, another fast-flying saucer was reported at +Manitou Springs, Colorado. In the short time it was observed, it was +seen to change direction twice, maneuvering at an unbelievable speed. + +Then on June 24 came Kenneth Arnold's famous report, which set off the +saucer scare. The rest of the story I now knew almost by heart. + +When the DC-6 landed at Washington, I had made one decision. Since it +was impossible to check up on most of the old sightings, I would +concentrate on certain recent reports--cases in which the objects had +been described as space ships. + +As I waited for a taxi, I looked up at the sky. It was a clear summer +night, without a single cloud. Beyond the low hill to the west I could +see the stars. + +I can still remember thinking, If it's true, then the stars will never +again seem the same. + +{p. 67} + + + + CHAPTER VIII + +NEXT MORNING, in the broad light of day, the idea of space visitors +somehow had lost its menace. If the disks were space ships, at least +they had shown no sign of hostility, so far as I knew. Of course, +there was Mantell; but if he had been downed by some weapon on the +disk, it could have been self-defense. In most cases, the saucers +retreated at the first sign of pursuit. + +My mind was still reluctant to accept the space-travel answer, in +spite of the old reports. But I kept thinking of the famous aircraft +designer who thought the disks were space craft; the airline pilots +Purdy had mentioned; Blake's copilot, Chuck. . . . + +Now that I recalled it, Blake had been more embarrassed than seemed +called for when he told about Chuck. Perhaps he had been the one who +believed the saucers were space ships, instead of his absent copilot. + +After breakfast, I went over the list of sightings since June 1947. +There were several saucers that actually had been described as +projectile-like ships. The most famous of all was the Eastern Airlines +case. + +It was 8:30 P.M., July 23, 1948, when an Eastern Airlines DC-3 took +off from Houston, Texas, on a flight to Atlanta and Boston. The +airliner captain was Clarence S. Chiles. During the war, he had been +in the Air Transport Command, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He +had 8,500 flying hours. His first officer was John B. Whitted, a +wartime pilot on B-29's. Both men were known in Eastern as careful, +conservative pilots. + +It was a bright, moonlit night, with scattered clouds overhead. The +DC-3 was twenty miles west of Montgomery, at 2:45 A.M., when a +brilliant projectile-like craft came hurtling along the airway. + +Chiles saw it first and took it to be a jet plane. But the next +instant both pilots saw that this was no jet fighter. + +"It was heading southwest," Chiles said later, "exactly opposite to +our course. Whatever it was, it flashed down toward us at terrific +speed. We veered to the left. It veered + +{p. 68} + +sharply, too, and passed us about seven hundred feet to the right. I +saw then that it had no wings." + +The mystery ship passed on Whitted's side, and he had a fairly close +look. + +"The thing was about one hundred feet long, cigar-shaped, and +wingless," he described it. "It was about twice the diameter of a +B-twenty-nine, with no protruding fins." + +Captain Chiles said the cabin appeared like a pilot compartment, +except for its eerie brilliance. Both he and Whitted agreed it was as +bright as a magnesium flare. They saw no occupants, but at their speed +this was not. surprising. + +"An intense dark-blue glow came from the side of the ship," Chiles +reported. (It was later suggested by engineers that the strange glare +could have come from a power plant of unusual type.) "It ran the +entire length of the fuselage--like a blue fluorescent light. The +exhaust was a red-orange flame, with a lighter color predominant +around the outer edges." + +Both pilots said the flame extended thirty to fifty feet behind the +ship. As it passed, Chiles noted a snout like a radar pole. Both he +and Whitted glimpsed two rows of windows. + +"Just as it went by," said Chiles, "the pilot pulled up as if he had +seen the DC-three and wanted to avoid its. There was a tremendous +burst of flame from the rear. It zoomed into the clouds, its jet wash +rocking our DC-three." + +Chiles's estimate of the mystery ship's speed was between five hundred +and seven hundred miles an hour. + +As the object vanished, Chiles went back into the cabin to check with +the passengers. Most had been asleep or were drowsing. But one man +confirmed that they were in their right senses. This passenger, +Clarence McKelvie of Columbus, Ohio, told them (and a Project "Saucer" +team later) that he had seen a brilliant streak of light flash past +his window. It had gone too swiftly for him to catch any details. + +The A.P. interviewed Mr. McKelvie soon after he landed, and ran the +following story: + +{p. 69} + +"Kennett Square, Pa., July 24 (AP) . Clarence L. McKelvie, assistant +managing editor of the American Education Press, said he was the only +passenger on the EAL Houston-Boston plane who was not asleep when the +phantom craft was sighted. + +"'I saw no shape or form,' Mr. McKelvie said. 'I was on the right side +of the plane, and suddenly I saw this strange eerie streak out of my +window. It was very intense, not like lightning or anything I had ever +seen.' + +"The Columbus man said he was too startled and the object moved too +quickly for him to adjust his eyes to it." + +In Washington, Air Force officials insisted they could shed no light +on the mystery. Out in Santa Monica, General George C. Kenney, then +chief of the Strategic Air Command, declared the Air Force had nothing +remotely like the ship described. + +"I wish we did," General Kenney told reporters. "I'd sure like to see +that." + +The publicized story of this "space ship" set off another scare--also +the usual cracks about screwball pilots. But Chiles and Whitted were +not screwballs; they were highly respected pilots. The passenger's +confirmation added weight. But even if all three had been considered +deluded, the Air Force investigators could not get around the reports +from Robbins Air Force Base. + +Just about one hour before the DC-3 incident, a strange flaming object +came racing southward through the night skies over Robbins Field, at +Macon, Georgia. Observers at the air base were astounded to see what +appeared to be a huge, wingless craft streak overhead, trailing a +varicolored exhaust. (The witnesses' description tallied with those of +Chiles and Whitted.) The mystery ship vanished swiftly; all observers +agreed that it disappeared from the line of sight just like a normal +aircraft. + +While I was working on this case, a contact in Washington gave me an +interesting tip. + +"Within forty-eight hours after that Eastern sighting, Air Force +engineers rushed out blueprint plans and elevations of the 'space +ship,' based on what the two pilots told them." + +Whether or not this was true, I found that the Air + +{p. 70} + +Force engineers did compute the probable speed and lift of the mystery +craft. The ship was found to be within the bounds of aerodynamic laws +for operations in our atmosphere. Here is the Air Force statement: + +"Application of the Prandtl theory of lift indicated that a fuselage +of the dimensions reported by Chiles and Whitted could support a load +comparable to the weight of an aircraft of this size, at flying speeds +in the sub-sonic range." (This supports Chiles's estimate of 500-700 +m.p.h.) + +Four days after the space-ship story was published, a Navy spokesman +was quoted as hinting it might have been a high-atmosphere rocket gone +astray from the proving grounds in New Mexico. The brief report +appeared on the editorial page of the Washington Star on July 28, +1947. It ran as follows: + +"The Navy says that naval technicians have been testing a +3,000-mile-per-hour rocket in New Mexico. If one went astray, it could +travel across our continent in a short time." + +At first glance I thought this might be the real answer to the +Chiles-Whitted case. But after a few minutes I saw it was almost +impossible. + +First, rockets at White Sands are launched and controlled with utmost +care. There have been no reported cases of such a long-distance +runaway. + +Second, if such a rocket had gone astray, it would certainly have +caused wild confusion at White Sands until they found where it landed. +Hundreds of people would have known about it; the story would be +certain to leak out. + +Third, such a rocket would have had to travel from White Sands to +Macon, Georgia, then circle around south of this city for over forty +minutes. (If it had kept on at the speed observed at Robbins Field, it +would have passed Montgomery long before the DC-3 reached the area.) +In addition, the rocket would have had to veer sharply away from the +airliner, as both pilots testified, and then zoom into the clouds. No +high-atmosphere test rocket has automatic controls such as this would +require. {p. 71} And if it had gone astray from White Sands, the +station's remote control would no longer be guiding it. + +The Eastern Airlines "space ship," then, was not just a fugitive +rocket. But it could be a new type of aircraft, something +revolutionary, developed in absolute secrecy. + +Other airline pilots had reported flying disks racing along the +airways, though none that I knew of had described projectile-like +objects. Chiles and Whitted insisted the mystery ship was not a disk, +and the report from Robbins Field agreed on this point. Man-made +devices or not, it seemed fairly certain there was more than one type +of saucer. + +The more I studied the evidence, the harder it was to believe that +this was an earth-made ship. Such a wingless rocket ship would require +tremendous jet power to keep it in the air. Even our latest jet +bombers could not begin to approach its performance. + +Going back over the Project "Saucer" preliminary report, I found +strong evidence that the Air Force was worried. In their +investigation, Project teams had screened 225 military and civilian +flight schedules. After nine months, they reported that the mysterious +object was no conventional aircraft. + +On April 27, 1949, the Air Force admitted that Project "Saucer" had +failed to find the answer. The "space ship" was officially listed as +unidentified. + +"But Wright Field is still working on it," an Air Force officer told +me. "Both Chiles and Whitted are responsible pilots, and McKelvie has +a reputation for making careful statements. Even without the Robbins +Field confirmation, no one could doubt that they saw something." + +The Chiles-Whitted "space ship" was not the first of this type to be +reported. Another wingless aircraft was sighted in August 1947, by two +pilots for an Alabama flying service. It was at Bethel, Alabama, just +after sunset, when a huge black wingless craft swept across their +course. Silhouetted against the evening sky, it loomed larger than a +C-54. The pilots saw no wings, motors, or jet exhausts. + +Swinging in behind the mystery ship, they attempted to follow. But at +their speed of 170 m.p.h. they were quickly outdistanced. Careful +checking showed there were no + +{p. 72} + +other planes nearby that could have been mistaken for this strange +craft. + +On New Year's Day, 1948, a similar rocket-shaped object was sighted at +Jackson, Mississippi. It was first seen by a former Air Force pilot +and his passenger, and later by witnesses on the ground. Before the +pilot could begin to close in, the odd wingless ship pulled away. +Speeding up from 200 to 500 m.p.h., it swiftly disappeared. + +Besides these two cases, already on record, I had the tips Purdy had +given me. One wingless ship was supposed to have been seen three or +four days before the Chiles-Whitted sighting; like the thing they +reported, the unidentified craft was a double-decked "space ship" but +moving at even higher speed. At first I ran into a stone wall trying +to check this story. Then I found a lead conforming that this was a +foreign report. It finally proved to be from The Hague. + +The tip had been right. This double-decked, wingless ship had been +sighted on July 20, 1948--four days before the Eastern case. Witnesses +had reported it at a high altitude, moving at fantastic speed. + +While working on this report, I verified another tip. We had heard a +rumor of a space-ship sighting at Clark Field, in the Philippine +Islands. Although I didn't learn the date, I found that there was such +a record. + +(In the final Project "Saucer" report, the attempt to explain away +this sighting was painfully evident. Analyzing this case, Number 206, +the Air Force said: "If the facts are correct, there is no +astronomical explanation. A few points favor the daytime meteor +hypothesis--snow-white color, speed faster than a jet, the roar, +similarity to sky-writing and the time of day. But the tactics, if +really performed, oppose it strenuously: the maneuvers in and out of +cloud banks, turns of 180 degrees or more, Possibly these were +illusions, caused by seeing the object intermittently through clouds. +The impression of a fuselage with windows could even more easily have +been a sign of imagination." + +(With this conjecture, Project "Saucer" listed the sighting as +officially answered. The Hague space-ship case was unexplained.) + +{p. 73} + +In following up the Jackson and Bethel reports, I talked with two +officials in the Civil Aeronautics Administration. One of these was +Charley Planck, who handled public relations. I found that the pilots +concerned had good records; C.A.A. men who knew them discounted the +hoax theory. + +"Charley, there's a rumor that airline pilots have been ordered not to +talk," I told Planck. "You know anything about it?" + +"You mean ordered by the Air Force or the companies?" he said. + +"The Air Force and the C.A.A." + +"If the C.A.A.'s in on it, it's a top-level deal," said Charley. "I +think it's more likely the companies--with or without a nudge from the +Air Force." + +While we were talking, an official from another agency came in. +Because the lead he gave me was off the record, I'll call him Steve +Barrett. I knew Steve fairly well. We were both pilots with service +training; our paths had crossed during the war, and I saw him now and +then at airports around Washington. + +When the saucer scare first broke, Steve had been disgusted. "Damn +fools trying to get publicity," he snorted. "The way Americans fall +for a gag! Even the Air Force has got the jitters." + +So I was a little surprised to find he now thought the disks were +real. + +"What sold you?" I asked. + +"The radar reports," said Steve. "I know of half a dozen cases where +they've tracked the things. One was in Japan. The thing was climbing +so fast no one believed the radarmen at first. Then they got some more +reports. One was up in Canada. There was a case in New Mexico, and I +think a Navy destroyer tracked a saucer up in the North Atlantic." + +"What did they find out?" said Charley Planck. + +Steve shrugged. "I don't know all the answers. Whatever they are, the +things can go like hell." + +I had a hunch he was holding back. I waited until he had finished with +Charley, and then went, down the hall with him. + +{p. 74} + +"You think the saucers are guided missiles?" I said. "If I thought so, +I wouldn't be talking," he said flatly, "That's not a dig at you. But +I was cleared last year for some secret electronics work, and it might +be used in some way with guided missiles." + +"I didn't know that, Steve." + +"It's O.K.," he said. "I don't mind talking, because can't believe the +saucers are guided missiles. Maybe few of the things sighted out in +the Southwest have beer our test rockets, but that doesn't explain the +radar reports in Canada and Japan." + +"I'd already heard about a radar case in Labrador," I told Steve. He +looked at me quickly. + +"Where'd you pick that up;" + +"True passed it on to me," I said. + +"They've had some trouble tracking the things, they maneuver so fast," +said Steve. "It sounds crazy, but I've been told they hit more than +ten thousand miles an hour." + +"You believe it.?" + +"Well, it's not impossible. Those saucers were tracked about fifty +miles up, where there's not much resistance." + +The elevator door opened. Steve waited until we were outside of the +Commerce Building. + +"There's one other thing that gets me," he said. "Unless the radar +boys are way off, some of those saucers are enormous. I just can't see +a guided missile five hundred feet in diameter." He stopped for a +moment. "I suppose this will sound screwy to you--" + +"You think they're interplanetary," I said. + +Steve was quickly on the defensive. "I haven't bought it yet, but it's +not as crazy as it sounds." + +Without mentioning names, I told him about the aircraft designer and +the airline pilots. + +"They're in good company," said Steve. "You know the Air Institute?" + +"Sure--the Air Force school down at Montgomery." + +"Six months ago, I was talking with an officer who'd been instructing +there." Steve looked at me, deadly serious. "He told me they are now +teaching that the saucers are probably space ships." + +{p. 75} + + + + CHAPTER IX + +THREE DAYS after my meeting with Steve Barrett, I was on a Mainliner +300, starting, a new phase of the saucer investigation. By the time I +returned, I hoped to know the truth about Project "Saucer." + +As the ship droned westward, fourteen thousand feet above the +Alleghenies, I thought of what Steve had told me. I believed, that he +had told me about the radar tracking. And I was fairly sure he +believed the Air Institute story. But I wasn't so certain the story +itself was true. + +It would hardly be a gag; Steve wasn't easily taken in. It was more +likely that one Institute officer, or perhaps several, believed the +saucers were space craft and aired their personal opinions. The +Institute wasn't likely to give an official answer to something that +Project "Saucer" still declared unsolved. + +If it were possible to get an inside look at Project "Saucer" +operations, I could soon tell whether it was an actual investigation +or a deliberate cover-up for something else. Whichever it was, the +wall of official. secrecy still hid it. + +As a formality, I had called the Pentagon again and asked to talk with +some of the Project officers. As I expected, I was turned down. The +only alternative was to dig out the story by talking with pilots and +others who had been. quizzed by Project teams. I had several leads, +and True had arranged some interviews for me. + +My first stop was Chicago, where I met an airline official and two +commercial pilots. I saw the pilots first. Since they both talked in +confidence, I will not use their right names. One, a Midwesterner I +already knew, I'll call Pete Farrell; the other, a wartime instructor, +Art Green. + +Pete was about thirty-one, stocky, blue-eyed, with a pleasant, +intelligent face. Art Green was a little older, a lean, sunburned, +restless man with an emphatic voice. Pete had served with the Air +Force during the war; he + +{p. 76} + +was now part owner of a flying school, also a pilot in the Air +National Guard. Green was working for an air charter service + +We met at the Palmer House. Art Green didn't need much prompting to +talk about Project "Saucer." After reporting a disk, seen during a +West Coast Right, he had been thoroughly grilled by a Project "Saucer" +team. + +"They practically took me apart," he said irritably. "They've got a +lot of trick questions. Some of 'em are figured out to trip up anybody +faking a story. The way they worked on me, you'd think I committed a +murder. + +"Then they tried to sell me on the idea I'd seen a balloon, or maybe a +plane, with the sun shining on it when it banked. I told them to go to +the devil--I knew what I saw. After seventeen years, I've got enough +sense to tell a ship or a balloon when I see it." + +"Did they believe you?" I asked him. + +"If they did, they didn't let on. Two of 'em acted as if they thought +I was nuts. The other guy-I think he was Air Force Intelligence--acted +decent. He said not to get steamed up about the Aero-Medical boys; it +was their job to screen out the crackpots. + +"And on top of that, I found out later the F.B.I. had checked up on me +to find out if I was a liar or a screwball. They went around to my +boss, people in my neighborhood--even the pilots in my outfit. My +outfit's still razzing me. I wouldn't report another saucer if one +flew through my cockpit." + +Pete Farrell hadn't encountered any Project "Saucer" teams personally, +but he had some interesting angles. Some of the information had come +from commercial and private pilots in the Midwest, part of it through +National Guard contacts. + +"I can tell you one thing," Pete said. "Guard pilots got the same +order as the Air Force. If we saw anything peculiar flying around, we +were to do our damnedest to identify it." + +"What about trying to bring one down? I've heard that was in one +order." + +Pete hesitated for a second. "Look, I told you that much because it's +been in the papers. But I'm still in the + +{p. 77} + +Guard. I can't tell you the order itself. It was confidential." + +"Well, I'm not in the Guard," said Art Green. He lit a cigarette, blew +out the match. "Why don't you look into the Gorman case? Get thc dope +on that court-martial angle." + +I'd heard of the Gorman case, but the court-martial thing was new to +me. Gorman, I recalled, was a fighter pilot in the North Dakota Air +National Guard. He had a mystifying encounter with a strange, +fast-moving "light" over Fargo Airport in the fall of 1948. + +"That case is on my list," I told Green. "But I don't remember +anything about a court-martial." + +"It wasn't in the papers. But all the pilots up that way know about +it. In his report, Gorman said something about trying to ram the +thing. The idea got around that Air Force orders had said to try this. +Anyway, it got into the papers and Gorman almost got court-martialed. +If his family hadn't had some influence in the state, the Air Force +probably would have pushed it." + +"Are you sure about this?" I said. "You know how those things build +up." + +"Ask Gorman," he said. "Or ask some of the pilots at Fargo." + +Before I left them, Green double-checked my report on his sighting, +which Hilton had forwarded. As in the majority of cases, he had seen +just one disk. It had hovered at a very high altitude, gleaming in the +sun, then had suddenly accelerated and raced off to the north. + +"I couldn't tell its size or speed," said Green. "But if it was as +high as I think, it must have been pretty big." + +Pete told me later that Green believed the disk had been at least +twenty miles high, because it was well above clouds at thirty thousand +feet. + +"It's kind of hard to believe," said Pete. "The thing would have to be +a lot bigger than a B-twenty-nine, and the speed over two thousand +miles an hour." + +"You know what they said about the Mantell saucer," I reminded him. +"Some of the Godman Field people said it was at least three hundred +feet in diameter." + +"I've heard it was twice that," said Pete. + +{p. 78} + +"You know any Kentucky National Guard pilots?" I asked. + +"One or two," said Pete. "But they couldn't tell me anything. It was +hushed up too fast." + +That evening I talked with the airline official, whom I knew well +enough to call by his first name. I put it to him bluntly. + +"Dick, if you're under orders not to talk, just tell me. Fm trying to +find out whether Project 'Saucer' has muzzled airline pilots." + +"You mean the ones who've sighted things? Perhaps, in a few cases. But +most of the pilots know what happened to Captain Emil Smith, on +United, and those Eastern pilots. They keep still so they won't be +laughed at. Also the airlines don't like their pilots to talk for +publication." + +"I've heard of several cases," I said, "where Air Force Intelligence +is supposed to have warned pilots to keep mum. Two of the reports come +pretty straight." + +He made a gesture. "That could be. I'm not denying that airline +pilots--and that includes ours--see these things all the time. They've +been sighted on the Seattle-Alaska route, and between Anchorage and +Japan. I know of several saucers that pilots have seen between +Honolulu and the mainland. Check with Pan-American--you'll find their +pilots have seen them, too." + +"What happens to those reports?" + +"They go to Operations," said Dick. "Of course, if something really +important happens, the pilot may radio the tower before he lands. Then +the C.A.A. gets word to the Air Force, and they rush some Intelligence +officers to quiz the pilots. if it's not too hot, they'd come from +Wright Field--regular Project 'Saucer' teams. Otherwise, they'd send +the nearest Intelligence officers to take over temporarily." + +I asked him if he had ever been in on one of thee sessions. Dick said +he hadn't. + +"But a couple of pilots talked to me later. They said these Air Force +men seemed quite upset about it; they pounced on everything these boys +said about the thing's appearance--how it maneuvered and so on." + +{p. 79} + +"What do your pilots think the saucers are?" + +Dick gave me a slightly ironic grin. "Why ask me? Captain Blake says +you've been getting it firsthand." + +"I wasn't pulling a fast one," I protested. "We're not going to quote +actual names or sources, unless people. O.K. it." + +"Sure, I know that," said Dick. "But you've got thc answer already. +Some pilots say interplanetary, some say guided missiles. A few--a +very few--still think it's all nonsense, because they haven't seen +any." + +"What do you think?" + +"I don't know the answer," said Dick, "but I'm positive of one thing. +Either the Air Force is sitting on a big secret, or they're badly +scared because they don't know the answer." + +During the next week or so, I covered several northwest and mountain +states. Although I was chiefly trying to find out about Project +"Saucer," I ran onto two sightings that were not on my list. + +One of these had occurred in California, at Fairfield Suisan Air Force +Base. A Seattle man who had been stationed there gave me the details. +It was on the night of December 1918, with unusually high winds +sweeping across the airfield. At times the gusts reached almost +seventy miles an hour. Suddenly a weird ball of light flashed into +view, at a height of a thousand feet. As the men on the base watched +it, astonished, the mysterious light abruptly shot skyward. In an +incredibly short time, it reached an altitude of twenty thousand feet +and vanished. + +"Was there any shape outlined behind the light?" I asked the Seattle +man. + +"Nobody saw any," he replied. "It looked just like I said--a ball