LIFE_1952

LIFE MAGAZINE, April 7, 1952

HAVE WE = VISITORS FROM=20 SPACE?

The Air Force is now ready to concede that many = saucer and=20 fireball sightings still defy explanation; here LIFE offers some = scientific=20 evidence that there is a real case for interplanetary=20 saucers.

by H. B. Darrach Jr. and Robert = Ginna

For four years the U.S. public has = wondered,=20 worried or smirked over the strange and insistent tales of eerie objects = streaking across American skies. Generally the tales have provoked = only=20 chills or titters, only rarely, reflection or = analysis.

Last week the U.S. Air Force made known to LIFE the = following=20 facts:

* As a result of continuing flying saucer reports the = Air Force=20 maintains constant intelligence investigation and study of unidentified = aerial=20 objects.

* A policy of positive action has been adopted to = find out, as=20 soon as possible, what is responsible for observations that have been=20 made. As a part of this study, military aircraft are alerted to = attempt=20 interception, and radar and photographic equipment will be used in an = attempt to=20 obtain factual data. If opportunity offers, attempts will be made = to=20 recover such unidentified objects.

* Already all operational units of the Air Force have = been=20 alerted to report in detail any sightings of unidentified aerial = objects. =20 Other groups -- scientists, private and commercial pilots, weather = observers --=20 all trained observers whose work in any way concerns the sky, and what = happens=20 in it, are urged to make immediate reports to Air Technical Intelligence = Center=20 at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio of any unidentified aerial objects = they=20 sight.

* Further, for the first time since Project "Saucer" = was=20 changed from a special-type project to a standard intelligence function, = in=20 December 1949, the Air Force invites all citizens to report their = sightings to=20 the nearest Air Force installation. All reports will be given = expert=20 consideration and those of special interest will be thoroughly=20 investigated. The identity of those making such reports will be = kept in=20 confidence; no one will be ridiculed for making = one.

* There is no reason as yet to believe that any of = the aerial=20 phenomena commonly described as flying saucers are caused by a foreign = power or=20 constitute a clear and present danger to the U.S. or its=20 citizens.

These disclosures, sharply amending past = Air Force=20 policy, climaxed a review by LIFE, with Air Force officials, of all = facts known=20 in the case. This review has resulted from more than a year of = sifting and=20 weighting all reports of unexplained aerial phenomena -- from the = so-called=20 flying saucers to the mysterious green fireballs so often sighted in the = Southwest (above -- main picture). This inquiry has included = scrutiny of=20 hundreds of reported sightings, interview with eyewitnesses across the = country=20 and careful reviews of the facts with some of the world's ablest = physicists,=20 astronomers, and experts on guided missiles. for the first time = the Air=20 Force (while in no way identifying itself with any particular = conclusions) has=20 opened its files for study.

Out of this exhaustive inquiry these = propositions=20 seem firmly shaped by the evidence:

1. Disks, cylinders and similar objects of = geometrical=20 form, luminous quality and solid nature for several years have been, and = may be=20 now, actually present in the atmosphere of the = earth.

2. Globes of green fire also, of a brightness = more=20 intense than the full moon's, have frequently passed through the=20 skies.

3. These objects cannot be explained by present = science=20 as natural phenomena -- but solely as artificial devices, created and = operated=20 by a high intelligence.

4. Finally, no power plant known or projected = on earth=20 could account for the performance of these devices.

Let us first review some widely known=20 facts.

The shapes and inscrutable portents of = the flying=20 disks first broke upon the skies of the world in the early months of = 1947, with=20 several sightings reported to the Air Force. the story first = reached the=20 nation on June 24, 1947, when a private pilot named Kenneth Arnold was = flying=20 from Chehalis to Yakima, Wash. Some 25 miles away, Arnold saw nine = "saucerlike things ... flying like geese in a diagonal chainlike line,"=20 approaching Mount Rainier. They swerved in and out of the high = peaks at a=20 speed Arnold estimated to be 1,200 mph.

Arnold told the whole story to his = hometown=20 newspaper, and like summer lightning it flashed across the = country. Within=20 a month, saucers had been reported by people in 40 states. For the = public=20 (as LIFE itself merrily reported in its issue of July 21, 1947) the = saucers=20 provided the biggest game of hey-diddle-diddle in history. Any = man, woman,=20 or child with talent enough to see spots before his eyes could get his = name in=20 the newspaper.

Nevertheless in serious moments most = people were a=20 little worried by all the "chromium hubcaps," "flying washtubs" and = "whirling=20 doughnuts" in the sky. Buried in the heap of hysterical reports = were some=20 sobering cases. One was the calamity that befell Air Force Captain = Thomas=20 F. Mantell on Jan. 7, 1948. That afternoon Mantell and two other = F-51=20 fighter pilots sighted an object that looked like "an ice-cream cone = topped with=20 red" over Godman Air Force Base and Fort Knox, Ky. Mantell = followed the=20 strange object up to 20,000 feet and disappeared. Later in the day = his=20 body was found in a nearby field, the wreckage of his plane scattered = for a half=20 mile around. It now seems possible that Mantell was one of the = very few=20 sighters who actually were deceived by a Skyhook balloon, but the = incident is=20 still listed as unsolved by the Air Force files.

