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in the news 1952


PART TWENTY-THREE


Piero Gnesi

Above: From the The Monon News, Indiana, August 7, 1952. The caption reads: GNESI'S FLYING SAUCER -- During the past year villagers of Putigano, Italy, have seen a disc zooming over their rooftops, but they're not alarmed. They know that it's not an invasion from outer space but a 30-inch working model of a flying saucer designed by Piero Gnesi. In photo at left inventor Gnesi looks on while builder Piero Agostini, right, puts finishing touches on the 21-ounce model. In photo at right the flying disc, powered by a special gasoline motor, soars through the air at 87 mph. Gnesi, 33, thinks he can build a jet-powered disc nine feet in diameter.


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...




AUGUST 7, 1952:


New London, Connecticut Evening Day - 7 Aug 52



The Once Over
by H.L. Phillips

AUGUST LETTER FROM KOREA

Dear Homefront:

Well, the news from back home is just about breaking my heart. The summer has been hot and dry, you say, vacation traffic congestion has been very annoying, fishing has been bad, there is a shortage of big juicy tenderloin steaks for less than $5 in the better restaurants, Tommy Manville still can't find the right wife, and General MacArthur has been forced to go to work for $100,000 a year with a typewriter company, on account of he can't find regular employment with the army. It makes a GI over here in the Korean hills feel awful low.

On top of all this, I hear you are going through a frightful ordeal of nightly visits from flying saucers which do not do no damage to nobody and go away fast without creating any disturbance, leaving everybody guessing. Me and the boys are all busted up over what is being asked of you. One of my buddies just got a letter saying Frankie Costello may yet have to go to jail, as he has nearly run out of appeals; that bar glasses are smaller this season; that there is no imported champagne on the market back home and that Rocky Marciano may not be able to get more than $150,000 for fighting Joe Walcott. Sergeant Mooney just got a newspaper clipping which tells of a possible peach blight, a poor season for musical comedies, a rise in the price of top-grade strawberries, with cream, a proposed increase of ten cents in the cost of a haircut and a lot of trouble getting waterfront rooms at the beach hotels. He broke down completely.

We had to send quite a few of my buddies back to the lines to rest camps this week, on account of they had got newspapers from home telling them that the size of quiz-program jackpots had been cut on some programs, that the price of a $4,000 auto may be jacked up another $85, that people who bought Cadillacs a year ago with the silver "V" in front are all upset because the new ones have a gold "V," and that a lot of people who get only $85 a week and have to work six to eight hours, five days a week are unhappy about it and may have to quit work and strike in order to get a better break. (We kept from these boys the sad news that the old five-cent glass of beer has disappeared forever, that a lot of shoddy hammocks are reported on the market and that for the next 12 weeks many Americans will have to worry over an election).

Well, my heart goes out to you and I can only urge you to have courage and be patient. Into each life some rain must fall. This is a time for sacrifice. Me? Oh, I am okay. I am just in a lousy war, sitting out all the troubles you are going through at home and hoping you can endure them a little longer. If you need blood let me know.

Love and kisses,

Emil.


Charleston, West Virginia Gazette - 7 Aug 52



Flying Saucers

What is this thing called a Flying Saucer? Is it imaginary? A mild form of mob hysteria? Misinterpretations of various conventional objects? If it is any of these, why have our jet pilots received orders to shoot one down?

Can our jet pilots comply with the orders?

Perhaps, more to the point, who issued the orders? Has Congress been notified? Who's investigating what? Where does President Truman stand? Have U.N. diplomats been consulted for the purpose of clearing aggressive action against possible interplanetary nations?

All these and many more imponderables arise over the Flying Saucer issue, which has been plaguing an already perplexed world for some two years. At first, our officialdom was inclined to take sightings of these unexplained phenomena with the same concern it would regard a private being promoted to p.f.c.

Later, plaintive declarations were issued to the effect that if people persisted in perceiving such illusionary objects, the least they could do was to consult their eye-ear-nose-and-throat man before calling attention to their mirage-like wonderings.

Now, we find this sort of goobledy-goop message being released to the public: "During the past few years, more than 1,000 sightings of unidentified flying objects have been reported to the Air Force. Of this number, only (our italics) a small percent of those received from reliable sources remain unexplained.

"Of the unexplained sightings it can be stated that they appear in haphazard fashion and show no pattern which would indicate that the objects are being controlled by a reasoning body.

"Preliminary evaluation of the reports does not indicate that they differ from those received in the past few years or that they actually represent a threat to the United States."

What is this business about their being a threat? Only a short while ago, they didn't exist. Now they exist but aren't harmful somebody believes. Might they become lethal after being fired upon?

The Air Force can follow any course it desires. BUT as for us, we want it clearly understood that all Flying Saucers are safe where we're concerned. Should we spot one, we'll keep it to ourselves. We don't want to make enemies, and we're like the private in the last war, who, before shoving off on an attack against a heavily fortified enemy position, started praying to every deity he could recall to mind -- just so he wouldn't miss any bets.


Cedar Rapids, Iowa Gazette - 7 Aug 52



Seeks Explanation

IOWA CITY -- Prof. C.C. Wylie, head of the University of Iowa astronomy department, was attempting Thursday to find a natural explanation for the "flying saucers" currently reported by the hundreds over the country.

Prof. Wylie said that he and an assistant interviewed several persons Wednesday who reported seeing a strange object in the sky several days ago about eight miles from Mt. Pleasant. He said that when the information gathered in the interviews is formulated, it will be compared with notes taken in similar interviews with a radio expert who works for the Collins Radio Company in Cedar Rapids.

The astronomer said he hopes he can establish a "natural" explanation for the "flying saucers."