of +light, going like a streak." + +"Did it leave any smoke behind it?" + +"You mean like an engine, or a jet?" He shook his head. "Not a thing. +And it didn't make a sound--even when it shot up like that." + +"Did you hear any guesses about it, or reports later on?" + +"Some major who didn't see it said it must have been + +{p. 80} + +a balloon. Anybody with brains could see that was screwy. No balloon +ever went up that fast--and besides, the thing was going against the +wind." + +The second incident occurred at Salmon Dam, Idaho, on August 13, 1947. +When I heard the date, it sounded familiar. I checked my sightings +file and saw it was the same day as the strange affair at Twin Falls, +Idaho. + +In the Twin Falls case, the disk was sighted by observers in a canyon. +There was one interesting difference from the usual description. This +disk was sky-blue, or else its gleaming surface somehow reflected the +sky because of the angle of vision. Although it was not close to the +treetops, the observers were amazed to see the trees whip violently +when the disk raced overhead, as though the air was boiling from the +object's swift passage. + +At Salmon Dam, that same day, two miners heard an odd roaring sound +and stared into the sky. Several miles away, two brightly gleaming +disks were circling at high speed. + +"It was like two round mirrors whirling around the sky," one of the +men was later quoted as saying. "They couldn't have been any ordinary +planes; not round like that. And they were going too fast." + +During this part of my trip, I also was told that one saucer had +fallen into a mountain lake. This came to me secondhand. The lone +witness was said to have rushed over to his car to get his camera as +the disk approached. When it plunged toward the lake, he was so +startled that he failed to snap the picture until the moment it +struck. This story sounded so flimsy that I didn't bother to list it. + +Months later, a Washington newsman confirmed at least part of the lake +story. When he first related it, I thought he had fallen for a gag. + +"I heard that yarn," I said. "Don't tell me you believe it?" + +"I come from Idaho," he told me. "And I happen to know the fellow who +took the picture. Maybe it wasn't a disk, but something fell into that +lake." + +"Did you see the picture?" + +"Yes, at the Pentagon." At my surprised look, he added, + +{p. 81} + +"That was long before they clamped down. I was talking to an Air Force +officer about this lake thing, and he showed me the picture." + +"What did it look like?" + +"You couldn't tell much about it-just a big splash and a blur where +something went under. Maybe a magnifying glass would bring it out, but +I didn't get a chance to try it." + +It was early in 1950 when he told me this. I asked at the Pentagon if +this picture was in the Wright Field files, and if so whether I could +see it. My inquiries drew blank looks. No one remembered such a +photograph. And even if it were in the Project "Saucer" files, I +couldn't see it. + +This was more than two months after Project "Saucer" had been +officially closed and its secrets presumably all revealed. + + +The rest of my interviews during this 1949 trip helped to round out my +picture of Project "Saucer" operations. + +Some witnesses seemed afraid to talk; a few flatly refused. I found no +proof of official pressure, but I frequently had the feeling that +strong hints had been dropped. + +Though one or two witnesses showed resentment at investigators' +methods, most of them seemed more annoyed at the loss of time +involved. One man had been checked first by the police, then by the +sheriff's office; an Air Force team had spent hours questioning him, +returning the next day, and finally the F.B.I. had made a character +check. What he told me about the Air Force interrogation confirmed one +of Art Green's statements. + +"One Intelligence captain tried to tell me I'd seen a weather balloon. +I called up the airport and had them check on release schedules. They +said next day it didn't fit any schedules around this area. Anyway, +the wind wasn't right, because the thing I saw was cutting into the +wind at a forty-five-degree angle." + +Other witnesses told me that investigators had suggested birds, +meteors, reflections on clouds, shooting stars, and starshells as +probable explanations of what they had seen. I learned of one pilot +who had been + +{p. 82} + +startled by seeing a group of disks racing past his plane. Air Force +investigators later suggested that he had flown through a flock of +birds, or perhaps a cluster of balloons, + +On the flight back to Washington, I reread all the information the Air +Force had released on Project "Saucer." Suddenly a familiar phrase +caught my eye. I read over the paragraph again: + +"Preliminary study of the more than 240 domestic and thirty foreign +incidents by Astro-Physicist Hynek indicates that an over-all total of +about 30% can probably be explained away as astronomical phenomena." + +Explained away +. + +I went through the report line by line. On page 17 I found this: + +"Available preliminary reports now indicate that a great number of +sightings can be explained away as ordinary occurrences which have +been misrepresented as a result of human errors." + +On page 22 I ran onto another use of the phrase: + +"The obvious explanation for most of the spherical-shaped objects +reported, as already mentioned, is that they are meteorological or +similar type balloons. This, however, does not explain reports that +they travel at high speed or maneuver rapidly. But 'Saucer' men point +out that the movement could be explained away as an optical illusion +or actual acceleration of the balloon caused by a gas leak and later +exaggerated by observers. . . . There are scores of possible +explanations for the scores of different type sightings reported." + +Explained away . . . It might not mean anything. It could be just an +unfortunate choice of words. But suppose that the real mission of +Project "Saucer" was to cover up something. Or that its purpose was to +investigate something serious, at the same time covering it up, step +by step. The Project "Saucer" teams, then, would check on reports and +simultaneously try to divert attention from the truth, suggesting +various answers to explain the sightings. Back at Wright Field, +analysts and Intelligence officers would go over the general picture +and try to work up plausible explanations, which, if necessary, could +even be published. + +{p. 83} + +"Explaining away" would be one of the main purposes of Project +personnel. These words would probably be used in discussions of ways +and means; they would undoubtedly would be used in secret official +papers. And since this published preliminary report had been made up +from censored secret files, the use of those familiar words might have +been overlooked, since, read casually, they would appear harmless. If +the report had been thrown together hastily, the use of these telltale +words could be easily understood, and so could the report's strange +contradictions. + +As an experiment, I fixed the idea firmly in mind that Project +"Saucer" was a cover-up unit. Then I went back once more and read the +items quoted above. The effect was almost startling. + +It was as though I were reading confidential suggestions for diverting +attention and explaining away the sightings; suggestions made by +Project members and probably circulated for comment. + +"Now, wait a minute," I said to myself. "You may be dreaming up this +whole thing." + +Trying to get back to a neutral viewpoint, I skimmed through the other +details of Project operations, as described in the report. + +The order creating Project "Saucer" was signed on December 30, 1947. +(The actual code name was not "Saucer," but since for some reason the +Air Force still has not published the name, I have followed their +usage of "Saucer" in its place.) + +On January 22, 1948, two weeks after Captain Mantell's death, the +project officially began operations. (Preliminary investigation at +Godman Field had been done by local Intelligence officers.) Project +"Saucer" was set up under the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field. + +Contracts were made with an astrophysicist (Professor Joseph Hynek), +also a prominent scientist (still unidentified), and a group of +evaluation experts (Rand Corporation). Arrangements were made for +services by the Air Weather Service, Andrews Field; the U. S. Weather +Bureau; the Electronics Laboratory, Cambridge Field Station; the +A.M.C. Aero-Medical Laboratory; the Army + +{p. 84} + +and Navy Departments; the F.B.I.; the Department of Commerce, Civil +Aeronautics Administration; and various other government and private +agencies. In addition, the services of rocket experts, guided-missile +authorities, space-travel planners, and others (in the defense +services or assigned to them) were made available as desired. Under +the heading "How Incidents Are Investigated," the Project "Saucer" +report says: + +But the hoaxes and crank letters in reality play a small part in + Project "Saucer." + Actually, it is a serious, scientific business of constant + investigation, analysis and evaluation which thus far has yielded + evidence pointing to the conclusion that much of the saucer scare + is no scare at all, but can be attributed to astronomical + phenomena, to conventional aerial objects, to hallucinations and + to mass psychology. + But the mere existence of some yet unidentified flying objects + necessitates a constant vigilance on the part of Project "Saucer" + personnel and the civilian population. Investigation is greatly + stepped up when observers report incidents as soon as possible to + the nearest military installation or to Headquarters, A.M.C., + direct. + A standard questionnaire is filled out under the guidance of + interrogators. In each case, time, location, size and shape of + object, approximate altitude, speed, maneuvers, color, length of + time in sight, sound, etc., are carefully noted. This information + is sent in its entirety, together with any fragments, soil + photographs, drawings, etc., to Headquarters, A.M.C. Here, highly + trained evaluation teams take over. The information is broken down + and filed on summary sheets, plotted on maps and graphs and + integrated with the rest of the material, giving an easily + comprehended over-all picture. + Duplicate copies on each incident arc sent to other investigating + agencies, including technical labs within the Air Materiel + Command. These are studied in relation to many factors such as + guided missile research + +{p. 85} + +activity, weather, and many others, atmospheric sounding balloon + launchings, commercial and military aircraft flights, flights of + migratory birds and a myriad of other considerations which might + furnish explanations. + Generally, the flying objects are divided into four groups: Flying + disks, torpedo or cigar-shaped bodies with no wings or fins + visible in flight, spherical or balloon-shaped objects and balls + of light. The first three groups are capable of flight by + aerodynamic or aerostatic means and can be propelled and + controlled by methods known to aeronautical engineers. As for the + lights, their actions--unless they were suspended from a higher + object or were the product of hallucination--remain unexplained. + Eventually, reports are sent back to Project "Saucer" + headquarters, often marking incidents closed. The project, + however, is a young one-much of its investigation is still under + way. + Currently, a psychological analysis is being made by A.M.C.'s + Aero-Medical laboratory to determine what percentage of incidents + are probably based on errors of the human mind and senses. + Available preliminary reports now indicate that a great number can + be explained away as ordinary occurrences which have been + misrepresented as a result of these human errors. + +Near the end of the last page, a paragraph summed tip the report. + +"The 'Saucers' are not a joke. Neither are they cause for alarm to the +population. Many of the incidents already have answers. Meteors. +Balloons. Falling stars. Birds in flight. Testing devices, etc. Some +of them still end in question marks." + +From what I had learned on this trip, I strongly doubted the answer +suggested. All but the "testing devices." What did they mean by that? +It could be a hint at guided missiles; they had already mentioned +guided-missile research activity in another spot. + +But if that was what lay behind this elaborate project, + +{p. 86} + +they would hardly be hinting at it. If the answer was space travel, +then such hints made sense, They would be part of the cover-up plan. +Everyone--including the Soviet Union--knew we were working on guided +missiles. It would do no harm to use this as one of the "myriad +explanations" for the flying saucers. + +I was still trying to figure it out when my plane let down for the +landing at Washington. I had hoped by this time to know the truth +about Project "Saucer." Instead, it was a deeper mystery than ever. + +True, I had found out how they operated--outside of Wright Field. Some +of the incidents had been enlightening. By now, I was certain that +Project "Saucer" was trying hard to explain away the sightings and +hide the real answer. + +{p. 87} + + + + CHAPTER X + +WHEN I reached home, I found a brief letter from Ken Purdy. + +Dear Don: + The Mantell and Eastern cases both look good. I don't see how they + can brush them off. It looks more like the interplanetary answer + to me, but we won't decide on treatment until we're sure. [I had + suggested two or three angles, if this proved the real answer.] + Who would be the best authority to check our disk operation theory + and give us more details on directional control? I'd like to have + it checked by two more engineers. + + KEN + +Next day, I dug out my copy of Boal's interview with D------, the +famous aircraft designer. + +"Certainly the flying saucers are possible," the designer had told +Boal. "Give me enough money and I'll build you one. It might have to +be a model because the fuel would be a problem. If the saucers that +have been seen came from other worlds, which isn't at all Buck +Rogerish, they may be powered with atomic energy or by the energy that +produces cosmic rays--which is many times more powerful--or by some +other fuel or natural force that our research hasn't yet discovered. +But the circular airfoil is quite feasible. + +"It wouldn't have the stability of the conventional airplane, but it +would have enormous maneuverability--it could rise vertically, hover, +descend vertically, and fly at extremely high speed, with the proper +power. Don't take my word for it. Check with other engineers." + +Before looking up a private engineer I had in mind, I went to the +National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The N.A.C.A. {the +predecessor of NASA--jbh} is America's most authoritative source of +aerodynamic knowledge. I knew they had already tried + +{p. 88} + +out disk-shaped airfoils, and I asked about this first. I found that +two official N.A.C.A. reports, Technical Note 539 and Report 431, +discuss tests on circular and elliptical Clark Y airfoils. Both +reports state that these designs were found practical. + +Later, I talked with one of the top engineers in the N.A.C.A. Without +showing him D------'s sketch, I asked how a disk might operate. + +"It could be built with variable-direction jet or rocket nozzles," be +said. "The nozzles would be placed around the rim, and by changing +their direction the disk could be made to rise and descend vertically. +It could hover, fly straight ahead, and make sharp turns. + +"Its direction and velocity would be governed by the number of nozzles +operating, the power applied, and the angle at which they were tilted. +They could be pointed toward the ground, rearward, in a lateral +direction, or in various combinations. + +"A disk flying level, straight ahead, could be turned swiftly to right +or left by shifting the angles of the nozzles or cutting off power +from part of the group. This method of control would operate in the +earth's atmosphere and also, using rocket power, in free space, where +conventional controls would be useless." + +The method he had described was not the one which D------ had +outlined. + +"What about a rotating disk?" I asked the N.A.C.A. man. "Suppose you +had one with a stationary center, and a large circular section +rotating around it? The rotating part would have a camber built into +it, or it would have slotted vanes." + +He gave me a curious look, "Where'd you get that idea about the +camber?" + +I told him it had come to me from True. + +"It could be done," he said. "The slotted-vanes method has already +been tried. There's an engineer in Glendale, California, who's built a +model. His name's E. W. Kay." + +He gave me a few details on how a cambered or slotted-vane rotating +disk might operate, then interrupted himself to ask me what I thought +the saucers were. + +{p. 89} + +"They're either interplanetary or some secret development," I said. +'What do you think?" + +"The N.A.C.A. has no proof they even exist," he answered. + +When I left the building a few minutes later, I was still weighing +that statement. If the Air Force or the Navy had a secret disk device, +the N.A.C.A. would almost certainly know about it. The chances were +that any disk-shaped missile or new type of circular aircraft would +first have been tested in the N.A.C.A. wind tunnels at Langley Field. +If the saucers were interplanetary, the N.A.C.A.--at least top +officials--would probably have been in on any discussion of the disks' +performance. Either way, the N.A.C.A.'s official attitude could be +expected to match the Pentagon's. + +After lunch, I took a taxi to the office of the private engineer. Like +D------, he has asked that he not be quoted by name. The name I am +using, Paul Redell, will serve that purpose. Redell is a well-known +aeronautical engineer. He has worked with major aircraft companies and +served as a special consultant to government agencies and the +industries. He is also a competent pilot. + +Although I had known him several years, he refused at first to talk +about the saucers. Then I realized he thought I meant to quote him. I +showed him some of the material I had roughed out, in which names were +omitted or changed as requested. + +"All right," Redell said finally. "What do you want to know?" + +"Anything you can tell us. But first, your ideas on these sketches." I +showed him D------'s drawings and then gave him the high points of the +investigation. When I mentioned the mystery-light incident at +Fairfield Suisan Air Force Base, Redell sat up quickly. + +"The Gorman case again!" + +"We heard about some other 'light' cases," I said. "One was at Las +Vegas." + +"I know about that one. That is, it you mean the green light--wait a +minute!" Redell frowned into space for a few seconds, "You say that +Fairfield Suisan sighting + +{p. 90} + +was on December third? Then the Las Vegas sighting was only a few days +later. It was the first week of the month, I'm positive." + +"Those light reports have got me stumped," I said. "A light just can't +fly around by itself. And those two-foot disks--" + +"You haven't worked on the Gorman case?" asked Redell. + +I told him I hadn't thought it was coming up on my schedule. + +"Leave these sketches here," he said. "Look into that Gorman sighting. +Then check on our plans for space exploration. I'll give you some +sources. When you get through, come on back and we'll talk it over." + +The Gorman "saucer dogfight" had been described in newspapers; the +pilot had reported chasing a swiftly maneuvering white light, which +had finally escaped him. Judging from the Project "Saucer" preliminary +report, this case had baffled all the Air Force investigators. When I +met George Gorman, I found him to be intelligent, coolheaded, and very +firmly convinced of every detail in his story. I had learned something +about his background. He had had college training. During the war, he +had been an Air Force instructor, training French student pilots. In +Fargo, his home, he had a good reputation, not only for veracity but +as a businessman. Only twenty-six, he was part owner of a construction +company, and also the Fargo representative for a hardware-store chain. +Even knowing all this, I found it hard at first to believe some of the +dogfight details. But the ground observers confirmed them. + +It was about nine o'clock in the evening, October 1, 1948. Gorman, now +an Air National Guard lieutenant, had been on a practice flight in an +F-51 fighter. The other pilots on this practice patrol had already +landed. Gorman had just been cleared by the C.A.A. operator in the +Fargo Airport tower when he saw a fast-moving light below his circling +fighter. + +From his altitude, 4,500 feet, it appeared to be the tail light of a +swiftly flying plane. As nearly as he could tell, it was 1,000 feet +high, moving at about 250 m.p.h. + +{p. 91} + +Gorman called the tower to recheck his clearance. He was told the only +other plane in the area was a Piper Cub. Gorman Could see the Cub +plainly outlined below him. There was a night football game going on, +and the field was brightly lighted. + +But the Cub was nowhere near the strange light. + +As the mystery light raced above the football field. Gorman noticed an +odd phenomenon. Instead of seeing the silhouette of a plane, he saw no +shape at all around the light. By contrast, he could see the Cub's +outline clearly. + +Meantime, the airport traffic controller, L. D. Jensen, had also +spotted the queer light. Concerned with the danger of collision--he +said later that he, too, thought it a plane's tail light--he trained +his binoculars on it. Like Gorman, he was unable to distinguish a +shape near the light. Neither could another C.A.A. man who was with +him in the tower, a Fargo resident named Manuel E. Johnson. + +Up in the F-51, Gorman dived on the light, which was steadily blinking +on and off. + +"As I closed in," he told Project "Saucer" men later, "it suddenly +became steady and pulled up into a sharp left turn. It was a clear +white and completely roundabout six to eight inches in diameter. + +"I thought it was making a pass at the tower. I dived after it and +brought my manifold pressure up to sixty, but I couldn't catch the +thing." + +Gorman reported his speed at full power as 350 to 400 miles per hour. +During the maneuvers that followed, both the C.A.A. men watched from +the tower. Jensen was using powerful night glasses, but still no shape +was visible near the mysterious light. The fantastic dogfight +continued for twenty minutes. Gorman described it in detail. + +"When I attempted to turn with the light, I blacked out temporarily, +owing to excessive speed. I am in fairly good physical condition, and +I don't believe there are many, if any, pilots who could withstand the +turn and speed effected by the light and remain conscious." + +{p. 92} + +During these sharp maneuvers, the light climbed quickly, then made +another left bank. + +"I put my fifty-one into a sharp turn and tried to cut it off," said +Gorman. "By then we were at about seven thousand feet, Suddenly it +made a sharp right turn and we headed straight at each other. Just +when we were about to collide I guess I lost my nerve. I went into a +dive and the light passed over my canopy at about five hundred feet. +Then it made a left circle about one thousand feet above and I gave +chase again." + +When collision seemed imminent a second time, the object shot straight +into the air. Gorman climbed after it at full throttle. + +Just about this time, two. other witnesses, a private pilot and his +passenger, saw the fast-moving light. The pilot was Dr. A. D. Cannon, +an oculist; his passenger was Einar Nelson. Dr. Cannon later told +investigators the light was moving at high speed. He thought it might +be a Canadian jet fighter from over the border. (A careful check with +Canadian air officials ruled out this answer.) After landing at the +airport, Dr. Cannon and Mr. Nelson again watched the light, saw it +change direction and disappear. + +Meanwhile, Gorman was making desperate efforts to catch the thing. He +was now determined to ram it, since there seemed nothing solid behind +it to cause a dangerous crash. If his fighter was disabled, or if it +caught fire, he could bail out. + +But despite the F-51's fast climb, the light still outdistanced him. +At 14,000 feet, Gorman's plane went into a power stall, He made one +last try, climbing up to 17,000 feet. A few moments later, the light +turned in a north-northwest direction and quickly disappeared. + +Throughout the dogfight, Gorman noticed no deviation on his +instruments, according to the Project "Saucer" report. Gorman did not +confirm or deny this when I talked with him. But he did agree with the +rest of the Project statement. He did not notice any sound, odor, or +exhaust trail. + +Gorman's remarks about ramming the light reminded me of what Art Green +had said. When I asked Gorman + +{p. 93} + +about the court-martial rumor, he gave me a searching glance. + +"Where did you hear that?" + +"Several places," I told him. "At Chicago, in Salt Lake City--in fact, +we've been hearing it all over." + +"Well, there's nothing to it," Gorman declared. He changed the +subject. + +Some time afterward, a Fargo pilot told me there had been trouble over +the ramming story. + +"But it wasn't Gorman's fault. Somebody else released that report to +the A. P. The news story didn't actually say there was an Air Force +order to ram it, but the idea got around, and we heard that Washington +squawked. Gorman had a pretty rough time of it for a while. Some of +the newspapers razzed his story. And the Project 'Saucer' teams really +worked on him. I guess they were trying to scare him into saying he +was mistaken, and it was a balloon." + +When I asked Gorman about this, he denied he'd had rough treatment by +the Project teams. + +"Sure, they asked about a thousand questions, and I could tell they +thought it might be a hoax at first. But that was before they quizzed +the others who saw it." + +"Anybody suggest it was a balloon?" I said casually. + +"At first, they were sure that's what it was," answered Gorman. "You +see, there was a weather balloon released here. You know the kind, it +has a lighted candle on it. The Project teams said I'd chased after +that candle and just imagined the light's maneuvers--confused it with +my own movement, because of the dark." + +Gorman grinned. "They had it just about wrapped up--until they talked +to George Sanderson. He's the weather observer. He was tracking the +balloon