Saucer News & Saucer Smear Archives - The Historic UFO magazines by Jim Moseley

 

James W. Moseley (1931-2012) got his start in ufology while working on a proposed flying saucer book. During 1953-54, he travelled throughout the USA tracking down UFO witnesses, also interviewing authors of early saucer literature and as well as prominent figures in clubs and research organizations. The book didn’t come together as planned, but with the connections and friendships Moseley had cultivated, he launched a magazine dedicated to flying saucers instead.

Jerome Clark wrote in his entry for Jim Moseley in The UFO Encyclopedia Vol II: The Phenomenon from the Beginning, 1992:

With August Roberts and Dominic Lucchesi, Moseley founded Saucer News in July 1954, at first calling the magazine Nexus but changing it to the more self-explanatory title the next year. Saucer News was noted for its freewheeling, iconoclastic, personal style. In its pages Moseley praised friends, lashed out at enemies, exposed frauds and hoaxes (even perpetrating one himself, the notorious “Straith letter” [sent to] contactee George Adamski) and reported gleefully on the doings of ufology’s sane and not-so-sane. Saucer News was never less than entertaining, sometimes infuriating, but more often very funny. In 1968 the magazine was sold to flying saucer publisher Gray Barker. The last issue appeared four years later.

Jim Moseley and Gray Barker

Issues of Saucer News are somewhat rare, but thanks to a former subscriber, there’s a large collection now available. The University of Wyoming hosts the papers of Frank Scully, which were recently shared online through their American Heritage Center. The collection includes scans of correspondence, "newsletters, magazine articles, comics, lecture ads, and more." Lots of good stuff, including a near complete run of Saucer News from 1954 to 1964. 

Update: The AFU now hosts a complete collection of Saucer News from 1954 to 1970.

The individual issues:

Nexus 

Saucer News

Saucer News Non-Scheduled Newsletter

The (preliminary) directory below is largely based on Jim Moseley’s own listing of back issues. Besides the feature articles listed, each issue of Saucer News generally contained a summary of UFO sightings and related news, a gossip and rumor roundup, photos, cartoons, and listings of saucer clubs and conventions. Also, book reviews, as well as letters from readers, often prominent figures in the saucer community.  

The online digital collection hosted by the Archives For the Unexplained (AFU), curated by Isaac Koi. (Note: The links open PDFs, some files contain issues out of sequence.)

Saucer News Archive

Saucer News (Nexus) 1-10, 1954-1955

AFU links to individual issues: Saucer News: Nexus 

#l (July 1954) – First issue contains articles by James Moseley and saucer pioneers August C. Roberts and Dominick Lucchesi.

#2 (Aug. 1954) - Contains interesting accounts of a little-known saucer film taken in Africa, and of the activities of the Civilian Saucer Intelligence of New York.

#3 (Sept. 1954) - Contains one of the most important articles we have ever published, concerning a lady in Miami who claims to have seen official government photographs of a crashed flying saucer from outer space.

#4 (Oct. 1954) - Contains “The Flying Saucer Mystery – solved” by James W. Moseley and “On the Fringe of the Supernatural” by Dominick Lucchesi.

#5 (Nov. 1954) - “Analysis of the Lubbock [Lights] Incident” by James W. Moseley and “Flying Saucers Fact and Fiction” by John P. Bessor.

#6 (Dec. 1954) - Contains “The Green Fireballs of the Southwest” by “Dr. D.” (Leon Davidson), “Invasion from Space” by Richard Cohen, “The Phantom Caravan by John P. Bessor, and “Jersey City’s Mystery Lights by August C. Roberts.

#7 (Jan. 1955) - Contains editorial on William Dudley Pelley and fascism, a report on “Two Meetings held by Civilian Saucer Intelligence,” and a George Adamski exposé, “Some New Facts About ‘Flying Saucers Have Landed’” by James W. Moseley.

#8 (Feb. 1955) - Contains a fascinating account of the strange events which have occurred in recent years in the vicinity of Mount Shasta, California.

#9 (March 1955) - Contains an interesting article by Frank Scully, author of "Behind the Flying Saucers." (The Aztec crash-retrieval hoax.)

#10 (April 1955) - Contains an important article by the late Dr. Morris K. Jessup, author of several saucer books, whose mysterious death is still a subject of controversy.