There was no such easy explanation for = the strange=20 phenomenon observed at 2:45 a.m. on July 24, 1948 by two Eastern Air = Lines=20 pilots. Captain Clarence S. Chiles and Copilot John B. Whitted = were flying=20 in bright moonlight near Montgomery, Ala. when they suddenly saw "a = bright glow"=20 and a "long rocketlike ship" veer past them. They subsequently = agreed that=20 it was a "wingless aircraft, 100 feet long, cigar-shaped and about twice = the=20 diameter of a B-29, with no protruding surfaces, and two rows of windows = ...=20 From the sides of the craft came an intense, fairly dark blue glow ... = like a=20 fluorescent factory light." They said the weird craft "pulled up = with=20 tremendous burst of flame from the rear and zoomed into the clouds at = about 800=20 miles an hour," rocking their DC-3 with its "prop or jet=20 wash."

[Side note: The initial Air Force explanation for = this was=20 that the pilots had seen a weather balloon radar target from nearby = Maxwell AFB,=20 just like they had claimed Roswell and all the 1947 saucer reports = were=20 explained by radar targets. Click=20 here for one newspaper story. This "explanation" for = the=20 sighting was so absurd, it was quickly withdrawn. Later the claim = was that=20 the pilots had seen a meteor fireball.]

Just as inexplicable was the experience = of Lieut.=20 George Gorman of the North Dakota Air National Guard. On Oct. 1, = 1948=20 Gorman was coming in at dusk to land his F-51 at Fargo, when he saw an = intense,=20 bright light pass 1,000 yards away. Curious, Gorman followed the = light and=20 saw that it seemed to be attached to nothing. for 27 hair-raising = minutes=20 Gorman pursued the light through a series of intricate maneuvers. = He said=20 it was about 6 inches in diameter and going faster than his F-51 = (300-400=20 mph). It made no sound and left no exhaust trail. After = Gorman=20 landed, the light having suddenly flashed away in the upper air, he = found=20 support for his story -- the chief of the control tower had followed the = fantastic "combat" with binoculars.

The occurrences, jarring though they = must have=20 been to the participants, left the official calm of the Air Force=20 unruffled. The project set up to investigate the saucers ("Project = Sign,"=20 known to the press as "Project Saucer") seemed to have been fashioned = more as a=20 sedative to public controversy than as a serious inquiry into the = facts. =20 On Dec. 27, 1949, after two years of operation, Project Saucer wrote off = all=20 reports of unidentified aerial phenomena as hoaxes, hallucinations or=20 misinterpretations of familiar objects -- that is, all but 34. = These=20 stubborn 34, seemingly unexplainable, were briskly dismissed as = psychological=20 aberrations.

While these assurances appeased most of = the press=20 and pacified the public, some elements in the Air Force just about this = time=20 began to worry a bit more seriously. Saucer reports continued to = come in a=20 rate of about one a day and were handled under the code name of "Project = Grudge." Officers at policy level began to show concern. = "The higher=20 you go in the Air Force," conceded one Intelligence officer, "the more = seriously=20 they take the flying saucers."

There was good reason to be = serious. As=20 review of all records has shown, these years have produced literally = dozens of=20 incidents defying simple explanation -- and provoking the most = incredible=20 questions.

Checked and rechecked, 10 cases out of = the=20 formidable list on record are here presented in essential detail. = Of=20 these, three wee discovered in the course of LIFE's own investigation = and are=20 reported for the first time.

INCIDENT 1. ["Lubbock Lights"] At 9:10 p.m. on Aug. 25, 1951, Dr. W. I. = Robinson,=20 professor of geology at the Texas technological College, stood in the = back yard=20 of his home in Lubbock, Texas and chatted with two colleagues. The = other=20 men were Dr. A. G. Oberg, a professor of chemical engineering, and = Professor W.=20 L. Ducker, head of the department of petroleum engineering. The = night was=20 clear and dark. Suddenly all three men saw a number of lights race = noiselessly across the sky, from horizon to horizon, in a few = seconds. the=20 gave the impression of about 30 luminous beads, arranged in a crescent=20 shape. A few moments later another similar formation flashed = across the=20 night. This time the scientists were able to judge hat the lights = moved=20 through 30 degrees of arc in a second. A check the next day with = the Air=20 Force showed that no planes had been over the area at the time. = This was=20 but the beginning: Professor Ducker observed 12 flights of the = luminous=20 objects between August and November of last year. Some of his = colleagues=20 observed as many as 10. Hundreds of nonscientific observers in a = wide=20 vicinity around Lubbock have seen as many as three flights of the = mysterious=20 crescents in one night. On the night of Aug. 30 an attempt to = photograph=20 the lights was made by 18-year old Carl Hart Jr. He used a Kodak = 35-mm=20 camera at f 3.5, 1/10 of a second. Working rapidly, Hart managed = to get=20 five exposures of the flights. The pictures exhibited by Hart as = the=20 result of this effort show 18 to 20 luminous objects, more intense than = the=20 planet Venus, arranged in one or a pair of crescents. In several=20 photographs, off to one side of the main flight, a larger luminosity is = visible=20 -- like a mother craft hovering near its aerial = brood.

[Second=20 picture: "THE = LUBBOCK=20 LIGHTS, flying in formation, are considered by the Air Force the most=20 unexplainable phenomena yet observed. These photographs were made = at=20 Lubbock, Texas on Aug. 30, 1951, by Carl Hart Jr. Scientists say = lights=20 were not natural objects, but they traveled too fast and too soundlessly = for=20 known machines." Depicts 3 photos of symmetrical, boomerang-shaped = double=20 row of lights.]

[Third=20 picture: "Carl = Hart, the=20 18-year old student, photographed the Lubbock lights with Kodak=20 35."]

