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“FLYING SAUCERS” WERE ' : PLASTIC balloonsNEW YORK.(A. A.P.)America officially an-nounicedi that “flying raucers,” which havemystified millions for | three and a half years, j are plastic balloons used j in U.S. cosmic ray research.The explanation was given to the New York Times by Dr. Urner Liddell, chief of the Nuclear Physics branch of the Naval Research Office, Washington.Reports of “flying saucers started in 1947.At that time, he said, the Navy began to use the now 100ft. balloon to •arry electronic instruments aloft.Dr. Liddell insisted that all reliable “flying saucer re-orts, without exception, could e contributed to the Navy’s balloons.2000 REPORTSHe said the Navy compiled a list of 2000 such reports, eliminating those that seemed over-whimsical. “This left a solid base of reports from aeroplane pilots, scientific observers, and reliable laymen which could not be brushed aside.“After investigation, we find there is not a single reliable report of an observation which is not attributable to the cosmic balloons.”A check with other U.S. Government agencies confirmed that no other research or experimental project had tested anything even roughly resem-link a flying disc, he added.The Navy’s balloons sometimes rose to a height of about 19 miles.They were swept along by 2G0 fh.p.h. winds.“SKYHOOKS”Stronger ball6ons, nicknamed “skyhooks,” were released at many points in the United States. They were free to travel unlimited distances.Dusk on a summer evening, said Dr. Liddell, would be the best time to see a “saucer.”A study of reports showed that many flying “discs’* were seen at this time.“The lateral rays of the sun at dusk illuminate the base of the balloon,” he explained. “There is no chance whatever of seeing the full roundness of it because you are so far below.“You see only the illuminated cup of the bottom.“If your imagination soars, light reflections on one side I may impress you as the glow of an atomic engine.“LIKE EXHAUST”“The wisp of the balloon’s instrument-filled tail may impress you as an exhaust. The sun's rays may suffuse the plastic bag to a fiery glow.” The Navy project was kept secret in line with GovernmentRolicy on research hearing, owever indirectly, on atomic developments.“Now there is no longer any need for secrecy on a scientific basis, said Dr. Liddell.“Certainly there is no longer any need 10 keep the public in the dark about what ‘flying saucers’ really are.”CHASED BALLOON The Air Force pilot found dead in a crashed plane after he had radioed he was ( basing I a strange sky object was pur-| suing a skyhook balloon.• said Dr. Liddell.The plane reached 30.000ft.. hut the pilot could never have reached the altitude of the balloon.Reports of “flying saucers” had previously been denied by the armed forces and President Truman.Some reports said the United States was being invaded from Mars or another planet by two-foot men in strange machines.Says People See Own Red CorpusclesPiofessoi F. S. Colton Pro-fessor of Physiology at Sydney University, said last night:I “People will continue to see , 'flying saucers.’ ” j “I always thought the re-1 ports had some basis in fact, j but hundreds of jeople w ho ■ thought they saw ‘saucers' were, in fact, seeing red corpuscles of the blood as theyj passed over the retina of the ! eye.J The cabled reports o[ the day indicated that people had seen the objects in England. Mexico and Argentina, n* welli•IIiias the United States.But it is hardly likely that the baboons would have trav- j elk d so far from the U. S. • People were really seeing! their own red corpuscles. 'SYDNEY TESTIn July. 1947. soon after the “flying saucer scare began. Professor Cotton asked a group of students to look into the sky. tell him what they saw. and draw diagrams.Within 10 minutes. 22 students reported hackTheir descriptions and drawings tallied with descriptions of flying saucers.The objects were described as oval, bright, moving very rapidlv. tending to move in a curved path in the direction of the long axis.Professor Cotton said the student* had seen things because of the movement of th»* red corpuscles of the blood in from of the retina of the eyes.
Newspaper Details
Uralla Times
Uralla, New South Wales, AU
Thu, Feb 15, 1951
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