#11 (May 1955) - Contains an article by Desmond Leslie, co-author with George Adamski of "Flying Saucers Have Landed." Also contains the results of experiments in extrasensory perception conducted by the Saucer News Staff. Also in this issue are articles by Dr. Morris K. Jessup and Frank Scully.

Saucer News 1955-1957

#13 (Aug.-Sept. 1955) - Contains outstanding “UFOs, Atlantis, & The Antiquity of Civilized man” by Dr. M.K. Jessup, “A Parable” by Desmond Leslie, “A Report on the UFO's and Levitation” by John P. Bessor.

#14 (Oct.-Nov. 1955) – Contains “The Sky Cross” by Frank Reid, “Concerning ‘Space, Gravity, and the Flying Saucer’" by Desmond Leslie, “Are There Other Inhabited Planets?” by Justin Case, and “The Green Fireballs of the Southwest” by “Dr. D.” (Leon Davidson).

#15 (Dec.-Jan. 1955-1956) – Contains “What on Earth Were They?” by Harold T. Wilkins, “The ‘Little People' Case for the UFO” by M.K. Jessup), and “Summary, Notes and comments on Project Blue Book Special Report #14” by Justin Case and James W. Moseley.

#16 (Feb.-March 1956) – Contains “The Al Bender Story” by James W. Moseley, “Conquest of Gravity is Aim of Top U.S. Scientists” (Condensed from the N.Y. Herald-Tribune) comments by Justin Case, “The Air Force and the Saucers - Part One” by “'Dr. D.” (Leon Davidson).

#17 (April-May, 19.56) - Contains an interesting account of pre-World War II sightings by saucer researcher Frank Reid.

#18 (June-July, 19.56) - A most important issue, containing James Moseley's "Earth Theory" solution to the flying saucer mystery.

#19 (Aug.-Sept. 1956) - Contains an interesting article entitled "UFO’ s and Unnatural Clouds," by Frank Reid.

#20 (Oct.-Nov. 1956) - Contains another documented account of pre-World War II sightings, by Frank Reid, and an article by the noted French saucer author Aime Michel.

#21 (Dec.-Jan. 1956-57) - Contains an article entitled "How to Separate Facts from Fiction," by Justin Case, a noted mechanical engineer and saucer researcher.

#22 (Feb.-March 1957) - Contains an important report on attempts to build flying saucers here on earth, and also a report on the early problems of NICAP, written by Dr. M.K. Jessup.

#23 (April-May 1957) - Contains an article entitled "Flying Saucer Research on Trial," by saucer researcher Tom Comella.

#24 (June-July 1957) - Contains interesting articles by Justin Case and “The Air Force and the Saucers” (Part II) by Dr. Leon Davidson, an atomic physicist who is also a noted saucer researcher.

#25 (Aug.-Sept. 1957) - Contains an exposé of Contactee George Hunt Williamson, written by Y. N. ibn Aharon, an expert on ancient history.

#26 (Oct.-Nov. 1957) - Contains interesting articles by Justin Case and Richard Hall, Major Donald Keyhoe's assistant at NICAP.

#27 (Oct. 1957) - The Special Adamski Exposé Issue contains a collection of several articles showing the fallacies in George Adamski's first two books, "Flying Saucers Have Landed" and "Inside the Spaceships." This is one of the most important issues we have ever published.

#28 (Dec.- Jan. 1957-58) - Contains the first in a series of articles by Y. N. ibn Aharon entitled "Extraterrestrialism as an Historical Doctrine." This series purports to prove that the God of the Old Testament, was in reality a being from another planet.

Saucer News 1958-1959

#29 (Feb.-March 1958) - Contains news coverage of the Levelland, Texas, UFO reports and other possibly related cases (including the Reinhold O. Schmidt hoax). “The Air Force and the Saucers” (Part III) by Leon Davidson.

#30 (April-May 1958) - Contains two of the most important articles we have ever published, The first, by Ulbricht Von Rittner, gives the inside story of research on saucer-shaped craft in Germany during World War II; the second, by James Moseley, gives a complete account of the mysterious disappearance in 1953 of saucer researchers Karl Hunrath and Jack Wilkinson.