EVALUATION. The = observations=20 have been too numerous and too similar to be doubted. In addition = the Air=20 Force, after the closest examination, has found nothing fraudulent about = Hart's=20 pictures. The lights are much too bright to be reflections, and = therefore=20 bodies containing sources of light. Since Professors Ducker, = Oberg, and=20 Robinson could not measure the size and distance of the formations, they = could=20 form no precise estimate of their speed. However they calculated = that if=20 the lights were flying at an altitude of 5,000 feet they must then have = been=20 traveling about 1,800 mph. The professors, along with other = scientists,=20 agree that in order to explain the silence of the objects, it must be = assumed=20 that they were at 50,000 feet in the air; in which case they were going = not=20 1,800 but 18,000 mph. [Note: See follow-up letter from = professors at=20 end questioning authenticity of Hart's photos.]

INCIDENT=20 2. On July 10, 1947 at 4:47 p.m., one of the U.S.'s top = astronomers was driving from Clovis to Clines Corners, N. Mex. =20 [Note: Later revealed to be Dr. Lincoln = La Paz=20 -- see Incident 10, green fireballs, which La Paz=20 investigated.] His wife and his teen-aged daughters were also in = the=20 car. (For professional reasons he has asked LIFE to withhold=20 identity.) It was a bright sunny day, but the whole western half = of the=20 sky was a "confused cloud sea." All at once, as the car headed toward = these=20 clouds, "all four of us almost simultaneously became aware of a curious = bright=20 object almost motionless" among the clouds. Instantly, from long = habit in=20 dealing with celestial phenomena, he began to make calculations. with = what crude=20 materials he had at hand. He held a pencil at arm's length, = measured the=20 size of the object against the windshield of the car, measured the = distance=20 between his eyes and the windshield, etc. His wife and two = daughters did=20 the same, each making independent calculations. The object, says = the=20 scientist, "showed a sharp and firm regular outline, namely one of a = smooth=20 elliptical character much harder and sharper than the edges of the = cloudlets...=20 The hue of the luminous object was somewhat less white than the light of = Jupiter=20 in a dark sky, not aluminum or silver-colored.... The object clearly = exhibited a=20 sort of wobbling motion.... This wobbling motion served to set off the = object as=20 a rigid, if not solid body." After 30 seconds in plain view, the = ellipsoid=20 moved slowly behind a cloud (273 degrees azimuth. elevation 1 degree) = "and we=20 thought we had lost it." But approximately five seconds later it = reappeared (275=20 d azimuth, elevation 2 d). "This remarkably sudden ascent = thoroughly=20 convinced me that we were dealing with an absolutely novel airborne = device."=20 After reappearing, the object moved slowly from south to north across = the=20 clouds. "As seen projected against these dark clouds, the object = gave the=20 strongest impression of self-luminosity." About two and a half = minutes=20 after it first came into view, the thing disappeared finally behind a=20 cloudbank.

EVALUATION. The = astronomer=20 vouches for the approximate accuracy of his observations and = computations. He=20 determined that the object was not less than 20 nor more than 30 miles = from his=20 viewing point; that it was ellipsoidal and rigid; that it was 160 feet = long and=20 65 feet thick, if seen at minimum distance; or 245 feet long and 100 = feet thick=20 if at maximum; and that its horizontal speed ranged between 120 and 180 = mph and=20 its vertical rise between 600 and 900 mph. He also observed that = the=20 object moved with a wobble, no sounds, and left no exhaust or vapor = trail. =20 His wife and daughters support his observations, and their computations = were in=20 accordance with his own, though slightly less conservative. The = object's=20 appearance and behavior answer no known optical or celestial phenomenon. = No=20 known or projected aircraft, rocket or guided missile can make such a = rapid=20 vertical ascent without leaving an exhaust or vapor = trail.

INCIDENT=20 3. On April 24,1949 at 10:20 a.m., a group of five = technicians=20 under the general supervision of J. Gordon Vaeth, an aeronautical = engineer=20 employed by the Office of Naval Research, were preparing to launch a = Skyhook=20 balloon near Arrey, N. Mex. A small balloon was sent up first to = check the=20 weather. Charles B. = Moore=20 Jr., an aerologist of General Mills Inc. (pioneers in = cosmic ray=20 research) was tracking the weather balloon through a theodolite -- a = 25-power=20 telescopic instrument, which gives degrees of azimuth and elevation = (horizontal=20 and vertical position) for any object it is sighted on. At 10:30 = a.m.=20 Moore leaned back from the theodolite to glance at the balloon with his = naked=20 eye. Suddenly he saw a whitish elliptical object, apparently much = higher=20 than the balloon, and moving, in the opposite direction. At once = he picked=20 the object up in his theodolite at 45 degrees of elevation and 210 = degrees of=20 azimuth, and tracked it east at the phenomenal rate of 5 d of = azimuth-change per=20 second as it dropped swiftly to an elevation of 25 d. The Object = appeared=20 to be an ellipsoid roughly two and a half times as long as it was = wide. =20 Suddenly it swung abruptly upward and rushed out of sight in a few=20 seconds. Moore had tracked it for about 60 seconds = altogether. The=20 other members of his crew confirmed his report. No sound was = heard, no=20 vapor trail was seen. The object, according to rough estimations = by Moore=20 and his colleagues, was about 56 miles above the earth, 100 feet long = and was=20 traveling at seven miles per second. [Note: This is the same = Charles=20 B. Moore who is now debunking the Roswell UFO crash object of June/July = 1947 as=20 nothing more than one of his secret Mogul balloons that he helped = launch.]=20

EVALUATION.=20 No known optical or atmospheric phenomenon fits the=20 facts. A natural object traveling at seven miles per second has = never been=20 seen to make a sudden upward turn. There is no known or projected = source=20 of silent, vaporless power for such a machine. No human being = could have=20 borne the tremendous "G" load brought to bear on the craft during its = abrupt=20 vertical veer.

