65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Serial_130

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t. At the ti-, 1inoe my attention wa• diTided and ab1orbed among
the 1ubjeot1 •ntioned, JI)' reaction wa1 limply that "a light paued b)","
and I gaw no turther thought to th• •tter until •oae moment• later,
When th• thought o... to .. that I had nenr aeen 1uo}) an object betore,
and that although the tir•t explanation would have been that a meteor had
fallen ~rd earth in that direction, it did not han the appearance ot
any •t•or or "1hooti~ •tar" I had ever ■-Mn. Tbinlc:1~ ot the then­
prenlent talk of flying diak:1, I :refleo\ed that probably 1ome auoh
thing a• I had just 1een wa■ the aou:roe ot a large &110unt of newapape:r
and radio publicity on the 1ubject. The next morning I jeatingly
announced in the office that I nw a tlying Hucer the nigtlt betore and
thought that it wa1 enroute to Alexand:ria,where •ome ot our o.ffice:r1
liT••
I then went on to aay that I 1uppo1ed it wa ■ a •hooting 1tar,
but that it did look: 1011tewhat peculiar. At'ter we had diaou•••d the
general topic tor acae t1ae, I dropped the subject, not wiahing to add
to the auppoaed nao:r1, which I enviaioned aa a aouro• ot 1eriou1 panic
over the country.
6.
A cleaoription ot the light, or object 1• almoat impoaaible,
aince obaerntion o.f it waa 10 limited. A• ahown in Illustretion Ro. 2,
the object appeared top••• in cloaeat proximity to• at the tiJDe it
came into view. All o.f my mental calculation• were baaed upon acme
impression or oonoeption ot it• diatance at the clo1est point, (AC).
I had no way ot judgi~ thil, except in the form o.f ffry crude depth­
peroeption. Ir this by any chance were correct, ar.d inatead of a di••
tant meteor aome objoot had passed near-by, I would assume tor purpose•
of description that the distance AC on the sketch was SOl!le three quarter•
ot a mile.
OM factor which I could judge quite reliably was the angular
elevation.
Thi.a Ja1St haTe been approximately 3 or 4 degrees, at any
rate, the light was lnte:rmlttently behind the tallest treea forward of
ay position a• lt pa1aed, and these treea are or a normal height, perhap•
aixty or eighty feet at a diate.no~aeveral blocks.
Baaod upon a aild
aasuaption aa to distance, and a reaaon.able as•U11ption aa to angular
elevation, the object would be at a low altitude, conaiderably bolow
500 feet, and ot a size approximating a ..all airplane, say 30 1'9et
aero•••
The •h•pe nay have been round. 0...1, discal, or irre&ula:r; at ­
the •peed with lfhich it travelled, I could only percein it a• a "blob."
I do not conaider the distance mentioned to be leas than 3/4 11111•,
lNtoauH had 1t been. I teel sure th•t, late in the evenin:; and w1 th all
my winf\owa open, I would haw heard aome sound, which I definitely did
not in thi• ca••• It llight be well to poin~ out here the relati.,.
siailarity in •ize, altitude and airspeed of~ .firefly at a diatanoe ot
30 feet, au airplane at about 3/4 mile, and a aeteor at senral hundred
ail••• Moat of u• are familiar with thi• illuaion.