in the news 1952
PART TEN
Above: Four photos of a flying disc in France claimed taken on July 18, 1952 by Andre Fregnale. Story below.
NINETEEN FIFTY-TWO might be remembered for many things, large and small. The election of Dwight Eisenhower as President of the United States. Fifty thousand American families afflicted by Polio. The British A-bomb. The first issue of Mad magazine. The theory of the Big Bang.
But for those of a certain bent, 1952 will also be remembered for the second great 'flying saucer flap' which climaxed with the reports of radar and visual sightings over the nation's capital in late July.
Part of the story of that event-filled year is now available in declassified government files. But for the public back then -- at a time when only one in three families in America had a television set -- the story was mostly found in the newspapers and magazines.
This then is a look back at those stories, as they first appeared in print...
JULY 24 THROUGH 25, 1952:
Meriden, Connecticut Record Journal - 24 Jul 52
The Flying Saucers Again
The "flying saucers," those mysterious objects which have been seen often but never explained, have reappeared in the news within the past two days. Moreover the reappearance of these post-war phenomena is accompanied by two very significant developments.
First, the Air Force, without referring to them as "flying saucers," has acknowledged their existence. Secondly, they seem to be slowing down.
Until now, the Air Force has always maintained an aloof attitude toward the flying saucer. Its acceptance of the numerous reports about them has been rather casual and cavalier. Now, however, it has announced that radar operators at the National Airport in Washington, D.C., have reported picking up eight unidentified "objects" on their screens last Saturday about midnight, at the same time two air line pilots reported seeing moving lights in the skies south and west of the nation's capital. The announcement came at the same time as the Air Force disclosed that it is investigating a report by two air line pilots who said they saw eight glowing, red-orange" disks flying in formation 150 miles south of Washington July 13.
In contrast to the usual "flying saucers," which are usually said to fly at more than 1,000 miles an hour, the eight "objects" picked up on the National Airport's radar screens were said to be moving at speeds of about 100 miles an hour.
The question now is whether the flying saucers will come to rest before the Air Force explains them. If they are indeed slowing down, it may be that one will actually land before the Air Force concludes its investigation of this new phenomenon.
If the Air Force actually doesn't know what these flying saucers are, it should say so. Such an admission would not necessarily be fatal. However if, as is more likely, the Air Force can explain them, it should do so promptly.
For our part, we would rather learn that the flying saucers are space ships from another planet than that they are a new secret weapon. Certainly if they were bent on harming us they would have given some indication of this intention before now. Therefore, if they are carrying representatives from another planet, their mission appears to be amiable. They may even be visiting here to give us some friendly advice on how the nations of the world can live together without war, or tell us that our explosion of the atom has caused repercussions above.
If the flying saucers are secret weapons, however, it means that we can use them as well as be harmed by them. If we have them, other nations can have them too, and can direct them against us. Thus they would be of little help to us or any other nation.
Such speculation is bound to continue until the Air Force explains the flying saucer to us. The flying saucer is no longer a secret. It would be far better to explain it than to continue the cloud of mysterious secrecy that surrounds it.
Syracuse, New York Post Standard - 24 Jul 52
Still Up in the Air
Certain flying somethings -- dubbed four or five years ago as flying saucers, altho their shapes seemed to have changed since then -- have apparently returned to visibility, darting about the stratosphere, according to the sightings of various pilots (who are always identified by giving their number of years of flying experience) and groundling observers (who are given more routine identifications).
Some years ago we'd greet other stories detailing unnatural phenomena with a grunt of derision. Usually, they originated in other parts of the world after the parliaments of nations had recessed, international intrigue had drowned in the tea cups, and headline snatchers had gone into summer hibernation.
Perhaps you recall some of them -- the wild boy of North Africa who sped across the Sahara with the speed of a gazelle; the perennial sea serpent of Scotland; the child raised by animals in the wilds of India. A century ago when newspapering was less inhibited, the great moon hoax was fostered, weaved from the reports of a fictional astronomer who had set up a new type telescope in Africa and discovered life on the moon.
Today, tho 'tis summer as we all well know, there's been no paucity of news and the reports haven't originated from the far off unknown corners of the world, but have come from Vermont, Maine, Staten Island, and now Central New York. Certain radar pips sighted in Washington. D.C., tho, are in dispute.
In fact, while no Hooper rating has been taken of the sky viewing public, we'd be inclined to say that nearly as many people are keeping their eyes peeled skyward as are dozing before the unblinking glass of their TV sets and the reflections of the Democratic convention.
Sandusky, Ohio Register Star News - 24 Jul 52
Silvery Saucer Deflates Ranks Of Skyviewers
Thousands of Columbus residents who thought for a while they too had joined the privileged ranks of flying saucer spotters got deflating news from the Ohio State University observatory.
Viewed through a telescope the silvery discs with a reddish glow visible in the skies over Columbus Wednesday night turned out to be balloons.
Professor J. Allen Hynek of the Astronomy Department turned his powerful lenses on the objects high in the western sky and diagnosed them as four balloons tied together. He said they were the type used for studying cosmic rays and upper air soundings and were flying at about 50,000 feet.