Cedar Rapids, Iowa Tribune - 7 Aug 52



There Are More Explanations Than Saucers: Edwards

By FRANK EDWARDS
AFL Radio Commentator

Flying saucers have landed in the headlines again.

A few nights ago, radar showed a flight of unidentified objects maneuvering over the nation's capital. Jet fighter planes zoomed aloft, found themselves outdistanced by eerie lights, came back mystified and empty-handed.

It was the latest episode in the flying saucer serial which has been in progress since June of 1947 when they were first reported over the Northwest by a civilian pilot.

Millions of people are asking themselves if the saucers are real or if they are mere natural phenomena reported by excited zanies.

Look at Record

Let's look at the record.

Is there such a thing as a flying saucer?

The Air Force tried to dismiss them as "hallucinations" until both military and civilian pilots reported sightings. If those men were having 'hallucinations' they were in no condition to be flying; yet not one single pilot was grounded for this reason.

According to Air Force Intelligence, 25 per cent of the sightings are reported by military fliers, including many Air Force pilots and crew members.

Next question: Are the saucers an American secret weapon?

Top officials, from the President on down, have repeatedly asserted that we have no such device. If they were ours we would hardly be spending billions for conventional planes which are easily outperformed by the saucers, according to reports.

And since they have been sighted over more than 60 different nations, they have plainly violated the international boundaries repeatedly. For these reasons it seems probable that the discs are not the property of this nation.

Natural Phenomena

Question No. 3: Are they natural phenomena?

Undoubtedly, many of the reported sightings fall into this category. Excited people see and report things which do not exist except in their imaginations. Others misinterpret conventional objects into strange, and wondrous accounts.

What about the radar reports?

Many radar readings have been made on unidentified objects which maneuvered in the sky in a fashion beyond the capabilities of any known craft or missile.

During the recent flurry of sightings in Washington, the same objects were picked up simultaneously by several radar units. One Air Force official "explained" that the strange pips on the radar were nothing more than reflections from inverted layers of air.

If this were true, it would mean that the radar at the National Airport could not distinguish between incoming passenger planes and layers of air, which would be extremely dangerous.

The "hot air" explanation seems to be just that and no more.

Are the flying saucers real?

Privately, top military figures are deeply concerned about these things. They don't know the answer.

The only thing more numerous than the saucer is the explanations of them. You pays your price and you takes your choice!


El Paso, Texas Herald Post - 7 Aug 52



Priest Says 'Saucers' Could Be Sign From God

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Aug. 7 -- A Roman Catholic priest of Little Rock thinks the "flying saucers" might well be a "sign from God" that a third world war is at hand.

The Reverend Bebe Mitchell, pastor of Little Rock's St. Edward's Church said last night that "there is no physical explanation for these lights." He said it might be a "warning from God that something terrible might happen to the human race."


Charleston, West Virginia Daily Mail - 7 Aug 52



Robert Allen Reports From Washington

Latest Pentagon convert to belief in the existence of flying saucers is Al Chop. He is a top official of the Pentagon press section and specialized in deriding flying disc reports. But now he is singing a different tune after an experience at Andrews Field, near Washington. Chop was at the airbase when the mysterious objects were picked up on radar and later he saw them visually.


Lewiston, Maine Daily Sun - 7 Aug 52



Belfast Man Thinks He Saw 2 "Saucers"

BELFAST, Aug. 6 -- A Belfast man said he saw two "flying saucers" streaking through the sky today.

"They looked like giant flapjacks right out of the frying pan," said William C. Stover, who told a Bangor radio station he saw them flying about half a mile apart and heading west.

Stover said he was standing on a hill near his home when the disc-shaped objects appeared and then disappeared from view in a few moments.

"I couldn't tell how high they were flying," he said, "but they were flying much faster than any airplane I ever saw."


North Adams, Massachusetts Transcript - 7 Aug 52



'Little Things' In Sky Provoke Saucer Thoughts

Numerous area persons thought they might be seeing flying saucers early this afternoon but at least one witness thinks not.

About 1:15, one local man said he heard what he described as heavy sound, something like an airplane but more like a flight of planes. Going outside, he saw a group of at least 15 vapor trails high in the sky to the east of the city, and moving south. The long white vapor trails were distinctly seen, he said, but the planes which made them were took [sic] high to be visible.

From Williamstown Mrs. Francis A. Coleman telephoned to say most of the residents of Summer street were out of their houses there watching "12 little things" in the sky. She said she first became aware of something unusual when her house began to vibrate as she was working in the kitchen. She said she went outside and saw fine vapor lines from 12 objects headed toward Sand Springs. As she watched she said, she noticed two traveling in the opposite direction toward Clarksburg.

Whether or not the planes were jets, the North Adams man said he couldn't be sure. Such vapor trails usually are associated with high-flying jets, but the sound he said, was a sort of heavy vibrating hum, not unlike that of many propellor-driven planes flying together.

This witness thinks the objects bore too much resemblance to products of the 20th century American machine age to be any thing from a distant planet.


Penn Yan, New York Chronicle Express - 7 Aug 52



Himrod
MRS. CECYL WHITE
Phone Dundee 701

...The people living in the Baptist parsonage were considerably startled by an unusual electric display during the electric storm early Tuesday morning, at the same time they found there was no current in their homes. The point of contact which seemed to be causing the trouble was near the parsonage. Large balls of fire would form and sort of float off in the manner of flying saucers. Residents of the street give high praise to the trouble shooters of the NYS Electric and Gas company which repaired the damage within a very short time...


New Oxford, Pennsylvania Item - 7 Aug 52



Saucers Probably Just Searchlight

That "flying saucer" seen by Adams Countians Tuesday night of last week may have been a searchlight at Lemoyne.

