The Rocket Expert Who Stopped the War on UFOs

Looking for perspective on the flying saucer panic of 1952, newspapers turned to experts in science and space travel. The Washington Daily News, July 28, 1952, quoted a rocket specialist: 

“Several scientists, tho stumped for an explanation of ‘flying saucers’ today said they’re convinced the mysterious objects really exist.

‘I definitely believe the objects sighted over Washington were not a figment of someone’s imagination,’ said Robert L. Farnsworth, president of the U.S. Rocket Society, a reputable organization devoted to the study of rocket travel. He said, ‘there is a possibility’ they are interplanetary space ships.” 

R. L. Farnsworth would go on to make one of the most famous statements ever on the topic of UFOs and aliens. We’ll look at who was, his beliefs, and the organization he led. 

The Rocket Society 

The American Rocket Society was founded in 1930 by some space enthusiasts, however, it rapidly evolved into a prestigious professional and technical association. According to the group’s history by 1934, “Most of the original science fiction crowd had left, to be replaced by scientists and engineers.” The ARS had very little to do with flying saucers* but there was another group, and the press probably mixed up the two.

In 1942, an organization with a similar name sprung up in Illinois, the United States Rocket Society, founded and led by Robert Lee Farnsworth (1909-1998). Farnsworth was in the real estate business for most of his life, but his passion was for the stars. The USRS was essentially a fan club for proponents of rockets and space travel, and Harry Warner’s science fiction fanzine Spaceways was listed as their “official organ.”

Well before the UFOs of 1947, Farnsworth believed in the likelihood of extraterrestrial life and visitations. In his 1943 booklet, Rockets: New Trail to Empire, Farnsworth said, “In times to come the Nation which owns the Moon will rule the universe!" It shouldn’t be the Nazis, he said, “Let’s get there first, - AMERICA!” In another passage he alluded to what’s become known as the “Ancient Aliens”' hypothesis, and lauded Charles Fort, “Many of the phenomena he reported pointed to life and exploration from other worlds!"

The U.S. Rocket Society received some publicity in 1944 and 1945, for Farnsworth asking US authorities about the possibility of land ownership of the moon, and of the use of atomic powered rockets to fly there. 

NEA item, Aug. 19, 1945 

Farnsworth capitalized on the media attention and reprinted the Rockets pamphlet in 1945. Arthur C. Clarke (of the British Interplanetary Society) received a copy and wrote a scathing essay in opposition to the idea that the moon and space should be the subject of national or commercial exploitation. In “The Moon and Mr. Farnsworth” (Later collected in Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Essays, 1934-1998) Clarke also said, “The brochure will, I am afraid, have a deplorable effect on any intelligent layman and will attract the most undesirable type of member, if indeed it attracts any at all.” 

In 1946, USRS launched their own quarterly fanzine, Rockets: The Magazine of Space Flight, featuring a mix of content about aerospace developments and science fiction. Ads for it appeared in pulps like Fantastic Adventures, and in the classifieds in magazines like Popular Science. 

Farnsworth believed in the possibility of extraterrestrial visitations. After the reports by Kenneth Arnold and others, he speculated further. From The Decatur Daily Review, July 8, 1947: “Illinois' Disks Vary in Color, Speed, Height” by the Associated Press: 

“But whatever their shapes, sizes or behavior, R. L. Farnsworth, a Chicago amateur astronomer and member of the U. S. Rocket society, suggested they might be animate and came from Venus or they might be electronic eyes from Mars. It is possible, he added, that Venus had evolved a form of life able to fly by use of electric currents, such as a sting-ray fish which has an electric charge. And if they really are fish from Venus, Farnsworth said, they might find themselves out of bounds in buzzing the earth because they might not be able to survive in its atmosphere.” 

The Butte Montana Standard, July 8, 1947, carried a similar lengthier article where Farnsworth discussed Charles Fort, and the fact that strange things had been seen in the skies for hundreds of years. 

The Butte Montana Standard, July 8, 1947

Saucers were not mentioned in the United Press article from July 11, 1947, about Farnsworth’s editorial, but it reported on his speculation that long ago, the moon might have been an atomic battleground for “Ancient Aliens.” Inhabitants flew from the dying moon to our young planet, and he hinted their secrets might have been sunk with Atlantis and Lemuria. 