Lockbourne Air Force base sent up jet fighters to get a good looksee, but the pilots gave up at about 40,000 feet. They said the things appeared to be at least another 20,000 feet above them.
Appeared Silvery
Professor Hynek said the balloons appeared silvery from about 7:15 to 8 p.m. (est), then took on a reddish glow as sunset came on.
Jet planes from Wright-Patterson Base at Dayton also went up to see what it was all about, and their sunset-colored jet trails added to the mysterious appearance of the western heavens.
The balloons were reportedly seen as far away as Springfield at about the same time they were spotted in Columbus.
For probably the first time in history the "flying saucers" were seen by living-room commandos who did not have to stir from the parlor sofa. Station WTVN aimed their telescopic TV camera at the objects, but on the screen they came out as two bright specks.
Madison, Wisconsin State Journal - 24 Jul 52
Strange Blips Prove Mystery To CAA, Too
WASHINGTON -- The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) was mystified Tuesday night by the strange "blips" of light that flickered across National Airport radar screens about midnight last Saturday.
Sighting of what appeared to be about 10 unidentified aerial objects on the radar scope has given rise to new "flying saucer" speculation.
"We don't purport to say what they were," a CAA spokesman said. "We admit the possibility of meteorological phenomena."
He said it was also possible that private airplanes were in the area, although midnight seemed an odd time for them.
The Air Force disclosed that its own radar operators at nearby Andrews Air Force base were unable to pick up the objects. For this reason, he said, no interceptor planes were sent aloft.
Oak Park, Illinois Leaves - 24 Jul 52
Letters From Readers
Flying Saucers?
See Strange Sight On Holiday
To the Editor: I fully expected to find in last Thursday's OAK LEAVES a report of the so-called flying saucers observed over Oak Park and River Forest. Could it be only four of us saw the phenomenon on July 4? Four of us were sitting on the open terrace of Mrs. Ives Duncan's home on Augusta. Mrs. Duncan, her mother, my daughter and I. My daughter was reclining on a chair when she called our attention above. It was around 5 o'clock. There were three, evenly apart, the center one ahead somewhat, a long trail following. Very plainly seen. Seemed like shiny balls with sun on them. Could they possibly be jet planes? Certainly a strange sight.
CLARA BLEVALBANK
Washington, D.C. Post - 24 Jul 52
Television Receiver Affected By Saucers Over DC
CUMBERLAND, Md., July 23 -- Maybe it's Washington's flying saucers that played hob with Virgil Ruppenthal's television sets.
Ruppenthal is a television bug. He has a TV shack atop Dan's Rock about 10 miles southwest of Cumberland. It is about 2900 feet high, one of the highest spots in the Western Maryland mountains. Ruppenthal has it decked out with some of the best TV receivers money can buy, plus gadgets to step up incoming signals, plus a dozen different aerial layouts. He brings in perfect pictures from Washington, 112 miles to the southeast, and Pittsburgh, 71 miles to the northwest.
At 7:15 Sunday night, a strong electronic interference crossed off Ruppenthal's picture from WTOP Channel 9 in Washington.
Ruppenthal has been tinkering with television for six years. He can identify ordinary kinds of signal interference. He'd never seen anything like this before, never seen anything so powerful. He turned off his special amplifiers. Still there was a bright wire fence across his screen.
He tried all his aerials. Same thing. He tried other sets. Same thing. He climbed the Dan's Rock fire tower with a portable TV. The interference came in strongest at an altitude of 2940 feet.
He called a friend who has a TV set high on Savage Mountain. Same thing. He called Marshall Wolpert, who has a set on Martin's Mountain. Wolpert got the bright pattern. Then his set blew out. As suddenly as it had come, the phenomenon disappeared at 7:30 Tuesday morning.
It was shortly after midnight Sunday morning that control tower operators at Washington National Airport picked up strange blips on their radar scoops [sic]. The blips marked eight objects of some kind flying in the sky near Andrews Air Force base, just east of Washington.
The control tower contacted a commercial air liner flying northwest from Washington. The pilot, Capt. S.C. Pierman of Detroit, a veteran of 17 years with Capital Airlines, saw seven unidentified lights -- falling stars without tails -- in the sky between Washington and Martinsburg, W. Va.
Martinsburg is almost on a direct line between Washington and Cumberland.
Ruppenthal reported he also saw the strange interference pattern between 6:15 a.m. on July 8 and 1:30 a.m. on July 9, when he was watching a TV program from Pittsburgh.
Syracuse, New York Herald Journal 24 Jul 52
The Saucers Are Still Making News
The flying saucers were out again last night.
Take it from Mrs. Fred Bishop, of 223 N. Edwards av., who not only saw an "awfully bright light" in the sky but called the attention of three neighbors, who also saw the object.
Mrs. Bishop said it appeared about 9:45 P.M. and was traveling north.
She said it was noiseless and seemed to be rotating and about the size of a football.
Syracuse, New York Post Standard - 24 Jul 52
Strange Lights Seen In Area Still Unsolved
There was no new explanation yesterday for those five strange lights seen floating about the Central New York area by at least 50 persons Tuesday night.