At least reports from Harrisburg indicate that persons who saw aerial discs near there finally tracked the strange light to a searchlight being used to attract attention to a carnival at Lemoyne. From certain positions the light could be seen in the sky as a disc, without the beam from the searchlight being visible.

Adams Countians who saw the "saucer" all reported it as being north of them, which would put the location in the Lemoyne area.


Annapolis, Maryland Capital - 7 Aug 52



Fires Out Of Date; People Now Report Saucers They See

It's almost getting to the point that people don't call up to report fires anymore. When the telephone jangles, like as not it's someone on the other end saying "I want to report a flying saucer."

There's what Fred Morgan, 17-year-old Arnold boy said yesterday in reference to the round orange-red object he spotted flying over the Old Annapolis road the night before.

"It was about the size of a baseball and flying faster than a cub plane," he said in describing the sight. The front part of the "thing" was light orange with the color changing to a dark red about half-way through its body. It also had a small tail, according to Morgan.

The latest "what-is-it" came from the north and headed off toward a southwesterly direction. One unique feature of the latest so-called "saucer" is that after it faded away into the night a tiny blue-white light "like the light of a flashlight after it goes out" remained in the sy [sic] "for a minute or so," the Arnold man observer said.


Lumberton, North Carolina Robesonian - 7 Aug 52



J. Allen

The chimney on his house, which James J. Allen said was struck by a flying saucer last night is pictured at top here. In the lower picture is Mr. Allen standing near his West Lumberton home. The arrow points to a spot in the grass near the house where the thing landed and "it" got out; he says he saw what appeared to be a 30-inch man near the glowing object after its light went out. The grass was depressed at the spot Mr. Allen pointed to this morning as if some heavy object had lain on in (norment photos)

West Lumberton Event Added To Growing "Saucer" Reports

The small man (30 inches high) who alighted from a flying saucer last night in the backyard of the home of James J. Allen, House 51, West Lumberton, "went off in a whiff" when Mr. Allen asked if he were hurt -- his orange saucer having hit Mr. Allen's chimney.

The event, said Mr. Allen, occurred about nine o'clock last night.

[Note: The following extremely disjointed and incomplete four paragraphs reproduced verbatim from original article]

Hurried research into the very

"It looked perfectly round in the occasional phenomenon of St. Elmo's Fire as a possible explanation, led to immediate speculation as to whether the little visitor could have been St. Elmo.

Mr. Allen, American Houses employee, said he was out of doors when he saw the saucer coming from the northeast, but from his description it was more of a ball air."

He said it hit his chimney and knocked part of it in. Then it fell in the back yard and he saw it on the ground.

"It was six feet high and eight feet long and was lighted on the inside. It was orange in color like it was in the air. The lights went out when I walked toward it and got within about ten feet of it."

APPEARED A MAN

Allen continued: "There appeared to be a small man about 30 inches high standing beside the object. When I asked if it was hurt, it went away in a whiff; then it made a loud noise, like air whistling, and was gone."

Mr. Allen said he sat in his back door for about two hours waiting to see if it would come back.

He didn't specify whether he hoped it would or hoped it wouldn't.

Scientists all over the land have offered hundreds of explanations for flying saucers and local reference works being limited to Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, reference is made to that volume. It classified lightning as chain (or forked) lightning, sheet (or heat) lightning and ball lightning.

The dictionary says that St. Elmo's Fire is "a flame-like appearance sometimes seen in stormy weather at prominent points on a ship . . . and also on land . . . at the tops of trees or steeples . . . It is of the nature of a brush discharge of electricity, reddish when positive, bluish when negative."

Added to this, the local weather station observed ideal conditions for electrical discharges last night; humidity was as high as it can go (100 per cent at both 8:30 and 9:30) and scattered storms occurred.

SIMILAR APPEARANCE

The report by Mr. Allen coincides with the investigation of a similar appearance in Red Springs in December. State Defense Director E.Z. Jones went to Red Springs yesterday to interview Sam Coley, 49, a mechanic and jack of all trades, who revealed his vision of a "flying saucer" some months ago.

Jones said this is what Coley told him before other witnesses in a tape-recorded interview:

At dusk one day last December, Coley's 12-year old son came running into the Coley house and called his father and 17-year-old sister to observe a strange object coming out of the sky.

The object stopped about six feet above the ground about 300 yards from the house. It was shaped like two saucers put together with a cabin-like bulge in the center. It gave off no light except from windows in the cabin. Coley said he saw a man inside.

It was almost silent, giving off a slight purr. The only part of the object, which was about the size of an airplane, which seemed to be moving was a disk on the outer shell.

After hovering over the spot for about 10 minutes, it took off "like a bolt of lightning and faster than the naked eye could follow." It left almost silently.

Jones said Coley did not report the object because he was afraid he would have been ridiculed. He told Jones his daughter convinced him he should report what they had seen.

Jones said that he and the Red Springs police chief helped him question Coley, the daughter, and the son closely and their stories did not vary.

He said that the police chief apparently lost his skepticism after the interview. Jones declined to comment on the interview.


Janesville, Wisconsin Daily Gazette - 7 Aug 52



Janesville's Flying Saucer Probably A Weather Balloon

Many Southern Wisconsin residents saw something silvery in the sky Wednesday afternoon and may have thought they had spotted their first flying saucer but it probably was a weather balloon.

With all the recent talk about, flying saucers, scores of Janesville persons stopped for a time Wednesday to watch the object, which seemed to linger over the city and then slowly float away to the east. It wasn't one of those things which are spotted and then gone in a fraction of a minute so those who saw it first were able to call other witnesses.

A representative of Wisconsin Central Airlines told the Gazette that a notice had been received Wednesday from Minneapolis that General Mills was sending up a weather study balloon and it is possible that it floated over Southern Wisconsin during the late afternoon.