with a theodolite, and he showed them his records. The time +and altitudes didn't fit, and the wind direction was wrong. The +balloon was drifting in the opposite direction. Both the tower men +backed him up. So that killed the weather-balloon idea." + +The next step by Project "Saucer" investigators had been to look for +some unidentified aircraft. This failed, too. Obviously, it was only +routine; the outline of a conventional + +{p. 94} + +plane would certainly have been seen by Gorman and the men in the +tower. + +An astronomical check by Professor Hynek ruled out stars, fireballs, +and comets--a vain hope, to begin with. The only other conventional +answer, as the Project report later stated, was hallucination. In view +of all the testimony, hallucination had to he ruled out. Finally, the +investigators admitted they had no solution. + +The first Project "Saucer" report, on April 27, 1949, left the Gorman +"mystery light" unidentified. + +In the Saturday Evening Post of May 7, 1949, Sidney Shallett analyzed +the Gorman case, in the second of his articles on flying saucers. +Shallet suggested this solution: that Gorman had chased one of the +Navy's giant cosmic-ray research balloons. Each of these huge balloons +is lighted, so that night-flying planes will not collide with the gas +bag or the instrument case suspended below. Shallett concluded that +Gorman was suffering from a combination of vertigo and confusion with +the light on the balloon. + +As already mentioned, these huge Navy balloons are filled with only a +small amount of helium before their release at Minneapolis. They then +rise swiftly to very high altitudes, unless a leak develops. In +Shallett's words, "These balloons travel high and fast. . . ." + +Fargo is about two hundred miles from Minneapolis. Normally, a +cosmic-ray research balloon would have reached a very high altitude by +the time it had drifted this far. The only possible answer to its +low-altitude sighting would be a serious leak. + +If a leaking balloon had come down to one thousand feet at Fargo, it +would either have remained at that height or kept on descending. The +mystery light was observed at this altitude moving at high speed. If a +Cub's outline was visible against the lighted football field, the +massive shape of even a partly deflated balloon would have stood out +like an elephant. Even before release, the partially inflated gas bags +are almost a hundred feet tall. The crowd at the football game would +certainly have seen such a monstrous shape above the glare of the +floodlights, for the plastic balloons gleam brightly + +{p. 95} + +in any light rays. The two C.A.A. men, watching with binoculars, could +not possibly have missed it. + +For the cosmic-balloon answer to be correct, this leaking gas bag +would have had to rise swiftly to seventeen thousand feet--after a +loss of helium had forced it down to one thousand. As a balloon pilot, +I know this is impossible. The Project "Saucer" report said +unequivocally: "The object could outturn and outspeed the F-51, and +was able to attain a much steeper climb and to maintain a constant +rate of climb far in excess of the Air Force fighter." + +A leaking balloon? More and more, I became convinced that Secretary +Forrestal had persuaded some editors that it was their patriotic duty +to conceal the answer, whatever it was. + +That thought had begun to worry me, because of my part in this +investigation. Perhaps John Steele had been right, and we shouldn't be +trying to dig out the answer. But I had already told Purdy, and he had +agreed, that if national security was involved, we would drop the +thing completely. + +By the time I had proved the balloon answer wrong, I was badly +puzzled. The idea of a disembodied light was the hardest thing to +swallow that I'd come across so far. + +And yet there were the other light reports--the strange sighting at +Fairfield Suisan Field, the weird green lights at Las Vegas and +Albuquerque. And there was the encounter that Lieutenant H. G. Combs +had had one night above Andrews Field, near Washington, D. C. + +This incident had occurred on November 18, 1948, six weeks after +Gorman's experience. Combs, flying with another lieutenant named +Jackson, was about to land his T-6, at 9:45 P.M., when a strange +object loomed up near him. It looked like a grayish globe, and it gave +off an odd, fuzzy light. + +Combs chased the weird object for over ten minutes, during which it +appeared to evade every move he made. Once, its speed was nearly six +hundred miles an hour, as closely as he could estimate. In a final +attempt to identify it, Combs zoomed the T-6 up at a steep angle + +{p. 96} + +and flashed his landing lights on it. Before he could get a good look, +the globe light whirled off to the east and vanished. + +Since Combs's story had been in the newspapers, Project "Saucer" +evidently had felt in wise to give some explanation. When I read it, +in the preliminary report, I was amazed. Here was the concluding +sentence: + +"The mystery was cleared up when the object was identified positively +as a cluster of cosmic-ray research balloons." + +Even one of the giant balloons would have been hard to take as the +explanation. Combs was almost sure to have collided with it in his +head-on passes. But an entire cluster! I tried to picture the T-6 +zooming and twisting through the night sky, with several huge balloons +in its path. It would be a miracle if Combs got through without +hitting one of them, even if each balloon was lighted. But he had seen +only one light; so had Lieutenant Jackson. That would mean all the +rest of the balloons were unlighted--an unbelievable coincidence. + +It was not until months afterward that I found Project "Saucer" had +withdrawn this "solution." In its final report, this case, Number 207, +was listed in the "Unidentified" group. How the balloon-cluster +explanation ever got into the first report is still a mystery. + +When I talked with Gorman, I told him I was baffled by the idea of a +light maneuvering through the skies with no airfoil to support it. + +"I know," he said. "It got me, too, at first." + +"You mean you know the answer?" I demanded. + +"It's just my personal opinion," said Gorman. "But I'd rather not have +it printed. You see, I got some ideas from all the questions those +Project teams asked me. If my hunch turns out to be right, I might be +talking about an official secret." + +I tried to pry some hint out of him, but Gorman just smiled and shook +his head. + +"I can tell you this much," he said, "because it's been mentioned in +print. There was thought behind every move the light made. It wasn't +any radar-responder gadget making it veer away from my ship." + +{p. 97} + +"How do you know that?" + +"Because it reacted differently at different times. If it had been a +mechanical control, it would have turned or climbed the same way each +time I got near it. Instead, it was as if some intelligent mind was +directing every turn like a game of chess, and always one move ahead +of me. Maybe you can figure out the rest." + +That was all I could get out of him. It bothered me, because Combs's +report indicated the same thing. I had a strong temptation to skip the +space-plans research and tell Redell what Gorman had told me. But +Redell had an orderly mind, and he didn't like to be pushed. + +Reluctantly, I gave up the idea. I had a feeling Redell knew the +answer to the mystery lights, and it wasn't easy to put off the +solution. + +The letter that came from Art Green, while I was working on the space +plans, didn't make it easier: + +Dear Keyhoe: + Just heard about your Seattle visit. That Fairfield Suisan thing + is on the level; several Air Force pilots have told me about it. + When you get to Fargo, ask Gorman what they found when they + checked his ship with a Geiger counter. If he says it was + negative, then he must be under orders. I happen to know better. + + Yours, + ART GREEN + +{p. 98} + + + + CHAPTER XI + +MY FIRST STEP, in checking on our space plans, was to look up official +announcements. I found that on December 29, 1948, Defense Secretary +James Forrestal had released this official statement: + +"The Earth Satellite Vehicle Program, which is being carried out +independently by each military service, has been assigned to the +Committee on Guided Missiles for co-ordination. + +"To provide an integrated program, the Committee has recommended that +current efforts be limited to studies and component design. +Well-defined areas of such research have been allocated to each of the +three military departments." + +Appropriation bills had already provided funds for space exploration +plans. The Air Force research was indicated by General Curtis E. +LeMay, who was then Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and +Development. In outlining plans for an Air Engineering Design Center +at Wright Field, General LeMay included these space-exploration +requisites: + +"Flight and survival equipment for ultra-atmospheric operations, +including space vehicles, space bases, and devices for use therein." + +The idea of exploring space is, of course, nothing new. For many +years, writers of imaginative fiction have described trips to the moon +and distant planets. More recently, comic books and strips have gone +in heavily for space-travel adventures. + +As a natural result of this, the first serious rocket experiments in +this country were labeled screwball stunts, about on a par with +efforts to break through the sonic barrier. The latter had been +"proved" impossible by aeronautical engineers; as for rocket flight, +it was too silly for serious consideration. Pendray, Goddard, and +other rocket pioneers took some vicious ridicule before America woke +up to the possibilities. + +Meantime, German scientists had gone far ahead. + +{p. 98} + +Their buzz bomb, a low-altitude semi-guided missile, was just the +beginning. Even the devastating V-2, which soared high into the +stratosphere before falling on England, was just a step in their +tremendous space program. If the Nazis could have hung on a year or +two more, the war might have had a grimly different ending. + +When the Allies seized Nazi secrets, some of the German plans were +revealed. Among them was one for a huge earth satellite. From this +base, which would circle the earth some five hundred miles away, +enormous mirrors would focus the sun's rays on any desired spot. The +result: swift, fiery destruction of any city or base refusing to +surrender. + +First publication of this scheme brought the usual jeers. Many people, +including some reputable scientists, believed it had been just a +propaganda plan that even Goebbels had discarded as hopeless. + +Then the Pentagon announced the U.S. Earth Satellite Vehicle Program, +along with plans for a moon rocket, The artificial satellite is to be +a large rocket-propelled projectile. In its upward flight, it will +have to reach a speed of 23,000 miles an hour, to escape the earth's +pull of gravity. At a height of about 500 miles, special controls will +turn the projectile and cause it to circle the earth. These controls +will be either automatic or operated from the ground, by radar. +Theoretically, once such a vehicle is beyond gravity's magnetism, it +can coast along in the sky forever. Its rocket power will be shut off; +the only need for such power would be if the satellite veered off +course. A momentary burst from the jets would be sufficient to bring +it back to its orbit. + +Circling the earth in about two hours, this first satellite is +expected to be used as a testing station. Instruments will record and +transmit vital information to the earth--the effect of cosmic rays, +solar radiation, fuel required for course corrections, and many other +items. + +A second space base farther out will probably be the next step. It may +be manned, or it may be under remote control like the first. Perhaps +the first satellite vehicle will be followed by a compartmented +operating base, a sort of aerial aircraft carrier, with other rocket + +{p. 100} + +ships operating to and fro on the earth shuttle. The moon rocket is +expected to add to our information about space, so that finally we +will emerge with an interplanetary space craft. + +The first attempts may fail. The first satellite may fall back and +have to be guided to an ocean landing. Or its controls might not bring +it into the planned orbit. In this case, it could coast on out into +space and be lost. But sooner or later, effective controls will be +found. Then the manned space ships will follow. + +Once in free space, there will be no gravitational pull to offset. The +space ship and everything in it will be weightless. Shielding is +expected to prevent danger from cosmic rays and solar radiation. + +The danger from meteorites has been partly discounted in one +scientific study. ("Probability that a meteorite will hit or penetrate +a body situated in the vicinity of the earth," by G. Grimminger, +Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 19, No. 10, pp. 947-956, October +1948) In this study, it is stated that a meteorite is unlikely to +penetrate the thick shell our space vehicles will undoubtedly have. +However, this applies only to the earth's atmosphere. Longer studies, +using remote-controlled vehicles in space, may take years before it +will be safe to launch a manned space ship. Radar or other devices may +have to be developed to detect approaching meteorites at a distance +and automatically change a space ship's course. The change required +would be infinitesimal, using power for only a fraction of a second. + +But before we are ready for interplanetary travel, we will have to +harness atomic power or some other force not now available, such as +cosmic rays. Navigation at such tremendous speeds is another great +problem, on which special groups are now at work. A Navy scientific +project recently found that strange radio signals are constantly being +sent out from a "hot spot" in the Milky Way; other nebulae or "hot" +stars may be similarly identified by some peculiarity in their radio +emanations. If so, these could be used as check points in long-range +space travel. + +Escape from the earth's gravity is possible even now, + +{p. 101} + +according to Francis H. Clauser, an authority on space travel plans. +But the cost would be prohibitive, with our present rocket motors, and +practical operations must wait for higher velocity rocket power, +atomic or otherwise. ("Flight beyond the Earth's Atmosphere, "S.A.E. +Quarterly Transactions, Vol. 2, No, 4, October 1948.) + +Already, a two-stage rocket has gone more than 250 miles above the +earth. This is the V-2-Wac Corporal combination. The V-2 rocket is +used to power the first part of the flight, dropping off when its fuel +is exhausted. The Wac Corporal then proceeds on its own fuel, reaching +a fantastic speed in the thin air higher up. + +Hundreds of technical problems must be licked before the first +satellite vehicle can be launched successfully. Records on our V-2 +rockets indicate some of the obstacles. On the take-off, their present +swift acceleration would undoubtedly kill anyone inside. When +re-entering the earth's atmosphere the nose of a V-2 gets red-hot. + +Both the acceleration and deceleration must be controlled before the +first volunteers will be allowed to hazard their lives in manned +rockets. Willi Ley, noted authority on space-travel problems, believes +that pilots may have to accept temporary blackout as a necessity on +the take-off. (Two of his books, Rockets and Space Travel and Outer +Space, give fascinating and well-thought-out pictures of what we may +expect in years to come.) + +Some authorities believe that our space travel will be confined to our +own solar system for a long time, perhaps forever. The trip to the +moon, though now a tremendous project, would be relatively simple +compared with a journey outside our system. Escape from the moon, for +the return trip, would be easier than leaving the earth; because of +its smaller mass, to escape the moon's gravitational pull would take a +speed of about 5,000 miles an hour, against 23,000 for the earth. +Navigation would be much simpler. Our globe would loom up in the +heavens, much larger and brighter than the moon appears to us. Radar +beams would also be a guide. + +The greatest obstacle to reaching far-distant planet is the time +required. In the Project "Saucer" study of + +{p. 102} + +space travel, Wolf 359 was named as the nearest star likely to have +possibly inhabited areas. Wolf 359 is eight light-years from the +earth. The limiting speed in space, according to Einstein's law, would +be just under the speed of light--186,000 miles per second. At this +speed, Einstein states, matter is converted into energy. It is a +ridiculous assumption, but even if atomic power, or some force such as +cosmic rays, made an approach to that speed possible, it would still +take eight years to reach Wolf 359. The round trip would take sixteen. + +There have been a few scientists who dispute Einstein's law, though no +one has disproved it. If the speed of light is not an absolute limit +for space ships, then travel to remote parts of the universe may +someday be possible. + +Otherwise, a trip outside our solar system could be a lifetime +expedition. Most space travel would probably be limited to the planets +of our sun--the moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the others. + +Although it may be many years before the first manned space ship +leaves the earth, we are already at work on the problems the crews +would face. I learned some of the details from a Navy flight surgeon +with whom I had talked about take-off problems. + +"They're a lot further than that" he told me. "Down at Randolph Field, +the Aero-Medical research lab has run into some mighty queer things. +Ever hear of 'dead distance'?" + +"No, that's a new one." + +"Well, it sounds crazy, but they've figured out that a space ship +would be going faster than anyone could think." + +"But you think instantaneously," I objected. + +"Oh, no. It takes a fraction of a second, even for the fastest +thinker. Let's say the ship was making a hundred miles a second--and +that's slow compared with what they expect eventually. Everything +would happen faster than your nerve impulses could register it. Your +comprehension would always be lagging a split second behind the space +ship's operation." + +"I don't see why that's so serious," I said. + +{p. 103} + +"Suppose radar or some other device warned you a meteorite was coming +toward you head-on. Or maybe some instrument indicated an error in +navigation. By the time your mind registered the thought, the +situation would have changed." + +"Then all the controls would have to be automatic," I said. I told him +that I had heard about plans for avoiding meteorites. "Electronic +controls would be faster than thought." + +"That's probably the answer," he agreed. "Of course, at a hundred +miles a second it might not be too serious. But if they ever get up to +speeds like a thousand miles a second, that mental lag could make an +enormous difference, whether it was a meteorite heading toward you or +a matter of navigation." + +One of the problems he mentioned was the lack of gravity. I had +already learned about this. Once away from the earth's pull, objects +in the space ship would have no weight. The slightest push could send +crewmen floating around the sealed compartment. + +"Suppose you spilled a cup of coffee," said the flight surgeon. "What +would happen?" + +I said I hadn't thought it out. + +"The Randolph Field lab can tell you," he said. "The coffee would stay +right there in the air. So would the cup, if you let go of it. But +there's a more serious angle--your breath." + +"You'd have artificial air," I began. + +"Yes, they've already worked that out. But what about the breath you +exhale? It contains carbon dioxide, and if you let it stay right there +in front of your face you'd be sucking it back into your lungs. After +a while, it would asphyxiate you. So the air has to be kept in motion, +and besides that the ventilating system has to remove the carbon +dioxide." + +"What about eating?" I asked. "Swallowing is partly gravity, isn't +it?" + +He nodded. "Same as drinking, though the throat muscles help force the +food down. I don't know the answer to that. In fact, everything about +the human body presents a problem. Take the blood circulation. The + +{p. 104} + +amount of energy required to pump blood through the veins would be +almost negligible. What would that do to your heart?" + +"I couldn't even guess," I said. + +"Well, that's all the Aero-Medical lab can do--guess at it. They've +been trying to work out some way of duplicating the effect of zero +gravity, but there's just no answer. If you could build a machine to +neutralize gravity, you could get all the answers, except to the 'dead +distance' question. + +"For instance, there's the matter of whether the human body would even +function without gravity. All down through the stages of evolution, +man's organs have been used to that downward pull. Take away gravity, +and your whole body might stop working. Some of the Aero-Medical men +I've talked with don't believe that, but they admit that long trips +outside of gravity might have odd effects. + +"Then there's the question of orientation. Here on earth, orienting +yourself depends on the feeling you get from the pull of gravity, plus +your vision. just being blindfolded is enough to disorient some +people. Taking away the pull of gravity might be a lot worse. And of +course out in space your only reference points would be distant stars +and planets. We've been used to locating stars from points on the +earth, where we know their position. But how about locating them from +out in space, with a ship moving at great speed? Inside the space +ship, it would be something like being in a submarine. Probably only +the pilot compartment would have glass ports, and those would be +covered except in landing--maybe even then. Outside vision might be by +television, so you couldn't break a glass port and let out your +pressure. + +"But to go back to the submarine idea. It would be like a sub, with +this big difference: In the submarine you can generally tell which way +is down, except maybe in a crash dive when you may lose your +equilibrium for a moment. But in the space ship, you could be standing +with your feet on one spot, and another crewman might be--relative to +you--standing upside down. You might be floating horizontally, the +other man vertically. {p. 105} The more you think about it, the +crazier it gets. But they've got to solve all those problems before we +can tackle space." + +To make sure I had the details right, I checked on the Air Force +research. I found that the Randolph Field laboratory is working on all +these problems, and many more. + +Although plans arc not far enough advanced to make it certain, +probably animals will be sent up in research rockets to determine the +effect of no gravity before any human beings make such flights. The +results could be televised back to the earth. + +All through my check-up on space exploration plans, one thing struck +me: I met no resistance. There was no official reticence about the +program; on the contrary, nothing about it seemed secret. + +Even though it was peacetime, this was a little curious, because of +the potential war value of an earth satellite vehicle. Even if the +Nazi scheme for destruction proved just a dream, an orbiting space +base could be used for other purposes. In its two-hour swing around +the earth, practically all of the globe could be observed-directly, by +powerful telescopes, or indirectly, by a combination of radar and +television. Long-range missiles could be guided to targets, after +being launched from some point on the earth. As the missiles climbed +high into the stratosphere, the satellite's radar could pick them up +and keep them on course by remote control. + +There were other possibilities for both attack and defense. +Ordinarily, projects with wartime value are kept under wraps, or at +least not widely publicized. Of course, the explanation might be very +simple: The completion of the satellite vehicle was so remote that +there seemed no need for secrecy. But in that case, why had the +program been announced at all? + +If the purpose had been propaganda, it looked like a weak gesture. The +Soviets would not be greatly worried by a dream weapon forty or fifty +years off. Besides that, the Pentagon, as a rule, doesn't go for such +propaganda. + +There was only one conventional answer that made any sense. If we had +heard that the Soviets were about + +{p. 106} + +to announce such a program, as a propaganda trick, it would be smart +to beat them to it. But I had no proof of, any such Russian intention. + +The date on Secretary Forrestal's co-ordination announcement was +December 30, 1948. One day later, the order creating Project "Saucer" +had been signed. That didn't prove anything; winding up the year, +Forrestal could have signed a hundred orders. I was getting too +suspicious. + +At any rate, I had now analyzed the Gorman case and checked on our +space plans. Tomorrow I would see Redell and find out what he knew. + +{p. 107} + + + + CHAPTER XII + +'WHEN I called Redell's office I found he had flown to Dallas and +would not be back for two days. By the time he returned, I had written +a draft of the Gorman case, with my answer to the balloon explanation. +When I saw him, the next morning, I asked him to look it over. + +Redell lighted his pipe and then read the draft, nodding to himself +now and then. + +"I think that's correct analysis," he said when he finished. "That was +a very curious case. You know, Project 'Saucer' even had psychiatrists +out there. If Gorman had been the only witness, I think they'd have +called it a hallucination. As it was, they took a crack at him and the +C.A.A. men in their preliminary report." + +Though I recalled that there had been a comment, I didn't remember the +wording. Redell looked it up and read it aloud: + +"'From a psychological aspect, the Gorman incident raised the +question, "Is it possible for an object without appreciable shape or +known aeronautical configuration to appear to travel at variable +speeds and maneuver intelligently?"'" + +"Hallucination might sound like a logical answer," I said, "until you +check all the testimony. But there are just too many witnesses who +confirm Gorman's report. Also, he seems like a pretty level-headed +chap." + +Redell filled his pipe again. "But you still can't quite accept it?" + +"I'm positive they saw the light--but what the devil was it? How could +it fly without some kind of