The lights apparently did make their way to the Watertown area because Howard A. Scott, CAA airway operations specialist, reported there that he saw "two luminous objects, moving east to west along the horizon" about 11:30 p.m.
He said the saucers looked like stars – moving slowly. The same report was received at the Post-Standard office Tuesday night when residents of several nearby communities called the newspaper office with descriptions of the unusual aerial activity.
Spokesmen for three airline companies in Syracuse said yesterday their pilots have not reported any strange lights during the course of their flights in and out of the city.
Syracuse, New York Herald Journal 24 Jul 52
Saucers Over Lake Ontario
Lewiston -- State police here said last night that Mr. and Mrs. Bertram Diamond of nearby Youngstown reported that they saw four flying saucers speeding north and out over Lake Ontario.
Panama City, Florida News-Herald 24 Jul 52
Tampans Report Seeing 'Saucers'
TAMPA, Fla. -- A score of Tampa residents reported seeing flying saucers Tuesday night, and MacDill Air Force base began an investigation Wednesday.
Capt. Paul Mitchell, base public information officer, said calls about the objects kept coming in from 10 p.m. to 3 o'clock Wednesday morning.
Mitchell said three planes were sent up to check on the objects but added he could not disclose their report.
The public information officer did say MacDill experts have not reached any definite conclusions and are continuing their study of the reports.
"Most of the reports had to do with colors rather than a physical description of the objects," Mitchell said.
The best description came from L.H. Kohlmeyer, who said:
"When I first saw them there were two yellowish-orange colored discs traveling south over the city.
"They swept in an arc over MacDill Field and then sped away to the east. They were flying twice as fast as any jet plane I have ever seen "
Kohlmeyer said he picked up another disc 10 minutes later with the aid of binoculars.
New Castle, Pennsylvania News 24 Jul 52
Flying Saucer Club Adds Two Members
PITTSBURGH. July 24 -- The "I saw a flying saucer club" picked up two members today and one of them was a central police station watchman.
Policeman Albert Hess described the object he saw as "The size of a bushel basket, with a yellow tinge." Hess said it sailed over Mt. Washington at 2:15 a.m., paused over the Gateway Center, and then headed for the North Side.
Daniel Simon (of 340 Craft avenue, Oakland) said his saucer hovered into view a half hour later. Simon told police the big disk appeared in the sky over East Liberty and gave off an orange light.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa Gazette 24 Jul 52
Flying Saucer Seen Heading Toward C.R.
Anyone see a flying saucer over Cedar Rapids early this afternoon?
One was reported coming this direction from a few miles southwest of town at 12:30 p.m.
Mrs. Byron Hatter of Ladora said she spotted a "round, shiny metal disk" flying through the air "not too high up" while she was driving to Cedar Rapids. She said she watched it for four or five miles then lost it when traffic became too heavy for her to follow it any more.
Mrs. Hatter said she saw it when she was near Walford on highway 149. "It was about a foot in diameter and very visible. The sun's rays kept glancing off it, making it very shiny.
"It was moving northeast, toward Cedar Rapids."
Valparaiso, Indiana Vidette-Messenger 24 Jul 52
Flying Saucer Reports Are Received By Local Police
Flying saucers were back in the news again today after at least three persons reported seeing strange objects in north Porter county skies Tuesday evening.
A woman, identifying herself as Mrs. Mary Lou Smith of a Valparaiso rural route, reported to city police that she and a companion spotted a "bright object which shot upward into the sky at about 7:15 Tuesday."
While she was making the report, Sgt. John Kane of the city police department also mentioned having seen the object at about the same time and in the same vicinity.
An unidentified motorist from Eagle River, Wis., also reported watching the object from his auto in this vicinity that evening.
Mrs. Smith said the object appeared to be at a standstill for a time and then "shot upward on a slanting angle at an apparent high rate of speed."
Cairns, Australia Post - 24 Jul 52
N.Z. 'Flying Saucer'
Like Partial Football
WELLINGTON. July 23 -- The New Zealand model of a "flying saucer," shaped like a Rugby football with the end cut away, according to one observer, was seen over Hamilton in the centre of the Waikato district shortly after 9 p.m. on Sunday. The object was seen by a number of witnesses, including a Baptist minister (Rev. F.H. Carter), who said it was a solid, bright object, followed by a stream of bright vapour and sparks. It was steady in its course and could not have been a rocket. It was nothing like a meteor.
A woman, who saw the object from a window, said it flashed parallel with the horizon across the sky at a tremendous speed.
Newswire Report Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata - 24 Jul 52
PIACENZA, Italy, July 24, 1952 – A flying saucer was observed yesterday afternoon at an altitude of 25,000 to 30,000 feet over Piacenza, 80 miles southeast from Milan in the Po Valley. The object irradiated a silvery light and left a vapor trail. It hovered for a few moments over the city, then moved laterally from west to east and finally rose vertically disappearing from sight.
Reno, Nevada Evening Gazette - 24 Jul 52
Claims Photos Show Saucer
CLERMONT-FERRAND, France, July 24 -- Andre Fregnale, a geologist, claimed today he had snapped four photographs of a flying saucer over this south-central French city.