Mrs. Arthur Hodge, meteorology instructor of Janesville Flying Service, said the object was spotted from the Janesville airport and that a commercial flying student went up 10,000 feet and as far away as Fox Lake, Ill., in an attempt to get a better look at it. The object was about 3,000 feet above him and floating away as he cruised at 100 miles per hour when closest to it.

Although Mrs. Hodge said it was probably some sort of a weather balloon, the pilot, Leon King, route 2, Janesville, said it was round, flat and had a hole in the middle. In fact, he drew a picture of what he saw and the picture is best described as resembling a hospital bed pan, reported airport officials.

King seemed to doubt the theory of a weather balloon because he said the object made a quick turn as he approached it while flying due south. He said he was forced to, make a 90-degree turn from south to east to follow it as he flew over Beloit. He gave up the chase over Fox Lake after making his drawing.

Those who are more skeptical of the flying saucer reports said King's description could have been of a parachute carrying weather instruments to a landing after being carried into the stratosphere by a balloon. The hole or dark spot in the middle could have been a shadow, say the skeptics. The bluish tinge to the edges could have been from light above the parachute.

Flying experts are surprised that we haven't seen more such objects in this area recently. The General Mills tests at Minneapolis have sent many balloons into the air and weather stations at Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago send up balloons every few hours to check air pressures, temperatures, humidity, flying ceiling and various other atmospheric conditions.

Brodhead report said very defi- reported seeing the strange object Wednesday afternoon [sic, entire sentence]. The Brodhead report said very definitely "it was a very beautiful, large and graceful balloon."


Madison, Wisconsin State Journal - 7 Aug 52



Another 'Something' Flashes in Our Sky

Three persons Wednesday night in different sections of the city reported seeing a "white object" or flash in the sky which they thought might be connected with flying saucers.

Gary (Butchie) Meyer, 14, of 4812 Winnemac ave., said he saw the object while watching the sky from his back yard, and Ted Larson 15, of 3412 Blackhawk dr., said he saw it from his front yard.

Ed Siemon, 11 Sherman Terrace said what be saw was more a streak, than an object. All said the light appeared in the northeast or east.


Mt. Pleasant, Iowa News - 7 Aug 52



Officers Watch Mystery Lights Over S.E. Iowa

City and county authorities and highway patrolmen went "flying saucer" hunting Wednesday night when a report was received over their short wave radio sets that a strange object had been spotted in the Ft. Madison-Keokuk area and was traveling in a northwesterly direction.

Local police at the station watched the sky for about an hour after the report was received but didn't see anything strange. The report said the object was reddish-yellow in color and had moved over Montrose and was headed northwest. Another report said the object was white with a pinkish glow.

Sheriff John Duggins drove south to the Salem stub and said he saw a reddish object in the sky about 10 p.m. and that it was traveling slowly northwest across the sky. He said several other persons in the area saw it.

Officer Robert Nicholson said he was out on East Monroe about 9:30 p.m. and spotted a white object moving north. He said it went down and then up and continued north for a distance before it reversed its course and headed south at a fast rate of speed.

Both of the patrolmen in this area reported seeing an object in the sky also.

Keokuk and Ft. Madison police and patrolmen in those areas saw mysterious lights in the sky about 10 p.m. also.


Hawarden, Iowa Independent - 7 Aug 52



Unusual Sights Near Hawarden Cause Comment

By Jack Pereboom

It seems that nowadays Hawardenites are doing some excessive sky gazing. During the last three weeks, rumor has it, at least half a dozen Hawarden citizens have seen mysterious inhabitants of the sky.

The oldest of these rumors stems from Elwood Iverson, agriculture instructor at Hawarden high school.

So the story goes, Mr. Iverson and Wayne Venard and their wives were out for a drive about three weeks ago. They were in the Venard automobile and near the Paul Robertson farm when out of the wild blue yonder appeared two shining objects flying in formation and moving at a tremendous speed.

The first reaction by the group was that the objects were stars or reflections on the clouds, but their breath taking speed and darting movements soon convinced the occupants of the car that they were of another nature.

After watching them for approximately ten minutes they started to fade away. Before they were gone, however, two more lights made their debut.

According to Mr. Iverson and Barton Tone, who had also stopped in the meantime, these looked like searchlights from Sioux Falls. The whole show lasted about 15 minutes and Mr. Iverson, who spent three years flying during World War II and has seen many sky oddities, said that never before had he seen anything like it.

Another story comes from Miss Laura Pixley, who stated that she saw the same kind of objects at about the same time. Her tale includes a few more mysterious objects and an extra searchlight.

According to Miss Pixley there were at least four bright objects which were darting back and forth across the sky at great speeds.

All of the persons involved, however, were careful not to identify the objects they saw as "flying saucers." They preferred to call what they saw "an unusual sight."


Cedar Rapids, Iowa Gazette - 7 Aug 52



"Flying Saucer" Seen By Couple at Elkport

ELKADER -- Mr. and Mrs. Howard Krieg of Elkport, 13 miles south of Elkader, said they saw a "flying saucer" Tuesday night while walking along a highway toward their house.

They described the object as a large red ball, which was moving slowly in the sky from the west toward the north. Other residents of West Haven, an addition to Elkport, also said they saw the object.

Sky watchers at the Elkader airport reported they had not sighted anything unusual.


El Paso, Texas Herald Post - 7 Aug 52



Weather Balloon Looks Like Disc

The U.S. Weather Bureau released a white weather balloon at 8 a.m. today, causing numerous El Pasoans to believe that a "flying saucer" was over the City.

Among those who reported seeing a "flying saucer" were Mr. and Mrs. Abel Gonzales of 1012 South Campbell street.

Mr. Gonzales called The Herald-Post at 9 a.m. to report a "huge white disc" was high over El Paso.