United Press, July 11, 1947

Startling Stories Sept. 1948

The science fiction and fantasy pulp magazine Startling Stories, Sept. 1948 published Farnsworth’s essay on rockets, “First Target in Space,” where he speculated there might be life on the moon and our surrounding planets. Their May 1949 issue featured a sequel where he speculated about the future discoveries that space travel would allow. Farnsworth was confident Mars held life, and he speculated that the “Dipodomys Deserti” might be found there. “This little mammal resembles a gopher, a rat, a rabbit and a miniature kangaroo!” 

For a while, things were relatively quiet in the press for Farnsworth, but he ran as a candidate for Congress from Illinois' 14th District in 1950 and again in 1952, both times unsuccessfully. Then came the famous saucer flap in the summer of 1952. 

The Scranton Tribune, July 29, 1952 

"Scoops" 1954 trading card from Topps

Shoot Them Down 

From Flying Saucers From Outer Space by Donald Keyhoe, 1953:

“…INS had reported a new Air Force order—if saucers ignored orders to land, pilots were to open fire. At Washington, [radio show host] Frank Edwards had picked up the flash and repeated it on the Mutual network. Telegrams protesting the order were now coming in from all over the country.” 

One of those telegrams was sent to US President Harry Truman.

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From here, we’ll let Farnsworth tell the story. From Rockets: The Magazine of Space Flight Vol.3. Nol. January 1953. pp.13-14.[As quoted by Loren Gross in UFOs: A History, 1952: July 21–31 (Supplemental Notes) page 88)

"On the night of July 27 Mr. Farnsworth was called by United Press and asked to give his opinion or a statement about his view of these releases [of UFO news of the day]. This was given wide publicity, over the entire United States and should be to the Society's credit. Next night we were called by the Society Vice-President, Mr. John M. Griggs in New Jersey, and told of a news dispatch which purported to say that the Armed Forces had orders to shoot these objects down on sight. At this Mr. Farnsworth immediately sent the following wire to the President of the United States, to the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army and of the Navy:

'I respectfully suggest that no offensive action be taken against the objects reported as unidentified which have been sighted over our Nation. Should they be extra-terrestrial such action might result in the gravest consequences, as well as possibly alienating us from beings of far superior powers. Friendly contact should be sought as long as possible.

Signed, Robert L. Farnsworth, President, U.S. Rocket Society, Inc.' 

The next day, July 29, 1952, through the courtesy of Radio and TV station WGN, Mr. Farnsworth appeared on a short news interview given by Spencer Allen at 6:45 Chicago time." 

Here are a few samples of the coverage in the newspapers in the following days:

Long Beach Independent, July 30, 1952

Lodi News-Sentinel, July 30, 1952

Daily Globe (Ironwood, Michigan), July 31, 1952

That was the last significant UFO-related press on Farnsworth, but his interest in the topic continued. Rockets vl. 2 no. 3 from 1952 was largely devoted to the Tenth Anniversary World Science Fiction Convention (which included some UFO programming) held in held on Labor Day weekend in Chicago. Farnsworth privately paid for a suite there for the purpose of promoting the USRS. Rockets also featured two items about flying saucers, a notice for the International Flying Saucer Bureau, and commentary on the news of the day about military balloons being reported as UFOs.

Ad for WorldCon

Rockets vl. 3 no. 2 from 1953 carried several items about flying saucer clubs and publications. Farnsworth had been a member of the Fortean Society and frequently submitted clippings to their journal Doubt up until the mid-1950s. The collection of the USRS’s magazine online is not complete, but the July 1956 issue of Rockets contained no mention of anything UFO-related, indicating he may have given up on the topic. We found no other documentation of Farnsworth being connected with UFOs for his next four decades. Joshua Buhs on Farnsworth’s final years:

“Rockets continued into the late 1950s... By that point, Farnsworth had relocated to Nevada, reaching that state in 1955. … [His wife] Evelyn died in 1970. Robert died 3 August 1998, exactly one month after his 89th birthday.”

Obituary from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, August 13, 1998:

“Robert Lee Farnsworth, 89, of Las Vegas died Aug. 3 in Las Vegas. He was born July 3, 1909, in Chicago. A resident for 43 years, he was a real estate appraiser, president of the Tennessee Uranium Mining Co., former congressional candidate in Illinois, early advocate of space flight, founder and president of the United States Rocket Society and member of the Masons and Shriners.”