He said he had seen the object at 5 p.m. one day last week and that it was flying at from 9,000 to 24,000 feet.
He said he had watched the object for 50 seconds, and that after taking pictures he had looked at it through binoculars.
The object was like an oval saucer, he said, with brilliant light in the center which he guessed came from "some kind of gyroscopic system, turning very rapidly, which would explain the reflection that is very clearly seen in my pictures."
Regional, France Le Meridional - 25 Jul 52
A flying saucer has been photographed in the Auvergne
"The craft was between 3.000 and 8.000 meters and I did not hear any sound" states the geologist who took the photographs
Paris. -- An electrical engineer of Le Puy claims to have seen a flying saucer Tuesday evening. "It was," he said, "spindle shaped. After having made a sudden half-turn it took the shape of a disc of gray colour."
But a resident of Clermont, Mr. Fregnale, residing at the Martes-de-Veyre did better: he photographed a saucer. He was hiking in the area of Bessem Friday in search for geological curiosities, when suddenly, whereas he was near Lake Chauvet, he saw a kind of disc that crossed the sky from West to East.
Without wasting time, he directed his camera (which he always has with him when he goes hiking) and took four shots of the mysterious machine... With his binoculars he studied the "flying saucer" during a few seconds.
"It was approximately 6 p.m.," told Mr. Fregnale, "when I saw the saucer. Being unaware of its diameter, I cannot say at what altitude it flew. Apparently it was between 3.000 and 8.000 meters. I do not think that the altitude could be higher, for then, because of the thickness of the atmosphere, the craft would have had a bluish metallic colour which it did not have.
Four shots
"I had the time to take four shots very quickly. I saw the machine approximately during 50 seconds and after having taken the photographs I observed the craft with binoculars. According to my observations and calculations I made afterwards, if the saucer were at 3.000 meters it was going at approximately 300 meters per second. If it were at 8.000 meters its speed was larger obviously and could reach 800 meters per second. I heard absolutely no noise.
"The craft -- as often told -- had the shape of an oval saucer. Below and in the center it seemed that there is a light bulge, but I am not certain. Around the circular part, a brilliant circle appeared. I suppose that above the apparatus, a rotor, or some other gyroscopic system, rotated very quickly, which would explain the reflection that one very clearly sees on the photographs that I took."
Newswire Report Agence France Presse - 24 Jul 52
Claremont Ferrand, July 24 -- A young electrician has taken 4 photographs of a flying saucer with a precision camera equipped with a telephoto lens.
Last Friday (July 18) M. Andre Fregnale, 30, who was carrying out geological researches on the ramparts of the Sancy massif (Fuy-de-Dome), noticed a circular object traveling from west to east, at an altitude which he was able to estimate as between two and five miles. At this time M. Fregnale was at the height of Lake Chauvet, between Besse-en-Chandesse and Condit-en-Premiere.
Being a keen amateur photographer and a practised moviemaker, well known for his films on cave exploration, M. Fregnale had with him a precision camera with telephoto lens. He took four photographs and immediately made a sketch of the object. This, he says, had the form of an oval saucer with an apparent slight bulge in the centre of the underside. He had the impression that the rim surrounding this central bulge was rotating. Around this circular rim he could clearly perceive a brilliant circle. He also had the impression that underneath the object there were paddle-like blades, or a gyroscopic system, in very rapid rotation. This feature is responsible, according to him, for the bright spot distinctly visible on his photographs.
M. Fregnale was struck by the straightness of the path followed by the craft. As for its speed, he estimates this as 1000 feet/sec. (700 mph) if it was flying at 2 miles altitude, and 2500 feet/sec. (1800 mph) if at five miles. Although the atmosphere was absolutely calm, he heard no sound. If the engine is jet-propelled, he surmises, it produces no audible vibrations. This would be possible if the sound waves were of a frequency exceeding 16,000 cycles/sec.
Newswire Report Agence France Presse - 25 Jul 52
Claremont Ferrand, July 25 -- As we know, M. Andre Fregnale, construction electrician and photographer, claims that on the 18th of July, at about 4 p.m., he saw a flying saucer in the sky of Avergne, and offers three photographs to support his allegation.
When questioned on this subject, M. Robert Carrigue, in charge of the observatory on the summit of Fuy-de-Dome, made the following statement:
"I am skeptical. All over the world there are astronomers specializing in the mapping of the sky (or in other fields), continually scrutinizing the heavens with powerful instruments. Now, not one of these astronomers has ever observed the slightest phenomenon of "flying saucer" type. If there were really unusual vessels, they would necessarily be of great size, noisy, and visible to everyone. As to a space craft coming from other planets, this is very improbably [sic]. Indisputable traces would have been found, which has never been the case."
M. Fregnale was then questioned again, and declared:
"Certain people claim that I merely photographed a weather balloon, and that I was deceived by my imagination. I have worked in aviation, and therefore I have often observed weather balloons, which are transparent. Now, the disc I photographed at no time appeared to the eye except as a shape horizontally flattened. Moreover, the speed of travel was much too great to be that of a weather balloon propelled by the wind.