#3l (June-July 1958) - Contains an outstanding article "Saucers and the International Geophysical Year," by John Corman, an article called "Rationalism in Ufology" by Richard Hall, and another of Y. N. ibn Aharon's series on Extraterrestrialism.

#32 (Aug.-Sept. 1958) - Contains “Study of a Pre-1947 Sighting” by Dr. Leon Davidson and part 3 of the series by Y. N. ibn Aharon. Also, “The Rise and Fall of NICAP” by Moseley and Richard Cohen.

#33 (Oct.-Nov. 1958) - Contains an outstanding article by Major Lawrence J. Tacker of the U.S. Air Force, plus “The Case of the Crashed UFO,” written by noted saucer researcher Bob Barry.

#34 (Dec.-Jan. 1958-59) - Contains an exposé “Otis T. Carr and the Free Energy Principle,” written by NICAP member Robert Durant, plus another of Y. N. ibn Aharon's series on Extraterrestrialism., and a report on the first The Howard Menger Space Convention.

#35 (Feb.-March 1959) - Contains outstanding articles by Tom Comella, “ECM +CIA= UFO, or How to Cause a Radar Sighting by Dr. Leon Davidson, plus an exposé of George Hunt Williamson written by noted saucer researcher Michael Mann, together with James Moseley.

#36 (June 1959) - This most important issue contains a detailed exposé of Gray Barker, written by the noted amateur astronomer Lonzo Dove.

#37 (Sept. 1959) - Contains an article by Bob Barry called "The Case of the Mysterious Airplane Crash," “Who Is Fooling Donald Keyhoe?” by Justin Case, plus articles by Michael Mann and Y. N. ibn Aharon.

#38 (Dec. 1959) - Contains a scathing rebuttal to Saucer News from Major Donald Keyhoe of NICAP, and an article by Frank Reid entitled "The Aerial Phenomena of Earthquakes."

Saucer News 1960-1962

#39 (March 1960) - Contains interesting articles by Michael Mann and Justin Case, plus an article by Y. N. ibn Aharon entitled "How to Build a Saucer.”

#40 (June 1960) - Contains an important article by noted saucer researcher Lee Munsick, plus a review of one of George Hunt Williamson's books, by Y. N. ibn Aharon.

#41 (Sept. 1960) - This outstanding issue contains a long report on the 1960 Giant Rock saucer convention by James Moseley, with many photographs.

#42 (Dec. 1960) - Contains an important article by Y. N. ibn Aharon and an article by Justin Case entitled "Proof by Ignorance."

#43 (March 1961) - Contains an important scientific UFO article by David Wightman, editor of the outstanding British saucer magazine "Uranus." Also, “An Open Letter to Saucer Researchers” (Part One) by Dr. Leon Davidson.

#44 (June 1961) - Contains an interesting article on extrasensory perception by Justin Case, plus an article by our Associate Editor Melvyn Stiriss.

#45 (Sept. 1961) - Contains a very interesting account of an unexplained plane crash by saucer researcher Max Miller, editor of "Saucers." There is also an article on Extraterrestrialism by Y. N. ibn Aharon.

#46 (Dec. 1961) - Contains the first half of an unusually interesting article by the famous naturalist and saucer researcher Ivan Sanderson.

#47 (March 1962) - Contains the conclusion of the above-mentioned article by Ivan Sanderson, and a well-documented article by Lonzo Dove entitled "Humanoids and the Mars Saucer Cycle."

#48 June 1962) - Contains “Why the Bender Book Has Been Delayed” by Gray Barker and “An Open Letter to Saucer Researchers” (Part Two) by Dr. Leon Davidson.

#49 (Sept. 1962) - Contains a long and very important article by James Moseley concerning his exclusive interview with the head of the Air Force UFO project at Wright-Patterson Field, in Dayton, Ohio.

#50 (Dec. 1962) - Contains the first half of an interesting article by Tom Comella, called "A New Inquiry Into the Flying Saucer Mystery.” Also included is a long exclusive report on the recent saucer "flap" in South America.

Saucer News 1963-1964

#51 (March 1963) - Contains the conclusion of the above-mentioned article by Tom Comella, plus a wealth of recent saucer sightings from around the world.