INCIDENT=20 4. One night in the summer of 1948 Clyde=20 W. Tombaugh, the = discoverer of the=20 planet Pluto, was sitting in the back yard of his home at Las, Cruces, = N.=20 Mex. With him were his wife and his mother-in-law. It was = about 11=20 p.m. and they were all sitting quietly, admiring the clarity of the = southwestern=20 sky, like any proper astronomical family. All at once they all saw = something rush silently overhead, south to north, too fast for a plane, = too slow=20 for a meteor. -It seemed to be quite low. All three of the = witnesses=20 agreed that the object was definitely a solid "ship" of a kind they had = never=20 seen before. It was of an oval shape and "seemed to trail off at = the rear=20 into a shapeless luminescence." There was a blue-green glow about = the=20 whole thing. About half a dozen "windows" were clearly visible at = the=20 front of the ship and along the side. They glowed with the same = blue-green=20 color as the rest of the ship, only the glare was brighter, and had a = touch of=20 yellow in it. [Note: Tombaugh also had two other UFO=20 sightings]

EVALUATION. The object = bore a=20 resemblance to the craft seen by Pilots Chiles and Whitted. It = bore=20 resemblance to no aircraft known to be in operation on=20 earth.

INCIDENT=20 5. In this case LIFE's informant is an Air Force = officer who=20 holds a top military post at a key atomic base. [Note: = Thought to be=20 in New Mexico] Since his assignment and whereabouts must be kept a = secret=20 he has asked LIFE to withhold his name. He has the highest = security rating=20 given. Before he took his present assignment, this officer was in = command=20 of the radar equipment that keeps watch over a certain atomic=20 installation. One day in the fall of 1949, while watching a = radarscope=20 that covered an area of sky 300 miles wide and 100,000 feet deep, he was = startled to detect five apparently metallic objects flying south at = tremendous=20 speed and great height. They crossed the 300-mile scope, in less than = four=20 minutes. The objects flew the whole time in=20 formation.

EVALUATION. There = is no=20 dead-certain explanation of this phenomenon--radar is as full of tricks = as an=20 old-maid's imagination. However, the officer involved is an = experienced=20 observer, well aware of the eccentricities of the instrument. He = believes=20 that in this instance he made a legitimate radar contact. If so, = it can be=20 said that the only natural objects known to travel at such a speed are = meteors,=20 but meteors do not fly in formation. If the officer picked up = machines,=20 they were performing in a manner that rocket experts agree is still = beyond the=20 capabilities of earth's most advanced weapons.

INCIDENT=20 6. On May 29, 1951 at 3:48 p.m., three technical = writers for the=20 aerophysics department of North American Aviation's plant at Downey, = outside Los=20 Angeles, were chatting on the factory grounds. They were Victor = Black,=20 Werner Eichler and Ed J. Sullivan. All at once they stared at the=20 sky. Sullivan describes what they saw: "Approximately 30 = glowing,=20 meteorlike objects sprayed out of the east at a point about 45 degrees = above the=20 horizon, executed a right-angle turn and swept across the sky in an = undulating=20 vertical formation ... that resembled a tuning fork on edge. It = took each=20 of them about 25 seconds to cross 90 degrees of the horizon before = performing=20 another right-angle turn westward toward downtown Los Angeles.... We = estimated=20 their diameter at 30 feet and their speed to be 1,700 mph. Each = appeared=20 as an intense electric blue light, round and without length. They = moved=20 with the motion of flat stones skipping across a smooth=20 pond."

EVALUATION. No = known natural=20 or optical phenomenon, makes the peculiar light, in bright day, = attributed to=20 these objects by Sullivan and his colleagues; nor can any natural = object,=20 hurtling at such a speed, execute a right angle turn. As in the = Moore=20 theodolite sighting, the execution of such a turn would have crushed any = human=20 crew under the impact of "G" forces. Finally, of course, no known = machine=20 travels at 1,700 mph without making a sound or leaving an exhaust or = vapor=20 trail.

[Photo = caption:=20 "Civilian saucer investigations" was organized by = sighter Ed J.=20 Sullivan (standing)... CSI includes Dr. Walther Riedel (behind = Sullivan),=20 who was the chief designer at [the] great German rocket laboratory at=20 Peenemunde.]

[Photo shows drawing of UFO formation, which looked = something=20 like this:]

= =20 =20 *

= =20 *

* * * * = =20 * * *

* * * * * * = *=20 * * * *

* * * * = =20 * * * *

INCIDENT=20 7. On Jan. 20, 1951, at 8:30 p.m., Captain = Lawrence W.=20 Vinther of Mid-Continent Airlines was ordered by the control tower at = the Sioux=20 City airport, to investigate a "very bright light" above the = field. He=20 took off in his DC-3 with his copilot, James F. Bachmeier, and followed = the=20 light. All at once the light dived at the DC-3 almost head on; it = passed=20 silently and at great speed about 200 feet above its nose. Both = pilots=20 wrenched their heads back to see where it had gone, only to discover = that the=20 thing had somehow reversed direction in a split second and was now = flying=20 parallel to the airliner heading in the same direction. It was a = clear=20 moonlight night and both men got a good look at the object. It was = as big=20 or bigger than a B-29, had a cigar-shaped fuselage and a glider-type = wing, set=20 well forward, without sweepback and without engine nacelles or jet = pods. =20 There was not exhaust glow. The white light appeared to be = recessed in the=20 bottom of the plane. After a few seconds the object lost altitude, = passed=20 under the DC-3 and disappeared. A civilian employee of Air Intelligence = was a=20 passenger on the flight, saw the object and confirms the description by = the=20 pilots.