"Furthermore, weather balloons are launched in the region of central Fuy and Aulnat. On the day in question the wind was blowing toward the northwest. Now, the machine that crossed the sky was traveling from west to east."
Syracuse, New York Herald Journal 25 Jul 52
Saucer Dive Over Car Unnerving
COULD IT BE lightning bugs?
Flying saucers gave Mrs. Margaret Rebensky, 32, of Green Lake rd., Fayetteville, and her mother, Mrs. Julia Lindsey, an unnerving experience last night.
They had been visiting and were driving down W. Genesee st. hill about 11 P.M., and stopped for the traffic light at Erie blvd., W., when it started.
Mrs. Lindsey saw six bright lights in the sky and was just calling her daughter's attention to the phenomena when all of a sudden one dropped out of formation and came right at them.
Mrs. Lindsey let out a scream.
The saucer about the size of a honeydew melon, dipped down, passed over the hood of her car and shot straight up and rejoined the formation.
She said it seemed to be shaped like a quarter moon, gave white intense light, and was followed by a plume of smoke.
New Castle, Pennsylvania News - 25 Jul 52
Flying Saucer Reported Here
Lawrence county has been visited by a flying saucer. At least this is the belief of the family of Leroy Stafford of R.D. 8.
Members of Mr. Stafford's family report that about 1 o'clock Wednesday morning a saucer shaped object was seen flying high over the section just north of New Castle. It appeared to be green and was illuminated.
The "saucer" seemed to be doing figure flying in a sort of figure eight effect, it was stated.
Titusville, Pennsylvania Herald - 25 Jul 52
Flying Saucers Spotted Over Corry Vicinity
Four "flying saucers" were reported at 12:15 p.m. yesterday at Concord Ridge near Corry. They were spotted by three women, who said they positively could not be mistaken.
The trio said they had glanced into the sky when two jet planes went roaring overhead. While still gazing skyward the four "saucers" hove into view, flying just below the clouds.
Described as bright and almost flat and reflecting the sun, the women said the objects resembled a soap bubble as much as anything when viewed from the side.
While they watched the saucers made a nearly complete circle and as they turned into the wind the sound of what apparently was small motors could be heard.
Lebanon, Pennsylvania Daily News - 25 Jul 52
Report Flying Saucers in Philadelphia Area
PHILADELPHIA -- Flying saucers were reported by two persons yesterday in the Philadelphia area.
Miss Anna H. Bethell said she saw a cluster of saucers, yellowish in color Wednesday night. They traveled with the speed of shooting stars, she said.
Two objects, copper brilliant and moving at high speed were reported in the sky over Pitman, N.J., last night by William Kamps. One object was elongated and the other round, Kamps said.
Pottsdown, Pennsylvania Mercury - 25 Jul 52
Flying Saucers Reported By Philadelphia Woman
PHILADELPHIA -- There was a report of flying saucers in Philadelphia today.
Miss Anna H. Bethell said she saw a cluster of what looked like flying saucers shortly after 9 p.m. yesterday, while watching from the backyard of her North Philadelphia home. She said the saucers were yellowish in color and seemed to be following in the path of a moving plane. She said they traveled "with the speed of shooting stars."
Newport, Rhode Island Mercury And Weekly News 25 Jul 52
Flying Saucers Reported By Newport Observers
Two flying saucers were seen between 2:25 and 3:25 Wednesday by two 15-year old spotters on duty at the Airplane Spotting Station on the Armed Services YMCA. Robert DeCosta of 26 Walnut St., and Gerry Fill of 68 Sims St., reported both flying objects into the New Haven Filter Station, where much interest was expressed in the report.
The objects were both egg shaped and of a gray color, with a luminous glow about them. One was flying low at a fairly slow speed, the second high at a tremendous speed. They followed the slower one as it traveled a straight path out of sight. The second they could only follow about two or three seconds because of its speed.
A flying object resembling a silver disk was spotted off Easton's Point, Middletown, last night as similar reports came in from various New England points last night and early today.
In the Newport area the object, seen at some distance, resembled a planet in the sky. It appeared about 8 o'clock before it was dark enough for celestial objects to be seen. It attracted attention because the supposed planet was moving in a southwesterly direction.
Panama City, Florida News Herald - 25 Jul 52
Information Top Secret
Anybody Seen 'Flying Saucer?' Notify Tyndall If You Have
By Charles Daw
Has anybody seen a "flying saucer?"
Tyndall Field officials were mum today on whether any of the "flying saucer" formations which have been spotted over other areas of the state have been reported here. But they said they'd like to know if any are seen.
Reporters were told that information regarding the round, flat, discus-shaped objects is "classified" -- Air Force talk for top secret.
Reports of individual sighting of the weird, glowing "saucers" have been pouring into Air Force intelligence centers at the rate of about 100 each month.
Wednesday, dispatches from Tampa revealed that "a score" of individual sightings were reported to MacDill Field there during a five-hour period.
Earlier this week control tower employes at Cleveland, O., and Washington, D C.. airports said they had tracked unidentified objects on radar screens.
The Cleveland sighting was described as a "golden light." The Washington control operator said he followed a formation of about six of the wingless objects for several minutes on radar.