#52 (June 1963) – Contains “The Olden Moore Story” by C. W. Fitch, “The Mystery of the Disappearing Planes” by Sandy Moseley, and “The End or an Era” by Gray Barker, on the merging of "The Saucerian Bulletin” with Saucer News and his role as associate editor.

#53 (Sept. 1963) – Contains “Florida's Coral Castle” by James W. Moseley, “George Hunt Williamson Re-Visited” by John J. Robinson.

#54 (Dec. 1963) Contains “The Electromagnetic Effects of Flying Saucers” (Part One) by John J. Robinson, “Spacemen in our Midst” by Gray Barker, “How Animals Tell Time Without Clocks" by Gene Steinberg, and “Further Information About Jonathan Swift and the Moons of Mars” by Robert J. Durant and James W. Moseley.

#55 (March 1964) – Contains “Space Ships Over Times Square” by Ed Sparks, Part 2 of John J. Robinson’s article on UFO Electromagnetic Effects, and “The X-4 Electro-Craft” by Howard Menger.

#56 (June 1964) - Contains “Flying Saucers and the Father's Plan” by Laura Mundo and “The Flying Saucers” by Rolf Telano.

Saucer News 1965-1970

Saucer News issues from 1965-1970 are available individually in the collection hosted by the AFU.

SN Non-Scheduled Newsletter

There's now a stand-alone collection of the Saucer News Non-Scheduled Newsletter from 1955 - 1968. Moseley hyped the newsletter as often containing “material that we consider ‘too hot to handle’ in the regularly-scheduled issues of our magazine.”

Saucer News Non-Scheduled Newsletter

. . .

Moseley continued Saucer News until 1968 when he sold the magazine to Gray Barker, then it faded away in a few years. In the 1970s, Moseley revived it as a non-scheduled newsletter, eventually named Saucer Smear, published up until his death in 2012. Isaac Koi recently announced that the complete Saucer Smear collection has been added by to the files hosted at the AFU site. Click the picture below to begin your studies.

Saucer Smear

Every Saucer News issue has several points of interest to even the casual student of UFO history. In the news section, it’s interesting to see the amount of attention given to cases and see what was said about them at the time. Some obscure and forgotten cases often were the subject of lingering examinations, while some stories that became classics were initially treated as routine. UFO history mavens will enjoy cross-referencing cases and prominent figures in ufology with the period coverage in Saucer News to see how it was discussed and regarded in its day.

The links again to the AFU collections for individual issues:

Nexus 

Saucer News

Saucer News Non-Scheduled Newsletter

Saucer Smear 

. . .

For more information on Jim Moseley and the Saucer News era, 

see the collection of articles at JimMoseley.com

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.

UFOs: Confusing the Public

   

Dr. Leon Davidson was a zealous early advocate for UFO transparency, and the author of the 1956 book, Flying Saucers: An Analysis of the Air Force Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14. Davidson was obsessed with the notion that UFOs were US military secret weapons, and he had strong objections to the Air Force’s 1952 statement:

“None of the three military departments nor any other agency in the government is conducting experiments, classified or otherwise, with flying objects which could be a basis for the reported phenomena.”

Davidson noted that the Air Force subsequently “stopped denying that saucers might be American devices, by dropping from its 1954 (and later) press releases the denial paragraph which it had used up through 1953.”  The military was developing technology and aircraft that might be mistaken for flying saucers. This is the story of one such project.

It Came from Windsor Locks...

From 1951 to 1953, brilliant UFOs were reported in the skies of Connecticut, then later in Ohio and other states. The descriptions were all similar, a bright fiery light leaving a trail as it streaked across the sky, and guesses ranged from a plane crashing to a flying saucer. One possible sighting match from the Connecticut Meriden Record, Nov. 12, 1951: “Second Fireball Is Sighted.”

This was during Captain Edward Ruppelt’s time as head of Project Blue Book, and these sightings never made it to his office, or if they did, were unsolved, or blamed on the planet Venus. These UFOs were no illusions, but sightings of a new technological aerial device flown by the US military. It was quietly developed and tested from in Bradley Field, Connecticut in October and November 1951, then given test runs over the next few months at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and for the Army at Langley, Virginia. When it was decided to be used in a highly publicized war game, officials decided the citizens should be notified. 