Tucson, Arizona Daily Citizen - 7 Aug 52



Disks Criss-Cross Tucson Heavens

It was a great night for those "unidentified objects" in the sky. Davis-Monthan and CAA control towers began receiving reports of "flying saucers" at 8 p.m. yesterday and they continued until around 3 a.m. today.

Davis-Monthan public information officials this morning confirmed that a base power operator observed an unidentified flying object southwest of the field and traveling at about 5,000 feet. The Davis-Monthan air force base tower sent out a message asking any military aircraft in the vicinity to investigate in an attempt to identify the object.

At 8:30 p.m. a Williams air force base pilot in a C-47 radioed Davis-Monthan that he had sighted the object "very bright, about the size of a B-47." While alerted control tower operators at the airbase here and in Phoenix stood by, the pilot attempted to overtake the object but was soon outdistanced.

According to Davis-Monthan officials, the pilot reported getting another glimpse of the object at 8:45 p.m. when it appeared to be near Phoenix.

Harold E. Tusha, on duty at the CAA tower, said today that he saw a "strange light" momentarily. "But it could have been any of several things," he said. "I'd have to get a pretty close look before I called it a flying saucer." He described the light as yellowish.

He said that he began monitoring the frequency just in time to hear the Davis-Monthan operator ask the pilot if he could still see the object. The pilot answered that he had lost it.

R.C. Cutchall went on duty at the CAA control tower at midnight and was on duty until 8 a.m. today. He said that he had several calls from worried Tucsonians at around 3 a.m. though he himself did not see anything unusual. Because of poor visibility, planes turned on the their landing lights 15 miles away from the base, he said. One of the planes which landed between 3:10 and 3:20 a.m. did not have tail lights on. Cutchall speculated that it may have been the object which caused so much excitement.

It was "within one minute of 3 a.m." that Paul Ehlers, public relations director at McConnell Aero Tech. saw "an odd looking jigger."

Ehlers said today that he had not been able to sleep and had got up to check the windows when he noticed the light going almost directly over his house and a little to the west. He described it as definitely oval shaped, amazing bright and yellowish, larger than the B-29's and B-50's which constantly fly over his home at 1644 E. 12th st.

"I've seen too many bombers and landing lights to mistake this thing for one of them," he said. "It was going considerably faster than the planes, too." He said that he stood at the window and watched until it went out of sight in the direction of Davis-Monthan air base, and even when he lost sight of it, the object looked much larger than a B-50.

It was about the same time that Cutchall, at the CAA tower, was busy answering the telephone and listening to other reports of a similar light.


Twin Falls, Idaho Times-News - 7 Aug 52



Pot Shots

NO SAUCER SEER

After thinking it over for a few days, John Sanborn wandered into the office to inquire about lunar rainbows. He wanted to know if there was such a critter.

He looked a mite relieved when Informed lunar rainbows were sure enough real although not exactly common.

Then he explained he'd seen one stretching from horizon to horizon about 10:15 p.m. July 31 while returning home from a trip to Nevada.

He was south of Rogerson and watched the night rainbow for some time.

He explains some of his friends were a mite skeptical and asked him if he hadn't seen a flying saucer instead.


Hayward, California Daily Review - 7 Aug 52



Sorry, No Saucers

SAN FRANCISCO -- A large moisture filled cloud through which the sun's rays were refracted was responsible for scores of phone calls to police and sheriff's offices in San Mateo, yesterday, according to the Weather bureau.

The cloud, thought by some to be a flying saucer, was described generally as an orange, balloon shaped object with a vapor trail.


Newswire Report Agence France Presse - 7 Aug 52



[No Headline]

Madrid, Aug. 7 -- Three flying saucers were reported over Madrid the afternoon of August 7. Several of the city's inhabitants, from different sections, said that three round, luminous machines, which left a whitish wake, crossed the sky approximately from NE to SW. However, official observation centers did not record any such phenomenon, and the saucers were not seen by either the astronomical observatory at the Retiro or the one at Barajas Airport.


Newswire Report Hilversum - 7 Aug 52



[No Headline]

AMSTERDAM, August 7, 1952 -- Dutch papers this morning are full of flying-saucer reports. Telephones at the editorial offices and at the meteorological Institute of de Bilt are constantly ringing with new reports or with requests for information. Conversations on street-cars and buses deal with little else.

In short, our peaceful Holland, like the United States, is now also under the spell of the flying-saucers. They have been observed from various places in the Netherlands, including Amsterdam, and a student from Delft even managed to snap a picture of one, which appears in this morning's edition of the "Telegraff."

Dutch papers are beginning to write feature editorials on the subject, much in the same way as they once dealt with the mythological sea snake. "De Telegraff" blames all manifestations on a general state of worry and fear, which can easily cause hallucinations. The more people are afraid, the more saucers they will see.


Ada, Oklahoma Weekly News - 7 Aug 52



Paper Puts Ban on 'Saucer' Stories

OTTAWA, Ill. - A ban on "flying saucer" stories has been announced by the Ottawa Daily Republican-Times.

In an editorial printed Wednesday, Managing Editor Herbert Hames told the paper's 12,000 purchasers: "We're not printing them any more."

"We've chosen sides. And we invite the 1,700 other daily newspapers in the nation to join in a fight against feeding pap to the newspaper reading public," the editorial said.

It explained that "for years we've shrugged our shoulders and resigned ourselves to reading about deranged disks that flit from one end of the country to the other, sometimes with blinding flash, other times eloping with a soft light.

"The perpetually flying plates have made headlines year after year despite the fact the most exhaustive investigations have failed to uncover a solitary substantial clue pointing to their existence."

So, "tomorrow, if some Texan tells the police, a flying saucer ran his car off a gravel road, he won't get his name in the Daily Republican-Times."


