'Disk' Near Bomb Test Site
Is Just a Weather Balloon
Continued From Page 1
made "of some sort of tin foil." Subsequently, it was reported being flown to a
research laboratory at Wright Field, Ohio.
In Washington, Lieut. Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg, Deputy Chief of the Army Air Force,
hurried to his headquarters' press section. Atomic experts in the capital were
certain that whatever had been found was not any of their doing, but no one
seemed to know just how to dispose of the object.
Finally, a lowly warrant officer, Irving Newton, a forecaster at the Fort Worth, Tex.,
weather station, solved the mystery. He said it was just part of a weather balloon,
such as is used by eighty weather stations in the country to determine the velocity
and direction of winds at high altitudes.
Several hours before the New Mexico mystery had been solved, a Canadian meteorologist
suggested the same answer in connection with rumours of "flying saucers" in Circleville,
Ohio. This was soon after a couple in the Ohio town has jubilantly proclaimed their
"capture" of a mysterious disk.
However, the midwest was spurred in its hunt by offers of $3,000 rewards for "proof" that
America was not succumbing to an epidemic of hallucinations. One of the first to put in a claim for the
prize was an Iowa salesman, who produced a steel disk, nearly seven inches in diameter.
He said he found it in his yard in the morning after hearing it "crash through the trees."
According to The United Press, reporters thought the disk was playing truant from an ash tray.
Then there were the Nebraska farmer who added a bucolic touch to the story.
He said the heavenly bodies were "flaming straw hats," that careened through the night,
sometimes pausing for a rest.
Michigan's contributor for the day was a toolmaker from Pontiac.
According to the United Press, he turned over to the newspaper a picture showing
two circular objects against a black background. Examinations showed holes in
the disks.
Also in the act was Wisconsin, where it has been reported that state's
Civil Air Patrol would take off in search of "flying saucers."
Proof that "flying saucers" were not indigenous to the United States and Canada
began coming late in the afternoon. Two residents of Johannesburg, South Africa, said,
according to Reuters, that they not only saw the objects, but that these "traveled
at tremendous speed in V-formation and disappeared in a cloud of smoke."
In England, a clergyman's wife, who said she had kept her discovery
secret for fear of derision, finally came forth yesterday with a story about seeing "a dark
ring with clear-cut edges," that sped across the sky on Monday.
The Australian variations of "the flying saucers," though reported by six persons in Sidney, were
quite ordinary. Observers said they were a bit brighter than the moon, seemed to prefer an altitude
of about 10,000 feet and moved along rather briskly.
It may have been the weather, but the only allusion to "flying saucers" in
New York City were a few skeptical remarks by Admiral William H.P. Blandy,
commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet. Said the admiral, in response to
questions:
"I remain to be convinced there is any such thing. I am convinced that they are nothing
the Army of Navy is concerned with. I am curious, like everybody else, to see what's behind it."
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