airfoil?" + +"Maybe it didn't. You remember Gorman described an odd fuzziness +around the edge of the light? It's in this Air Force report. That +could have been a reflection from the airfoil." + +"Yes, but Gorman would have seen any solid--" I stopped, as Redell +made a negative gesture. + +"It could be solid and still not show up," he said. + +"You mean it was transparent? Sure, that would do it!" + +{p. 108} + +"Let's say the airfoil was a rotating plastic disk, absolutely +transparent. The blurred, fuzzy look could have been caused by the +whirling disk. Neither Gorman nor the C.A.A. men in the tower could +possibly see the disk itself." + +"Paul, I think you've hit it," I said. "I can see thc rest of it--the +thing was under remote control, radio or radar. And from the way it +flew rings around Gorman, whoever controlled it must have been able to +see the F-51, either with a television 'eye' or by radar," + +"Or by some means we don't understand," said Redell. He went on +carefully, "In all these saucer cases, keep this in mind: We may be +dealing with some totally unknown principle--something completely +beyond our comprehension." + +For a moment, I thought he was hunting at some radical discovery by +Soviet--captured Nazi scientists. Then I realized what he meant. + +"You think they're interplanetary," I murmured. + +"Why not?" Redell looked surprised. "Isn't that your idea? I got that +impression." + +"Yes, but I didn't think you believed it. When you said to check on +our space plans, I thought you had some secret missile in mind." + +"No, I had another reason. I wanted you to see all the problems +involved in space travel. If you accept the interplanetary answer, you +have to accept this, too--whoever is looking us over has licked all +those problems years ago. Technically, they'd be hundreds of years +ahead of us--maybe thousands. It has a lot to do with what they'd be +up to here." + +When I mentioned the old sighting reports, I found that Redell already +knew about them. He was convinced that the earth had been under +observation a long time, probably even before the first recorded +sightings. + +"I know some of those reports aren't authentic," he admitted. "But if +you accept even one report of a flying disk or rocket-shaped object +before the twentieth century, then you have to accept the basic idea. +In the last forty years, you might blame the reports on planes and +dirigibles. But there was no propelled aircraft until 1903. {p. 109} +Either all those early sightings were wrong, or some kind of fast +aerial machine has been flying periodically over the earth for at +least two centuries. + +I told him I was pretty well convinced, but that True faced a problem. +There was some conflicting evidence, and part of it seemed linked with +guided missiles. I felt sure we could prove the space-travel answer, +but we had to stay clear of discussing any weapons that were still a +secret. + +"I can't believe that guided missiles are the answer to the Godman +Field saucer and the Chiles-Whitted case, or this business at Fargo. +But we're got to be absolutely sure before we print anything." + +"Well, let's analyze it," said Redell. "Let's see if all the saucers +could be explained as something launched from the earth." + +He reached for a pad and a pencil. + +"First, let's take your rotating disk. That would be a lot simpler to +build than the stationary disk with variable jet nozzles. With a disk +rotated at high speed you get a tremendous lift, whether it's slotted +or cambered, as long as there's enough air to work on." + +"The helicopter principle," I said. + +Redell nodded. "The most practical propulsion would be with two or +more jets out on the rim, to spin your rotating section. But to get up +enough speed for the jets to be efficient, you'd have to whirl the +disk mechanically before the take-off. Here's one way. You could have +a square hole in the center; then the disk launching device would have +a square shaft, rotated by an engine or a motor. As the speed built +up, the cambered disk would ride up the shaft and free itself, rising +vertically, with the jets taking over the job of whirling the cambered +section. + +"The lift would be terrific, far more than any normal aircraft. I +don't believe any human being could take the G's involved in a maximum +power climb; they'd have to use remote control. When it got to the +desired altitude, your disk could be flown in any direction by tilting +it that way. The forward component from that tremendous + +{p. 110} + +lift would result in a very high speed. The disk could also hover, and +descend vertically." + +"What about maneuvering?" I asked, thinking of Gorman's experience. + +"It could turn faster than any pilot could stand," said Redell. "Of +course, a pilot's cockpit could be built into a large disk; but +there'd have to be some way of holding down the speed, to avoid too +many G's in tight maneuvers." + +"Most of the disks don't make any noise," I said. "At least, that's +the general report. You'd hear ordinary jets for miles." + +"Right, and here's another angle. Ram jets take a lot of fuel. Even +with some highly efficient new jet, I can't see the long ranges +reported. Some of these saucers have been seen all over the world. No +matter which hemisphere they were launched from, they'd need an +eight-thousand-mile range, at least, to explain all of the sightings. +The only apparent answer would be some new kind of power, probably +atomic. We certainly didn't have atomic engines for aircraft in 1947, +when the first disks were seen here. And we don't have them now, +though we're working on it. Even if we had such an engine, it wouldn't +be tiny enough to power the small disks." + +"Anyway," I said, "we'd hardly be flying them all over everywhere. The +cost would be enormous, and there'd always be a danger of somebody +getting the secret if a disk landed." + +"Plus the risk of injuring people by radiation. just imagine an +atomic-powered disk dropping into a city. The whole idea's +ridiculous." + +"That seems to rule out the guided-missile answer," I began. But +Redell shook his head. + +"Disk-shaped missiles are quite feasible. I'm talking about range, +speed, and performance. Imagine for a moment that we have disk-type +missiles using the latest jet or rocket propulsion--either piloted or +remote-controlled. The question is, could such disks fit specific +sightings like the one at Godman Field and the case at Fargo?" + +Redell paused as if some new thought had struck him. + +"Wait a minute, here's an even better test. I happen to + +{p. 111} + +know about this case personally. Marvin Miles--he's an aviation writer +in Los Angeles--was down at White Sands Proving Ground some time ago. +He talked with a Navy rocket expert who was in charge of naval +guided-missile projects. This Navy man--he's a commander in the +regular service--told Miles they'd seen four saucers down in that +area." + +"You're sure he wasn't kidding Miles?" I said. Then I remembered +Purdy's tip about a White Sands case. + +"I told you I checked on this myself," Redell said, a little annoyed. +"After Miles told me about it, I asked an engineer who'd been down +there if it was true. He gave me the same story, figures and all. The +first saucer was tracked by White Sands observers with a theodolite. +Then they worked out its performance with ballistics formulas." + +Redell looked at me grimly. + +"The thing was about fifty miles up. And it was making over fifteen +thousand miles an hour!" + +One of the witnesses, said Redell, was a well-known scientist from the +General Mills aeronautical research laboratory in Minneapolis, which +was working with the Navy. (A few days later, I verified this fact and +the basic details of Redell's account. But it was not until early in +January 1950 that I finally identified the officer as Commander Robert +B. McLaughlin and got his dramatic story.) + +"Here are two more items Miles told me," Redell went on. "This Navy +expert said the saucer actually looked elliptical, or egg-shaped. And +while it was being tracked it suddenly made a steep climb--so steep no +human being could have lived through it." + +"One thing is certain," I said. "That fifty-mile altitude knocks out +the rotating disk. Up in that thin air it wouldn't have any lift." + +"Right," said Redell. "And the variable jet type would require an +enormous amount of fuel. Regardless, those G's mean it couldn't have +had any pilot born on this earth." + +According to Marvin Miles, this White Sands saucer had been over a +hundred feet long. (Later, Commander + +{p. 112} + +McLaughlin stated that it was 105 feet.) If this were an American +device, then it meant that we had already licked many of the problems +on which the Earth Satellite Vehicle designers were supposed to be +just starting. Their statements, then, would have to be false--part of +an elaborate cover-up. + +"If we had such an advanced design," said Redell, "and I just don't +believe it possible--would we gamble on a remote-control system? No +such system is perfect. Suppose it went wrong. At that speed, over +fifteen thousand miles an hour, your precious missile or strato ship +could be halfway around the globe in about forty-five minutes. That +is, if the fuel held out. Before you could regain control, you might +lose it in the sea. Or it might come down behind the Iron Curtain. +Even if it were I smashed to bits, it would tip off the Soviets. They +might claim it was a guided-missile attack. Almost anything could hap +pen." + +"It could have a time bomb in it," I suggested. "if it got off course +or out of control, it would blow itself up." + +Redell emphatically shook his head. "I've heard that idea before, but +it won't hold up. What if your ship's controls went haywire and the +thing blew up over a crowded city? Imagine the panic, even if no +actual damage was done. No, sir--nobody in his right mind is going to +let a huge ship like that go barging around unpiloted. It would be +criminal negligence. + +"If the White Sands calculations were correct, then this particular +saucer was no earth-made device. Perhaps in coming years, we could +produce such a ship, with atomic power to drive it. But not now." + +Redell went over several other cases. + +"Take the Godman Field saucer. At one time, it was seen at places one +hundred and seventy-five miles apart, as you know. Even to have been +seen at all from both places, it would. have to have been huge--much +larger than two hundred and fifty feet in diameter. The human eye +wouldn't resolve an object that size, at such a distance and height." + +It was an odd thing; I had, gone over the Mantell case + +{p. 113} + +a dozen times. I knew the object was huge. But I had never tried to +figure out the object's exact size. + +"How big do you think it was?" I asked quickly. This could be the key +I had tried to find. + +"I haven't worked it out," said Redell. "But I can give you a rough +idea. The human eye can't resolve any object that subtends less than +three minutes of arc. For instance, a plane with a hundred-foot wing +span would only be a speck twenty miles away, if you saw it at all." + +"But this thing was seen clearly eighty-seven miles away--or even +more, if it wasn't midway between the two cities. Why, it would have +to be a thousand feet in diameter." + +"Even larger." Redell was silent a moment. "What was the word Mantell +used--'tremendous'?" I tried to visualize the thing, but my mind +balked. One thing was certain now. It was utterly impossible that any +nation on earth could have built such an enormous airborne machine. +just to think of the force required to hold it in the sky was enough +to stagger any engineer. We were years away--perhaps centuries--from +any such possibility. + +As if he had read my thoughts, Redell said soberly, "There's no other +possible answer. It was a huge space ship--perhaps the largest ever to +come into our atmosphere." + +It was clear now why such desperate efforts had been made to explain +away the object Mantell had chased. + +"What about that Eastern Airlines sighting?" I asked. + +"Well, first," said Redell, "it wasn't any remote-control guided +missile. I'll say it again; it would be sheer insanity. Suppose that +thing had crashed in Macon. At that speed it could have plowed its way +for blocks, right through the buildings. It could have killed hundreds +of people, burned the heart out of the city. + +"If it was a missile, or some hush-hush experimental job, then it was +piloted. But they don't test a job like that on any commercial +airways. And they don't fool around at five thousand feet where people +will see the thing streaking by and call the newspapers. + +"To power a hundred-foot wingless ship, especially at those speeds, +would take enormous force. Not as much + +{p. 114} + +as a V-two rocket, but tremendous power. The fuel load would be +terrific. Certainly, the pilot wouldn't be circling around Georgia and +Alabama for an hour, buzzing airliners. I'll stake everything that we +couldn't duplicate that space ship's performance for less than fifty +million dollars. It would take something brand-new in jets." + +Redell paused. He looked at me grimly. "And the way I'd have to soup +it up, it would be a damned dangerous ship to fly. No pilot would +deliberately fly it that low. He'd stay up where he'd have a chance to +bail out." + +I told him what I had heard about the blueprints the Air Force was +said to have rushed. + +"Of course they were worried," said Redell. "And probably they still +are. But I don't think they need be; so far, there's been nothing +menacing about these space ships." + +When I got him back to the Gorman case, Redell drew a sketch on his +pad, showing me his idea of the disk light. He estimated the +transparent rim as not more than five feet in diameter. + +"Possibly smaller," he said. "You recall that Gorman said the light +was between six and eight inches in diameter. He also said it seemed +to have depth--that was in the Air Force report." + +"You think all the mechanism was hidden by the light?" + +"Only possible answer," said Redell. "But just try to imagine crowding +a motor, or jet controls for rim jets, along with remote controls and +a television device, in that small space. Plus your fuel supply. I +don't know any engineer who would even attempt it. To carry that much +gear, it would take a fair-sized plane. You could make a disk large +enough, but the mechanism and fuel section would be two or three feet +across, at least. So Gorman's light must have been powered and +controlled by some unique means. The same principle applies to all the +other light reports I've heard. No shape behind them, high speed, and +intelligent maneuvers. That thing was guided from some interplanetary +ship, hovering at a high altitude," Redell declared. "But I haven't +any idea what source of power it used." + +{p. 115} + +Until then, I had forgotten about Art Green's letter. I told Redell +what Art had said about the Geiger counter. + +"I knew they went over Gorman's fighter with a Geiger counter," Redell +commented. "But they said the reaction was negative. If Green is +right, it's interesting. It would mean they have built incredibly +small atomic engines. But with a race so many years ahead of us, it +shouldn't be surprising. Of course, they may also be using some other +kind of power our scientists say is impossible." + +I was about to ask him what he meant when his secretary came in. + +"Mr. Carson is waiting," she told Redell. "He had a four-o'clock +appointment." + +As I started to leave, Redell looked at his calendar. + +"I hate to break this up; it's a fascinating business What about +coming in Friday? I'd like to see the rest of those case reports." + +"Fine," I said. "I've got a few more questions, too." + +Going out, I made a mental note of the Friday date. Then the figure +clicked; it was just three months since I'd started on this +assignment. + +Three months ago. At that time I'd only been half sure that the +saucers were real. If anyone had said I'd soon believe they were space +ships, I'd have told him he was crazy. + +{p. 116} + + + + CHAPTER XIII + +BEFORE my date with Redell, I went over all the material I had, hoping +to find some clue to the space visitors' planet. It was possible, of +course, that there was more than one planet involved. + +Project "Saucer" had discussed the possibilities in it! report of +April 27, 1949. I read over this section again: + +Since flying saucers first hit the headlines almost two years ago, + there has been wide speculation that the aerial phenomena might + actually be some form of penetration from another planet. + Actually, astronomers are largely in agreement that only one + member of the solar system beside Earth is capable of supporting + life. That is Mars. Even Mars, however, appears to be relatively + desolate and inhospitable, so that a Martian race would be more + occupied with survival than we are on Earth. + On Mars, there exists an excessively slow loss of atmosphere, + oxygen and water, against which intelligent beings, if they do + exist there, may have protected themselves by scientific control + of physical conditions. This might have been done, scientists + speculate, by the construction of homes and cities underground + where the atmospheric pressure would be greater and thus + temperature extremes reduced. The other possibilities exist, of + course, that evolution may have developed a being who can + withstand the rigors of the Martian climate, or that the race--if + it ever did exist--has perished. + In other words, the existence of intelligent life on Mars, where + the rare atmosphere is nearly devoid of oxygen and water and where + the nights are much colder than our Arctic winters, is not + impossible but is completely unproven. + The possibility of intelligent life also existing on the planet + Venus is not considered completely unreasonable + +{p. 117} + +by astronomers. The atmosphere of Venus apparently consists mostly of + carbon dioxide with deep clouds of formaldehyde droplets, and + there seems to be little or no water. Yet, scientists concede that + living organisms might develop in chemical environments which are + strange to us. Venus, however, has two handicaps. Her mass and + gravity are nearly as large as the Earth (Mars is smaller) and her + cloudy atmosphere would discourage astronomy, hence space travel. + +The last argument, I thought, did not have too much weight. We were +planning to escape the earth's gravity; Martians could do the same, +with their planet. As for the cloudy atmosphere, they could have +developed some system of radio or radar investigation of the universe. +The Navy research units, I knew, were probing the far-off Crab nebula +in the Milky Way with special radio devices. This same method, or +something far superior, could have been developed on Venus, or other +planets surrounded by constant clouds. + +After the discussion of solar-system planets, the Project "Saucer" +report went on to other star systems: + +Outside the solar system other stars--22 in number--have satellite + planets. Our sun has nine. One of these, the Earth, is ideal for + existence of intelligent life. On two others there is a + possibility of life. + +Therefore, astronomers believe reasonable the thesis that there could +be at least one ideally habitable planet for each of the 22 other +eligible stars. + +(After publication of our findings in True, several astronomers said +that many planets may be inhabited. One of these was Dr. Carl F. von +Weizacker, noted University of Chicago physicist. On January 10, 1950, +Dr. von Weizacker stated: "Billions upon billions of stars found in +the heavens may each have their own planets revolving about them. It +is possible that these planets would have plant and animal life on +them similar to the earth's.") + +{p. 118} + +After narrowing the eligible stars down to twenty-two the Project +"Saucer" report goes on: + +The theory is also employed that man represents the average in + advancement and development. Therefore, one-half the other + habitable planets would be behind man in development, and the + other half ahead. It is also assumed that any visiting race could + be expected to be far in advance of man. Thus, the chance of space + travelers existing at planets attached to neighboring stars is + very much greater than the chance of space-traveling Martians. The + one can be viewed as almost a certainty (if you accept the thesis + that the number of inhabited planets is equal to those that are + suitable for life and that intelligent life is not peculiar to the + Earth) ." + +The most likely star was Wolf 359--eight light-years away. I thought +for a minute about traveling that vast distance. It was almost +appalling, considered in terms of man's life span. Of course, dwellers +on other planets might live much longer. + +If the speed of light was not an absolute limit, almost any space +journey would then be possible. Since there would be no resistance in +outer space, it would be simply a matter of using rocket power in the +first stages to accelerate to the maximum speed desired. In the latter +phase, the rocket's drive would have to be reversed, to decelerate for +the landing. + +The night before my appointment with Redell, I was checking a case +report when the phone rang. It was John Steele. + +"Are you still working on the saucers?" he asked. "If you are, I have +a suggestion--something that might be a real lead." + +"I could use a lead right now," I told him. + +"I can't give you the source, but it's one I consider reliable," said +Steele. "This man says the disks are British developments." + +This was a new one. I hadn't considered the British. Steele talked for +over half an hour, expanding the idea. + +{p. 119} + +The saucers, his informant said, were rotating disks with cambered +surfaces--originally a Nazi device. Near the end of the war, the +British had seized all the models, along with the German technicians +and scientists who had worked on the project. + +The first British types had been developed secretly in England, +according to this account. But the first tests showed a dangerous lack +of control; the disks streaked up to high altitudes, hurtling without +direction. Some had been seen over the Atlantic, some in Turkey, +Spain, and other parts of Europe. + +The British then had shifted operations to Australia, where a +guided-missile test range had been set up. (This part, I knew, could +be true; there was such a range.) After improving their remote-control +system, which used both radio and radar, they had built disks up to a +hundred feet in diameter. These were launched out over the Pacific, +the first ones straight eastward over open sea. British destroyers +were stationed at 100-mile and later 500-mile intervals, to track the +missiles by radar and correct their courses. At a set time, when their +fuel was almost exhausted, the disks came down vertically and landed +in the ocean. Since part of the device was sealed, the disks would +float; then a special launching ship would hoist them abroad, refuel +them, and launch them back toward a remote base in Australia, where +they were landed by remote control. + +Since then, Steele said, the disks' range and speed had been greatly +increased. The first tests of the new disks was in the spring of 1947, +his informant had told him. The British had rushed the project, +because of Soviet Russia's menacing attitude. Their only defense in +England, the British knew, would be some powerful guided missile that +could destroy Soviet bases after the first attack. + +In order to check the range and speeds accurately, it was necessary to +have observers in the Western Hemisphere--the disks were now +traversing the Pacific. The ideal test range, the British decided, was +one extending over Canada, where the disks could be tracked and even +landed, + +{p. 120} + +If the account was right, said Steele, a base had been set up in the +desolate Hudson Bay country. Special radar-tracking stations had also +been established, to guide the missiles toward Australia and vessels +at sea. These stations also helped to bring in missiles from +Australia. + +Some of the disk missiles were supposed to have been launched from a +British island in the South Pacific; others came all the way from +Australia. Still others were believed to have been launched by a +mother ship stationed between the Galapagos Islands and Pitcairn. + +It was these new disks that had been seen in the United States, +Alaska, Canada, and Latin America, Steele's informant had told him. At +first, the sightings were due to imperfect controls; the disks +sometimes failed to keep their altitude, partly because of conflicting +radio and radar beams from the countries below. Responding to some of +these mixed signals, Steele said, the disks had been known to reverse +course, hover or descend over radar and radio stations, or circle +around at high speeds until their own control system picked them up +again. + +For this reason, the British had arranged a simple detonator system, +operated either by remote control or automatically under certain +conditions. In this way, no disk would crash over land, with the +danger of hitting a populated area. If it descended below a certain +altitude, the disk would automatically speed up its rotation, then +explode at a high altitude. When radar trackers saw that a disk was +off course and could not be realigned, the nearest station then sent a +special signal to activate the detonator system. This was always done, +Steele had been told, when a disk headed toward Siberia; there had +previously been a few cases when Australian-launched disks had got +away from controllers and appeared over Europe. + +I listened to Steele's account with mixed astonishment and suspicion. +It sounded like a pipe dream; but if it was, it had been carefully +thought out, especially the details that followed. + +At first, Steele said, American defense officials had been completely +baffled by the disk reports. Then the British, learning about the +sightings, had hastily explained to top-level American officials. An +agreement had been + +{p. 121} + +worked out. We were to have the benefit of their research and testing +and working models, in return for helping to conceal the secret. We +were also to aid in tracking and controlling the missiles when they +passed over this country. + +"And I gather we paid in other ways," Steele said. "My source says +this played a big part in increasing our aid to Britain, including +certain atomic secrets." + +That could make sense. Sharing such a secret would be worth all the +money and supplies we had poured into England. If America and Great +Britain both had a superior long-range