Saint Joseph, Michigan Herald Press - 7 Aug 52



U-M Professors Will Discuss Flying Saucers Over WHFB On Friday

With all the talk about flying saucers, whether they are real or figments of imagination, they are very much in the news today.

Radio station WHFB, in cooperation with the University of Michigan, presents a special half four roundtable discussion on the topic "Flying Saucers -- Myth or Menace?"

The members of the panel are authorities from the University of Michigan, namely: Stanley Wyatt, astronomy department; Frederick Wyatt, psychology clinic; Harry H. Good, Willow run research center, and John Taylor, vision research laboratory.

The informative program will be heard over WHFB exclusively Friday evening at seven o'clock.


Lowell, Massachusetts Sun - 7 Aug 52



Invite Saucers To Use Skyway

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 7 -- Radio broadcasts were beamed into space today, inviting "Flying Saucers" to use the new Will Rogers skyway, a cross-country air traffic line established by the Civil Aeronautics Authority to honor the cowboy-philosopher.

A committee arranging dedication ceremonies for the skyway next Sunday announced that "Saucer Pilots, if any, and if attuned to our communication system, are being invited to demonstrate their peaceful and friendly motives by parading along the new aerial route."


Mason City, Iowa Globe Gazette - 7 Aug 52



Unwelcome Visitants

I have a notion that Pliny A. Wiley wrote this little poem about flying saucers with tongue in cheek or fingers crossed.

  Whence come the flaming discs of light
  That dash across our skies at night
  At such a speed no mortal man
  Has witnessed since our world began?

  Driven by some transcendent force
  They dart like lightning in their course
  Or sharply turn to left or right
  And vanish in the boundless night.

  Through vastness of the atmosphere
  These uninvited guests appear.
  Are they are friends or yet our foes?
  Tomorrow night may well disclose.


Ruston, Louisiana Daily Leader - 7 Aug 52



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Phoenix, Arizona Republic - 7 Aug 52



Navy Passes Saucer Buck

PEARL HARBOR, Aug. 6 -- The navy at Pearl Harbor, which has been asked many things in its time, has now received a request for a close-up picture of a flying saucer.

The request, the navy said, came from a small boy in Decatur, Ill., who identified himself as Ronald King, of 3929 E. Olive St.

"Please send me a close-up picture of the flying saucer," Donald wrote. "If you don't have any flying saucer pictures, would you please tell me where I can get some?"

The navy gravely replied by return mail that as far as it knew officially, no one has ever photographed a flying saucer -- let alone taken a close-up of one.

It referred the youngster to the U.S. Air Force which the navy reply said "has been conducting thorough investigations into all reports of the mysterious phenomenon."


Bakersfield, California Californian - 7 Aug 52



Men of Mars Asked to Give Flying Saucer

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- This address on a letter stumped postmaster Frank C. Kettring -- "Marsmen, planet Mars, in care of Mars postoffice."

In the letter, two South Bend boys asked the men of Mars whether flying saucers come from their planet.

"If they do," the letter said, "please send one down and tell them to land in South Bend."

The boys had even thought of foreign postage complications. A note on the envelope said: "Balance of postage to be paid by Marsmen."


Phoenix, Arizona Republic - 7 Aug 52



Youngsters Fly High With Saucer Theories
Reporter Finds Most Small Fry Believe Whatsits Exist, And Can Explain Workings

By Morgan Monroe

MYSTIFIED by flying saucer reports?

No need to be.

Just ask one of the younger generation to explain. I tried it, and did I get the lowdown on those high-flying objects in the sky!

Modern youngsters casually speak of space travel as their fathers once discussed trains and fire engines. Believing they might have some ideas of their own on the current rash of saucer reports, this reporter Wednesday interviewed a cross-section of Phoenix youth.

The experience convinced me that I am not only getting old fast, but I'm way behind the times.

MOST of the small fry I talked to not only believe flying saucers are real, but offered some eye-opening observations on their origin, how they are propelled, and what the mysterious objects are doing over the U.S.

CONSENSUS of younger generation opinion favors these conclusions:

Saucers are being launched from Soviet Russia.

They are powered either by atomic energy or some method of ram-jet propulsion. (If you're one of us oldsters who doesn't savvy science's ram-jet principle, just ask any boy of 12 to brief you.)

They are observing – perhaps mapping -- U.S. terrain.

With few exceptions youngsters interviewed in and near Encanto Park didn't think saucers should be shot down. The suggestion appeared to offend youth's natural sense of scientific advancement. "It would be a shame to spoil them that way." said a 13-year-old model plane builder.

Exceptions to this general opinion were three boys who stopped fishing in the park lagoon long enough to permit Republic Staff Photographer Ralph Camping to shoot the saucer conference.

Kids

Reds Or Mars Men? Believer and skeptic, Joe Andrews, 12, left, looks skyward as he explains his opinion that flying saucers may be Russian secret weapon. Ralph O'Kelley Jr., 10, disagrees. He thinks they are from Mars; doubts Russia has saucers.


THEY ARE Joe Andrews, 12, and his brother, James, 9, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo Andrews, 15 12th Ave., and their fishing partner, Ralph O'Kelley Jr., 10, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph O'Kelley, 302 N. 15th Ave.

All three think saucers should be shot down "or maybe captured to keep them from seeing our atomic secrets."

James advanced the theory that "saucers may be Russia's secret weapon, and they are just testing 'em now, and using 'em to spy on us, I betcha', and later maybe they'll use 'em for makin' war on us, and so we should shoot 'em down, or maybe capture 'em, and then we could build some like them x x x."

Older brother Joe interrupted this breathless discourse to point out that "when those things hover in the sky they might be releasing spies through space gravity locks that adjust for both air pressure and air speed."