EVALUATION. The = conditions=20 for observation were excellent. One fact alone --the astonishing = reversal=20 of direction performed by the object--suffices to classify it as a = device far=20 beyond the known capacities of aeronautical science. Although its = shape is=20 different, the soundlessness of the object and the absence of observable = means=20 of propulsion relate it to the saucer class of = phenomena.

INCIDENT=20 8. At 6:45 a.m., just before sunup on Feb. 18, 1952, a=20 photographer named C. E. Redman was driving through Albuquerque, N. Mex. = on his=20 way to photograph a wedding. Stopped for a traffic light, he = noticed two=20 bright things in the sky. "They were hovering above Tijeras = Canyon.... The=20 one to the north was on its edge. The other was lying = horizontally. =20 They were bright, bluish white.... It was probably the most astonishing = thing=20 I've ever seen. Those things were soundless. They were not = jets or=20 vapor trails. I've seen hundreds of jets and vapor trails." Redman = was=20 questioned later the same day by a LIFE reporter and a prominent = scientist,=20 working together. From his testimony, and from the lay of the = land, it was=20 estimated that the disks were 20 miles away and four miles in the air, = and that=20 they had a diameter of about 136 feet. Another witness saw the = same=20 objects Redman saw, and at the same time, but from the other side of = town. =20 W. S. Morris, a retired master sergeant of the Air Force who is now a = newsdealer=20 in Albuquerque, was out to drop off his morning papers when he saw two = strange=20 objects over Tijeras Canyon. "I watched them for 12 minutes. = They=20 were a blinding silver, long and thin, gleaming all over. They = hovered,=20 one kind of above the other to the right. They seemed brighter = than the=20 sun, which wasn't yet over the Sandia mountains. It just touched = their=20 bottoms and they glowed red. They didn't flutter or move. = They just=20 hung there. It must have been 20 miles away. Then they just = suddenly=20 dropped down behind the mountain, and the upper one tilted so that I = could see=20 its profile. It looked like a bell pepper-with a bump on top, that = is."

EVALUATION. = Kirtland AFB=20 acknowledged that there were no aircraft in that area at that = time. The=20 observations reinforce each other and point to several striking = facts. =20 First, one disk proved itself three dimensional when it tilted, to=20 descend. Second, the suddenness of the disk's descent indicates = that the=20 bodies contained a source of power. Third, the power that can = suspend a=20 three-dimensional body, of the size Morris describes and in the position = he=20 indicates, without turning a blade or roaring a jet, is=20 unknown.

INCIDENT=20 9. On Jan. 29, 1952, just before midnight, a B-29 was = on solo=20 mission over Wonsan, Korea. It was flying at a speed somewhat less than = 200=20 miles an hour, at an altitude somewhat above 20,000 feet. = Simultaneously=20 the tail gunner and the fire-control man in the waist saw a bright round = orange=20 object in the sky near the plane. Both said it was about three = feet in=20 diameter, flew with a revolving motion on a course parallel to theirs, = and wore=20 a halo of bluish flame. It also appeared to pulsate. The object = followed=20 the B-29 for about five minutes, then pulled ahead and shot away at a = sharp=20 angle. On the same night a similar globe was seen by the tail = gunner and=20 waist man of another B-29, 80 miles away over Sunchon, but flying at = about the=20 same height. The globe followed the plane for about a minute, then = disappeared.

EVALUATION. = Theoreticians in=20 the Air Force believe the fireballs were not natural phenomena but = propelled=20 objects. They bear some similarity to the balls of fire called = "fireball=20 fighters" or "foo fighters" -- which flew wing on Allied aircraft over = Germany=20 and Japan during 1944-45 and which have never been satisfactorily=20 explained. In the Korean incidents, the fireballs seem -- on the = evidence=20 of their sharp acceleration, their blue light and their abrupt, angular = swerve=20 -- to resemble the saucers described earlier.

INCIDENT=20 10. On the night of Nov. 2, 1951 a ball of = kelly-green fire,=20 larger than the moon, and blazing several times more brightly, flashed = eastward=20 across the skies of Arizona. It raced, straight as a bullet, = parallel to=20 the ground, and then exploded in a frightful paroxysm of light --- = without=20 making a sound. At least 165 people saw the incredible thing; = hundreds=20 more witnessed the similar flight of countless other fireballs that = since=20 December 1948 have bathed the hills of the Southwest in their lunar = glare. =20 In the last year they have been seen as far afield as Pennsylvania, = Maryland and=20 Puerto Rico. The chief Air Intelligence officer for the = Albuquerque=20 district saw one. Colonel Joseph D. Caldara, USAF, attached to the = Joint=20 Chiefs of Staff, saw one in Virginia. Hundreds of pilots, weather=20 observers and atomic scientists have sighted them. Reports came so = thick=20 and fast during 1948 that in 1949 the Air Force established "Project = Twinkle" to=20 investigate them. Project Twinkle established a triple = phototheodolite=20 post at Vaughn, N. Mex. to obtain scientific data on the = fireballs. Day=20 and night, week in, week out, for three months, a crew kept vigil. = Ironically, while fireballs continued flashing everywhere else in the = Southwest,=20 they saw nothing until the project was transferred to the Holloman Air = Force=20 Base at Alamogordo, N. Mex. There, during another three-month = siege, they=20 saw a few but were unable to make satisfactory computations because of = the=20 fireballs' great-speed. Search parties have had no better = luck. They=20 have combed in vain the countryside beneath the point of disappearance; = not a=20 trace of telltale substance has been found on the = ground.