MacDill Field public information officers admitted Air Force planes had been sent up to try to identify the objects seen there but said their findings could not be revealed.
Strange objects -- usually disc-shaped, but sometimes the shape of a large cigar -- have been reported in flurries since 1947.
Reports usually take a sharp rise during the summer months of each year.
Lt. Col. Walter G. Lezius, wing intelligence officer for Tyndall Air Force Base, said sightings of any "unidentified flying objects" should be reported "immediately" to Tyndall intelligence officers.
He said he was unable to comment on whether any have already been reported here.
Albuquerque, New Mexico Journal 25 Jul 52
Flying Saucer Sounds Off
This one gave off a white light and made a noise.
S.N. Gregory, 4517 Third St. NW, told The Journal Thursday night that he saw an object -- described as a flying saucer -- flit across half the sky to the north here about 8:35 p.m. turn sharply to the east, blast off two reports and disappear behind some trees in the area of Sandia Base.
Glowing with a white light, Gregory said, the saucer traveled at a tremendous speed, up about 70 degrees from the horizon. It appeared to be about the size of the moon, and its course was between the mountains and the city, he added. The two reports he and his wife heard when the object turned, he said, sounded like those of a pop gun.
Albuquerque, New Mexico Tribune 25 Jul 52
Disk Sighted Over City Today
Reports of a "flying disc" over Albuquerque today were received by the Institute of Meteoritics at the University.
Alfred Fierro, an employee at the Old Town Postoffice, said he observed an "object half the size of a full moon" in the sky southwest of the city. Mr. Fierro said he was just outside the Postoffice about 9:45 a.m. when he saw the white round object.
It remained stationary for four minutes, then headed north at a high rate of speed, Mr. Fierro said. It was out of sight in about 30 seconds, he said.
Mr. Fierro, a former paratrooper, estimated the object's height at about 10,000 feet. It reflected the sun's rays, he told officials of the institute.
Mr. Fierro's report was verified by Mrs. D.C. Andrews, 2420 Rose-dr. NW, and her daughter, who also witnessed the spectacle.
Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, head of the institution of Meteoritics, said calculations he made from the reported observations would make the object 100 to 200 feet in diameter.
He said it was definitely not a "fire ball" or a weather balloon, according to the reports received.
Dr. LaPaz said the object's remaining still for four minutes provided an excellent opportunity for pictures and urged anyone having the chance to take a picture to do so. Such pictures would be valuable in making a study of the mysterious object, he said.
Pocatello, Idaho State Journal - 25 Jul 52
Fireman Reports Seeing Saucers
A formation of eight to ten flying saucers was reported flying over Pocatello early Thursday morning by a restless fireman.
Grant Green, Pocatello fireman, said he saw the discs flying over at 2:30 a.m. He explained that he couldn't sleep and was looking out the back window at the time.
Green described the objects as discs and said they showed a blue light. He said they came from the east and were moving toward the south.
The fireman added they were going a little slower than a falling star. They were in sight about 20 or 30 seconds before buildings shut off further view.
Billings, Montana Gazette 25 Jul 52
Weather Bureau Employee Spots Silvery Flying Saucer Over San Francisco
Another "flying saucer" made an appearance over San Francisco Wednesday, according to a chart plotter for the United States weather bureau at San Francisco.
Harold Groger said he was sunbathing when he saw a small, silvery, blimplike object pass above him in a southeasterly direction about 2 p.m.
A moment later, Groger said, it reappeared from behind a cloud flying at tremendous speed and at right angles to its original course.
Eugene, Oregon Register Guard 25 Jul 52
Flying Saucers Must Be Real, Many County Citizens Believe
A number of Lane County persons think it's about time flying saucers are recognized as something real -- not as hallucinations or hangover spots or idle subjects for idle chuckles.
Judging from a series of separate reports called in from the eastern part of the county this week "flying saucers" are more or less round, white or silver, propelled by some power unit and not just the wind, capable of tremendous speed and maneuverability and are released from large conventional aircraft.
Eight White Objects
The first report came to the Register-Guard late Tuesday morning. Mrs. William Brock and a group of neighbors along Dilley Lane east of Goshen spotted first one, then two, then three, and finally eight white, roundish objects "like bits of fluff," but much bigger, circling and maneuvering in the sky. The group watched them for more than half an hour. At one time all eight flew in a fairly geometrical circle. It was between 11 a.m. and noon. The sky was clear and bright.
Then Thursday afternoon two men from Jasper and Thurston -- who didn't want their names used because of the stigma attached to "saucer gazers" -- were picking berries along Hills Creek about 20 miles east-southeast of Eugene.
A large four-engine aircraft, "probably a B-36" flew over at medium altitude headed northwest. An object which "looked like a puff ball" appeared just beneath the craft. Then the men saw a second object of the same sort. "They were kind of round and very fast -- too fast for jets . . . and they had no wings." They left the plane and flew due north rapidly. "The one on the left passed the one on the right about three times." This was at about 1:35 p.m. Again the sky was clear. Neither man had heard about the objects at Goshen.