missile, it would be the +biggest factor I knew for holding off war. But the long ranges +involved in Steele's explanation made the thing incredible. + +"How are they powered? What fuel do they use?" I asked him. + +"That's the one thing I couldn't get," said Steele. "This man told me +it was the most carefully guarded secret of all. They've tapped a new +source of power." + +"If he means atomic engines," I said, "I don't believe it. I don't +think anyone is that far along." + +"No, no," Steele said earnestly, "he said it wasn't that. And the rest +of the story hangs together." + +Privately, I thought of two or three holes, but I let that go. + +"If it's British," I said, "do you think we should even hint at it?" + +"I don't see any harm," Steele answered. "The Russians undoubtedly +know the truth. They have agents everywhere. It might do a lot of good +for American-British relations. Anyway, it would offset any fear that +the saucers are Soviet weapons." + +"Then you're not worried about that angle any more?" + +Steele laughed. "No, but it had me going for a while. It was a big +relief to find out the disks are British." + +"What's the disks' ceiling?" I asked, abruptly. + +"Oh--sixty thousand feet, at least," said Steele. After a moment he +added quickly, "That's just a guess--they probably operate much +higher. I didn't think to ask." + +Before I hung up, he asked me what I thought, of the British +explanation. + +{p. 122} + +"It's certainly more plausible than the Soviet idea," I said. I +thanked him for calling me, and put down the phone. I was tempted to +point out the flaws in his story. But I didn't. + +If he was sincere, it would be poor thanks for what he had told me. If +he was trying to plant a fake explanation, it wouldn't hurt to let him +think I'd swallowed it. When I saw Redell, I told him about Steele. + +"It does look like an attempt to steer you away from the +interplanetary answer," Redell agreed, "though he may be passing on a +tip he believes." + +"You think there could be any truth in the British story?" + +"Would the British risk a hundred-foot disk crashing in some American +city?" said Redell. "No remote control is perfect, and neither is a +detonator system. By some freak accident, a disk might come down in a +place like Chicago, and then blow up. I just can't see the +British--any more than ourselves--letting huge unpiloted missiles go +barging around the world, flying along airways and over cities. +Certainly, they could have automatic devices to make them veer away +from airliners--but what if a circuit failed?" + +"I go along with that," I said. + +"I don't say the British don't have some long-range missiles," Redell +broke in. "Every big nation has a guided-missile project. But no +guided missile on earth can explain the Mantell case and the others +we've discussed." + +I showed him the material I had on the Nazi disk experiments. Redell +skimmed through it and nodded. + +"I can tell you a little more," he said. "Some top Nazi scientists +were convinced we were being observed by space visitors. They'd +searched all the old reports. Some sighting over Germany set them off +about 1940. That's what I was told. I think that's where they first +got the idea of trying out oval and circular airfoils. + +"Up to then, nobody was interested. The rotation idea uses the same +principle as the helicopter, but nobody had even followed that +through. The Nazis went to work on the disks. They also began to rush +space-exploration plans--the orbiting satellite idea. I think they +realized these + +{p. 123} + +space ships were using some great source of power we hadn't discovered +on earth. I believe that's what they were after--that power secret. If +they'd succeeded, they'd have owned the world. As it was, that space +project caused them to leap ahead of everybody with rockets." + +When I asked Redell how he thought the space ships were powered, he +shrugged. + +"Probably cosmic rays hold the answer. Their power would be even +greater than atomic power. There's another source I've heard +mentioned, but most people scoff at it. That's the use of +electromagnetic fields in space. The earth has its magnetic field, of +course, and so does the sun. Probably all planets do. + +"There's a man named Fernand Roussel who wrote a book called The +Unifying Principle of Physical Phenomena, about 1943. He goes into the +electromagnetic-field theory. If he's right, then there must be some +way to tap this force and go from one planet to another without using +any fuel. You'd use your first planet's magnetic field to start you +off and then coast through space until you got into the field of the +next planet. At least, that's how I understand it. But you'd be safer +sticking to atomic power. That's been proved." + +Most of our conversations had been keyed to the technical side of the +flying-saucer problem. But before I left this time, I asked Redell how +the thought of space visitors affected him. + +"Oh, at first I had a queer feeling about it," he answered. "But once +you accept it, it's like anything else. You get used to the idea." + +"One thing bothers me," I said. "When I try to picture them, I keep +remembering the crazy-looking things in some of the comics. What do +you suppose they're really like?" + +"I've thought about it for months." Redell slowly shook his head. "I +haven't the slightest idea." + +{p. 124} + + + + CHAPTER XIV + +THAT EVENING, after my talk with Redell, the question kept coming back +in my mind. + +What were they like? And what were they doing here? + +From the long record of sightings, it was possible to get an answer to +the second question. Observation of the earth followed a general +pattern. According to the reports, Europe, the most populated area, +had been more closely observed than the rest of the globe until about +1870. By this time, the United States, beginning to rival Europe in +industrial progress, had evidently become of interest to the +space-ship crews. + +From then on, Europe and the Western Hemisphere, chiefly North +America, shared the observers' attention. The few sightings reported +at other points around the world indicate an occasional check-up on +the earth in general. Apparently World War I had not greatly concerned +the space observers. One reason might be that our aerial operations +were still at a relatively low altitude. + +But World War II had drawn more attention, and this had obviously +increased from 1947 up to the present time. Our atomic-bomb explosions +and the V-2 high-altitude experiments might be only coincidence, but I +could think of no other development that might seriously concern +dwellers on other planets. + +It was a strange thing to think of some far-off race keeping track of +the earth's progress. If Redell was right, it might even have started +in prehistoric time; a brief survey, perhaps once a century or even +further spaced, then gradually more frequent observation as cities +appeared on the earth. + +Somewhere on a distant planet there would be records of that long +survey. I wondered how our development would appear to that +far-advanced race. They would have seen the slow sailing ships, the +first steamships, the lines of steel tracks that carried our first +trains. + +Watching for our first aircraft, they would see the drifting balloons +that seemed an aerial miracle when the + +{p. 125} + +Montgolfiers first succeeded. More than a century later, they would +have noted the slow, clumsy airplanes of the early 1900's. From our +gradual progress to the big planes and bombers of today, they could +probably chart our next steps toward the stratosphere--and then space. + +During the last two centuries, they would have watched a dozen wars, +each one fiercer than the last, spreading over the globe. Adding up +all the things they had seen, they could draw an accurate picture of +man, the earth creature, and the increasingly fierce struggle between +the earth races. + +The long survey held no sign of menace. If there had been a guiding +purpose of attack and destruction, it could have been carried out +years ago. It was almost certain that any planet race able to traverse +space would have the means for attack. + +More than once, during this investigation, I had been asked: "If the +saucers are interplanetary, why haven't they landed here? Why haven't +their crews tried to make contact with us?" + +There was always the possibility that the planet race or races could +not survive on earth, or that their communications did not include the +methods that we used. But I found that hard to believe. Such a +superior race would certainly be able to master our radio operations, +or anything else that we had developed, in a fairly short time. And it +should be equally simple to devise some means of survival on earth, +just as we were already planning special suits and helmets for +existence on the moon. During a talk with a former Intelligence +officer, I got a key to the probable explanation. + +"Why don't you just reverse it--list what we intend to do when we +start exploring space? That'll give you the approximate picture of +what visitors to the earth would be doing." + +Naturally, all the details of space plans have not been worked out, +but the general plan is clear. After the first successful earth +satellites, we will either attempt a space base farther out or else +launch a moon rocket. Probably many round trips to the moon will be +made before going farther in space. + +{p. 126} + +Which planet will be explored first, after the moon? + +According to Air Force reports, it is almost a certainty that planets +outside the solar system are inhabited. But because of the vast +distances involved, expeditions to our neighboring planets may be +tried before the more formidable journeys. More than one prominent +astronomer believes that life, entirely different from our own, may +exist on some solar planets. Besides Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, there +are five more that, like the earth, revolve around the sun. + +One of the prominent authorities is Dr. H. Spencer Jones, Astronomer +Royal. In his book Life on Other Worlds, Dr. Jones points out that +everything about us is the result of changing processes, begun +millenniums ago and still going on. We cannot define life solely in +our own terms; it can exist in unfamiliar forms. + +"It is conceivable," Dr. Jones states in his book, "that we could have +beings, the cells of whose bodies contained silicon instead of the +carbon which is an essential constituent of our cells and of all other +living cells on the earth. And that because of this essential +difference between the constitution of those cells and the cells of +which animal and plant life on the earth are built up, they might be +able to exist at temperatures so high that no terrestrial types of +life could survive." + +According to Dr. Jones, then, life could be possible on worlds hotter +and drier than ours; it could also exist on a very much colder one, +such as Mars. + +Even if a survey of the sun's planets proved fruitless, it would +decide the question of their being populated. Also, it would provide +valuable experience for the much longer journeys into space. + +No one expects such a survey until we have a space vehicle able to +make the round trip. One-way trips would tell us nothing, even if +volunteers offered to make such suicidal journeys. + +The most probable step will be to launch a space vehicle equipped with +supplies for a long time, perhaps a year or two, within the solar +system. Since Mars has been frequently mentioned as a source of the +flying + +{p. 127} + +saucers, let's assume it would be the first solar-system planet to be +explored from the earth. + +As the space ship neared Mars, it could be turned to circle the planet +in an orbit, just like our planned earth satellite vehicle. Once in +this orbit, it could circle indefinitely without using fuel except to +correct its course. + +From this space base, unmanned remote-control "observer" units with +television "eyes" or other transmitters would be sent down to survey +the planet at close range. If it then seemed fairly safe, a manned +unit could be released to make a more thorough check-up. + +Such preliminary caution would be imperative. Our explorers would have +no idea of what awaited them. The planet might be uninhabited. It +might be peopled by a fiercely barbarous race unaware of civilization +as we know it. Or it might have a civilization far in advance of ours. + +The explorers would first try to get a general idea of the whole +planet. Then they would attempt to examine the most densely populated +areas, types of armature, any aircraft likely to attack them. Combing +the radio spectrum, they would pick up and record sounds and signals +in order to decipher the language. + +As on earth, they might hear a hodgepodge of tongues. The next step +would be to select the most technically advanced nation, listen in, +and try to learn its language, or record it for deciphering afterward +on earth. + +Our astronomers already have analyzed Mars's atmosphere, but the +explorers would have to confirm their reports, to find out whether the +atmosphere at the surface would support their lungs if they landed. +The easiest way would be to send down manned or unmanned units with +special apparatus to scoop in atmosphere samples. Later analysis would +tell whether earthlings would need oxygen-helmet suits such as we plan +to use on the moon. + +But before risking flight at such low altitudes, the explorers would +first learn everything possible about the planet's aircraft, if any. +They would try to determine their top ceiling, maximum speed, +maneuverability, and if possible their weapons. Mitch of this could be +done by sending down remote-control "observer" disks, or + +{p. 128} + +whatever type we decide to use. A manned unit might make a survey at +night, or in daytime with clouds nearby to shield it. By hovering over +the planet's aircraft bases, the explorers could get most of the +picture, and also decide whether the bases were suitable for their own +use later. + +It might even be necessary to lure some Martian aircraft into pursuit +of our units, to find out their performance. But our explorers would +above all avoid any sign of hostility; they would hastily. withdraw to +show they had no warlike intentions. + +If the appearance of our observer units and manned craft caused too +violent reactions on the planet, the explorers would withdraw to their +orbiting space vehicle and either wait for a lull or else start the +long trip back home. Another interplanetary craft from the earth might +take its place later to resume periodic surveys. + +In this way, a vast amount of information could be collected without +once making contact with the strange race. If they seemed belligerent +or uncivilized, we would probably end our survey and check on the next +possibly inhabited planet. If we found they were highly civilized, we +would undoubtedly attempt later contact. But it might take a long +time, decades of observation and analysis, before we were ready for +that final step. + +We might find a civilization not quite so advanced as ours. It might +not yet have developed radio and television. We would then have no way +of getting a detailed picture, learning the languages, or +communicating with. the Martians. Analysis of their atmosphere might +show a great hazard to earthlings, one making it impossible to land or +requiring years of research to overcome. There might be other +obstacles beyond our present understanding. + +This same procedure would apply to the rest of the solar-system +planets and to more distant systems. Since Wolf 359 is the nearest +star outside our system that is likely to have inhabited planets, one +of these planets would probably be listed as the first to explore in +far-distant space. It would be a tremendous undertaking, unless the +speed of light can be exceeded in space. Since + +{p. 129} + +Wolf 359 is eight light-years from the earth, even if a space ship +traveled at the theoretical maximum--just under 186,00 miles a +second--it would take over sixteen years for the round trip. Detailed +observation of the planet would add to this period. + +If we assume half that speed--which would still be an incredible +attainment with our present knowledge--our space explorers would have +to dedicate at least thirty-two years to the hazardous, lonely round +trip. However, there has never been a lack of volunteers for grand +undertakings in the history of man. + +It is quite possible that in our survey of the solar-system planets we +would find some inhabited, but not advanced enough to be of interest +to us. Periodically, we might make return visits to note their +progress. Meantime, our astronomers would watch these planets, +probably developing new, higher powered telescopes for the purpose, to +detect any signs of unusual activity. Any tremendous explosion on a +planet would immediately concern us. + +Such an explosion, on Mars, was reported by astronomers on January 16, +1950. The cause and general effects are still being debated. Sadao +Saeki, the Japanese astronomer who first reported it at Osaka, +believes it was of volcanic nature. + +The explosion created a cloud over an area about seven hundred miles +in diameter and forty miles high. It was dull gray with a yellowish +tinge and a different color from the atmospheric phenomena customarily +seen near Mars. Saeki believes the blast might have destroyed any form +of life existing on the planet, but even though the telescopic camera +recorded a violent explosion, other authorities do not believe the +planet was wrecked. The canals first discovered on Mars by Giovanni +Schiaparelli, about 1877, are still apparent on photographs. + +Mars is now being carefully watched by astronomers. If there are more +of the strange explosions, the planet will be scanned constantly for +some clue to their nature. + +If a mysterious explosion on Mars, or any other planet, were found of +atomic origin, it would cause serious concern on earth. Suppose for a +moment that it happened many years from now, when we will have +succeeded in + +{p. 130} + +space explorations. At this time, let us assume our explorers have +found that Mars is experimenting with high-altitude rockets; some of +them have been seen, rising at tremendous speed, in the upper +atmosphere of Mars. + +Then comes this violent explosion. A scientific analysis of the cloud +by astrophysicists here on earth proves it was of atomic origin. + +The first reaction would undoubtedly be an immediate resurvey of Mars. +As quickly as possible, we would establish an orbiting space base--out +of range of Martian rockets--and try to find how far they had advanced +with atomic bombs. + +Samples of the Martian atmosphere would be collected and analyzed for +telltale radiation. Observer units would be flown over the planet, +with instruments to locate atom-bomb plants and possibly uranium +deposits. The rocket-launching bases would also come under close +observation. We would try to learn how close the scientists were to +escaping the pull of gravity. Since Mars's gravity is much less than +the earth's, the Martians would not have so far to progress before +succeeding in space travel. + +The detailed survey by our space-base observers would probably show +that there was no immediate danger to the earth. It might take one +hundred years--perhaps five hundred--before the Martians could be a +problem. Eventually, the time would come when Mars would send out +space-ship explorers. They would undoubtedly discover that the earth +was populated with a technically advanced civilization. Any warlike +ideas they had in mind could be quickly ended by a show of our +superior space craft and our own atomic weapons--probably far superior +to any on Mars. It might even be possible that by then we would have +finally outlawed war; if so, a promise to share the peaceful benefits +of our technical knowledge might be enough to bring Martian leaders +into line. + +Regardless of our final decision, we would certainly keep a lose watch +on Mars--or any other planet that seemed a possible threat. + +Now, if our space-exploration program is just reversed, it will give a +reasonable picture of how visitors from + +{p. 131} + +space might go about investigating the earth. Such an investigation +would tie in with the general pattern of authentic flying-saucer +reports: + +1. World-wide sightings at long intervals up to the middle of the +nineteenth century. + +2. Concentration on Europe, as the most advanced section of the globe, +until late in the nineteenth century. + +3. Frequent surveys of America in the latter part of the nineteenth +century, as we began to develop industrially, with cities springing up +across the land. + +4. Periodic surveys of both America and Europe during the gradual +development of aircraft, from the early 1900's up to World War II. + +5. An increase of observation during World War II, after German V-2's +were launched up into the stratosphere. + +6. A steadily increasing survey after our atomic-bomb explosions in +New Mexico, Japan, Bikini, and Eniwetok. + +7. A second spurt of observations following atom-bomb explosions in +Soviet Russia. + +8. Continuing observations of the earth at regular intervals, with +most attention concentrated on the United States, the present leader +in atomic weapons. (Saucers have been reported seen over the Soviet +Union, but the number is unknown. There is some evidence that Russia +has an investigative unit similar to Project "Saucer.") + +There are other points of similarity to the program of American space +exploration that I have outlined. Most of the extremely large saucers +have been at high altitudes, some of them many miles above the earth. +At that height, a space ship would be in no danger from our planes and +antiaircraft guns and rockets. The smaller disks and the mystery +lights have been seen at low altitudes. Occasionally a larger saucer +has been seen to approach the earth briefly, as at Lockbourne Air +Force Base, at Bethel, Alabama, at Macon and Montgomery, and other +places. It has been suggested that this was for the purpose of +securing atmospheric samples. It could also be to afford personal +observation by the crews. + +The numerous small disks seen in the first part of + +{p. 132} + +the scare, in 1947, fit the pattern for preliminary and close +observation by remote-controlled observer units. As the scare +increased, the daytime sightings decreased for a while, and mystery +lights began to be seen more often. This apparent desire to avoid +unfavorable attention could have been caused by our pilots' repeated +attempts to chase the strange flying objects. + +Authentic reports have described sightings; over the following Air +Force bases: Chanute, Newark, Andrews, Hickam, Robbins, Godman, Clark, +Fairfield Suisan, Davis-Monthan, Harmon, Wright-Patterson, Holloman, +Clinton County Air Force Base, and air bases in Alaska, Germany, and +the Azores. Saucers have also been sighted over naval air stations at +Dallas, Alameda, and Key West, and from the station at Seattle. They +have been reported maneuvering over the White Sands Proving Ground, +over areas containing atomic developments, above the Muroc Air Base +testing area, and over the super-secret research base near +Albuquerque. + +Several times saucers have paced both military and civil aircraft; +their actions strongly indicate deliberate encounters to learn our +planes' speed and performance. + +It seems obvious that both the planes and the bases were being +observed, and in some cases photographed by remote-control units or +manned space ships. + +Although I thought it improbable that the location of our uranium +deposits would be of interest to space men, a Washington official told +me it would be relatively simple to detect the ore areas with airborne +instruments. + +"The Geological Survey has already developed special Geiger counters +for planes," he told me. "They had a little trouble from cosmic-ray +noise. They finally had to cover the Geigers with lead shields. +Whenever an important amount of radiation is present in the ground, +the plane crew gets a signal, and they spot the place on their map. +It's a quick way of locating valuable deposits." + +When I told him what I had in mind, he suggested an angle I had not +considered. + +"Mind you," he said, "I'm not completely sold on the interplanetary +answer. But assuming it's correct that we're being observed, I can +think of a stronger reason + +{p. 133} + +than fear of some distant attack. Some atomic scientists say that a +super-atomic bomb, or several set off at once, could knock the earth +out of its orbit. It sounds fantastic, but so is the A-bomb. It's just +possible that some solar-planet race discovered the dangers long ago. +They would have good reason to worry if they found we were on that +same track. There may be some other atomic weapon we don't suspect, +even worse than the A-bomb, one that could destroy the earth and +seriously affect other planets." + +At the time, I thought this was just idle speculation. But since then, +several atomic scientists have confirmed this official's suggestion. +One of these was Dr. Paul Elliott, a nuclear physicist who worked on +the A-bomb during the war. + +According to Dr. Elliott, if several hydrogen bombs were exploded +simultaneously at a high altitude, it could speed up the earth's +rotation or change its orbit. He based his statement on the rate of +energy the earth receives from the sun, a rate equal to some four +pounds of hydrogen exploded every second. Still other atomic +scientists have said that H-bomb explosions might even knock a large +chunk out of the earth, with unpredictable results. + +A dramatic picture of what might happen if the earth were forced far +out of its orbit is indicated in the much-discussed book Worlds in +Collision, by Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, recently published by +Macmillan. After many years of research, Dr. Velikovsky presents +strong evidence that the planet Venus, when still a comet resulting +from eruption from a larger planet, moved erratically about the sky +and violently disturbed both the earth and Mars. + +When the comet approached the earth, our planet was forced out of its +orbit, according to Worlds in Collision. For a time, the world was on +the brink of destruction. Quoting many authentic ancient records, +including the Quich manuscript of the Mayas, the Ipuwer papyrus of +the Egyptians, and the Visiddhi-Magga of the Buddhists, Dr. Velikovsky +describes the cataclysm that took place. "The face of the earth +changed," he writes in his book. The details, reinforced by the +Zend-Avesta of the