EVALUATION. The = popular=20 Southwest belief that a strange meteor shower was underway has been = blasted by=20 Dr. Lincoln La Paz, = mathematician,=20 astronomer and director of the Institute of Meteoritics at the = University of New=20 Mexico. He points out that normal fireballs do not appear green, = they fall=20 in the trajectory forced on them by gravity, are generally noisy as a = freight=20 train, and leave meteorites where they hit. The green New Mexican = species=20 does none of these things. Neither do the green fireballs appear = to be=20 electrostatic phenomena -- they move too regularly and too=20 fast.

If the fireballs are the product of a = U.S. weapons=20 project, as some Southwesterners believe, it is a very secret one = indeed: =20 the Atomic Energy Commission and every other government agency connected = with=20 weapons development has denied to LIFE any responsibility for the=20 fireballs.

[Photo=20 caption: "A = U.S. rocket is=20 launched from a proving ground. Neither this nor any know U.S. = missiles=20 fit the descriptions of the sighted saucers and = fireballs.]

Could they be self-destroying Russian=20 reconnaissance devices? Not likely. While the U.S. believes = the=20 Russians have an intercontinental guided missile, there is no = intelligence that=20 indicates they have developed silent power plants or objects capable of = moving=20 nearly as fast as meteors (12 miles a second). Yet--for whatever = it may be=20 worth--the only reports of green fireballs prior to 1948 came from the = Baltic=20 area. [Note: The 1946 Scandinavian "Ghost Rockets," 200 of = them on=20 radar]

If the fireballs do not respond to = gravity, they=20 could only be explained as lighter-than-air craft or electrical = phenomena--but=20 they have characteristics which rule these out. Therefore they = must be=20 propelled. If propelled and not natural phenomena, they must be=20 artificial. The extreme greenness of the fireballs has impressed = most=20 witnesses. When asked to indicate the approximate color on a = spectrum=20 chart, most of them have touched the band at 5,200 angstroms, close to = the green=20 of burning copper. Copper is almost never found in meteorites; = the=20 friction of the air oxidizes it shortly after the meteor enters the = upper=20 atmosphere. However, a curious fact has been recorded by=20 aerologists. Concentrations of copper particles are now present in = the air=20 of Arizona and New Mexico, particularly in "fireball areas." These = were=20 not encountered in air samples made before 1948.

WHAT THEY = ARE NOT -- AND=20 WHAT THEY MAY BE

What are the flying saucers, the = luminous=20 fuselages, the foo fighters and the green fireballs? The answer -- = if any=20 answer at this time is possible -- lies in the field of logic rather = than of=20 evidence. What the things are may be adduced partially by = reviewing what=20 they are not.

THEY ARE NOT PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA. Although the Air Force cheerily wrote off its = 34=20 unexplained incidents with this pat theory, the explanation does not = hold=20 up. There is no evidence, beyond textbook speculation, for such a=20 supposition, and there is the direct evidence already cited against = it. To=20 doubt the observers in the foregoing cases is to doubt the ability of = every=20 human being to know a hawk from a handsaw.

THEY ARE NOT THE PRODUCT OF U.S. = RESEARCH.=20 LIFE investigated this possibility to exhaustion. Not = fully=20 satisfied by the public denials of President Truman, Secretary Johnson = and=20 others, the investigators put the question directly to Gordon Dean, = chairman of=20 the Atomic Energy Commission. He said: "There's nothing in our = shop that=20 could account for these things, and there's nothing going on that I know = of that=20 could explain them." Still unconvinced, LIFE checked the = whereabouts and=20 present business of every scientist who might have anything to do with = the=20 development of superaircraft. All were accounted for in other = ways. =20 Careful feelers through the business and labor world encountered no = submerged=20 projects of the immensity necessary to build a fleet of flying = disks. And=20 there is still the conclusive fact: U.S. science has at its = command no=20 source of power that could put a flying machine through such paces as = the=20 saucers perform.

THEY ARE NOT A RUSSIAN DEVELOPMENT. It is inconceivable that the Russians would = risk the=20 loss of such a precious military weapon by flying a saucer over enemy=20 territory. No man-made machine is foolproof; sooner or later one = would=20 crash in the U.S. and the secret would be out. Nor is there any = reason to=20 believe that Russian science, even with German help, has moved beyond = not only=20 the practical but the THEORETICAL horizons of U.S.=20 research.

THEY ARE NOT DISTORTIONS OF THE ATMOSPHERE RESULTING = FROM=20 ATOMIC ACTIVITY. To = quote the=20 answer David Lilienthal, former AEC commissioner, once made to that = suggestion:=20 "I can't prevent anyone from saying foolish things." Nor are they = aberrations of the northern lights. Magnetic disturbances cannot = account=20 for them and neither can a notion (recently fathered by Dr. Urner = Liddel, the=20 Navy physicist) that they are "vertical mirages" -- reflections from a = vertical=20 (instead of a horizontal) layer of heated air.

THEY ARE NOT SKYHOOK BALLOONS. This was the, original Liddel explanation, and = in a few=20 instances it may have been correct. But not many. They could = scarcely be "fireflies in the cockpit," as one Air Force colonel = suggested,=20 since most of the observers were no in a cockpit when they saw their=20 saucers. And it is hard to believe that saucers could be the = reflections=20 of automobile headlights on clouds, when they are seen in daylight under = cloudless skies. These being the dead-end alleys of negative evidence, = is there=20 hope of an explanation on the open avenues of scientific theory? = The=20 answer is yes.