WITH A TONE of great pride Ralph disagreed with Joe and James on saucer origin. "Aw they're from Mars. The Russians can't develop anything we haven't got!"

Ralph thinks space travel from the earth is less than a century away -- "maybe about 50 years" -- and wants to take a trip to the moon. But he's a bit worried by the hazards of "running into a meteor, or something, but I guess they can work that out okay."

Harold Greenberg, 12, son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Greenberg, 1012 W. Amelia, doubts that saucers are from Russia. "They wouldn't be showing them off that way," he patiently explained. Young Greenberg came up with a thought-provoking reason for not shooting down saucers: "They might be loaded with explosives."

One attractive Phoenix teenager believes saucers "may be from anther planet, and may contain men. If so, I would like to meet them. I think I would like to have a date with one," said Pat Arnold. 16-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald E. Arnold, 87 W. Windsor Ave. Pat, whose mother sighted an unidentified object over Phoenix June 1, added that she "might learn something about how people live on other planets" from her space date.

Kids

Ah! The Pilots! Pat Arnold, 16, center, tells Republic reporter she would like to date a saucer pilot from another planet, but her swimming companion, Marriane Linxwiler, 17, isn't interested in meeting space men; doesn't like idea. -- (Republic Staff Photos)


NOT SO with her swimming companion, Marriane Linxwiler, 17, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Linxwiler, 74 W. Cambridge. Marriane thinks saucers "are scientific products of some power on earth, perhaps Russia." She has no desire to meet any space men.

"I wouldn't date a saucer pilot if I had a chance," she added.

Allan Erickson, 11, son of Dr. and Mrs. Melton Erickson, 32 W. Cypress, takes his saucers with certain reservations. He thinks they may come from Mars, but doesn't believe "a lot of that space junk. Some people just imagine they see things in the sky!"

Two other skeptics said they "don't believe in saucers -- they're probably jets or rockets." The disbelievers are Harry Joe Camptell Jr., 8, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Camptell, 3229 W. Pierce and his ping-pong opponent, Bill Long, 9, son of Mr. and Mrs. Chester Long, 3220 W. Pierce.

Kids

Not So Sure "Aw, they're probably jets or rockets," says Harry Joe Camptell Jr., 8, right, to his ping-pong opponent, Bill Long, 9. Bill agreed until his mother sighted a strange orange streak in the sky on a recent trip. Now he isn't sure what he thinks of flying saucers.


BUT BILL said he has reconsidered since a recent trip to Springfield, Ill., with his family. While there his mother saw a strange orange streak in the sky one evening, and now Bill isn't sure. He thinks space travel is about due. And where would he like to go when space is finally conquered?

"Aw, the moon, I guess."

Just like a trip to Mesa in the family car!


Paris, Texas News - 7 Aug 52



Old, Old Story
Flying Saucers Not New; Some Seen 100 Years Ago

By RELMAN MORIN

NEW YORK, August 7 -- The flying saucer story, you know, is by no means a new one.

About 30 years ago, a man named Charles Fort rounded up and published a whole series of reports about mysterious objects In the sky. He said his sources, mainly, were newspapers, and he cited the names and dates of the papers, in case his readers were interested in checking the references.

Some accounts were well over 100 years ago, before the age of airplanes and before very much was known about balloons.

The reports of sightings, according to Fort, came from many different parts of the world -- from North Carolina, from a ship en route to Bermuda, and a whole spate from the north coast of England. In fact, that section of the British Isles was, in its day, the flying saucer center, just as the southwestern part of the United States seems to be today.

Some of the descriptions quoted by Fort are almost identical with the ones we read today . . . "An object of great luminosity, moving at high speed" . . . "It moved backward and forward across the sky, apparently without turning" . . . "The object hovered, motionless in the air, above a house."

I would think this would be very reassuring to the Air Force officers in Washington who are collecting data on the saucers and trying to explain them. (Maj.-Gen. Roger M. Ramey said the other day about one-fifth of all the reported sightings "remain to be explained.")

If people saw, or thought they saw, objects in the sky a century or more ago, these questions immediately arise:

Were observers subject then, as now, to the same hallucinations? Why didn't the saucers' crews ever land? Surely the world must have been a happier place in the 19th century than it is now.

Where Have They Been?

Where have the saucers been during the intervening time? Did we somehow get mislaid on their inter-stellar charts?

All of this seems not to have impressed Charles Fort very much, one way or another, while he was writing about it. His own theories were such that he could take, in stride, the possibility of visitations to the earth by creatures from an other planet.

Fort was a rebel and heretic who set himself against most of the accepted beliefs of science.

Some of his ideas sound the least bit bizarre, even in this electronic age.

His theory of "teleportation," as I dimly got it, permitted material objects -- including plants and animals -- to be de-materialized and then transported through space. Fertile and living things may have been brought to this earth from other worlds in that way, he said.

And he speculated about the possibility that residents from other planets may be here now, living in disguise, and sending back regular reports of life on earth to the home headquarters.

Fort said there might be some of these creatures right here in New York, on Fifth-av. And if you ever have stood on Fifth-av., watching the passing parade, you will find this not difficult to believe.

Their reports must make interesting reading. Probably they say ". . . and these earth-people are still so savage that the males wear neckties in the heat of the summer . . ."

Well, personally, I hope one of the saucers makes a landing one of these days, and we get a press conference with the crew captain. Being so many million years older than we, they ought to have the answers to most of the problems besetting us. For example:

"Captain, how did you folks out there on Ursa Major handle a national political convention so that there were fewer and better speeches?"

Most likely, he will shake his head, sadly, and reply: "We haven't got that licked yet."


Bakersfield, California Californian - 7 Aug 52



Inez Robb
How Saucers Got Name

BOISE, Idaho -- Mankind has nothing to fear from the flying saucer but fear itself, in the calm opinion of the man who first spotted and christened these strange phenomena five years ago.