Airplane and Saucers
Some 25 minutes later an airplane was heard by Sid Stiers, a Lowell logger who was working on Saddle Blanket Mountain a few miles from Hills Creek.
He sighted the craft, which he identified as a bomber "very high" and flying toward the south. Just under the bomber and "just a little bit behind" he saw what he at first thought were two small planes. But he couldn't see any wings. They were just small, round, silver objects. They followed the plane halfway across the sky and "then one of them suddenly turned and went up and in an opposite direction at a tremendous rate of speed." The other followed the bomber, Stiers said.
The two Thursday reports are nearly identical to a report made two years ago by a Eugene family which saw a number of round objects flying beneath a large aircraft. The family made the observation from its fishing camp near the summit of the Cascades. One of the group was an Air Force pilot on leave...
Santa Fe, New Mexico New Mexican - 25 Jul 52
Hilltopics
The Flying Saucers Square Dance Club meets tomorrow night at 8 in the Canyon School gym. Visitors are welcome.
Naugatuck, Connecticut Mercury - 25 Jul 52
The Television Tower
by Erskine Johnson
CARLSON HAS FILM SERIES
Richard Carlson has settled on the telefilm series that will make him a home-screen regular late this year. It's "The A-Man," a Worthington Minor project concerning a new government agency formed to track down atomic bomb leaks, flying saucers and mysterious scientific phenomena.
Harlingen, Texas Valley Morning Star 25 Jul 52
Looking Sideways
Whitney Bolton
SOME OLD friends called flying saucers have been darting back into the news lately and as a champion of this form of flying I have no choice but to get on the newest binge and stick with the boys who have reported them. This is in spite of a learned professor who filled up half an issue of "Look" magazine seeking to prove that they did not exist, could not exist and were easily duplicatable on a laboratory table.
The professor goes for that old wheeze about weather balloons but fails to explain how weather balloons fly in strict, perfect formation and wheel and turn in the sky in approved aeronautical maneuver. What I think is that the professor was hired by "Look" to stick pins in the saucers because its mighty and richer rival, "Life," came out in favor of them some weeks ago. Magazines are like that.
JUST AS IN the old days of murder trials, before prosecutors and defense lawyers alike agreed that hiring psychiatrists was a silly dodge, you can get all sorts of expert opinions on anything.
I remember a Clarence Darrow trial in which his psychiatrist said the defendant was as crazy as a hoot owl and the State's psychiatrist said the defendant was as sane as anybody. They called them "alienists" in those days and the first lawyer to come up with a $500 fee for a learned opinion could buy it in either direction, sane or insane.
I am not taking the saucer professor to pieces for the fun of it, but my considered thought is that he can't prove that they don't exist any more than I can prove that they do. We are both operating on hearsay -- or hearsee -- and a frail talent known as being able to see.
What he sees are not saucers and what I see are saucers. I'm stuck with my opinion and he seems to be stuck with his. But meanwhile, the evidence piles up that they are out in greater numbers than ever these Western and Southern summer nights and that if they do exist at all, they certainly exist in swarms.
THE ONLY argument I can summon against the probabilities that flying saucers do exist is that the pilots thereof have an exceedingly sour eye for scenery. They fly over the baked flats of Kansas, the useless sands of the Mojave Desert and similar sites of no beauty at all while ignoring such gorgeous prospects as Lake Lucerne, Lago di Como, the Grand Canyon and other places of extraordinary handsomeness.
Why a pilot from Venus or any other planet would fly over New Mexico's wastes when he could get a close-up of the Dolomites at sunset is something answerable only if and when we capture one of these little tads and question him.
Who wants to look at Kansas cornfields when the Austrian side of the Alps can be seen? Who wants to dart over an American Indian hogan in Arizona when you can look at an East Indian Taj Mahal?
THE BEST testimony at hand in 1952 has been the recent two airlines pilots who saw them, counted them, noted the military formation and watched the skilled, spectacular flying maneuvers. These were men with responsibilities, good jobs and a wish, probably, to live in peace.
Why should two such men, with everything to lose by prankish devices, come down to earth with a flat, eye-witness story of seeing saucers? It doesn't make sense, and most particularly it doesn't make sense when you consider that their passenger list that Norfolk night was composed entirely of executives of the line that hired them. Would you leave your teller's cage and go tell a bank president that you had just seen a depositor with two heads and green skin?
Once again, in the clearest English I have in the drawer, I believe in flying saucers. I believe they exist, whatever their origin may be. I believe one will land deliberately or crash within the next six months and prove their existence.
If you have influence with the mental hospitals, you may order the wagon to come for me, complete with canvas camisole, but that's how it is. And belated seriousness by our Air Force hasn't influenced me.
Mason City, Iowa Globe Gazette - 25 Jul 52
Pros and Cons
Some Interesting Viewpoints Gleaned From Our Exchanges
Flying Saucers
Deborah Journal: Those flying saucers give cause for speculation on whether or not a parent race on some distant planet may be watching over the child play of mankind on this earth with the idea of coming to our rescue before we pull out the last stop.
Pottsdown, Pennsylvania Mercury - 25 Jul 52
The Voice of Broadway
by Dorothy Kilgallen
Look for a startling announcement out of Washington next Winter, after the Air Force finishes its top secret investigation of flying saucers.