Farnsworth’s association with the flying saucers was relatively brief, but he made a lasting impact. He is still frequently quoted today for his plea not to shoot them down, and we’ll never know for sure, but he may have also saved our planet.

Robert L. Farnsworth, one of...

The Ufologists That Time Forgot

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For more biographical data on Farnsworth, see:

Robert L. Farnsworth as a Fortean by Joshua Buhs

 

Flying Saucers 1952: Product Engineering

Product Engineering was published by McGraw-Hill, with the focus was on technological developments in the field of Design and Engineering. 

In 1952, the UFO controversy made national headlines, and editor George F. Nordenholt included one article strayed from their usual topics, addressing the saucer flap and the prevailing theories about it. The original article was not sourced or illustrated, so we’ve gathered some pictures and references to flesh things out.

From Product Engineering, The McGraw-Hill magazine of design engineering, Oct. 1952, pg. 199:

Cool Weather Chills Flying Saucer Reports

WASHINGTON— The passing of summer's hot humid weather put a temporary end to the flood of flying saucer reports and gave added impetus to the belief that the unknown phenomena sighted in many parts of the United States are the result of temperature inversion in the air. 

The Truth About Flying Saucers by Dr. Donald H. Menzel, Look magazine, June 17, 1952

Harvard astronomer Dr. H. D. Menzel suggests that the flying lights are caused by the total reflection of ordinary light sources such as headlights. He explains that normally the temperature of the air declines about 3.5 F per thousand feet of altitude. But under certain conditions, layers of air at higher temperatures get sandwiched into the cold air, causing what is known as temperature inversion. Because of the difference in density, the inversion layer has a different index of refraction than the cooler air, and lights from the ground are totally reflected back down by the layer. As a result, observers away from the source see the lights apparently in the sky; and since both the layer and the source may be moving, the flying saucers perform incredible movements. Menzel has built a laboratory apparatus in which he can set up an inversion layer of air and make phenomena similar to flying saucers.

Ionization Theory

Another explanation was propounded by a scientist at the Fort Belvoir Engineer Research and Development Center. He reported that when ionized balls of air are injected into rarefied air, the balls glow. In addition, they move about in an eccentric manner at high speed. Again, he was able to build a laboratory apparatus that would produce this phenomenon. It's quite likely that both of these theories are required to explain all the flying saucers that have been reported by credible observers. Most scientists who have studied the problem feel that the blundering manner in which the Air Force attempted to pass off the reports as imagination only added to the confusion and convinced the public that the Air Force was trying to cover something up.

The Daily Courier, Aug. 8, 1952

Physicist Noel Scott - Newsreel footage

When August dogdays hit Washington, a flood of visual and radar flying saucer reports forced the Air Force to tell all they know about the subject. 

The solid official viewpoint was expressed by Major General John A. Samford, Chief of Air Force Intelligence. General Samford said, "We have received many reports of incredible things from credible sources. But there is nothing to indicate that the things seen or reported to have been seen in the skies are vehicles, material things, missiles, or anything else that might comprise a threat to this country." The chief of intelligence added that about 20 percent of the reports cannot be explained. The remainder can be associated with jet planes, balloons, or some other object. Now the Air Force admits that the unaccounted-for 20 percent of the flying saucers are not imagination; they claim they are optical, climatic, or atmospheric phenomena.

Old Stuff

According to saucer experts, the non-existent flying objects are not new. They have been reported since biblical times. There was a similar rash of reports in this country about 1846 and nothing came of these flying mysteries at that time. The Air Force has been investigating the current version since 1947. To date, nothing tangible has come from them since nothing has ever been recovered from a crash. 

The San Francisco Call, Nov. 23, 1896

Recent radar sighting of flying saucers adds little information to that already gathered, because radar experts are used to their equipment picking up ghosts. Best example: During World War II a Navy task force off the coast of Alaska fired over 1,000 rounds of ammunition at an enemy picked up on radar. When the enemy didn't fire back, the Navy discovered their radar had picked up reflections from fog banks. Some specialists feel that radar waves can be reflected by the inversion layer just as light waves are; this would produce pips on radar scopes where no pips should be. However, the flying saucer mystery has not been dispelled to the satisfaction of everybody. People still hold on to their pet theories, such as: 

1. One investigator, a chemical engineer by profession and a saucer expert by avocation, claims that the saucers are actually guided missiles that belong to the Navy. His reasoning: most reports come from areas close to naval installations and the saucers travel courses of established radio lanes where radio beams would be helpful to Naval Scientists in flight control.

