Flying Saucers: Made in the USA

It’s not all Donald Keyhoe’s fault. In late 1949 “The Flying Saucers are Real” was published in True magazine, Jan. 1950, causing the topic of UFOs to be taken more seriously. There was no proof that the sightings and reports of these UFOs represented physical objects. With all the talk, many people came to believe in saucers, but couldn’t agree what they were, or where they came from. The notion that saucers came from space was catching on, but most people believed that if saucers were real, they were made on earth – probably by the USA. 

David Lawrence, publisher of U.S. News & World Report

April 3, 1950 – Conservative newsman David Lawrence shocked readers by publishing, “Flying Saucers: The Real Story,” in U.S. News & World Report, April 7, 1950. He reported that saucers were not only real, but U.S. military aircraft: “Jet-propelled disks can outfly other planes... about the only big secret left is who makes them. Evidence points to Navy experiments.”

“Flying Saucers: The Real Story,” U.S. News and World Report, April 7, 1950

The notion gained found support. Henry J. Taylor was a major newspaper and radio commentator, and (without referencing Lawrence’s article) he also made the amazing announcement that flying saucers are real - and were US military secret projects.

The editorial, “Flying Saucers,” in The Fort Collins Coloradoan, April 11, 1950, discussed Lawrence’s article and talked about distrust, “Blanket Denials… from Washington are common… The fact that the President or one of his lieutenants says something isn't so doesn't mean a thing any more.”

Showing more trust in the government was My Weekly Reader, the magazine for school children. It was an unlikely source for UFO disclosures, but columnist Tom Trott proclaimed in the issue for Sept. 18, 1950:

"I am now allowed to tell you that some flying saucers are real. They belong to our Air Force. They will someday be a big help to our country."

When confronted about the story, the editor, Eleanor M. Johnson said, the motive was “to overcome a deluge of humbuggery afloat in our land which is calculated to exploit superstition and ignorance.” The goal was to reduce “widespread hysteria” and fear among children about “tiny, big-headed men from Venus.”

People Today magazine, Sept. 10, 1952, said, “Flying Saucers are Real – Remember the A-Bomb.” The key source for the article was Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, head of the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico. “Sightings here and in Scandinavia lead me to believe that fireballs and the so-called saucers may be guided missiles – some possibly ours, some possibly Russian. In any case, they are Earth-born.”

Air Force Saucers

In the United Press article by Charles Corddry in The Nashville Banner, Oct. 26, 1955, Air Force Secretary Donald A. Quarles was quoted on new aircraft in development that "will be a new phenomenon in our skies and under certain conditions could give the illusion of the so-called flying saucer." He was referring to the vertical take-off and landing jets and the disc-shaped jet being developed by Avro of Canada, but the minds of some readers jumped to the conclusion that this was an Air Force cover story. One camp thought this was admission the saucers were military all along, another was that it was to distract from the real, alien flying saucers.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct 26, 1955, AP

Russian Saucers

On Oct. 2, 1957, news agencies INS and UP reported that Professor S. Zonshtein said that Russia had a disc-shaped plane that could “rise and descend vertically.”

Avro Again

Brigadier General Frank H. Britton, Director of Developments, Office of Chief of Research and Developments, U.S. Army. Gave testimony on the Avro project before the House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Astronautics, Washington, DC, April 13, 1959.

The Associated Press reported on the testimony, stating:

“The secrecy curtain was withdrawn slightly Thursday night from a hush-hush project which the Army hopes will give the United States its version of the flying saucer. Heavily censored testimony made public by the House Space Committee confirmed that the revolutionary new aircraft will resemble a saucer.”

Meanwhile, the US Army was using flying saucers as bait to entice soldiers to reenlist. The image below was used both as a poster and in print ads.

Space Age

Since 1950, the public had been told flying saucers were real, and that they might be made in the USA. In 1960, a flying saucer was curiously among the rockets and satellites depicted in the poster by Richard Amundsen, “Space Age” from Educational Posters Co.

