Evening star., 1950-04-06
Official Denia|s Seen
Strange on Reports
OF Flying Saucers'
None Outside Air Force
Allowed to Check and
. AnoIyze Observations
By David Laurence

w AAhS SAAS &~S&SAAcS OCPo& tl4&C&4t
officially says there are no flying
saucers. private aeronautical
engineers say "yes," and so does
Comdr. Robert Mclaughlin, on
active duty in the Navy, who saw
one in New Mexico some months
ago. where it was tracked by OBJ
servers with instruments. He
wrote a technical description of it
'in the March issue of the maga-
zine True"
y The strange thing about the
official denial from the Defense
Department is that it says the re-
ports of unidentified flying OBJ
jects are the result either Of
5"hoaxes" or "hysteria" or "a mis-
Interpretation of various conven-
tional objects"
:, But nobody on the outside has
been allowed to check up on those
reports and analyze them from a
technical point of view. It would
seem that. if they are of no con-
sequence any more, the Air Force
ought to permit their publication
in order that competent techni-
clans can form their own con-
.clusions.
4 Analyses Published.
- The magazine ~. s. News &
World Report" this week pub
lished an analysis of all available
reports and also an analysis from
aeronautical engineers who have
studied the material on flying
saucers. One of the members of
the staff Of the magazine, who
directed the collation. of the data,
writes this memorandum:
"The Air Force has received
statements from hundreds of
people In more than 300 cases in
which flying saucers were believed
to have been seen. At least a
dozen Of these cases involved
thoroughly competent witnesses
who had a clear view of the
saucer aircraft. They are Air
Force flyers who chased saucers,
commercial pilots who had a good
look at the circular aircraft, high
ranking Army officers who saw
one over Fort Knox, air tech
nicians at Wright Field, balloon
experts who tracked one near
White Sands, New Mexico. Their
detailed reports have never been
released by the Air Forces prof.
ect saucer
II the interviews with com.
petent observers published in rep
utable newspapers in various parts
OF the country are correct, the
Air Forces explanation is clearly
wrong. The saucers observed
travelled several hundred miles an
hour and often against the wind
eliminating the possibility of
weather balloons. They manuv-
cred and even rose vertically
eliminating meteors. They were
often seen by dozens or even hun
dreds of people at once, so that
hysteria is not a likely answer.
Hoaxes are not likely to be OBJ
jects more than 100 feet in di-
ameter. Instead, the descriptions
have been clear, with all of the
most competent observers agree
ing on the details of the saucers.
; Evidence clearly points to a
project within the United States.
1t Is also obviously an expensive
one. IN which millions probably
have been sunk in research. That
indicates a government project,
one done with great secrecy. The
only big Government spending
now being done without public
accounting is in the Atomic Energy
Commission and the armed forces
guided-missile projects. Eliminat-
ing the atom, the biggest missile
spending is being done by the
Navy. Not all of it is on projects
by Government engineers-some is
contracted out to private concerns.
In any event, only a handful of
men would know about any such
project. no more than knew of the
Manhattan District and certainly
denials are to be expected all UP
and down the line.
Measurement Reported.
Measurements near the White
Sands Proving Grounds, N. NJ, of
the saucer tracked there were re-
ported by Comdr. Robert Nc
Laughlin. on active duty with the
Navy. writing in True magazine. "
Ken w. Purdy, editor Of True
magazine-Which has published
two comprehensive articles on fly
ing saucers-has recently been in
correspondence with Comdr. Nc.
Laughlin on technical details, and
he told this correspondent today:
"You are quite correct in saying
that the flying saucers exist. OF
course. they do. and I think nc
one can properly write this story
without reference to the fact that
we first made the statement in
December, 1949."
The above would seem to indi-
cate that. while something unusual
is flying around in the air, there
is no official admission as yet that
It's shaped like saucer or a cup
or disc or anything else.
AS for the Air Force not know
ing, perhaps, what the Navy is
doing, that is not an occasion for
surprise. 1t was testified last au-
tumn before the House Armed
Services Committee that there has
been an iron barrier between the
armed services as to the exchange
OF research data on airplanes, and
possibly it still exists. Certainly
II any one in private aeronautical
projects, of which there are many
has invented an aircraft of revol-
utionary design which is not vet
perfected but could upset current
appropriations and make present
planes obsolete, he isn't likely to
risk his patent rights by telling
about it from the housetops.
Clearly something is lacking to