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“Navy Calls Saucers EW YORK, Feb. 12 (P).—Fly- Ply Its Big Balloons tng saucers are real—but they're only huge balloons used in cosmic ray studies, Look magazine will say Tuesday, quoting Dr. Urner iddel, chief of the nuclear physics | branch of the Office of Naval Re-| search. He is in charge of the, cosmic ray-balloon project. | The balloons are Huge Plastic | bags, 100 feet in diameter, that | May rise 19 miles high-~about 100,000 ‘feet. Winds jay sweep them along at 200 miles an hour, | At dusk, the slanting rays of the | sun light ‘up their bottoms, giving them a saucer-like appearance, the article says. ‘hey carry instruments aloft to tedord what happens when cosmic rays hit atoms in the earth’s at- mpsphere. This splitting gives a clue to how atoms are put to- gether, and how to release their energy. “When this project first began it was kept secret,” the magazine, quotes Dr. Liddel. “Now there is no longer any need for secrecy on a scientific basis. And certainly, there is no longer any need to keep the public in the dark about what flying saucers are.” Look says “the Liddel report is considered toibe the most authori- tative scientific explanation of the flying-saucer phenomenon. As far as Dr. Liddel is concerned per- sonally, he considers his answer incontrovertibly right.” The halloons, called skyhooks,| were first sent aloft in 1947, and) it was then that flying saucer re-| ports began, it adds. There were more balloons in the next two) years and more “saucers” seen. ‘There were fewer balloons sent ‘At dusk on a cool) simmer eve-! is the: best time te-seo=th: balloon “saucer,” it adds. “The lateral rays of the sun at dusk illuminate the base of the balloon. There’ is no chance of your ever seeing the full round- ness of it because you are so far below it. You see only the illumi- nated cup of the bottom. If your imagination soars, the light re- flection on the side may. impress you as the glow of an atomic en- gine. The wisp of the balloon’s instrument-filled tail may. ittpress you as the exhaust. The sun’s Tays may suffuse the plastic bag with a fiery glow. “Even seasoned airmen have no way of estimating the size and speed of an object they see. To peg Size and speed, the mind must know the nature of the ob- ject.” . Look says Dr. Liddel and asso- ciates studied 2000 reports of flying saucers, eliminating those “seeming to be the visions of crackpots or psycopaths” or! “clearly the result of inaccurats vision.” i “This left a solid base of r ports from airplane: pilots, scien: tific observers and reliable laymei which could not be brushed asid After a thorough investigation, Dr. Liddel said: “There is not a single reliable report of an ob- servation which is not attributable to the cosmic balloons’.” It quotes Dr. Liddel as saying that Capt. Thomas F. Mantell, air force pilot found dead in his crashed plane after radioing that he was pursuing a strange sky object, was chasing “a balloon! of the skyhook type.” ; ‘Tlfere have been several reports of squadrons of flying disks, and “this is explained by Dr. Liddel as clusters of 20 to 30 balloons 10 to 15 feet in diamefer, which are sometimes? used in place of the huge’ skyhook,”” ff Dr, Liddel checked other Goy-’ ernment agencies and “is satisfied that no other research or experi- | mental project has utilized any. | thing even roughly resembug'! ‘ifg saucer.” } up in 1950, and fewer saneerere=- ty! ports. A picture, taken by telescope of a balloon at 77,(°" feet aver esota, convinced Dr. Liddel 4 ore, the Mmagarine sae,’ to fils descriptio’is of li “X 3544 NOT REGORSES 132 May 5 S61 NDEXED - 37. 0-19 Tolson. Ladd. Clegg. Glavin Nichols. Rosen. Tracy. Harbo. Room. Page Times-Herald ey Wash. Post Abs, Wash. News lll =e — Za Wash. Star N.Y. Mirror wie Date? 22>