Visitors from Space?

2 Another expert figures that the saucers are from outer space, visitors from another planet. 

George Adamski, Mothership, March 5, 1951

In his opinion, they are guided missiles controlled from a mother space ship that operates in outer space— much like our idea of a satellite vehicle. Reason: reports of saucers seem to come in groupings that have a frequency of about every six months. Something that indicates the earth is in the correct phase of its orbit that would permit a space ship to approach. The same expert claims that the saucers are unmanned and are therefore capable of sudden terrific changes in direction and speed that would certainly crush a human through "G" forces. 

3. Still another school of thought tries to explain the larger flying saucers like the one sighted by an airlines pilot a couple of years ago. Explanation: manned scout ships from a main space vehicle.

Chiles-Whitted Case, July 24, 1948, Montgomery, Alabama

The airlines pilot (on an Atlanta run) described the object as "a long cigar-shaped vehicle with a double row of lighted windows." 

4. According to another former flyer who has made a study of saucer reports, the so-called saucers are not really saucer-shaped. They have the configuration of an egg and fly with the larger end forward. 

Revised illustration from Fate magazine, Nov. 1954

5. A Los Angeles engineer and former Air Force pilot reported seeing a flying saucer that split in half and both halves kept right on flying. He estimated that the saucer was cruising at about 30,000 ft. when the fission occurred.

Air Force Says No

The Air Force counters space traveller claims with the observation that the objects do not follow a reasonable pattern and they fly in a haphazard manner apparently without purpose. Therefore, they could not be intelligently controlled. Saucer hunters expect that there will be more reports of the flying oddy-gwoddies, probably when the temperatures start rising again. 

Time magazine and The Times (Shreveport, LA)  July 31, 1952

General Vandenberg, Air Force Chief of Staff warns against auto-suggestion. He feels that many people see flying saucers because they want to see them.

.  .  .

Project Engineering did not explore the UFO topic any further. The author of the article was not identified, its possible he pursued the topic elsewhere.

Pentagon UFO Report 1952: We Can Do Nothing

In July 1952, the US Air Force held a major press conference to tell the public what they knew about flying saucers. Project Blue Book director Capt. Edward Ruppelt participated, and he later wrote:

“Prodded by the hubbub over the Washington flare-up and by the record crop of sightings, the Air Force called a press conference on July 29 at the Pentagon. Maj. Gen. John A. Samford, Air Force director of intelligence, went up against the biggest assemblage of newspapermen to turn out for an Air Force conference since World War II. He was accompanied by Maj. Gen. Roger Ramey, director of operations, and four technical men from ATIC-Col. Donald Bower, Capt. Roy James, Burgoyne Griffing, and myself.”

From left: Capt. R. L. James, radar expert; Maj. Gen. Roger Ramey, deputy chief for operations; Capt. Edward Ruppelt; Maj. Gen. John A. Samford, air intelligence chief; Col. Donald L. Bowan, and civilian expert Burgoyne L. Griffing.

While not a formal report, Gen. Samford’s remarks addressed public concerns, updating them on the Washington reports and also addressing the larger UFO problem. Samford assured the public that UFOs were not a threat, admitted that reports of UFOs go back to ancient times, and that 20% of UFO reports remain unexplained. Taking questions from reporters afterward, he also addressed the possibility of an extraterrestrial origin for UFOs.

Excerpts from Gen. Samford's remarks:

The Air Force feels a very definite obligation to identify and analyze things that happen in the air that may have in them menace to. the United States and… since 1947, we have an activity that was known one time as Project Saucer and now, as part of another more stable and integrated organization, have, undertaken to analyze between a thousand and two thousand reports dealing with this area. And out of that mass of reports that we've received we've been able to take things which were originally unidentified and dispose of them to our satisfaction…

However, there have remained a percentage of this total, in the order of twenty percent of the reports, that have come from credible observers of relatively incredible things. And because of these things not being possible for us to move along and associate with the kind of things that we’ve found can be associated with the bulk of these reports, we keep on being concerned about them.

