65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Section_007

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A fl r.POR. TcR. AT l f\ r> GE
. " .. -
I
N mid ummer of 19+7, the -
cd
States Air Force, already concerned
with such prohlem~ ;'I.:, the develop­
ment of guided mi,siles and supersonic
craft, the n,..,;in3 up of radar nctworh,
and its controvers} with the
1a\'} over
unification, found tself confronted h\
another, and complctel} different, head~
a~he-tht II) ing ,aucer. People in everr
<.ectlon ot t e
c1 unti, were ,eein~
strange objects that streaked across the
sk} at tremendou~ speed,, and while
these people, who included such prac­
ticed students of the heavens as air­
plane pilots, farmer,, and the Lieutenant
GO\ ernor of Idaho, were not ahle to
identify the things they had seen, they
wc.-re able to descrihe them \·ividly and
unforg-ettahly. The newspapers called
the fir~t of these mysterrous objects a
fl} in~ saucer, taking their cue from the
man who reported having seen n and
who descrihed it as 5:tuct•rlike, and the
name stuck, althou,!h later people re­
ported seeing thin!;!, that looked like fl)­
ing chromium huhcaps, flying dime,,
ff}ing teardrop,,, fl) ing ~aslicihb, flrin~
·--~-l·ream C'0nes, and fl) ing pre plates.
A~ more and more rurious thin..!s were
..e~n '.n the kie , cautiously qu,✓.zical
cd1tonals began to :1ppear in the paper~,
and the President and members <It Con­
gress received a deluge of letters de­
manding _an explanation. \1an) of the
letter wncer:. had C'oncluded that the
objects, whatever they might ht·, were
manned h) Russian,, and that • :. soon
as their pilob had reconnoitred ,uffi­
ciently, they would return loaded with
atomic bomhs. Others thou..!ht the eanh
was heing visited h) spaC'c ship, from
another planet. Still other, suspected
tha~ our own .-\ir Force was secretly
testrng some new form of aircraft.
Everyone agreed, however, that it
was up to the Arr Force, as the cus­
to~1an o~ our welkin, to expla111 the
Ryrng <>hJects and, if neces.sary, to repel
them. The result was the launchinn­
hy the Air Force, on January 22 1948
o_f a special i1l\'estigation, an im\•,ti:ra:
aon that, though it has reached 11111n­
erous conclusions, is still under way
and has yet to put the puhl,c mmd at
rest.
It appears th~t, aside from the hope
of reas,urmJ .1 Jitter} populace, the Air
Fo'.·ce, in embarking upon this under­
~krn(!', had ani or all of three thrn.zs
Ill mrnd. It may well have shared the
civili.rn C~>ncen: over what, if an} thin:r,
the Russians m1~ht ha\·e to do with the
reported phenomena, and it may even
han~ felt that to frisure a thorou.,.h,,0111,,
~ ~
~
SOMETHING IN THE SKY
i1H'estigation there was certain!} no
harm in assuminz for the moment that
the era of inte;planetar} tra\·el l_1ad
arrived and the earth had bernmc
an ohjective for journeys from el,e­
where in the solar S}'Stem. Or -and this
would not neces,;arily exclude the first
two consideranons-the Air I orce may
have hecn setting up a smoke screen to
protect, in the interest of national '-l:CU­
rity, the secret of some experimental fly­
ing ohjects of its own that uni} a tru,tcd
few of its mcmhers knnv ahcn1t. \\"hat­
ever the purpo~e, the investigation, with
which I ha\·e heen in touch from time
to time, ha-. seeminc.d} heen cxhausti\'e.
The Air Force personnel originally
assi;?ned to it \\'a, later au..!mented hy
astronomer,, psycholo(!'.ists, physicists,
meteorologists, physicians, and repre­
sentatives of the F.B.J. The investit!'.a­
tion, which soon hecame popularly
known as Project Saucer, was first
headed hr Lieutell.lnt Gent'ral Benja­
mm \V. Chidlaw, Commandin!! G en­
erat of the Air ~1atericl Command,
and its h.1se was, and is, at \ Vr:~ht Fie Ill,
DaJton, Ohio. The project's ta,k turned
out to in\'olve a mixture of old-fashioned
detection, scientific analpi,, puhlic rela­
tions, and the stud} of a widespread
state of mind. In Dccemher, 19+9,
after checking, over :1 period of two
years, three hundred and se\·enty-fi\'e
report:, of intruder-. m the sk}, the .-\1r
Force publicly called it quits, hut Project
Saucer was not actual!} dish. ndnl. :--.a­
tional sernrity, the Arr Force announcecl
at the time, was not endangered. The
R) mg s. ucers were apparmons, t said,
all attrihutahle either to a failure to
recognize
conventional
ohjelt~,
to
hoaxes, or ro a mild form of ma,~ hy,­
tcria. The Air Force, however, did not
let the m:mer rest there.
1ot long after the apparent demise
of Projen Saucer, I had a talk in \\'a,h­
in(!'ton wnh Bn;!:adicr General trnest
,\1oore, then cl;icf of A,r Force In­
telligence, in the course of which he
m.1de four catc .i:orical ~tatemcnt$ that
I felt sure he had made man} times he-
Clipoed from The Nim YORK,_..R
Septem~er 6, 1952
pages M through 82
page 62
t,