The idea was reinforced when New York Mirror magazine, April 28, 1963 used illustration for the article, “U.S. Space Hardware - Today and Tomorrow.”

Having a flying saucer depicted among other spacecraft projects blurred the line between fact and fantasy. But it wasn’t just any saucer, it was drawn from the cover of Keyhoe’s 1950 book.

Mixed Messages

Since 1947 the  Air Force had denied flying saucers were real. They muddied the waters in 1955 by saying they were building saucer-like craft. That encouraged the belief in physical flying saucers from earth – or elsewhere. The original Avro project failed, but it eventually did produce a marginal flying saucer for the U.S. Army, the Avrocar, which was a disc-shaped hovercraft. Two vehicles were built and tested, then the project was cancelled in 1969. So was Project Blue Book. The U.S. government just wanted to forget the whole saucer business for good.

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See our previous articles on the many Man-Made Flying Saucers.

For more on the Avro saucer story, see the section, “The US Preparations for Man-made Saucer” of UFO Study Programs and US Military Technology.

Flying Saucers Foiled Again

Three days before the saucer news broke from Roswell, New Mexico, a flying disc crashed on a farm in Ohio. In the following weeks (and years) other objects were found, some of them photographed and printed in newspapers.

July 7, 1947, Associated Press

Our Captured Flying Saucer Scrapbook begins with an item from The Circleville Herald, July 5, 1947: 

'Flying Disc' Believed Found On Pickaway Farm 

One of the "flying discs" which have been puzzling aviators all over the United States was believed Saturday to have been found on a Pickaway county farm. Sherman Campbell, who lives on the Westfall road in Wayne township, near the Pickaway-Ross county line, reported the finding of a star-shaped silver foil covered object which he believes is one of the mysterious "flying saucers."

While working in the field he spotted a strange object. He described his find as 50 inches high, 48 inches wide and weighing about two pounds. He said the silver foil was stretched over a wooden frame. The star-shaped object had six points. He said there was a balloon attached which had deflated and there was no way of knowing how big it was.

Discovery of the object was the first reported in the country. A Coast Guardsman on the west coast reported photographing one from a distance, but no one has seen one of the "flying discs" close. 

Another photo:

The Wisconsin State Journal, July 7, 1947

Yet another “flying saucer” was found in Oxford, Ohio, on Monday July 7, 1947, as reported in The Palladium-Item (Richmond, IN), July 9, 1947.

Saucers were everywhere. Amazingly, another strange object fell close to Circleville, Ohio. 

“The second such find was reported to Sheriff Charles Radcliff Tuesday afternoon by David C. Heffner, who said he discovered it on a line fence on his farm on the old Tarlton road four and one half miles east of Circleville. ... The gadgets found by Mr. Campbell and Mr. Heffner were … constructed of a light wood frame. Only a remnant of the thin rubber balloon remained attached to the Campbell find, but the other contraption discovered on the Heffner farm includes most of the remains of the balloon which must have measured more than 15 feet in diameter when it was inflated."

The Circleville Herald, July 5, 1947

The Roswell Debris

The now-famous headline, "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region," appeared in the Roswell Daily Record, July 8, 1947. However they stated, “no details of the saucer's construction or its appearance had been revealed.” Newspapers the next day began revealing the disappointing details.

The Durant Daily Democrat, July 10, 1947

The Minneapolis Star, Minneapolis, July 9, 1947

The Roswell Daily Record, July 9, 1947, reported that Mac Brazel had been hounded by the press over his discovery, "Harassed Rancher who Located 'Saucer' Sorry He Told About It." The paper summarized Brazel’s description of what’d he’d found and shown Maj. Jesse A. Marcel from Roswell Army Air Field:

“Brazel related that on June 14 he and 8-year-old son, Vernon were about 7 or 8 miles from the ranch house of the J.B. Foster ranch, which he operates, when they came upon a large area of bright wreckage made up on rubber strips, tinfoil, a rather tough paper and sticks. … There was no sign of any metal in the area which might have been used for an engine and no sign of any propellers of any kind, although at least one paper fin had been glued onto some of the tinfoil.”

