FLYING SAUCERS PAGE 4
THE AMERICAN SCENE
C.S.I. brings this clipping from an American Newspaper in full, it represents the most recent overall comprehensive coverage of the American Scene of Flying Saucer Inquiry. Written by Richard Reilly published 26th Dec 1953.
AIR FORCE BAFFLED BY FLYING DISCS.
What were the mysterious "unknown flying objects" that appeared over Washington in the early morning of July 20, 1952 and were sighted by air and ground observers and on three radar scopes? After an exhaustive investigation, the Air Force admits — almost a year and a half later — that it still doesn't know. It doesn't know either what the objects were that reappeared on the radar screens here on July 26, 1952. On July 29, 1952 Gen. John A Samford, head of Air Force intelligence, told a press conference here that both incidents were a result of tricks played on radar by temperature Inversions. He said he was "satisfied in my mind" that this was the explanation. A newspaper account of the conference stated, "The chief of Air Force intelligence labeled Washington's flying saucers as heat inversions."
CARRIED AS UNKNOWN. Although Gen. Samford still maintains the same view, the Air Force has told the Times Herald that the cause of the Washington sightings is carried as unknown; that they are included among the 20% of "flying saucer" reports that remain unanswered. "The temperature inversion theory was offered only as a possible explanation", a high Air Force spokesman said. Another official said that the Air Force had never accepted this theory. By classifying sightings as unsolved, the Air Force admits it has been unable to attribute them to illusion, hoax, known types of aircraft or natural phenomena. Intelligence officers are still trying to find an answer.
A man who was not quoted extensively at the time of the sightings is Harry G. Barnes, senior controller at the CAA air traffic control centre at National airport. Barnes was in charge on the early morning of July 20 1952 when the unknown objects first appeared here. The incident remains vivid in his memory. A serious, deliberate man, Barnes reputation for accuracy is described as "excellent" by both Air Force and civil aeronautics administration officials. Harry Barnes flatly denies that the "targets" he and co-workers observed on radar that morning could have been caused by an inversion or any other weather condition of which they have knowledge. Barnes has his own opinion as to what caused the sightings — what these unknown objects were, but he has never expressed it — because CAA officials won't let him. He can however, describe what transpired and he gave a graphic account to the Times-Herald. Barnes explained that a radar scope has a purplish streak called the "sweep" which revolves like a clock hand six times a minute. This corresponds with the rotation of a parabolic antenna located on a nearby hill. As the rotating beam sent out by the antenna strikes a solid object, it appears on the screen, in the form of a "blip" or small white dot.
The blips reappear every 10 seconds, and take several seconds to fade out. Thus, the objects course can be plotted and its speed determined. The greater the speed of the object, Barnes pointed out, the greater the difficulty of knowing whether it is the same object — since the blips appear at widely separated points on the 'scope. Unless the objects course is known, he added, it is difficult to determine if it is the same object that appears at these different spots on the 'scope. "On that night" Barnes said, "the targets would appear and drift along from 60 to 160 miles the impression of doing one of two things (a) disappearing and then reappearing at a later time somewhere else on the screen or (b) accelerating at such a terrific speed