Kenneth Arnold, 37, veteran bush pilot, successful businessman and solid citizen of Boise who first spotted a formation of nine saucers while flying his own high-altitude C.A.A. airplane near Mount Rainier on June 24, 1947, is convinced that they are "a living, thinking creature" that inhabits the stratosphere but they are no "menace" says this fire control engineer, who is a highly respected citizen of this community.

This big, solid young man who weighs 210 pounds and who used to play football at the University of Minnesota, has spent a great deal of time and $12,000 of his own funds in investigating a phenomena which hve [sic] puzzled scientists and governments ever since he first saw them five years ago. No one any longer laughs them off as a figment of the imagination.

Name Given

"I have interviewed more than 5,000 who have seen flying saucers or who have had some solid evidence to present," he said, as we sat over coffee at the Owyhee Hotel. "I have made tape recordings of conversations with 200 airlines pilots describing their experiences with flying saucers, and I have taken 150 feet of 16-millimeter film in color all showing flying saucers.".

Five years ago, Arnold was flying his plane when suddenly in the distance he glimpsed a formation of brilliant objects flying in formation and traveling at tremendous speed. At first he thought them to be jet aircraft Then from their speed and shape, he concluded they must be some kind of fantastic guided missiles with which the U.S. government was experimenting.

"I said to myself, 'Well, I'll be blankety-blank, what will they figure out next.'"

But when he landed at the Yakima airport later that day, Arnold felt it his duty to report what he had seen. Nine whatzitts flying diagonally in an echelon formation.

Later at the Pendleton, Ore., airport when a reporter questioned him about this strange phenomena, Arnold said:

"They flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across water."

Not Considered Funny

And if the flying saucer was not born at that moment, at least it was christened. For Arnold, 37, first saw and identified for this generation a phenomena he believes to be thousands of years old and which, he says, is "perfectly" described by the prophet Ezekiel in 24 chapters of the old testament.

Arnold, who had worked extensively with military intelligence since he spotted the first flying saucers in June 1947, believes the military authorities are no longer worried about the flying saucer as a physical menace as much as a psychological factor in the national mind.

No matter how much fun the press and public has had over flying saucers and the ridicule cast his way, Arnold says that the air authorities never scoffed from the moment be made his first report.

"I have had 5000 hours in the air. I have a good reputation as a pilot. My report was never funny to the air force or to other pilots.

"I may have been the first pilot to see flying saucers in their present cycle, but I am by no means the first person in history to have spotted or described them."

Tomorrow: More about the flying saucer and its "discovery."


Pampa, Texas Daily News - 7 Aug 52



Flying Saucers

The latest rash of flying saucer reports has brought a new confusion of theories and announcements from scientists, Civilian Defense and Air Force top brass.

The Air Force, which for several years has tried its best to pooh-pooh the saucers by calling them weather balloons, products of fertile imaginations and optical illusions has finally broken down to the extent of admitting the flying saucers are real.

In fact, the Air Force has jet interceptor planes ready to take off into the wild blue yonder to chase any flying saucers in the area. Just what the jets will do if they are lucky, or unlucky enough to catch a saucer, was not explained.

Some scientists have stated they believe the saucers come from another planet. Others attribute them to an earthly source. The latter could not, or would not, give any indication as to why they believed this, nor would they state which nation they thought might be putting the saucers in the air.

Of course, the Russians are suspect. However, in view of Russia's belligerent attitude toward non-communist nations and her apparent desire to control the world by any means, it's hardly logical to assume that Russian-controlled saucers would fly over our cities and military installations without dropping some tokens of their visit -- say an atom bomb or two.

Another theory has it that the saucers contain visitors from another planet who may be trying to establish contact with us earth people. If this theory is tenable, the inevitable question arises: "Why don't they land?"

Since the flying saucers are a current top mystery and everybody seems to be coming out with a theory, perhaps we may be allowed to advance a theory or two.

Let us assume the flying saucers are from another planet that is trying to establish contact with earth people. First of all, if the men from outer space were going to land, they probably would want to be reasonably certain that their lives would not be in danger -- that they would meet a friendly, intelligent people.

If the saucer men should get a glimpse of the way American drivers needlessly slaughter each other on the highways of the nation, it is safe to assume they would have some large doubts as to how safe they would be upon landing.

And if the visitors should get around Korea and see human beings locked in a useless war where the dead and maimed are forming a horrible monument to governmental stupidity, they certainly would not land.

It may be safe to say that if the people from another planet are scientifically advanced enough to build a spaceship, they may also be advanced enough to have learned our language and perhaps to look at us through some super-radar machine.

Latest reports have flying saucers around Washington, D.C. If our theoretical space travelers can get a glimpse of the inner workings of the nation's capital and hear what's going on there, there's not much chance that they will land. In fact, if they are intelligent enough to recognize the rampant greed and dishonesty there, they will fly on to another planet.

Just in case the saucer travelers are from another planet, and just in case they should get hold of a copy of this newspaper, here's a bit of advice we'd like to leave with them:

"For the present, why don't you seek to make contact with another planet where people may be operating on a higher plane than they do on earth at present? For the past several decades, if you have observed us closely, you must have seen some of the terrible things that were inflicted on this nation and on other nations by some of our leaders who willfully forgot to put duty and honesty above personal gain and selfishness.

"Some of the people are trying their best to get things straightened out here on earth and to return to living by the principles set forth by Jesus Christ.

"While now you see a world torn by strife, and nations being ground under the heels of ruthless political parties and dictatorial regimes, we have hopes that the earth people still have the courage and will to seek out a better life.

"It is our earnest hope that when you come back in some future year, you will find this earth of ours a place where free men can live in peace and prosperity."


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