Persians, tell of tremendous hurricanes, of a major +upheaval + +{p. 134} + +in the earth's surface, of oceans rushing over many parts of the land, +while rivers were driven from their beds. Some of the events in this +period are mentioned in the Bible. + +Professor Horace M. Kallen, former dean of the New School of Social +Research, strongly endorses Dr. Velikovsky's statements: "It is my +belief that Velikovsky has supported his theses with substantial +evidence and made an effective and persuasive argument." + +Many other authorities endorse this work, which is documented with +impressive references. But even if this particular account is not +accepted, all astronomers agree that the effect of a comet passing +near the earth would be appalling. Worlds in Collision states that +Mars, like the earth, was pulled out of its orbit by the comet's +erratic passage. It may be that this near disaster to the earth and +Mars is known on other solar planets, or remembered on Mars itself, if +the planet is inhabited. + +The possibility of super-bomb explosions on the earth understandably +disturb any dwellers on other solar-system planets. + +This may be what was back of the Project "Saucer" statement on the +probable motives of any visitors from space. I mentioned this Air +Force statement in an earlier chapter, but it may be of interest to +repeat it at this time. The comment appeared in a confidential +analysis of Intelligence reports, in the formerly secret Project +"Saucer" document, "Report on Unidentified Aerial and Celestial +Objects." It reads as follows: + +"Such a civilization might observe that on earth we now have atomic +bombs and are fast developing rockets. In view of the past history of +mankind, they should be alarmed. We should therefore expect at this +time above all to behold such visitations. + +"Since the acts of mankind most easily observed from a distance are +A-bomb explosions, we should expect some relation to obtain between +the time of the A-bomb explosions, the time at which the space ships +are seen, and the time required for such ships to arrive from and +return to home base." + +{p. 135} + + + + CHAPTER XV + +IT was early in October 1949 when I finished the reversal of our +space-exploration plans. I spent the next two days running down a +sighting report from a town in Pennsylvania. Like three or four other +tips that had seemed important at first, it turned out to be a dud. + +When I got back home, I found Ken Purdy had been trying to reach me. I +phoned him at True, and he asked me to fly up to New York the next +day. + +"I've just heard there's another magazine working on the saucer +story," he told me. + +"Who is it?" I said. + +"I don't know yet. It may be just a rumor, but we can't take a chance. +We've got to get this in the January book." + +That night I gathered up all the material. It looked hopeless to +condense it into one article, and I knew that Purdy had even more +investigators' reports waiting for me in New York. Flying up the next +morning, I suddenly thought of a talk I'd had with an air transport +official. It was in Washington; I had just told him about the +investigation. + +"If they are spacemen," he said, "they'd probably have a hard time +figuring out this country by listening to our broadcasts. Imagine +tuning in soap operas, 'The Lone Ranger,' and a couple of crime yarns, +along with newscasts about strikes and murders and the cold war. They +might pick up some of those kid programs about rocket ships. A few +days of listening to that stuff--well, it would give them one hell of +a picture." + +Except for some hoax reports, this was the first funny suggestion I'd +had about the spacemen. But now, thinking seriously about it, I +realized he had an important point. It was possible that men from +another planet might have to reorient even their way of thinking to +understand the earth's ways. It would not be automatic, despite their +superior technical progress. Evolution might have produced basic +differences in their understanding of life. Humor, for instance, might +be totally lacking in their make-up. + +{p. 136} + +What would they be like? + +I'd tried to imagine how they might look, without getting anywhere. +Dr. H. Spencer Jones hadn't helped much with his Life on Other Worlds. +I couldn't begin to visualize beings with totally different cells, +perhaps able to take terrific heat or bitter cold as merely normal +weather. + +There were all kinds of possibilities. If they lived on Mars, for +instance, perhaps they couldn't take the heavier gravity of the earth. +They might be easily subject to our diseases, especially if they had +destroyed disease germs on their planet--a natural step for an +advanced race. + +It was possible, I knew, that the spacemen might look grotesque to us. +But I clung to a Stubborn feeling that they would resemble man. That +came, of course, from an inborn feeling of man's superiority over all +living things. It carried over into a feeling that any thinking, +intelligent being, whether on Mars or Wolf 359's planets, should have +evolved in the same form. + +I gave up trying to imagine how the spacemen might look. There was +simply nothing to go on. But there were strong indications of how they +thought and reacted. Certain qualities were plainly evident. + +Intelligence +. No one could dispute that. It took a high order of mentality to +construct and operate a space ship. + +Courage +. It would take brave men to face the hazards of space. + +Curiosity +. Without this quality, they would never have thought to explore +far-distant planets. + +There were other qualities that seemed almost equally certain. These +spacemen apparently lacked belligerence; there had been no sign of +hostility through all the years. They were seemingly painstaking and +extremely methodical. + +It was still not much of a picture. But somehow, it was encouraging. + +Glancing down from the plane's window, I thought: How does this look +to them? Our farms, our cities, the railroads there below; the +highways, with the speeding cars and trucks; the winding river, and +far off to the right, the broad stretch of the Atlantic. + +{p. 137} + +What would they think of America? + +Manhattan came into sight, as the pilot let down for the landing. An +odd thought popped into my mind. How would a spaceman react if he saw +a Broadway show? + +Not long before, I had seen South Pacific. I could still hear Ezio +Pinza's magnificent voice as he sang "Some Enchanted Evening." + +Was music a part of spacemen's lives, or would it be something new and +strange, perhaps completely distasteful? + +They might live and think on a coldly intelligent level, without a +touch of what we know as emotion. To them, our lives might seem +meaningless and dull. We ourselves might appear grotesque in form. + +But in their progress, there must have been struggle, trial and error, +some feeling of triumph at success. Surely these would be emotional +forces, bound to reflect in the planet races. Perhaps, in spite of +some differences, we would find a common bond--the bond of thinking, +intelligent creatures trying to better themselves. + +The airliner landed and taxied in to unload. + +As I went down the gangway I suddenly realized something. My last +vague fear was gone. + +It had not been a personal fear of the visitors from space. It had +been a selfish fear of the impact on my life. I realized that now. + +It might be a long time before they would try to make contact. But I +had a conviction that when it came, it would be a peaceful mission, +not an ultimatum. It could even be the means of ending wars on earth. + +But I had been conditioned to this thing. I had had six months of +preparation, six months to go from complete skepticism to slow, final +acceptance. + +What if it had been thrown at me in black headlines? + +Even a peaceful contact by beings from another planet would profoundly +affect the world. The story in True might play an important part in +that final effect. Carefully done, it could help prepare Americans for +the official disclosure. + +But if it weren't done right, we might be opening a Pandora's box. + +{p. 138} + + + + CHAPTER XVI + +THAT MORNING, at True, we made the final decisions on how to handle +the story. Using the evidence of the Mantell case, the Chiles-Whitted +report, Gorman's mystery-light encounter, and other authentic cases, +along with the records of early sightings, we would state our main +conclusion: that the flying saucers were interplanetary. + +In going over the mass of reports, Purdy and I both realized that a +few sightings did not fit the space-observer pattern. Most of these +reports came from the southwest states, where guided-missile +experiments were going on. + +Purdy agreed with Paul Redell that any long-range tests would be made +over the sea or unpopulated areas, with every attempt at secrecy. + +"They might make short-range tests down there in New Mexico and +Arizona-maybe over Texas," he said. "But they'd never risk killing +people by shooting the things all over the country." + +"They've already set up a three-thousand-mile range for the longer +runs," I added. "It runs from Florida into the South Atlantic. And the +Navy missiles at Point Mugu are launched out over the Pacific. Any +guided missiles coming down over settled areas would certainly be an +accident. Besides all that, no missile on earth can explain these +major cases." + +Purdy was emphatic about speculating on our guided-missile research. + +"Suppose you analyzed these minor cases that look like missile tests. +You might accidentally give away something important, like their range +and speeds. Look what the Russians did with the A-bomb hints +Washington let out." + +It was finally decided that we would briefly mention the guided +missiles, along with the fact that the armed services had flatly +denied any link with the saucers. + +"After all, interplanetary travel is the main story," said Purdy. "And +the Mantell case alone proves we've + +{p. 139} + +been observed from space ships, even without the old records." + +The question of the story's impact worried both of us. public +acceptance of intelligent life on other planets would affect almost +every phase of our existence-business, defense planning, philosophy, +even religion. Of course, the immediate effect was more important. +Personally, I thought that most Americans could take even an official +announcement without too much trouble. But I could be wrong. + +"The only yardstick--and that's not much good--is that 'little men' +story," said Purdy. "A lot of people have got excited about it, but +they seem more interested than scared." + +The story of the "little men from Venus" had been circulating for some +time. In the usual version, two flying saucers had come down near our +southwest border. In the space craft were several oddly dressed men, +three feet high. All of them were dead; the cause was usually given as +inability to stand our atmosphere. The Air Force was said to have +hushed up the story, so that the public could be educated gradually to +the truth. Though it had all the earmarks of a well-thought-out hoax, +many newspapers had repeated the story. It had even been broadcast as +fact on several radio newscasts. But there had been no signs of public +alarm. + +"It looks as if people have come a long way since that Orson Welles +scare," I said to Purdy. + +"But there isn't any menace in this story," he objected. "The crews +were reported dead, so everybody got the idea that spacemen couldn't +live if they landed. What if a space ship should suddenly come down +over a big city--say New York--low enough for millions of people to +see it?" + +"it might cause a stampede," I said, + +Purdy snorted. "it would be a miracle if it didn't, unless people had +been fully prepared. if we do a straight fact piece, just giving the +evidence, it will start the ball rolling. People at least will be +thinking about it." + +Before I left for Washington, I told Purdy of my last visit to the +Pentagon. I had informed Air Force press + +{p. 140} + +relations officials of True's intention to publish the space-travel +answer. There had been no attempt to dissuade me. And I had been told +once again that there was no security involved; that Project "Saucer" +had found nothing threatening the safety of America. + +At this time I had also asked if Project "Saucer" files were now +available. The Wright Field unit, I was told, still was a classified +project, both its files and its photographs secret. This had been the +first week in October. + +When I asked if there was any other information on published cases, +the answer again was negative. The April 27th report, according to +Press Branch officials, was still an accurate statement of Air Force +opinions and policies. So far as they knew, no other explanations had +be n found for the unidentified saucers. + +'I in absolutely convinced now," I told Purdy, "that here's an +official policy to let the thing leak out. It explains why Forrestal +announced our Earth Satellite Vehicle program, years before we could +even start to build it. It also would explain those Project 'Saucer' +hints in the April report." + +"I think we're being used as a trial balloon," Purdy said +thoughtfully. "We've let them know what we're doing. If they'd wanted +to stop us, the Air Force could easily have done it. All they'd have +to do would be call us in, give us the dope off the record, and tell +us it was a patriotic duty to keep still. Just the way they did about +uranium and atomic experiments during the war." + +He still did not have the name of the other magazine supposed to be +working on the saucers. But it seemed a reliable tip (it later proved +to be true), and from then on we worked under high pressure. + +In writing the article, I used only the most authentic recent +sightings; all of the cases were in the Air Force reports. When it +came to the Mantell case, I stuck to published estimates of the +strange object's size; a mysterious ship 250 to 300 feet in diameter +was startling enough. At first, I chose Mars to illustrate our space +explorations. But Mars had been associated with the Orson Welles +stampede. Most discussions of the planet had a menacing note, perhaps +because of its warlike name. + +{p. 141} + +In the end, I switched to a planet of Wolf 359. The thought of those +eight light-years would have a comforting effect on any nervous +readers. The chance of any mass visitation would seem remote, if not +impossible. But it would still put across the space-travel story. + +As finally revised, the article, written under my byline, stated the +following points as the conclusions reached by True: + +1. For the past 175 years, the earth has been under systematic +close-range examination by living, intelligent observers from another +planet. + +2. The intensity of this observation, and the frequency of the visits +to the earth's atmosphere, have increased markedly during the past two +years. + +3. The vehicles used for this observation and for interplanetary +transport by the explorers have been classed as follows: Type I, a +small, nonpilot-carrying disk-shaped craft equipped with some form of +television or impulse transmitter; Type II, a very large, metallic, +disk-shaped aircraft operating on the helicopter principle; Type III, +a dirigible-shaped, wingless aircraft that, in the Earth's atmosphere, +operates in conformance with the Prandtl theory of lift. + +4. The discernible patterns of observation and exploration shown by +the so-called flying disks varies in no important particular from +well-developed American plans for the exploration of space, expected +to come to fruition within the next fifty years. There is reason to +believe, however, that some other race of thinking beings is a matter +of two and a quarter centuries ahead of us. + +Following these points, I added a brief comment on the possibility of +guided missiles, adding that the Air Force had convincingly denied +this as an explanation of any sightings. As Purdy had suggested, I +carefully omitted ten minor cases that I thought might be linked with +guided-missile research. If disclosing the facts about space travel +helped to divert attention from any secret tests, so much the better. + +"True accepts the official denial of any secret device," I stated, +"because the weight of the evidence, especially the world-wide +sightings, does not support such a belief." + +{p. 142} + +Most readers, of course, would know that some guided-missile +experiments were going on, and that True was fully aware of it. But +our main purpose would be achieved. + +The fact that the earth had been observed by beings from another +planet would be fully presented. Some readers, of course, would reject +even the fact that the saucers existed. Others would cling to the idea +that they were of earthly origin. But the mass of evidence would make +most readers think. At the very least, it would plant one strong +suggestion: that we, men and women of the earth, are not the only +intelligent species in the universe. When the article was finished, it +was tried out on True's staff, then on a picked group that had not +known about the investigation. One editor summed up the average +opinion: + +"It will cause a lot of discussion, but the way it's written, it +shouldn't start any panic." + +The January issue, in which the story ran, was due on the stands +shortly after Christmas. With my family, I had gone to Ottumwa, Iowa, +to spend the holidays with my mother and sister. While I was there, +the story broke unexpectedly on radio networks. + +Frank Edwards, Mutual network newscaster, led off the radio comment. +He was followed by Walter Winchell, Lowell Thomas, Morgan Beatty, and +most of the other radio commentators. The wire services quickly picked +it up; some papers ran front-page stories. + +The publicity was far more than I had expected. I phoned a reporter in +Washington whose beat includes the Pentagon. + +"The Air Force is running around in circles," he told me. "They knew +your story was due, but nobody thought it would raise such a fuss. I +think they're scared of hysteria. They're getting a barrage of wires +and telephone calls." + +That night, as I was packing to rush back east, he called with the +latest news. + +"They're going to deny the whole thing," he said. "But' I heard one +Press Branch guy say it might not be enough + +{p. 143} + +--they're trying to figure some way to knock it down fast." + +Next day, while changing trains at Chicago, I saw the Air Force +statement. The press release was dated December 27, 1949. Without +mentioning True, the Air Force flatly denied having any evidence that +flying saucers exist. After examining 375 reports, the release said, +Project "Saucer" had found that they were caused by: + +1. Misinterpretation of various conventional objects. + +2. A mild form of mass hysteria or "war nerves." + +3. Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or to +seek publicity. + +Evaluation of the reports of unidentified flying objects, said the Air +Force, demonstrates that they constitute no direct threat to the +national security of the United States. + +Then came the clincher: Project "Saucer," said the Air Force, had been +discontinued, now that all the reports had been explained. + +It was plain that the release had been hastily prepared. It completely +contradicted the detailed Project "Saucer" report, issued eight months +before, that had called for constant vigilance, after admitting that +most important cases were unsolved. Anyone familiar with the situation +would see the discrepancy at once. + +From Washington I flew to New York, where I found True in a turmoil. +Long-distance calls were pouring in. Letters on flying saucers had +swamped the mail room. Reporters were hounding Purdy for more +information. + +A hurried analysis of the first hundred letters showed a trend that +later mail confirmed. Less than 5 per cent of the readers ridiculed +the article. Between 15 and 20 per cent said they were not convinced; +a few of these admitted they could not refute the evidence. About half +the readers accepted the possibility; most of these said they saw no +reason why other planets should not be inhabited. The remainder, +between 25 and 30 per cent, said they were completely convinced. + +Even the disbelievers asked for more information. The intelligence +level of the average letter was gratifyingly high. Comments came from +scientists, engineers, airline and private pilots, college professors, +officers of the armed + +{p. 144} + +services, and a wide variety of others--including far more women than +True's readership usually includes. + +Several confidential tips had come in when I arrived. Most of them +were from usually reputable sources. We were given evidence that +Project "Saucer" was still in operation; since its true code name was +not "Saucer," it could be continued without violating the Air Force +press release. This same information was received from a dozen sources +within the next two weeks. We were also told that there had been 722 +cases, instead of 375. + +Meantime, a number of astronomers had come out with statements, pro +and con. One of these was Dr. Dean B. McLaughlin, of the University of +Michigan. + +"No one knows what the saucers are as yet," Dr. McLaughlin said. "They +could be anything, and I'm willing to be convinced once the evidence +is presented." + +Dr. Bart J. Bok of Harvard was on the fence: "After all," he said, +"all sort of things float around in space. But I'm not convinced the +saucers are anything apart from the earth." + +Another Harvard astronomer, Dr. Armin J. Deutsch, took an oblique poke +at True and me. "I don't think anyone--and that includes +astronomers--knows enough about them to reach any conclusions." + +After this came the comment of Dr. Carl F. von Weizacker--that +billions of stars may have planets, and many could be inhabited. + +Within a few days we had a huge stack of clippings, some supporting +True, some deriding us. In the midst of all this, I read scientists' +comments on Einstein's new unified-field theory, which had been +printed about the time True appeared on the stands. A discussion by +Lincoln Barnett, author of The Universe and Dr. Einstein, explained +the basic premise--that gravitation and electromagnetic force are +inseparable. As I read it, I thought of what Redell had said. If +gravitation were a manifestation of electromagnetic force, was it +possible that an advanced race had found a way--as unique as splitting +the atom--to offset gravity and utilize that force? + +It was during these first tense days that we ran down the White Sands +story. This also ended another puzzle-- + +{p. 145} + +the identity of the magazine that we had feared might scoop us. + +The race had been closer than we knew. The editors of a national +magazine had learned of Commander McLaughlin and the sightings at +White Sands. Two of the staff had carefully investigated the details. +Convinced that the report was accurate, they had planned to run the +story in an early issue. + +Since True had appeared first with the space-travel story, the editors +agreed to release the McLaughlin report for use in our March issue. +The basic facts were in close agreement with what Redell had told me. + +The ellipsoid-shaped saucer had been tracked at a height of 56 miles, +its speed 5 miles per second. This was 18,000 miles per hour, even +faster than Redell had said. The strange craft, 105 feet in length, +had climbed as swiftly as Marvin Miles had described it--an increase +in altitude of about 25 miles in 10 seconds. + +Commander McLaughlin stated in his article that he was convinced the +object was a space ship from another planet, operated by animate, +intelligent beings. He also described two small circular objects, +about twenty inches in diameter, that streaked up beside a Navy +high-altitude missile. After maneuvering around it for a moment, both +disks accelerated, passed the fast-moving Navy missile, and +disappeared. + +It is Commander McLaughlin's opinion that the saucers come from Mars. +Pointing out that Mars was in a good position to see our surface on +July 16, 1945, he believes that the flash of the first A-bomb, at +Alamogordo Base, a point not far from White Sands, was caught by +powerful telescopes. + +During the first week of January, I appeared on "We, the People," with +Lieutenant George Gorman. When I saw Gorman, before rehearsals, he +seemed oddly constrained. I had a feeling that he had been warned +about talking freely. During rehearsals, he changed his lines in the +script. When the writers argued over a point, Gorman told them: + +"I can say only what was in my published report--nothing else." + +{p. 146} + +The day before the broadcast, a program official told me they had been +told to include the Air Force denial in the script. That afternoon I +learned that the Air Force planned to monitor the broadcast. + +Meantime, an A.P. story carried a new Air Force announcement. Formerly +secret Project "Saucer" files would be opened to newsmen at the +Pentagon, giving the answers to all the saucer reports. + +Just after my return to Washington, I saw an I.N.S. story that was +widely printed. It was an interview with Major Jerry Boggs, a Project +"Saucer" Intelligence officer who served as liaison man between Wright +Field and the Pentagon. Major Boggs had been asked for specific +answers to the Mantell, Chiles-Whitted, and Gorman cases. + +The answers he gave amazed me. I picked up the phone and called the +Air Force Press Branch. After some delay, I was told that Major Boggs +was being briefed for assignment to Germany. An interview would be +almost impossible. + +"He wasn't too busy to talk with I.N.S.," I said. "All I want is +thirty minutes." + +Later, Jack Shea, a civilian press official I had known for some time, +arranged for the meeting. I was also to talk with General Sory Smith, +Deputy Director for Air Information. + +Major Jesse Stay, a Press Branch officer, took me to General Smith's +office for the interview. Both Jesse and Jack Shea, pleasant, obliging +chaps who had helped me in the past, tried earnestly to convince me +the saucers didn't exist. Jesse was still trying when Major Boggs came +in. + +Boggs looked to be in his twenties, younger than I had expected. He +was trim, well built, with a quietly alert face. Two rows of ribbons +testified to his wartime service. When Jesse Stay introduced me, Boggs +gave me a curiously searching look. It could have been merely his +usual way of appraising people he met. But all through our talk, I had +a strong feeling that he was on his guard. + +I had written out some questions, but first I mentioned the I.N.S. +story. + +{p. 147} + +"Were you quoted