INT 2-2-7
SAFLL-1/Mr Wilson/kba/71304/4 Jan 55
SAFLL 24547-KM
$\downarrow$ x Meteorite
$\downarrow$ x Davidson, L.M.
5 JAN 1955
Dear Mr. Davidson:
You recently requested a copy of a press release concerning the meteorite which I returned to the attorney for Mrs. Hewlett Hodges on 9 December 1954 in the office of Congressman Roberts of Alabama.
There was no press release issued by the Air Force concerning this matter. For your information I am setting forth the basic facts concerning the Air Force's interest in this meteorite. In line with the responsibility of air defense of the nation, the Air Force feels a very definite obligation to identify and analyze things which happen in the air and which may indicate a menace to the United States. The Air Force has established an activity known as the Unidentified Flying Object Program to pursue that interest.
At the time of the reports that an unidentified flying object fell from the sky at Sylacauga, Alabama, two Air Force officers from Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama, were sent to investigate. The investigating officers talked with the Mayor and the Chief of Police of Sylacauga, Alabama, and the object which had fallen from the sky was turned over to them by these two public officials for further examination. It was flown to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, and competent technical officials there determined it to be a meteorite. The Air Force then took immediate steps to have the meteorite returned to the attorney for Mrs. Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, upon whose home the meteorite fell.
MR: Case in L&L & M&O 29 Dec w/susp 13 Jan. Sincerely yours,
Case held in M&O awaiting info fm AFOIN on similar case. Final ltr prep & fwded based on similar ltr prep & fwded 4 Jan to Sen Sparkman SAFLL 24519-KM.
JOE W. KELLY
Major General, USAF
Director, Legislative Liaison
Mr. Leon Davidson
14 Soundview Avenue
White Plains, New York
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