Evening star., 1952-02-20
More Flying Saucers'?

The announcement that the Air Force is
investigating reports that mysterious objects
were sighted in the Korean skies on the night
of January 20 by members of two B-29 crews
will be received with varying emotions.
Those who take their flying saucers with
grain Of salt will be inclined to pooh-pooh the
whole business Others will not be quite so
ready to brush the reports aside.
The essential facts are these: The two planes
were on separate missions, both flying at around
10000 feet. One was over Wonsan, the other
over Sunchon-about 80 miles apart. At approx
mately the same time two members of each
crew sighted an object, estimated to be about
three feet in diameter, following the plane. The
objects, assuming the crewmen were not seeing
the same thing, were orange in color, with what
appeared to be blue fame around the edges
They remained in sight for about one and five
minutes, respectively. The reports of the crew
commanders were sent in to headquarters inde-
pendently and the last word was that the Air
Force which does not believe in flying saucers
was investigating.
This is interesting Of itself, since the Air
Force last year described flying reports
as neutrality-suspicious. Of various conventional
objects, mild form Of mass hysteria or hoaxes."
Another interesting, though purely coinci-
dental, fact is that the Korean flying saucer"
report appeared just after the announcement
that the Russians have been mysteriously busy
at Peenemunde. where the Nazis developed and
tested the W. rockets which harassed London
in the closing months Of the war;
No outsider knows just what the Russians
are doing at Peenemunde, Just as no one knew
at the time what the Nazis were doing there.
But, according to an Associated Press dispatch
from Berlin, Allied authorities believe they may
be preparing for new set Of rocket experiments.
And this, if true, could have grim significance.
The Va rocket was primarily terror weap-
on. It had range Of about 200 miles, climbed
about go miles into the skies and reached speed
of around 5000 miles an hour. There was no
sound to warn of its approach and there was
no defense against it. Fortunately for the Brit
ish, the Germans could not control it accurately.
Although, in all, 1850 of the awesome rockets
struck, their human toll, on the average, was
three killed and six injured. In other words,
it was an inefficient weapon when the results
were measured against the cost. The Germans
hoped that it might terrorize the British into
capitulation. But that hope, whatever substance
there may have been to 1t, evaporated when
Allied troops overran the launching Sites
One detail-which may or may not have a
bearing on flying saucers-remains to be re-
ported. The W. was one Of q series of rockets
on which the Germans had been working Some
Allied authorities thought the NaziS at the wars
end had nearly perfected VS. rocket, designed
to strike with some degree Of accuracy at a
target 1000 miles away. One more footnote:
The German rocket plans and some Nazi scien-
lists were grabbed by the Russians when the
Reich fell Meanwhile. we were not just twid-
ding our thumbs. According to the Encyclo-
pedia Americana, the United States Army seized
approximately 100 W. rockets In varying degrees
of completion. They were removed" says the
Americana. together with technicians and
scientists who had worked with the rocket since
its inception, to White Sands. New Mexico. for
study and further Improvement"
All In all, why should any one be surprised
at anything which might emerge from this
business?