correctly on the Mantell case?" I asked. + +"Yes, I was." Major Boggs looked me squarely in the eye. "Captain +Mantell was chasing the planet Venus." + +It was so incredible that I shook my head. "Major, Venus; was +practically invisible that day. We've checked with astronomers. Is +that the official Air Force answer?" + +"Yes, it is," Boggs said. His eyes never left my face. I glanced +across at General Sory Smith, then back at the intelligence major. + +"That's a flat contradiction of Project 'Saucer's' report. Last April, +after they had checked for fifteen months, they said positively it was +not Venus. It was still unidentified." + +Boggs said, in a slow, unruffled voice, "They rechecked after that +report." + +"Why did they recheck, after fifteen months?" I asked him. "'They must +have gone over those figures long before that, for errors." + +If my question annoyed him, Boggs gave no sign. + +There's no other possible answer," he said. "Mantell was chasing +Venus." + +{p. 148} + + + + CHAPTER XVII + +FOR A MOMENT after Boggs's last answer, I had an impulse to end the +interview. I had a feeling I was facing a sphinx--a quiet, courteous +sphinx in an Air Force uniform. + +I was sure now why Major Jerry Boggs had been chosen for his job, the +all-important connecting link with the project at Wright Field. No one +would ever catch this man off guard, no matter what secret was given +him to conceal. And it was more than the result of Air Force +Intelligence training. His manner, his voice carried conviction. He +would have convinced anyone who had not carefully analyzed the Godman +Field tragedy. + +I made one more attempt. "Do the Godman Field witnesses--Colonel Hix +and the rest--believe the Venus answer?" + +"I haven't asked them," said Boggs, "so I couldn't say." + +"What about the Chiles-Whitted case?" I asked. "You were quoted as +saying they saw a meteor--a bolide that exploded in a shower of +sparks." + +"That's right," said Boggs. + +"And Gorman was chasing a lighted balloon?" + +Again the Intelligence major nodded. I pointed, out that all three of +the cases mentioned had been listed as unidentified in the April +report. + +"They'd had those cases for months," I said. "What new facts did they +learn?" + +Boggs said calmly, "They just made a final analysis, and those were +the answers." + +We looked at each other a moment. Major Boggs patiently waited. I +began to realize how a lawyer must feel with an imperturbable witness. +And Boggs's unfailing courtesy began to make me embarrassed. + +"Major," I said, "I hope you'll realize this is not a personal matter. +As an Intelligence officer, if you're told to give certain answers--" + +He smiled for the first time. "That's all right--but I'm + +{p. 149} + +not hiding a thing. There's just no such thing as a flying saucer, so +far as we've found out." + +"We've been told," I said, "that Project 'Saucer' isn't closed--that +you just changed its code name." + +"That's not so," Boggs said emphatically. "The contracts are ended, +and all personnel transferred to other duty." + +"Then the announcement wasn't caused by True's article?" + +Both General Smith and Major Jesse Stay shook their heads quickly. +Boggs leaned forward, eyeing me earnestly. + +"As a matter of fact, we'd finished the investigation months +ago--around the end of August, or early in September. We just hadn't +got around to announcing it." + +"Last October," I said, "I was told the investigation was still going +on. They said there were no new answers to the cases just mentioned." + +"The Press Branch hadn't been informed yet," Boggs explained simply. + +"It seems very strange to me," I said. "In April, the Air Force called +for vigilance by the civilian population. It said the project was +young, much of its work still under way." + +Jesse Stay interrupted before Boggs could reply. + +"Don, the Press Branch will have to take the blame for that. The +report wasn't carefully checked. There were several loose statements +in it." + +This was an incredible statement. I was sure Jesse knew it. + +"But the case reports you quoted came from Wright Field. As of April +twenty-seventh, 1949, all the major cases were officially unsolved. +Then in August or early September, the whole thing's cleaned up, from +what Major Boggs says. That's pretty hard to believe." + +No one answered that one. Major Boggs was waiting politely for the +next question. I picked up my list. The rest of the interview was in +straight question-and-answer style: + +Q. Do you know about the White Sands sightings in April 1948? The ones +Commander R. B. McLaughlin has written up? + +{p. 150} + +A. Yes, we checked the reports. We just don't believe them. + +Q. One of the witnesses was Charles B. Moore, the director of the Navy +cosmic-ray project at Minneapolis, He's considered a very reputable +engineer. Did you know he confirms the first report--the one about the +saucer 56 miles up, at a speed of eighteen thousand miles per hour. + +A. Yes, I knew about him. We think he was mistaken, like the others. + +Q. Mr. Moore says it was absolutely sure it was not hallucination. He +says it should be carefully investigated. + +A. We did investigate. We just don't believe they saw anything. + +Q. Could I see the complete file on that case? Also on Mantell, +Gorman, and the Eastern Airlines cases? + +A. That's out of my province. + +Q. If Project "Saucer" is ended, then all the files should be opened. + +A. Well, the summaries have been cleared, and you can see them. + +Q. No, I mean the actual files. Is there any reason I shouldn't see +them? + +A. There'd be a lot of material to search through. Each case has a +separate book, and some of them are pretty bulky. + +Q. There were 722 cases in all, weren't there? + +A. No, nowhere near that. + +Q. Then 375 is the total figure--I mean the number of cases Project +"Saucer" listed? + +A. There were a few more--something over four hundred. I don't know +the exact figure. + +Q. I've been told that Project "Saucer" had the Air Force put out a +special order for pilots to chase flying saucers. Is that right? + +A. Yes, that's right. + +Q. Did that include National Guard pilots? + +A. Yes, it did. When the project first started checking on saucers we +were naturally anxious to get hold of one of the things. We told the +pilots to do practically anything in reason, even if they had to grab +one by the tail. + +Q. Were any of those planes armed? + +{p. 151} + +A. Only if they happened to have guns for some other mission, like +gunnery practice. + +Q. We've heard of one case where fighters chased a saucer to a high +altitude. One of them emptied his guns at it. + +A. You must mean that New Jersey affair. The plane was armed for +another reason. + +Q. No, I meant a case reported out at Luke Field. Three fighters took +off, if the story sent us is correct. Apparently it made quite a +commotion. That was back in 1945. + +A. It might have happened. I don't know. + +Q. What was this New Jersey case? + +A. I'd rather not discuss any more cases without having the books +here. + +Q. Has Project "Saucer" released its secret pictures? + +A. What pictures? There weren't any that amounted to anything. Maybe +half a dozen. They didn't show anything, just spots on film or weather +balloons at a distance. + +Q. In the Kenneth Arnold case, didn't some forest rangers verify his +report? + +A. Well, there were some people who claimed they saw the same disks. +But we found out later they'd heard about it on the radio. + +Q. Didn't they draw some sketches that matched Arnold's? + +A. I never heard about it. + +Q. I'd like to go back to the Mantell case a second. If Venus was so +bright--remember Mantell thought it was a huge metallic object--why +didn't the pilot who made the search later on-- + +A. Well, it was Venus, that's positive. But I can't remember all the +details without the case books. + +Q. One more question, Major. Have any reports been received at Wright +Field since Project "Saucer" closed? There was a case after that date, +an airliner crew-- + +At this point, Major Jesse Stay broke in. + +"It's all up to the local commanders now. If they want to receive +reports of anything unusual, all right. And if they want to +investigate them, that's up to each + +{p. 152} + +commander. But no Project 'Saucer' teams will check on reports. That's +all ended." + +There at the last, it had been a little. like a courtroom scene, and I +was glad the interview was over. Major Boggs was unruffled as ever. I +apologized for the barrage of questions, and thanked him for being so +decent about it. + +"It was interesting, getting your viewpoint," he said. He smiled, +still the courteous sphinx, and went on out. + +After Bogs had left, I talked with General Smith alone. I told him I +was not convinced, + +"I'd like to see the complete files on these cases I mentioned," I +explained. "Also, I'd like to talk with the last commanding officer or +senior Intelligence officer attached to Project 'Saucer.'" + +"I'm not sure about the senior officer," General Smith answered. "He +may have been detached already. But I don't see any reason why you +can't see those files. I'll phone Wright Field and call you." + +I was about to leave, but he motioned for me to sit down. + +"I can understand how you feel about the Mantell report," General +Smith said earnestly. "I knew Tommy Mantell very well. And Colonel Hix +is a classmate of mine. I knew neither one was the kind to have +hallucinations. That case got me, at first." + +"You believe Venus is the true answer?" I asked him. + +He seemed surprised. "It must be, if Wright Field says so." + +When I went back to the Press Branch, I asked Jack Shea for the +case-report summaries that Boggs had mentioned, He got them for +me--two collections of loose-leaf mimeographed sheets enclosed in +black binders. So these were the "secret files"! + +Across the hall, in the press room, I opened one book at random. The +first thing I saw was this: + +"A meteorologist should compute the approximate energy required to +evaporate as much cloud as shown in the incident 26 photographs." + +Photographs. + +{p. 153} + +Major Boggs had said there were no important pictures. + +I tucked the binders under my arm and went out to my car. Perhaps +these books hinted at more than Boggs had realized. But that didn't +seem likely. As liaison man, he should know all the answers. I was +almost positive that he did. + +But I was equally sure they weren't the answers he had given me. + +{p. 154} + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + +THAT NIGHT I went through the Project "Saucer" summary of cases. It +was a strange experience. + +The first report I checked was the Mantell case. Nothing that Boggs +had said had changed my firm opinion. I knew the answer was not Venus, +and I was certain Boggs knew it, too. + +The Godman Field incident was listed as Case 33. The report also +touches on the Lockbourne Air Base sighting. As already described, the +same mysterious object, or a similar one, was seen moving at five +hundred miles an hour over Lockbourne Field. It was also sighted at +other points in Ohio. + +The very first sentence in Case 33 showed a determined attempt to +explain away the object that Mantell chased: + +"Detailed attention should be given to any possible astronomical body +or phenomenon which might serve to identify the object or objects." + +(Some of the final Project report on Mantell has been given in an +earlier chapter. I am repeating a few paragraphs below, to help in +weighing Major Boggs's answer.) + +These are official statements of the Project astronomer: + +"On January 7, 1948, Venus was less than half its full brilliance. +However, under exceptionally good atmospheric conditions, and with the +eye shielded from the direct rays of the sun, Venus might be seen as +an exceedingly tiny bright point of light. It is possible to see it in +daytime when one knows exactly where to look. Of course, the chances +of looking at the right spot are very few. + +"It has been unofficially reported that the object was a Navy cosmic +ray balloon. If this can be established it is to be preferred as an +explanation. However, if reports from other localities refer to the +same object, any such device must have been a good many miles high--25 +to 50--in order to have been seen clearly, almost simultaneously, from +places 175 miles apart." + +{p. 155} + +This absolutely ruled out the balloon possibility, as the investigator +fully realized. That he must have considered the space-ship answer at +this point is strongly indicated in the following sentence: + +"If all reports were of a single object, in the knowledge of this +investigator no man-made object could have been large enough and far +enough away for the approximate simultaneous sightings." + +The next paragraph of this Project "Saucer" report practically +nullified Major Boggs's statement that Venus was the sole explanation: + +"It is most unlikely, however, that so many separate persons should at +that time have chanced on Venus in the daylight sky. It seems +therefore much more probable that more than one object was involved. +The sighting might have included two or more balloons (or aircraft) or +they might have included Venus (in the fatal chase) and balloons. . . +. Such a hypothesis, however, does still necessitate the inclusion of +at least two other objects than Venus, and it certainly is +coincidental that so many people would have chosen this one day to be +confused (to the extent of reporting the matter) by normal airborne +objects. . . ." + +Farther on in the summaries, I found a report that has an extremely +significant bearing on the Mantell case. This was Case 175, in which +the same consultant attempts to explain a strange daylight sighting at +Santa Fe, New Mexico. + +One of the Santa Fe observers described the mysterious aerial object +as round and extremely bright, "like a dime in the sky." Here is what +the Project "Saucer" investigator had to say: + +"The magnitude of Venus was -3.8 (approximately the same as on January +7, 1948). it could have been visible in the daylight sky. It would +have appeared, however, more like a pinpoint of brilliant light than +'like a dime in the sky.' It seems unlikely that it would be noticed +at all. . . . Considering discrepancies in the two reports, I suggest +the moon in a gibbous phase; in daytime this is unusual and most +people are not used to it, so that they fail to identify it. While +this hypothesis + +{p. 156} + +has little to correspond to either report, it is worth mentioning. + +"It seems far more probable that some type of balloon was the object +in this case." + +Both the Godman Field and the Santa Fe cases were almost identical, so +far as the visibility of Venus was concerned. In the Santa Fe case, +which had very little publicity, Project "Saucer" dropped the Venus +explanation as a practically impossible answer. But in Case 33, it had +tried desperately to make Venus loom up as a huge gleaming object +during Mantell's fatal chase. + +There was only one explanation: Project "Saucer" must have known the +truth from the start-that Mantell had pursued a tremendous space ship. +That fact alone, if it had exploded in the headlines at that time, +might have caused dangerous panic. To make it worse, Captain Mantell +had been killed. Even if he had actually died from blacking out while +trying to follow the swiftly ascending space ship, few would have +believed it. The story would spread like wildfire: Spacemen kill an +American Air Force Pilot! + +This explained the tight lid that had been clamped down at once on the +Mantell case. It was more than a year before that policy had been +changed; then the first official discussions of possible space +visitors had begun to appear. + +True's +plans to announce the interplanetary answer would have fitted a +program of preparing the people. But the Air Force had not expected +such nation-wide reaction from True's article; that much I knew. +Evidently, they had not suspected such a detailed analysis of the +Godman Field case, in particular. I could see now why Boggs, Jesse +Stay, and the others had tried so hard to convince me that we had made +a mistake. + +It was quite possible that we had revived that first Air Force fear of +dangerous publicity. But Mantell had been dead for two years. News +stories would not have the same impact now, even if they did report +that spacemen had downed the pilot. And I doubted that there would be +headlines. Unless the Air Force supplied some + +{p. 157} + +convincing details, the manner of his death would still be +speculation. + +Apparently I had been right; this case was the key to the riddle. It +had been the first major sighting in 1948. Project "Saucer" had been +started immediately afterward. In searching for a plausible answer, +which could be published if needed, officials had probably set the +pattern for handling all other reports, "Explaining away" would be a +logical program, until the public could be prepared for an official +announcement. + +As I went through other case reports, I found increasing evidence to +back up this belief. + +Case 1, the Muroc Air Base sightings, had plainly baffled Project men +seeking a plausible answer. Because of the Air Force witnesses, they +could not ignore the reports. Highly trained Air Force test pilots and +ground officers had seen two fast-moving silver-colored disks circling +over the base. + +Flying at speeds of from three to four hundred miles an hour, the +disks whirled in amazingly tight maneuvers. Since they were only eight +thousand feet above the field, these turns could be clearly seen. + +"It is tempting to explain the object as ordinary aircraft observed +under unusual light conditions," the case report reads. "But the +evidence of tight circles, if maintained, is strongly contradictory." + +Although Case 1 was technically in the "unexplained" group, Wright +Field had made a final effort to explain away the reports. Said the +Air Materiel Command: + +"The sightings were the result of misinterpretation of real stimuli, +probably research balloons." + +In all the world's history, there is no record of a +three-hundred-mile-an-hour wind. To cover the distance involved, the +drifting balloons would have had to move at this speed, or faster. If +a three-hundred-mile wind had been blowing at eight thousand feet, +nothing on earth could have stood it, Muroc Air Base would have been +blown off the map. + +What did the Muroc test pilots really see that day? + +While searching for the Chiles-Whitted report, ran across the +Fairfield Suisan mystery-light case, which I + +{p. 158} + +had learned about in Seattle. This was Case 215. The Project "Saucer" +comment reads: + +"If the observations were exactly as stated by the witnesses, the ball +of light could not be a fireball. . . . A fireball would not have come +into view at 1,000 feet and risen to 20,000. If correct, there is no +astronomical explanation. Under unusual conditions, a fireball might +appear to rise somewhat as a result of perspective. The absence of +trail and sound definitely does not favor the meteor hypothesis, but . +. . does not rule it out finally. It does not seem likely any meteor +or auroral phenomenon could be as bright as this." + +Then came one of the most revealing lines in all the case reports: + +"In the almost hopeless absence of any other natural explanation, one +must consider the possibility of the object's having been a meteor, +even though the description does not fit very well." + +One air-base officer, I recalled, had insisted that the object had +been a lighted balloon. Checking the secret report from the Air +Weather Service, I found this: + +"Case 2 15. Very high winds, 60-70 miles per hour from southwest, all +levels. Definitely prohibits any balloon from southerly motion." + +This case is officially listed as answered +. + +In Case 19, where a cigar-shaped object was seen at Dayton, Ohio, the +Project investigator made a valiant attempt to fit an answer: + +"Possibly a close pair of fireballs, but it seems unlikely. If one +were to stretch the description to its very limits and make allowances +for untrained observers, he could say that the cigar-like shape might +have been illusion caused by rapid motion, and that the bright +sunlight might have made both the objects and the trails nearly +invisible. + +"This investigator does not prefer that interpolation, and it should +he resorted to only if all other possible explanations fail." + +This case, too, is officially listed as answered +. + +Case 24, which occurred June 12, 1947, twelve days before the Arnold +sighting, shows the same determined + +{p. 159} + +attempt to find an explanation, no matter how farfetched. + +In this case, two fast-moving objects were seen at Weiser, Idaho, +Twice they approached the earth, then swiftly circled upward. The +Project investigator tried hard to prove that these might have been +parts of a double fireball. But at the end, he said, "In spite of all +this, this investigator would prefer a terrestrial explanation for the +incident." + +It was plain that this report had not been planned originally for +release to the public. No Project investigator would have been so +frank. With each new report, I was more and more convinced that these +had been confidential discussions of various possible answers, +circulated between Project "Saucer" officials. Why they had been +released now was still a puzzle, though I began to see a glimmer of +the answer. + +The Chiles-Whitted sighting was listed as Case 144. As I started on +the report, I wondered if Major Boggs's "bolide" answer would have any +more foundation than these other "astronomical" cases. + +The report began with these words: + +"There is no astronomical explanation, if we accept the report at face +value. But the sheer improbability of the facts as stated, +particularly in the absence of any known aircraft in the vicinity, +makes it necessary to see whether any other explanation, even though +farfetched, can be considered." + +After this candid admission of his intentions, the Project consultant +earnestly attempts to fit the two pilots' space ship description to a +slow-moving meteor. + +"It will have to be left to the psychologists," he goes on, "to tell +us whether the immediate trail of a bright meteor could produce the +subjective impression of a ship with lighted windows. Considering only +the Chiles-Whitted sighting, the hypothesis seems very improbable." + +As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, observers at Robbins Air Force +Base, Macon, Georgia, saw the same mysterious object streak overhead, +trailing varicolored + +{p. 160} + +flames. This was about one hour before Chiles and Whitted saw the +onrushing space ship. + +To bolster up the meteor theory, the Project consultant suggests a +one-hour error in time. The explanation: The airliner would be on +daylight-saving time. + +"If there is no time difference," he proceeds, "the. object must have +been an extraordinary meteor. . . . in which case it would have +covered the distance from Macon to Montgomery in a minute or two." + +Having checked the time angle before, I knew this was incorrect. Both +reports were given in eastern standard time. And in a later part of +the Project report, the consultant admits this fact. But he has an +alternate answer: "If the difference in time is real, the object was +some form of known aircraft, regardless of its bizarre nature." + +The "bizarre nature" is not specified. Nor does the Project "Saucer" +report try to fit the Robbins Field description to any earth-made +aircraft. The air-base observers were struck by the object's huge +size, its projectile-like shape, and the weird flames trailing behind. +Except for the double-deck windows, the air-base men's description +tallied with the pilots'. With the ship at five thousand feet or +higher, its windows would not have been visible from the ground. All +the observers agreed on the object's very high speed. + +Neither of the Project "Saucer" alternate answers will fit the facts. + +1. The one-hour interval has been proved correct. Therefore, as the +Project consultant admits, it could not be a meteor. + +2. The Robbins Field witnesses have flatly denied it was a +conventional plane. The Air Force screened 225 airplane schedules, and +proved there was no such plane in the area. No ordinary aircraft would +have caused the brilliant streak that startled the DC-3 passenger and +both of the pilots. + +Major Boggs's bolide answer had gone the way of his Venus explanation. +I wondered if the Gorman light-balloon solution would fade out the +same way. + +But the Project report on Gorman (Case 172) merely + +{p. 161} + +hinted at the balloon answer. In the Appendix, there was a brief +comment: "Note that standard 30 inch and 65 inch weather balloons have +vertical speeds of 600 and 1100 feet per minute, respectively." + +In all the reports I have mentioned, and on through both the case +books, one thing was immediately obvious. All the testimony, all the +actual evidence was missing. These were only the declared conclusions +of Project "Saucer." Whether they matched the actual conclusions in +Wright Field secret files there was no way of knowing. + +But even in these sketch reports, I found some odd hints, clues to +what Project officials might really be thinking. + +After an analysis of two Indianapolis cases, one investigator reports: + +"Barring hallucination, these two incidents and 17, 75 and 84 seem the +most tangible from the standpoint of description, of all those +reported, and the most difficult to explain away as sheer nonsense." + +Case 17, I found, was that of Kenneth Arnold. But in spite of the +above admission that this case cannot be explained away, it is +officially listed as answered. + +Case 75 struck a familiar note. This was the strange occurrence at +Twin Falls, Idaho, on which True had had a tip months before. A disk +moving through a canyon at tremendous speed had whipped the treetops +as if by a violent hurricane. The report was brief, but one sentence +stood out with a startling effect: + +"Twin Falls, Idaho, August 13, 1847," the report began. "There is +clearly nothing astronomical in this incident. . . . Two points stand +out, the sky-blue color, and the fact that the trees 'spun around on +top as if they were in a vacuum.'" + +Then came the sentence that made me sit up in my chair. + +"Apparently it must be classed with the other bona fide disk +sightings." + +The other bona fide sightings! + +Was this a slip? Or had the Air Force deliberately left this report in +the file? If they had, what was back of it + +{p. 162} + +--what was back of releasing all of these telltale case summaries? + +I