In April 1952 during Operation Longhorn, a massive U.S. Army training exercise based out of Fort Hood, Texas, there was a USAF press release circulated and used in newspaper stories, announcing the use of a new flare, and warning it could look like a UFO. An Associated Press story carried across the US on April 5, 1952, partially disclosed details of the “UFO” without naming it: 

LIGHT MAKES BOMBER RESEMBLE BALL OF FIRE

FORT HOOD. Tex. AP The latest development in the big Central Texas war games is the unveiling of a new aerial light that makes an attacking bomber look like a ball of fire in the sky. Ground observers read news papers in the glare of the light as a B-26 bomber made simulated bombing and strafing runs on Ninth Air Force Headquarters last night from an altitude of 1,500 feet. Air Force officials withheld details of the light other than to say it was entirely new and that it was attached to the plane not dropped like standard aerial flare.

The plane carrying the light flew directly to the maneuver area from Wright Patterson Air Force Base Dayton. O. “It looked like a tremendous bright ball of fire going over,” said Capt. Irving Rappaport, public information officer,” and if get any reports of flying saucers in this area, this probably is what they saw.” 

The plane used was originally called the McDonnell A-26, the B-26, then re-designated in 1947, adding a “R” for reconnaissance, as the RB-26.

Air Force history records that, “During Operation LONGHORN over Camp Hood, Texas, in early 1952, the system, beamed from an aircraft flying at 4,000 feet, allowed fighters to dive into the light from the surrounding darkness, attack their targets, and return to the safety of darkness.” But that’s not what the project was originally designed to do. It was built to provide light for night reconnaissance photography. That worked, but other unexpected applications were discovered. The device could illuminate a battlefield, or even be used to put on a light show.

In late 1952, the Air Force released the name of the project “the Hell Roarer,” and even used it to provide fireworks for a public exhibition to support the United Foundation Torch Drive in Detroit, Michigan.

Detroit Free Press, Oct. 26, 1952

Camerica, the Sunday magazine for the Dayton Daily News, Nov. 8, 1952, carried the full story of the Hell Roarer with photos, “It’s No Saucer!” An air force engineer disclosed: “We aren’t responsible for all the strange lights in the sky, but we do make some of them.” The article went on to describe the non-saucer: 

“The Hell-Roarer is simply a continuous-burning flare being tested for night photographic use by the Wright Air Development Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force base. In local tests the continuous flare has been attached to a B-26 airplane... The flare itself is an intensely brilliant light, so brilliant, in fact, that it blots out the plane from the vision of those on the ground. All that can be seen is the fast-moving fire ball accompanied by the roar of the twin engines. It is a fairly awesome sight, but definitely not a mechanism manned by Martian midgets.” 

The Dayton Daily News, Nov. 8, 1952

US citizens were informed during exercises to prevent excitement, but when used in a military setting abroad, there was no warning or explanation afterwards. Operation Longstep was a ten-day NATO naval exercise held in the Mediterranean Sea during November 1952. During the exercise, the Hell Roarer was mistaken by some of the Italian locals for a flying saucer.

Tactical Reconnaissance in the Cold War by Doug Gordon, 2005.

Project Blue Book was the Last to Know

Somehow, despite the UFO confusion it was causing, Project Blue Book remained unaware of the Hell Roarer project until 1953. That mistake may have caused them to fail in solving the cases reported early in the year by USAF pilots in Germany. “Unidentified Flying Objects near Rhein Main, Germany, 30 January 1953” (page 27).

They finally got a clue in July, when reporter Damon Runyan, Jr, asked Project Blue Book if a Hell Roarer could have been responsible for the “Florida Scoutmaster” saucer case of Sonny DesVergers on Aug. 19, 1952. It wasn’t a match, but they looked into the project, opened a file and collected photos and issued a press release which mentioned that instances of the Hell Roarer being sighted and mistaken for a flying saucer. 

Hell Roarer Press Release as reproduced in Leon Davidson’s Flying Saucers: An Analysis of the Air Force Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14

PBB Hell Roarer photos, “Wright-Patterson AFB Ohio, July 1953”

Captain Edward Ruppelt was probably responsible for the handwritten note on a July 16, 1953, clipping mentioning the 1951 Hell Roarer sightings at Dayton, Detroit, and Windsor Locks stating:

“Saucer reports mentioned were solved by the various base ops. & Intelligence officers, thense – no FLYOBRPT received on these sightings by P.B.B.”