We know that reports of this kind go back to Biblical times. There have been flurries of them in various centuries. 1846 seems to have had a time when there was quite a flurry of reporting of this kind. Our current series of reports goes back, generally, to 1946 in which things of this kind were reported in Sweden.

So our present course of action is to with the best of our ability, giving to it the attention that we feel it very definitely warrants… if it turns out to be that, menace to the United States to give it adequate attention but not frantic attention.

After that, Samford took questions from the press, and much of his responses focusing on how UFOs were often misidentified objects, and how sometimes clouds or birds caused false radar returns. Pressed for an answer about what UFOs could be, Samford said,

“I think that the highest probability is that these are phenomena associated with the intellectual and scientific interests that we are on the road to learn more about but that there is nothing in them that is associated with material or vehicles or missiles that are directed against the United States.”

A reporter asked if UFOs could be extraterrestrial in origin, “some other planet violating our air space.” Samford replied, “The astronomers are our best advisers, of course, in this business of visitors from elsewhere. [Examining the data at hand,] It doesn't cause them to have any enthusiasm whatsoever in thinking about this other side of it.”

In the final question, a reporter asked, “General, are sightings from military personnel made public generally, or are they –"

Samford cut him off, saying, “There's no reason why they shouldn't be.”  

Video clip from the conference

Was This UFO Disclosure?

Gen.Samford did not give the definite answers that many wanted, but through him, the US government essentially disclosed that UFOs are real, they've been here throughout history, and they are apparently not a menace. Science, he thought, might someday learn more about the phenomena. Gen. Samford did not explicitly state there was nothing the Air Force could do about UFOs, but he said they would keep watching.

The full text of the press conference can be read at the link below. A particularly interesting section was when Gen. Samford passed a tricky question on to Capt. Ruppelt. A reporter asked, "Isn't it true, sir, that [reports] show a definite grouping, the sightings around atomic bomb plants or areas?"

39-page PDF made from Capt. Edward Ruppelt's copy:

Maj. Gen. John A. Samford Press Conference on UFOs, July 29, 1952

Single pages from the files of Project Blue Book at Fold 3: 

Maj. Gen. John A. Samford Press Conference on UFOs, July 29, 1952

The First UFO Lawsuit?

In the early 1950s there were two news stories one year apart about UFO-related court cases. We'll take the later one first, since it involves an alleged flying saucer crash.

Case 1: Fell on a Farmer

Dateline: Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 7, 1953, the injured party, one Ferdinand Hackover.

The Ames Daily Tribune, October 9, 1953

Debris from US government-launched balloon projects has been found since well before Roswell, from broken Rawin targets to Radiosondes. It's rare, but sometimes the debris has conked people. Here's a better documented case from 1963, one caused by the Weather Bureau.

The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA,  Nov. 12, 1963

Case 2: Stripper Sues Saucer Scientist

The 1952 legal complaint was about an early attempt to duplicate flying saucer performance and technology.

Dateline: Feb. 7, 1952, New Orleans, Louisiana, the injured party, one Evelyn West, a celebrity who was interested in furthering a UFO research project.

Evelyn West in magazines and newspapers

The Daily News, New York, Feb. 7, 1952

The Ames Daily Tribune, Feb. 7, 1952

There's not enough information to determine if she was the victim of a con man, or merely an inept inventor with big dreams. Sadly, there was follow-up to the story, but Sir magazine Feb. 1956 featured the article, “'Treasure Chest' West and the Nudists,” which was focused on West’s controversial role as a proponent of nudism. It did mention the flying saucer investment lawsuit in passing, but didn’t provide any update on the outcome.

Saucer Exploitation

What these two 1950s saucer lawsuit stories have in common is that there's no further record of either of them. Evelyn West was real, and quite famous, but we were unable to find a trace of  an alleged inventor by the name of Steven Vitko. Likewise for the Ohio farmer in, no record found of any person named Ferdinand Hackover.

True or not, the stories are good examples of the game the newspapers played, exploiting saucers as serious news, but other times playing them just for laughs. They didn't spend much time sorting out  or updating details of a novelty story from yesterday's news. What really mattered was selling newspapers today.

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As with so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book had no file on any of these incidents.