Donald Keyhoe in True Magazine

 The famous UFO article by Donald Keyhoe in True Magazine, 1952

WHAT RADAR TELLS ABOUT FLYING SAUCERS

U. S. Air Force and civilian radar ex­perts know enough about temperature inversion to be sure that it doesn't explain the strange objects they've seen on their scopes in Washington, and in other places. And the official Air Force gun-camera photos reproduced here for the first time back them up

In a new investigation of the flying saucers. True Magazine has secured Air Force confirmation of these important facts:

1. Since 1947, hundreds of unidentified aerial objects have been tracked by radar operators of the Air Force, Navy and Civil Aeronautics Administration.

2. More than 300 times, Air Force interceptors have chased mysterious lights and unidentified objects revealed by radarscopes.

3. Strange round objects have shown on interceptor's gun-camera pictures and on photographs taken from the ground at a missile-testing range.

4. The "temperature inversion" or "mirage" answer to radar sightings widely publicized by Dr. Donald H. Menzel of Harvard has failed to satisfy Air Force investigators because he has not attempted to explain any specific "saucer" cases in official files.

In December 1949, when an Air Force statement said saucer reports were hoaxes, hallucinations, or mistaken observations of normal objects, the case lists of ""Project Saucer" included several puzzling radar reports. At that time, however, most Air Force officials believed they were errors of interpretation due to weather phenomena. Even during the past year, with radar reports rapidly increasing, some Air Force officers still believed these disturbing cases were caused by temperature inversion.

Accumulated evidence, revealed in this article, now proves that very few of the reports can thus be explained. As a result, many baffling "saucer" cases investigated by the Air Technical Intelligence Command are still listed as unanswered.

The most recent of these mystifying incidents was reported from Gongaree Air Base near Columbia, South Carolina, as this was being written. On August 20, 1952, radar operators at a nearby interceptor post were watching their scope when a strange "blip" appeared at an indicated range of ISO miles southeast.

Evidently the object shown was very fast-moving, for within less than a minute each successive sweep of the beam renewed the blip in a different position, producing a row of widely spaced spots on the phosphor-coated glass in a track that ran off the scope. Dumbfounded, the men hurriedly computed the speed.
It was more than 4,000 miles per hour.

The operators realised that to flash an alarm was useless. Moving at 70 miles a minute, the mysterious object would be 200 miles away before a jet interceptor could take off.

When I checked on this case, the Air Force made no attempt to gloss over the facts. The operators were experts, trained to recognize the blips of solid objects. The radar was working correctly. Something streaked through the skies dial morning, but the Air Technical Intelligence Command frankly admits it has no explanation.

There are other unexplained Air Force cases almost as incredible, such as the tracking of an unidentified object at 1,700 m.p.h. near Kirksville, Missouri, and vain pursuits by jets at Dayton and St. Paul. (These and other important cases released to TRUE by the Air Force will be discussed in detail later.)

Not until last July, when unidentified lighted objects were seen at Washington Airport, did the general public learn that radar was tracking the.' saucers. Later, conflicting news stories gave many the impression that the Air Force had "debunked" all saucer reports and had no further interest. Major General Roger S. Ramey. Director of Operations, made the-Air Force position clear in the following-statement for TRUE:

"The Air Force, in compliance with its mission of air defense of the United States, must assume responsibility lor investigation of any object or phenomena in the air over the United States. Fighter units have been instructed to investigate any object observed or established as existing by radar tracks, and to intercept any air-borne identified as hostile or showing hostile interest. This should not be interpreted to mean that air-defense pilots have been instructed to fire haphazardly on anything that flies."

The Air Force attitude was amplified for me by another spokesman in this candid statement:

"We don't know what these things are and there's no use in pretending we do. We can't discount entirely that they may come from another planet, though we hare no evidence to support it. We have found no threat to this country-there is not the slightest evidence that they come from a foreign nation-but until we know the answers we shall carry on a serious investigation."

Unfortunately, public confidence in radar has been badly shaken. Many Americans still believe that the Washington radarmen, veteran air-traffic controllers, were tricked by atmospheric conditions. The same cause was said to have created mirage lights in the sky, deceiving airline and jet pilots, control-tower men, and other trained and experienced observers.

If this were so, serious problems in air-traffic control would certainly have to be solved. But the true story behind the Washington sighting; has never been told until now.