skimmed through the rest as quickly as possible looking for other +clues. Here are a few of the things that. caught my eye: + +Case 10. United Airlines report . . . despite conjectures, no logical +explanation seems possible. . . . + +Case 122. Holloman Air Force Base, April 6, 1948. [This was the +Commander McLaughlin White Sands report.] No logical explanation. . . +. + +Case 124. North Atlantic, April 18, 1948 . . . radar sighting . . . no +astronomical explanation. . . . + +Case 127. Yugoslav-Greek frontier, May 7, 1948 . . . information too +limited. . . . + +Case 168. Arnheim, The Hague, July 20, 1948 . . . object seen four +times . . . had two decks and no wings . . . very high speed +comparable to a V-2. . . . + +Case 183. Japan, October 15, 1948. Radar experts should determine +acceleration rates. . . . + +Case 188. Goose Bay, Labrador, October 29, 1948. Not astronomical . . +. picked up by radar . . . radar experts should evaluate the sightings +. . . . + +Case 189. Goose Bay, Labrador, October 31, 1948 . . . not astronomical +. . . observed on radarscope. . . . + +Case 196. Radarscope observation . . . object traveling directly into +the wind. . . . + +Case 198. Radar blimp moving at high speed and continuously changing +direction. . . . + +Case 222. Furstenfeldbruck, Germany, November 23, 1948 . . . object +plotted by radar DF at 27,000 feet . . . short time later circling at +40,000 feet . . . speed estimated 200-500 m.p.h. . . . + +Case 223 . . . seventeen individuals saw and reported object . . . +green flare . . . all commercial and government airfield questioned . +. . no success. . . . + +Case 224. Las Vegas, New Mexico, December 8, 1948 . . . description +exactly as in 223 . . . flare + +{p. 163} + +reported traveling very high speed . . . very accurate observation +made by two F.B.I. agents. . . . + +Case 231 . . . another glowing green flare just as described above. . +. . + +Case 233 . . . definitely no balloon . . . made turns . . . +accelerated from 200 to 500 miles per hour . . . . + +Going back over this group of cases, I made an incredible discovery: +All but three of these unsolved cases were officially listed as +answered. + +The three were the United Airlines case, the White Sands sightings, +and the double-decked space-ship report from The Hague. + +Going back to the first report, I checked all the summaries. Nine +times out of ten, the explanations were pure conjecture. Sometimes no +answer was even attempted. + +Although 375 cases were mentioned, the summaries ended with Case 244. +Several cases were omitted. I found clues to some of these in the +secret Air Weather Service report, including the mysterious "green +light" sightings at Las Vegas and Albuquerque. + +Of the remaining 228 cases, Project "Saucer" lists all but 34 as +explained. These unsolved cases are brought up again for a final +attempt at explaining them away. In the appendix, the Air Materiel +Command carefully states: + +"It is not the intent to discredit the character of observers, but +each case has undesirable elements and these can't be disregarded." + +After this perfunctory gesture, the A.M.C. proceeds to discredit +completely the testimony of highly trained Air Force test pilots and +officers at Muroc. (The 300-400 m.p.h. research balloon explanation.) + +The A.M.C. then brushes off the report of Captain Emil Smith and the +crew of a United Airline plane. On July 4, 1947, nine huge flying +disks were counted by Captain Smith and his crew. The strange objects +were in sight for about twelve minutes; the crew watched them for the +entire period and described them in detail later. + +Despite Project "Saucer's" admission that it had no + +{p. 164} + +answer, the A.M.C. contrived one. Ignoring the evidence of veteran +airline pilots, it said: + +"Since the sighting occurred at sunset, when illusory effect are most +likely, the objects could have been ordinary aircraft, balloons, +birds, or pure illusion." + +In only three cases did the A.M.C. admit it had no answer. Even here, +it was implied that the witnesses were either confused or incompetent. + +In its press release of December 27, 1949, the Air Force had mentioned +375 cases. It implied that all of these were answered. The truth was +just the reverse, as was proved by these case books. Almost two +hundred cases still were shown to be unsolved-although the real +answers might be hidden in Wright Field files. + +These two black books puzzled me. Why had the Air Force lifted its +secrecy on these case summaries? Why had Major Boggs given me those +answers, when these books would flatly refute them? + +I thought I new the reason now but there was only one way to make +sure. The actual Wright Field files should tell the answer. + +When I phoned General Sory Smith, his voice sounded a little peculiar. +"I called Wright Field," he said. "But they said you wouldn't find +anything of value out there." + +"You mean they refused to let me see their files?" + +"No, I didn't say that. But they're short of personnel. They don't +want to take people off other jobs to look up the records." + +"I won't need any help," I said. "Major Boggs said each case had a +separate book. If they'd just show me the shelves, I could do the job +in two days." + +There was a long silence. + +"I'll ask them again," the General said finally. "Call me sometime +next week." + +I said I would, and hung up. The message from Wright Field hadn't +surprised me. But Smith's changed manner did. He had sounded oddly +disturbed. + +While I was waiting for Wright Field's answer, Ken Purdy phoned. He +told me that staff men from Time and Life magazines were seriously +checking on the "little men" story. Both Purdy and I were sure this +was a + +{p. 165} + +colossal hoax, but there was just a faint chance that someone had been +on the fringe of a real happening and had made up the rest of the +story. + +They key man in the story seemed to be one George Koehler, of Denver, +Colorado. The morning after Purdy called, I took a plane to Denver. +During the flight I went over the "little men" story again. It had +been printed in over a hundred papers. + +According to the usual version, George Koehler had accidentally +learned of two crashed saucers at a radar station on our southwest +border. The ships were made of some strange metal. The cabin was +stationary, placed within a large rotating ring. + +Here is the story as it was told in the Kansas City Star: + +In flight, the ring revolved at a high rate of speed, while the cabin + remained stationary like the center of a gyroscope. + Each of the two ships seen by Koehler were occupied by a crew of + two. In the badly damaged ship, these bodies were charred so badly + that little could be learned from them. The occupants of the other + ship, while dead when they were found, were not burned or + disfigured, and, when Koehler saw them, were in a perfect state of + preservation. Medical reports, according to Koehler, showed that + these men were almost identical with earth-dwelling humans, except + for a few minor differences. They were of a uniform height of + three feet, were uniformly blond, beardless, and their teeth were + completely free of fillings or cavities. They did not wear + undergarments, but had their bodies taped. + The ships seemed to be magnetically controlled and powered. + In addition to a piece of metal, Koehler had a clock or automatic + calendar taken from one of the crafts. + Koehler said that the best assumption as to the source of the + ships was the planet Venus. + +When I arrived at Denver, I went to the radio station + +{p. 166} + +where Koehler worked. I told him that if he had proof that we could +print, we would buy the story. + +As the first substantial proof, I asked to see the piece of strange +metal he was supposed to have. Koehler said it had been sent to +another city to be analyzed. I asked to see pictures of the crashed +saucers. These, too, proved to be somewhere else. So did the queer +"space clock" that Koehler was said to have. + +By this time I was sure it was all a gag. I had the feeling that +Koehler, back of his manner of seeming indignation at my demands, was +hugely enjoying himself. I cut the interview short and called Ken +Purdy in New York. + +"Well, thank God that's laid to rest," he said when I told him. + +But even though the "little men" story had turned out-as expected--a +dud, Koehler had done me a good turn. An old friend, William E. +Barrett, well-known fiction writer, now lived in Denver. Thanks to +Koehler's gag, I had a pleasant visit with Bill and his family. + +On the trip back, I bought a paper at the Chicago airport. On an +inside page I ran across Koehler's name. According to the A.P., he had +just admitted the whole thing was a big joke. + +But in spite of this, the "little men" story goes on and on. +Apparently not even Koehler can stop it now. + +{p. 167} + + + + CHAPTER XIX + +FOR TWO WEEKS after my return to Washington, General Sory Smith held +off a final answer about my trip to Wright Field. Meantime, Ken Purdy +had called him backing my request to see the Project files. + +It was obvious to me that Wright Field was determined not to open the +files. But the General was trying to avoid making it official. + +"Why can't you accept my word there's nothing to the saucers?" he +asked me one day. "You're impeaching my personal veracity." + +But finally he saw there was no other way out. He told me I had been +officially refused permission to see the Wright Field files. Some time +later, Ken Purdy phoned General Smith. + +"General, if the Air Force wants to talk to us off the record, we'll +play ball. True will either handle it from then on whatever way you +think best or we'll keep still." + +Whether this offer was relayed higher up, I don't know. But nothing +came of it. + +Meantime, saucer reports had begun to come in from all over the +country. Some even came from abroad. Some of these 1950 sightings have +already been mentioned in early chapters. Besides the strange affair +at Tucson on February 1, there were several other cases in February. +Three of these were in South America. One saucer was reported near the +naval air station at Alameda, California. Some were sighted in Texas, +New Mexico, and other parts of the Southwest. + +In March, the wave of sightings reached such a height that the Air +Force again denied the saucers' existence. This followed a report that +a flying disk had crashed near Mexico City and that the wreckage had +been viewed by U. S. Air Force officials. + +Scores of Orangeburg, South Carolina, residents watched a disk that +hovered over that city on March 10. It was described as silver-bright, +turning slowly in the air before it disappeared. The day before this, +residents + +{p. 168} + +of Van Nuys, California, saw a bright disk moving swiftly four hundred +feet in the air. Seen through a telescope, it appeared to be fifty +feet in diameter. + +Disks were reported at numerous places in Mexico, including +Guadalajara, Jurez, Mazatln, and Durango. On the twelfth of March, +the crew and passengers of an American Airlines ship saw a large +gleaming disk high above Monterrey airport in Mexico. + +Captain W. R. Hunt, the senior airline pilot, watched the disk through +a theodolite at the airport. This disk and most of the others seen in +Mexico were similar in description to the one sighted at Dayton, Ohio, +on March 8. This was the large metallic saucer that hovered high over +Vandalia Airport, until Air Force and National Guard fighters raced up +after it. The disk rose vertically into the sky at incredible speed, +hovered a while longer, and then vanished. + +Within twenty-four hours this mystery disk had been "identified" as +the planet Venus. (It was broad daylight.) Newspapers quoted "trained +astronomical officials in Dayton" as the source for this explanation. + +Meanwhile the Mexican government newspaper, El Nacional, quoted "a +famous and reputable astronomer" as saying the numerous disks reported +over Mexico "carry visitors from Mars." + +One of the strangest reports came from the naval air station at +Dallas, Texas. It was about 11:30 A.M. on March 16 when CPO Charles +Lewis saw a disk streak up at a B-36 bomber. The disk appeared about +twenty to twenty-five feet in diameter, Lewis reported. Racing at +incredible speed, it shot up under the bomber, hung there for a +second, then broke away at a 45-degree angle. Following this, it shot +straight up into the air and disappeared. + +Captain M. A. Nation, C. O. of the station, said it was "I the second +report in ten days. On March 7, said Captain Nation, a tower control +operator named C. E. Edmundson saw a similar disk flying so fast it +was almost a blur. + +"He estimated its speed at three thousand to four thousand miles per +hour," Captain Nation stated. "Of + +{p. 169} + +course, he had no instruments to compute the speed, so that's a pure +estimate." + +It was some time before this when I heard the first crazy rumor about +the guided-missile display. This story, which had new details every +time I heard it described the Air Force as refusing to let the Navy +announce a new type of missile. According to the rumors, the Air Force +was trying to prove its own missile far superior, to keep the Navy +from invading its long-range bombing domain. Then the Army joined the +pitched battle with still a third guided missile, according to the +rumors. + +And the flying disks? Army, Navy, and Air Force missiles, launched in +droves all over the country to prove whose was the best? A public +missile race, with the joint Chiefs of Staff to decide the winner! + +It seems fantastic that this theory would be believed by any +intelligent person. In effect, it accuses the armed services of +deliberate, criminal negligence, of endangering millions in the cities +below. + +I am convinced that some of these rumors led to at least one of the +published guesses about our missile program. One widely publicized +story stated that the flying saucers seen hurtling through our skies +are actually two types of secret weapons. One, according to radio and +newspaper accounts, is a disk that whizzes through space, halts +suspended in the air, soars to thirty thousand feet, drops to one +thousand feet, and then usually disintegrates in the air. + +These saucers, it was said, ranged from 20 inches to 250 feet in +diameter. They were supposed to be pilotless--and harmless. + +The second type was said to be a jet version of the Navy's circular +airfoil "Flying Flapjack." It was credited with fantastic speed. + +The "true disks," however, were mainly Air Force devices, according to +the report. + +"Some are guided, others are not," said the radio commentator who +released this story. "They can stay stationary, dash off to right or +left, and move like lightning. But they are utterly harmless." + +In these "harmless" disks there was supposed to be an + +{p. 170} + +explosive charge that destroyed them in mid-air at a predetermined +time. + +Within a few days after this story was broadcast, the United States +News and World Report declared that the saucers are real, and +identified them as jet models of Navy "Flying Flapjacks." This +magazine, which is not an official publication despite its name, +mentioned the variable-direction jet principle that I had previously +described in the True article. + +These two flying-saucer "explanations" brought denials from the White +House, the Navy, and the Air Force. + +The Air Force flatly declared that: + +1. None of the armed forces is conducting secret experiments with +disk-shaped flying objects that could be a basis for the reported +phenomena. + +2. There is no evidence that the latter stem from the activities of +any foreign nation. + +Before this, President Truman stated he knew nothing of any such +objects being developed by the United States or any other nation. + +The Navy denial came immediately after the first broadcast story. It +ran: + +"The Navy is not engaged in research or in flying any jet-powered, +circular-shaped aircraft." + +The Navy added that one model of a pancake-shaped aircraft, called the +Zimmerman Skimmer, was built but was never flown. However, a small, +three-thousand-pound scale model did fly and was under radio control +during flight. This last device is now being rumored as the Navy's +unpiloted "missile," said to have been launched over the country like +the so-called "harmless" disks. + +Even though all these accounts have been officially denied, many +Americans may still believe they are true. I have no desire to +criticize the authors of these stories; I believe that in following up +certain guided-missile leads they were misled into accepting the +conclusions they gave. + +But these stories, particularly the accounts of huge unpiloted disks, +may have planted certain fears in the public mind-fears that are +completely unwarranted. For + +{p. 171} + +this reason, I have personally checked at Washington in regard to the +dangers of unpiloted missiles. Here aye the facts I learned: + +1. Neither the Army, Navy, nor Air Force has at any time staged any +guided-missile competition as rumored. + +2. No unpiloted missiles or remote-controlled experimental craft have +been tested over American cities or heavily populated areas. + +3. No unpiloted missile carrying dangerous explosives, whether for +destruction of the device or other purposes, has been deliberately +launched or tested over heavily populated areas. + +In regard to the so-called jet-propelled "Flying Flapjack," I have +been assured by Admiral Calvin Bolster, of the Navy Bureau of +Aeronautics, that this type of plane has never been produced. I +concede that he might make this statement to conceal a secret +development, but there is one fact of which every American can be +certain: Neither this type, nor the radio-controlled smaller model, +has been or will be flown or launched over areas where people would be +endangered. + +The three armed services are working on guided missiles. They are not +risking American lives by launching such missiles at random across the +United States, + +Although most of our guided-missile projects are secret, it is +possible to give certain facts about guided-missile developments in +general. + +The first successful long-range missiles were produced by the Germans. +These were the buzz-bomb and. the V-2 rocket. But research in various +other types was carried on during the war. Some of this was with oval +and round types of airfoils. As already stated by Paul Redell, there +is strong evidence that the disk-shaped foil resulted from German +observations of either space ships or remote-control disk-shaped +"observer units." All the Nazi space-exploration plans followed this +discovery that we were being observed by a race from another planet. + +After the end of World War II, the international guided-missile race +began, with the British, Russians, and ourselves as the chief +contenders. Numerous types have been developed-winged bombs, small +radar-guided + +{p. 172} + +projectiles launched from planes, and ground-to-plane plane-to-ground, +and plane-to-plane missiles, equipped with target homing devices. + +In certain recent types, the range can be stated as several hundred +miles. So far as I have learned, after weeks of rechecking this point, +not a single long-range missile has been identified as Russian. + +Since this country is working closely with Great Britain on global +defense problems, it is no violation of security to say that we have +probably exchanged certain guided-missile information. In regard to +the British long-range missile picture outlined to me by John Steele, +I can state two major facts: + +1. The British have categorically denied testing such long-range +missiles over American territory, where they might endanger American +citizens. There is convincing evidence that they are telling the +truth. + +2. There is no British missile now built, or planned, that could +explain the objects seen by Captain Mantell, Chiles and Whitted, and +witnesses in most of the major sightings. + +The preceding statement applies equally to American-built missiles. +There is no experimental craft or guided missile even remotely +considered in this country that would begin to approach the dimensions +and performance of the space ships seen in these cases. + +There is concrete evidence that the United States is as well advanced +as any other nation in guided-missile development. Certain recent +advances should place us in the lead, unless confidential reports on +Soviet progress are completely wrong. + +If American scientists and engineers can learn the source of the space +ships' power and adapt it to our use, it may well be the means for +ending the threat of war. The Soviet scientists are well aware of +this; their research into cosmic rays and other natural forces has +been redoubled since the flying-saucer reports of 1947. + +The secret of the space ships' power is more important than even the +hydrogen bomb. It may someday be the key to the fate of the world. + + + + CHAPTER XX + +AFTER one year's investigation of the flying saucers and Air Force +operations, I have come to the following conclusions: + +1. The Air Force was puzzled, and badly worried when the disks first +were sighted in 1947. + +2. The Air Force began to suspect the truth soon after Mantell's +death--perhaps even before. + +3. Project "Saucer" was set up to investigate and at the same time +conceal from the public the truth about the saucers. + +4. During the spring of 1949 this policy, which had been strictly +maintained by Forrestal, underwent an abrupt change. On top-level +orders, it was decided to let the facts gradually leak out, in order +to prepare the American people. + +5. This was the reason for the April 27, 1949, report, with its +suggestions about space visitors. + +6. While I was preparing the article for the January 1950 issue of +True, it had been considered in line with the general education +program. But the unexpected public reaction was mistaken by the Air +Force for hysteria, resulting in their hasty denial that the saucers +existed. + +7. Because the Air Force feared any closer analysis of the Mantell +case, Major Boggs was instructed to publicize the Venus explanation. +Although it had been denied, the Air Force knew that most people had +forgotten this or had never known it. + +8. Major Boggs, having stated this answer publicly (along with the +other Chiles-Whitted and Gorman answers), was forced to stick to it, +though he knew it was wrong and that the case summaries would prove +it. + +9. The case summaries were released to a small number of Washington +newsmen, to continue planting the space-travel thought; this decision +being made after True's reception proved to the Air Force that the +public was better prepared than had been thought. + +In regard to the flying saucers themselves, I believe + +{p. 174} + +that in the majority of cases, space ships are the answer: + +1. The earth has been under periodic observation from another planet, +or other planets, for at least two centuries. + +2. This observation suddenly increased in 1947, following, the series +of A-bomb explosions begun in 1945. + +3. The observation, now intermittent, is part of a long-range survey +and will continue indefinitely. No immediate attempt to contact the +earth seems evident. There may be some unknown block to making +contact, but it is more probable that the spacemen's plans are not +complete. + +I believe that the Air Force is still investigating the saucer +sightings, either through the Air Materiel Command or some other +headquarters. It is possible that some Air Force officials still fear +a panic when the truth is officially revealed. In that case, we may +continue for a long time to see routine denials alternating with new +suggestions of interplanetary travel. + +The education problem is complicated by two imperative needs. We must +try to learn as much as we can about the space ships' source of power, +and at the same time try to prevent clues to this information from +reaching an enemy on earth, + +If censorship is suddenly imposed on all flying-saucer reports, this +will be the chief reason. This would also help solve a minor problem +where partial censorship now exists. A few test missiles launched from +a southwest base have been seen by citizens at a distance from the +proving grounds. In some cases, their reports have got into local +papers, though the wire services did not carry them. + +These missile tests are peculiarly different from the general run of +flying-saucer reports. Contrasted with the Chiles-Whitted, Mantell, +and other space-ship sightings, they stand out with a certain pattern, +easy to recognize. News or radio reports of these tests might +accidentally give an enemy clues to the type, speed, and range of this +particular missile, once he learned the pattern. Periodic censorship, +or even a complete blackout of sighting reports, may be enforced +during the next year or so. + +For the purposes mentioned, such action would be + +{p. 175} + +justified. But whenever such censorship is lifted, the complete truth +about space visitors should be told at the same time: the full details +of all the major cases, the size of the Godman Field space ship, any +attempted landings or other efforts at contact by interplanetary +visitors, and all other details that now are official secrets. + +I also believe that a certain group of disk sightings in this country +is linked with our guided missiles. Official announcements, of course, +may be delayed a long time. With this exception, I believe that +Americans should be told the truth, now. + +When the announcement of our guided missiles is made, some Americans +not familiar with the facts may accept it as a full answer. If +officials are not yet ready to reveal the space-travel facts, the +Mantell evidence and other key cases may be deliberately glossed over. + +But even if all the evidence--the world-wide sightings, the old +records, the Chiles-Whitted and other cases--should be completely +ignored, Americans cannot escape eventual contact with dwellers on +other planets. Even though space visitors never attempt contact with +us, sooner or later earthlings will be traveling to distant +planets--planets that scientists have said are almost surely +inhabited. + +The American people have proved their ability to take incredible +things. We have survived the stunning impact of the Atomic Age. We +should be able to take the Interplanetary Age, when it comes, without +hysteria. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL *** + +This file should be named 5883.txt or 5883.zip + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. 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