The rank of science his taken the = saucers far more=20 seriously than the file of laymen and, after five years of close watch = on all=20 reports, a number of scientists were ready with some conclusions. = One of=20 these was Dr. Walther=20 Riedel, once chief designer and research director at the = German=20 rocket center in Peenemunde, now engaged on secret work for the U.S. Dr. = Riedel=20 has never seen a saucer himself, but for several years he has kept = records of=20 saucer sightings all over the world. He told LIFE: "I am = completely=20 convinced that they have an out-of-world basis."

Dr. Riedel has four points to his = argument:=20 "First, the skin temperatures of structures operating under the observed = conditions would make it impossible for any terrestrial structure to=20 survive. The skin friction of the missile at those speeds at those = altitudes would melt any metals or nonmetals = available.

"Second, consider the high acceleration = at which=20 they fly and maneuver... In some descriptions the beast spirals straight = up. If you think of the fact that the centrifugal force in a few = minutes=20 of such a maneuver would press the crew against the outside, and do = likewise to=20 the blood, you see what I mean.

"Third.... There are many occurrences = where they=20 have done things that only a pilot could perform but that no human pilot = could=20 stand.

"Fourth, in most of the reports there is = a lack of=20 visible jet. Most observers report units without visible flame . . = . and=20 no trail. If it would be any known type of jet, rocket, piston = engine, or=20 chain-reaction motor, there would be a very clear trail at high = altitude. =20 It is from no power unit we know of . . ."

Dr. Riedel's arguments are reinforced by = those=20 of Dr. Maurice A. Biot, one of the = leading=20 aerodynamicists in the U.S. and a prominent mathematical = physicist. From=20 an aerodynamical viewpoint, says Dr. Biot, the saucer shape makes very = little=20 sense if the machine is to travel in the atmosphere. A disk has a = high=20 drag and is a poor airfoil unless stabilized; when whirled at high speed = through=20 the air, it "wobbles" distressingly -- a movement observed in several of = the=20 saucers sighted. However, for space travel, where there is no = atmosphere=20 to oppose, the disk has significant advantages. The sphere, = theoretically=20 better, presents several difficult problems of construction and=20 utilization. The disk, easier to build, has almost all the virtues = of the=20 sphere and some of its own. Reviewing the evidence presented here, = Dr.=20 Biot said: "The least improbable explanation is that these things are = artificial=20 and controlled. ...My opinion for some time has been that they have an=20 extraterrestrial origin."

WHO? = WHAT? =20 AND WHEN?

There, at least, is a plausible = explanation of the=20 disk shape. But the real depths of the saucer mystery bemuse = penetration,=20 as the night sky swallows up a flashlight beam. What of the other=20 shapes? Why do the things make no sound? How to explain = their eerie=20 luminosity? What power urges them at such terrible speeds through = the=20 sky? Who, or what, is aboard? Where do they come from? = Why are=20 they here? What are the intentions of the beings who control=20 them?

Before these awesome questions, science = -- and=20 mankind -- can yet only halt in wonder. Answers may come in a = generation=20 -- or tomorrow. Somewhere in the dark skies there may be those who = know.

------------------------------------------------------= -----------------

April 28, 1952: Letters to the=20 Editor

VISITORS FROM SPACE?

Sirs:

"Have We Visitors from Space?" (LIFE, = April 7) is=20 the most comprehensive report I have read on the subject. I was = very=20 closely associated with Projects "Twinkle" and "Grudge" at Alamogordo, = N. Mex.=20 where I was chief of the technical photographic facility at Holloman Air = Force=20 base. I have seen several of these objects myself, and they are = everything=20 you say they are as to shape, size and speed.

Daniel A.=20 McGovern

Captain, = USAF

Alexandria, = Va.

Sirs:

I first learned about the green = fireballs from=20 Marine Corps night fighter pilots while I was an aviation intelligence = officer=20 in Korea.

Pilots often reported seeing strange = bright green=20 objects in the skies, unlike anything they had ever seen before, and = moving too=20 fast and regularly to be explained or identified or analyzed by the = pilots=20 themselves or the intelligence officers.

Edward A. = Kolar

Captain, = USMCR

Tenafly, = N.J.

Sirs:

LIFE has again rendered a distinct = service to its=20 readers. The authors' painstaking work in compiling and evaluating = known=20 data has made a case for interplanetary space ships which is entirely = logical=20 and sensible.

Donald J.=20 Falvey

Deep River,=20 Conn.

[A few letters deleted]

Sirs:

As observers of the Lubbock lights, we = feel the=20 record requires that we point out that the groups of objects shown in = the Hart=20 photographs are, in these respects, essentially different from any of = the 12 or=20 more groups that we sighted.

1) All but three of the groups we = sighted=20 had no geometric form; those three were smooth arcs, not=20 V-shaped.

2) Those three could not be = conclusively=20 determined to be composed of individual lights, but certainly they were = not made=20 up of two distinct rows of alternately spaced = lights.

3) None of our sightings was = either bright=20 enough, nor in view long enough (3 seconds) to offer any possibility of = being=20 photographed.

4) Even if the lights we saw had = been=20 particularly rich in nonvisible ultraviolet light, they could not have = been=20 photographed without special equipment.

5) All of our sightings were close = to the=20 same speed of 30 degrees per second, at which speed it would be = impossible to=20 follow them with a camera accurately enough to obtain an unblurred=20 image.