Notes:
1. Many of the foreign-language publications quoted in this series come from translations provided within CIA documents of the time, now released under the Freedom of Information Act, as well as translations found in the declassified files of the Air Force's Project Blue Book. A lesser number come from the (now-defunct) French site Ufologie.net.
2. A special report was submitted to Project Blue Book by Air Force Col. Frank P. Dunnington, District Commander, Office of Special Investigations, on New York area sightings between June 19, 1952 and July 24, 1952, which included the sighting by Howard A. Scott, told above in the Syracuse, New York Post Standard story "Strange Lights Seen In Area Still Unsolved." Col. Dunnington's report included the following...
14. On 23 July 1952, the "New York Journal American" quoted a Major JOHN BARRON, Public Information Officer, Mitchel Air Force Base, to the effect that more than thirty (30) persons had called to report seeing strange objects in the sky over Nassau County since 18 July 1952. The paper also stated that a spokesman at McGuire Air Force Base advised that a number of reports had been received, and that since 19 July 1952, a considerable number of Staten Island residents had reported seeing unexplainable objects overhead, including one reported "hanging and spinning" on the night of 22 July 1952. The paper stated that Mrs. MIRIAM BROWN, 32, of 130 DuBois Avenue, West Brighton, said she watched a bright yellow object with red lights on its edges moving up and down and in circles from 2315 hours, 22 July 1952, until 0130 hours, 23 July 1952. In Brooklyn, LOUIS PAPELL, 135 Ocean Avenue, said he and his wife both saw a bright yellowish object in the sky between midnight and 0100 hours, 23 July 1952. HOWARD, A. SCOTT, a Civil Aeronautics Authority operations specialist, said he sighted two (2) objects about the same time over Watertown, N.Y.
3. The only Blue Book document relating to the incidents in the Panama City, Florida News-Herald report "Tampans Report Seeing 'Saucers' " is a telex from MacDill AFB as follows...
ON 23 JUL 52 AT APPROX 2230 EST AN OBJECT OR OBJECTS FLYING AT A GREAT RATE OF SPEED WERE OBSERVED BY APPROX 20 WITNESSES IN THE VICINITY OF MACDILL AFB, TAMPA, FLA PD THE FOL IS THP REPORT OF THE CONTROL TOWER OPERATOR ON DY AT MACDILL AFB FLA AT THE TIME: FIRST TIME I SIGHTED OBJECT WAS AT 2235 EST TO THE WEST SOUTH WEST PD THE OBJECT APPEARED TO BE RED AND GREENISH BLUE PD IT WAS AT AN ANGLE OF ABOUT 45 DEGREES FROM THE TOWER PD THERE WERE TWO SMALLER OBJECTS TO THE NORTHE AND SEEMED TO BE LOWER AND FARTHER AWAY PD KEPT THE OBJECTS IN SIGHT UNTIL AROUND 2300 EST PD AT 2330 OBSERVED ANOTHER OBJECT TO THE SOUTH SOUTH EAST CMA AT AN ANGLE OF ABOUT 30 DEGREES FR THE TOWER PD HAVING ACFT CHECK IT PD AT 0008 B-29 SIGHTED OBJECT AT APPROX 40000 FEET ON HEADING OF 308 DEGREES TOWARD MACDILL GOING AT MUCH FASTER SPEED THAN THE B-29 PD TAMPA RBS ALSO PICKED UP OBJECT AT 41000 FT ON HEADING OF 160 DEGREES FR RBS PD THE FOL IS A REPORT FR THE NCOIC OF DET 21, 3944TH RES CMA MACDILL AFB FLA: RADAR CONTACT WAS MADE AT 0003 AT 65000 YARDS/RANGE CMA AZIMUTH 160 DEGREES CMA ALTITUDE 41200 FEET CMA SPEED 462 KNOTS CMA TRUE HEADING 310 DEGREES CMA LOST RADAR CONTACT AT 145000 YARDS AT AN AZIMUTH OF APPROX 310 DEGREES PD OBJECT WAS SIGHTED VISUALLY AS IT PASSED CLOSE TO SITE CMA BY FOUR AMN OF THIS ORGN PD THE OPINION HERE IS THAT THE OBJECT TRACKED WAS DEFINITELY AN ACFT PD IT WAS NOTED THAT THE SPEED CMA ALTITUDE AND HEADING WAS CONSTANT PD REPORTS FR CIVILIANS IN THE VICINITY ALSO REPORTED SEEING THESE OBJECTS AND THEIR REPORTS AGREED WITH THE ABOVE TWO LISTED ONLY NOT SO TECHNICALLY AS REGARDS HEADINGS AND SO FORTH PD.
The statement above that the "opinion here is that the object tracked was definitely an" aircraft may be read in two ways, one that it was a conventional aircraft, the other that it was an aircraft in the sense that it was not a balloon, meteor or natural phenomenon. The airspeed of 462 knots (531 mph) would only have been achievable by a jet. The final Blue Book classification as of 1969, apparently based solely on the telex above, was "aircraft".
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