The Hell Roarer file is pages 56 – 70 of this folder, and includes documents, newspaper clippings, and AF photos. Project Blue Book file: Hell Roarer

Following the press release, many newspapers and magazines carried photos and stories on the Hell Roarer and it’s sightings as UFOs. 

Science News Letter, July 25, 1953

The Rocky Mount Evening Telegram July 31, 1953

Newsweek, July 1953: "Hell Roarer" Susceptible citizens sighted spaceships

Aerial Flashlight

"Persons who reported a flying saucer over Windsor Locks, Conn., one October night in 1951 were pardonably deluded. What they actually saw (see cut) was the first test of an aerial flashlight developed at nearby Wesleyan University. Last week, after scaring susceptible citizens of Dayton and Detroit, as well as Windsor Locks, the Air Force's Air Research and Development Command released a description of the new device. It is a 300-pound 12-foot cylinder packed with fine magnesium powder, the gray stuff old-time photographers used to ignite for flash pictures. The tube is attached, like a bomb, to the wing of a reconnaissance plane.

Because of the noise, the flashlight has been dubbed the 'Hell Roarer.') There is enough magnesium to give four minutes of light so intense, according to the project director, Dr. Richard G. Clarke of Wesleyan, that 'you can read a newspaper by the glare about half a mile away.' The pilot can turn the flashlight on and off as he needs it. The Hell Roarer has one big advantage over the older type of magnesium flare which was parachuted to illuminate a photographic target area. With the new light, a reconnaissance plane can dash in low and fast over enemy territory take pictures of military activity, and escape before anti-aircraft gunners can open effective fire.

All Hands (the Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin) Dec. 1953

Popular Mechanics, March 1954

Project Blue Botch

Flying Saucers: An Analysis of the Air Force Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14

In his book on Project Blue Book, Dr. Leon Davidson pointed to the Hell Roarer as an example of the US government confusing the public on UFOs: 

“The 1953 release about the ‘Hell Roarer’ flare shows a typical cause of some flying saucer reports, and furthermore shows how legitimate secret military activities have led to flying saucer reports. These usually receive immediate perfunctory denials that U.S. activities or aircraft had had anything to do with causing the reports. Such denials are properly justified because of the secret nature of the activities at the time. The later admissions tend not to catch up with the original denials, so that such events get established in the saucer literature as ‘authentic’ cases.”

A big part of the problem was that the US military routinely operates in secrecy. Although the Hell Roarer was not classified, it was often used without notifying local police, or even other military operations, whether used in domestic test flights or in actual missions abroad. As a result, the US had their own people seeing flying saucers.

The Hell Roarer was valuable military tool for nighttime aerial photography and battlefield illumination, but new technology quickly made it obsolete. Shortly after the Korean War, the Ohio Wesleyan University Ordnance Research Laboratory moved away from pyrotechnical systems in favor of safer mercury arc lamps. The new generations of aerial illumination platforms were also responsible for causing UFO reports, but their history is less transparent. Some of the reports caused by the Hell Roarer’s successors have undoubtedly been booked among the UFO unknowns.

. . .

 

For Further Study

On The Front Line Of R&D: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the Korean War, 1950-1953 by Lori S. Tagg of the ASC History Office, “Studying the Enemy’s Backyard: Aerial Reconnaissance and Photographic Equipment”

Around the time of the Hell Roarer, the US military was actually trying to build flying saucers. See our previous article for details: UFO Study Programs and US Military Technology

 List from PBB of Hell Roarer Flights, 1951 – 1952

Oct 5l Bradley Fld., Connecticut

Dec 51 Dayton, Ohio (Possible sighting: Dec. 22, Columbus, Ohio)

Feb 52 Dayton, Ohio

Mar 52 Langley, Virginia

Mar 52 Operation '’Longhorn", Texas (Possible sighting: April 2, Brownwood, Texas)

Jul 52 Egland, Florida  

Sep 52 Bradley Fld., Connecticut

Oct 52 Detroit, Michigan (exhibition for the United Foundation Torch Drive)