The debris was matched to other discoveries and military projects still in flight. The Kansas City Times, July 9, 1947, reported on a Rawin target recovered on an Adrian, Missouri farm.

The Kansas City Times, July 9, 1947

The Corpus Cristi Caller, July 10, 1947, reported:

Like New Mexico Saucer – The “rawin” – radar wind – reflector attached to the Navy weather balloon above, is the same type of apparatus which a New Mexico rancher picked up earlier this week, believing he had found one of the much-publicized flying discs which have been plaguing 44 states of the nation. Miss Mary belle Kuegle, Wave aerologist first class, holds the device which normally rises to a height of 50,000 feet before the balloon bursts and the rawin falls to the earth, aided by a parachute. (Official U.S. Navy photograph.)

The Corpus Cristi Caller, July 10, 1947

What is a Rawin? From Captain Joseph A. Pechman’s article in Air Corps, from The Coast Artillery Journal, May/June 1946:

“Radar made possible the determination of upper winds under most conditions of clouds or poor visibility. Wind data are obtained by an SCR-584 [radar unit] tracking the flight of a free balloon to which is attached a metal, foil-covered paper reflector capable of reflecting the radar signals back to the radar. Direction and speeds of the winds for various altitudes are evaluated on the basis of the horizontal projection of the flight of the balloon. This procedure is called ‘RAWIN’, a term combining the two words, ‘radar’ and ‘wind’.” 

Launching and tracking a rawin target.

Civilians were not only mistaking Rawin targets for flying saucers on the ground, but also in the sky. The United Press story in the Press and Sun Bulletin (Binghamton, NY), July 10, 1947, the US Navy disclosed that their  balloon launches had led to saucer reports. 

Disc? Tsk, Says Navy

Saucy Soaring Saucers Sinking

Practical jokers continued to have a high time with flying saucers today as the navy advised the more serious-minded "eyewitnesses" that what they saw in the sky was only weather observation devices. It cost the navy $25 to assure itself. Lt. Rell Zelle Moore, naval air station aerology officer, launched a "ray winds" weather device is a $25 "operations saucer" at Atlanta, Ga. As the helium-filled balloon carrying a tin-foil screen soared over Stone Mountains, calls poured into Atlanta newspapers reporting "flying discs." The 4-by-10 foot screen looked like a round aluminum disc at a high altitude. "People are only just beginning to see these things aloft," said Lt. Comndr. Thomas H. Rentz. 

The Gastionia Gazette (NC), July 10, 1947 feature more from the Naval officer: 

HAS OPINION ON FLYING SAUCERS

Naval Officer Believes Flying Discs Are Tinfoil Screen Used In Weather Balloons To Reflect Radar Rays And Detect Wind's Velocity

ATLANTA, July 10 -- UP -- Lieut. Commander Thomas H. Rentz of the Atlanta Naval Air Station said today he believed the "flying saucers" reported over the country were tinfoil screens used in weather balloons. 

The Roswell tinfoil episode was forgotten, but the International News Service (INS) article from April 10, 1949, published under such titles as “Secrecy Shrouds ‘Saucers’ Probe,” mentioned Roswell in passing:

“… the USAF has sorted out the vast number of fantastic and imaginative reports received... Another incident resulted in ‘exile’ for an Air Force public relations officer in the West. This enthusiastic gentleman, without prior reference to Washington, announced to local newsmen that he had found a ‘flying saucer’.” 