W. I. = Robinson

A. G. = Oberg

W. L. = Ducker

E. F. = George

Lubbock, = Texas

* Air Force experts had considered these objections = of=20 Professor Ducker and Doctors Oberg, Robinson and George. But they = are=20 still convinced that Hart was able to get exposures of the two groups he = saw (4=20 seconds for each to cross the sky, 1-1/2 minutes apart) and found no = reason to=20 repudiate his pictures. -- ED.

Sirs:

Your article overstates the strangeness of the = fireballs=20 it describes...

You imply that the 1951 fireball display in = the=20 Southwest was not a meteor shower. We obtained and photographed=20 approximate paths for 11 fireballs reported as falling Oct. 30 to Nov. 9 = inclusive. The plot showed that all came from a small area in and = near the=20 constellation Taurus. This indicates a shower, perhaps related to = the=20 well-known shower whose members are seen falling away from Taurus in = October and=20 November....

C. C. = Wylie

Professor of=20 Astronomy

University of=20 Iowa

Iowa City,=20 Iowa

* Although there were meteor falls during this = period, Dr. La=20 Paz says: "Almost all of the green fireballs observed in the = Southwest=20 between December 1948 and December 1951 radiated from the circumpolar = region of=20 the sky. They came from points 35 to as much as 105 degrees = distant from=20 the Taurid fireball radiant, and therefore obviously were not related to = this=20 radiant." -- ED.

Sirs:

It is rather chilling to see that our = plans for=20 hospitality include interceptions and recovery. It would be tragic = indeed=20 if the harmless and friendly behavior of these crafts from elsewhere = were met=20 with military destruction. Not only would the morals of such a = course be a=20 regrettable indication of man's immaturity, but the practical = consequences might=20 include drastic reprisals....

Mason = Rose

Los Angeles,=20 Calif.

Sirs:

...The only reason the preponderance of = this=20 saucer-fireball-cigar activity is taking place in the American Southwest = is that=20 this is the area which has brought itself to interplanetary (or perhaps = I should=20 say, intergalaxial) attention. It was done so by virtue of the = fact that=20 it was the site used for the original A-bomb=20 experiments....

Bill = Ryan

San Diego,=20 Calif.

* The Air Force, which has attempted to correlate the = frequency=20 and location of saucer reports with the testing of atomic weapons, has = found no=20 significant relationships. -- ED.

------------------------------------------------------= ---------------

COMMENTS ON LIFE ARTICLE BY CPT. EDWARD J. RUPPELT, = FORMER HEAD=20 OF A.F. PROJECT BLUE BOOK, IN HIS BOOK "THE REPORT ON UNIDENTIFIED = FLYING=20 OBJECTS," 1956, pp. 177-178.

The LIFE article undoubtedly threw a = harder punch=20 at the American public than any other UFO article ever written. = The title=20 alone, "Have We Visitors From Outer Space?" was enough. Other very = reputable magazines, such as TRUE, had said it before, but coming from = LIFE, it=20 was different. LIFE didn't say that the UFO's were from outer = space; it=20 just said maybe. But to back up this "maybe," it had quotes from = some=20 famous people. Dr. Walther Riedel, who played an important part in = the=20 development of the German V-2 missile and is presently the director of = rocket=20 engine research for North American Aviation Corporation, said he = believed that=20 the UFO's were from outer space. Dr. Maurice Biot, one of the = world's=20 leading aerodynamicists, backed him up.

But the most important thing about the = LIFE=20 article was he question in the minds of so many readers: "Why was it=20 written?" LIFE doesn't go blasting off on flights of space fancy = without a=20 good reason. Some of the readers saw a clue in the author's = comments that=20 the hierarchy of the Air Force was now taking a serious look at UFO=20 reports. "Did the Air Force prompt LIFE to write the article?" was = the=20 question that many people asked themselves.

When I arrived at Dayton = [Wright-Patterson AFB,=20 home of ATIC and Project Blue Book], newspapermen were beating down the=20 door. The official answer to the LIFE article was released through = the=20 Office of Public Information in the Pentagon: "The article is = factual, but=20 LIFE's conclusions are their own." In answer to any questions = about the=20 article's being Air Force-inspired, my weasel-worded answer was that we = had=20 furnished LIFE with some raw data on specific = sightings.

My answer was purposely weasel-worded = because I=20 knew that the Air Force had unofficially inspired the LIFE = article. The=20 "maybe they're interplanetary" with the "maybe" bordering on "they are" = was the=20 personal opinion of several very high-ranking officers in the Pentagon = -- so=20 high that their personal opinion was almost policy. I knew the men = and I=20 knew that one of them, a general, had passed his opinions on to Bob = Ginna.=20

Oddly enough, the LIFE article did not = cause a=20 flood of reports. The day after the article appeared we got nine=20 sightings, which was unusual, but the next day they dropped off=20 again.

The number of reports did take a sharp = rise a few=20 days later, however. The cause was the distribution of an order = that=20 completed the transformation of the UFO from a bastard son to the family = heir. The piece of paper that made Project Blue Book legitimate = was Air=20 Force Letter 200-5, Subject: Unidentified Flying Objects. = The=20 letter, which was duly signed and sealed by the Secretary of the Air = Force, in=20 essence stated that UFO's were not a joke, that the Air Force was making = a=20 serious study of the problem, and that Project Blue Book was responsible = for the=20 study. The letter stated that the commander of every Air Force=20 installation was responsible for forwarding all UFO reports to ATIC by = wire,=20 with a copy to the Pentagon. Then a more detailed report would be = sent by=20 airmail. Most important of all, it gave Project Blue Book the = authority to=20 directly contact any Air Force unit in the United States without going = through=20 any chain of command. This was almost unheard of in the Air Force = and gave=20 our project a lot of prestige.

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