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—— ' iY a) Plastic ‘Moby Dicks’ Flying Since 1950 Whale-Like Air Force Balloons Rise 20 Miles, Solve Flying Saucer Riddle, Wind Secrets By. the Associated Press The magazine Aviation Week published a new report yester- day on What the Air Force has found out about the upper at- ‘mosphere with its “Moby Dick” | ballons—whale-like bags which have often been mistaken for j flying saucers. Since the big helium-filled ‘palloons made their appear- ance three years ago, the maga- |zine said, more than 90 percent of the “saucer” sightings have ‘coincided with their logged as- cents and charted~ courses. loons sometimes seem to be)firmed the fact that air current! racing at tremendous velocities,/travel in opposite directions at whereas they actually are moy-|different altitude layers. The ing at 60 miles an hour or less. |prevailing wind moves from One evening after -sunset}West to East across the United many units of the Strategic|States at about 50,000 feet. Air Command in. Texas were/About 10,000 feet higher, how- kept busy trying to catch andjever, the flow is sometimes re- shoot down a flying object thattversed. was actually a Moby Dick drift-| Balloons have also carried ing along at about 90,000 feet|various kinds. of animal life in a glow of dust-refracted sun-|ranging from fruit flies to mic light. and monkeys, up to 80,000 feet B-36 bomber crews, accus-/The experimental animals hav tomed to flying high altitudes,/survived such altitudes for 2 gave up the chase when theyjhours and have been recovered were left behind at 45,000 feet,|to provide living data for scien- } 0-19 Tolson 4. 4 Ladd v ANEich : Belmont C042" Clegg Glavin Harbo __ : Rosen =! Tracy: 2 Laughlin _____ Mohr—___— as Winterrowd —__ Tele. Rm, —__ Holloman____ Gandy The shiny surface of the plas-j}and jet fighters stalled trying|tifie research. } tie balloons is an excellent re-/to pursue the object above their) ThESGFoby DicRpetloons are flector of light. Long after thejaltitude ceiling. elease st daily at Tilla- sun has set and darkness has| Another mysterious object,)mook, Ore.; Vernalis, Calif., an covered the earth, they shine/later identified positively as a|Edwards Air Force Base in Cali |brillantly with the light re-|research balloon, floated over|fornia. Two more sites will bi ‘flected from the sun at alti-/San Francisco last spring during|used to take advantage of lat tudes of from 90,000 to 100,-|a parade welcoming Gen. James|summer winds—the Moody Airk 000 feet, almost 20 miles up injA. Van Fleet home from Korea.|Force base near Valdosta, Ga.,) the sky. It shone as a brilliant white;and Sedalia, Mo. | Vapor dust: or other foreign|sphere as jet fighters vainly; The big bags are made so that) particles in the atmosphere|tried to reach it. On another|they destroy themselves auto- make the light appear white,/day, Dayton, Ohio, was filled|matically when they descend to red, purple, or green. Because|with “saucer” reports as anoth-|33,000 feet. Recording machines) of the difficulty of judging jer, balloon floated over the city.|and instruments are parachuted speed at high altitudes, the bal-' The balloon flights have con-/to earth, ha) sae x ;_—— 7) Times-Herald Wash. Post INDEXED . 9) 77 NOT PTCORDED 19] St: 12 1953 ee Wash. News Wash. Star Le N.Y. Mirror oa) 4 f Tial ; Ai fy N.Y. Herald Tribune