Saturday Evening Post, April 30, 1949, featured the first of two parts of a skeptical article by Sidney Shallet, “What You Can Believe About Flying Saucers.” It included a section on rawin targets as UFOs:

In addition to the 25 per cent or more bona fide cases of mistaken identification that can be blamed on astronomical phenomena, a large percentage can be accounted for by weather-observation and radar-target balloons.  . . . The most common sources of innocent deception in the balloon field are the so-called RAWIN (radar-wind) target balloons.  The balloons generally are white, and at 40,000 to 60,000 feet where they usually operate, they are invisible to persons on the ground.  Dangling below each balloon, however, is a six-cornered "target" of aluminum foil, strung out on kitelike sticks.  Radar operators on the ground track these aluminum targets for weather information. The targets oscillate and gyrate in the wind, and sunlight glinting from these shiny, wind-tossed objects can create a perfect illusion of a flying saucer.  Movies of airborne RAWINs were taken for me, and in some shots the oscillating aluminum targets appeared perfectly round. 

Further Sightings in the Fifties 

Around the USA, saucer reports kept being reported and sometimes, physical evidence was found. Here’s our two last entries that made the papers. 

The Captured Saucer of Concord, Pennsylvania

On March 28, 1950, an unnamed farmer spotted a UFO descending and land in his field. He reported the object, and it was subsequently carried to the Concord School where it was on display for the 300 students there and the general public. The Chester Times, March 29, 1950, reported the mysterious object was: 

“Four feet across at its maximum width, it was constructed of white and silver paper, on a thin wooden frame. Only identifying features on the strange-looking star shaped object with the numerals 1040. Obviously severed heavy strings were attached to a metallic ring on the object, indicating that a balloon had been hooked up to the ‘What-is-it.’ The balloon apparently broke loose when the strings gave away and it continued its flight. The farmer who first sighted the object reported this morning that spinning in the late afternoon sunlight, it gave every appearance of being a huge disk as rays were reflected from the white and silver body of the object.” 

Local Weather Bureau, Army officials, and scientists were consulted, but they could not initially identify the object’s origin. 

Chester Times, March 29, 1950

The next day continued the drama, “Concord’s ‘Flying Disc’ Subject of Much Speculation”

Chester Times, March 30, 1950

A subsequent story in the Chester Times, April 8, 1950, reported that the “kite-like affair” had been identified, “investigation disclosed [it] to be a corner reflector radar target.” 

The Horton Disc of 1953 

A UFO was seen in the skies of Atlanta, Georgia on July 6, 1953. The next morning, near the Fulton County Airport, Ralph Horton recovered an unusual flying object that had crashed on his lawn. From The Atlanta Constitution, July 8, 1953: 

“Experts Tuesday were as baffled as ever about the multi-colored, cone-shaped ''thing" that dozens of Atlantans saw moving across the twilight sky around supper-time Mondav. The experts didn't think the ‘thing’ was the kite-shaped, balloon-bearing apparatus Ralph Horton found Tuesday morning in his front yard near the County Airport. U. S. Weather Bureau officials said Horton's find apparently is a ‘ra-wind,’ an instrument used to plot wind currents in the upper air. Such an instrument, they explained, would have been released by the Air Force at 4 p.m. and would not have remained aloft as long as 7:15 p.m. when Atlantans all over the city reported they saw the ‘thing.’”

The Atlanta Constitution, July 8, 1953

By this time, such discoveries were common. Once the Weather Bureau identified it as a rawin target, no investigation by Project Blue Book – or anyone was conducted. Until… 

Working on a proposed flying saucer book, James Moseley made a cross-country trip in 1953-54 tracking down UFO witnesses. In Georgia, he found the Ralph Horton article in the files of the Atlanta Constitution. Moseley with Karl Pflock described what he did next in his 2002 book, Shockingly Close to the Truth!: Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist: 

“Of course, I lost no time getting out to see Horton, who obligingly hauled the saucer out of the woods behind his house, where he tossed it after the excitement had died down. ... I photographed Horton with the saucer which he then offered to me. I took it with thanks. Unfortunately, it got lost in the shuffle over the years.” 

Ralph Horton and his discovery. Photo by Jim Moseley 

Crashes of other military or meteorological balloon packages have resulted in other “crash-retrieval” cases, from the famous to the forgotten. While no single answer has been found for the flying saucer mystery, sightings and discovery of rawin targets added to the confusion, becoming part of UFO legends and history.

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