Evening star., 1950-04-14
Army Takes Big Step
Toward Explaining
Flying Saucers'
Seal Of Secrecy Lifted
On Its Rocket Motor
Research Program
By David Laurence

NSSS3tSh tS9sS"
By David Laurence
When the Army lifted the seal
Of secrecy this week on its rocket
motor research program con-
Quoted by the General Electric
Co. in Schenectady, N. Y. it took
o long step toward explaining the
various kinds Of objects flying in
the air which have been called
everything from flying saucers"
to meteors and interplanetary
vehicles.
This particular rocket, propelled
by a Rotor. it now is disclosed
officially. has been tested at the
White Sands Proving Ground,
New Mexico. But it is only one
of a number of objects which
observers could have seen flying
In the air in that area.
The Defense Department. in its
official statement, says that the
public has been misinterpreting
conventional aircraft" but what
Is conventional to the experts
and scientists is not conventional
to the observing public.
Thus, pilotlesS planes are now
flying around which are capable
of great speeds. Jet airplanes
are relatively new to the public.
Some of them disappear a few
seconds after they are observed.
Research Is Extensive.
The propelled objects being seen
IN the air are of different types.
Some are guided by other air
craft and are used to guide planes
to particular targets. The re-
search being done is extensive.
On January last. the United
Press published a dispatch from
Los Angeles which said in part:
"A mammoth, hush-huSh re-
search program into push-button
warfare today is taking up some
Of the postwar slack in Southern
California's aircraft industry.
How much is being spent and how
many persons are involved. the
armed forces won't disclose. How
ever, extent Of the program is
indicated by the fact that nearly
every aircraft plant in this area
has some part in the development
Of guided missiles"
Gen. Joseph McNarney, as
chief Of the Air Materiel Com
mand, is on record as saying that
great progress" has been made
toward the development Of de-
vices to guide missiles with speeds
up to TOO miles an hour and with
ranges of 5000 miles.
If you ask officials. therefore,
whether they know Of any flying
saucers," they will say, mo-" If
you ask them whether objects Of
various kinds unfamiliar to the
public are being flown as a part
of the numerous experiments by
private companies doing Govern
ment work, they will concede that
this is what the public may be
seeing-that is. misinterpreting
conventional" aircraft.
Most of the reports about the
strange objects come from the
Southwestern part of the United
States, where the experiments
would logically develop. Thus last
week-on April 5-the Mineral
County Independent, published
in Hawthorne, New, reported that
many of it's residents had seen
"for ten minutes" two flying OBJ
tects to the rear of and consid-
erably higher than conventional
airplane. The paper said:
"On one occasion this last
mentioned craft reached an alti-
tude sufficiently low to cause OBJ
servers to remark that 1t greatly
resembled a flying wing as there
were outlines of a horizontal sur
face that was not rounded as the
discs are supposed to be-"
Military Secrets.
Experts in the Government
promptly said this was probably
o type of conventional" aircraft
with, certain accompanying de-
vices.
For officials to explain all the
different experiments would be to
disclose military secrets. That is
the principal reason why the De-
tense Department has called a
halt on investigating the different
reports.
Thus, not a single flying sau-
Ger" investigation occurring in the
year 1949 or thereafter has been
made available to anybody in the
newspaper or magazine world for
inspection or check-up, despite
published reports that everything
has been shown to the press.
Mai. Jesse E. Stay, executive as
sistant in the Defense Depart
ment's Office of public informa-
ton, has stated categorically
that no Air Force project saucer
reports on incidents since 1915
are available to the public. He
added that most-but not all-o1
the reports made prior to that
time are available, but that some
information even from these had
been deleted by the Air Force. He
declared also that there are nc
plans to make these later reports
available to the press. They are
being kept at Wright Field. Day.
ton, Ohio.
One thing Government officials
are ready to say positively-the
flying objects being seen by the
public are not from another planet
or q foreign country. They are
what the experts call "conven-
tional" aircraft and, in due time
the public will learn what they
mean to future warfare.
Reproduction Rishts Reserved)