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The article below was published in the newspaper Amarillo Daily News, Amarillo, Texas, USA, page 1, on July 7, 1947.
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SAN FRANCISCO, July 6 (AP) -- The Army Air Force alerted jet and conventional fighter planes on the Pacific Coast today in hopes of chasing and explaining the mystery of the "flying saucers" which in 12 days has challenged the entire country.
Gen. Carl Spaatz, Air Forces commandant, was in the Pacific Northwest, where the majority of the strange objects were reported seen.
An Air Forces spokesman in Washington said he had not gone there to investigate, but merely to take a speech at Seattle and for an airfield inspection today at Tacoma.
A P-80 jet fighter at Muroc Army Air Field in California and six fast regular fighters at Portland, Ore., stood ready to take off on an instant's notice should any flying saucer be sighted in those areas. Some of the planes carried photographic equipment,
Louis E. Starr, national commander-in-chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, told newsmen in Columbus, O., yesterday he understood General Spaatz had a "group out right now" attempting to identify the discs.
A cautious attitude marked both official and scientific comments but Cap. Tom Brown of the Air Forces public relations staff in Washington acknowledged that the Air Force has decided "there's something to this" and had been checking up on it for ten days.
"And we still haven't the slightest idea what the discs could be," he added.
First sighted June 25 and greeted generally with scornful laughs, the objects have been reported every day since by observers in 33 states. Most of the objects were reported seen on July 4. A few were reported yesterday.
Competent observers such as airline pilots said they had seen the totally unexplained discs or saucers, larger than aircraft and flying in "loose formation" at high speed.
David Lilienthal, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, said they had nothing to do with atomic experiences and Army and Navy officials also entered positive disclaimers.
Captain Brown said he air forces were not making a formal investigation. Official interest, however, was no longer casual.
"We don't believe anyone in this country, or outside this country, had developped a guided missile that will go 1.2000 miles an hour as some reports have indicated," said the Air Forces public relations man.
A Los Angeles newspaper story quoting an unidentified California Institute of Technology scientist as saying the phenomena might have to do with experiments in "transmutation of atomic energy" caused a bried sensation late yesterday. The institute quickly denied the report. Dr. Harold Urey, atom scientist at the University of Chicago, called it it "gibberish." He said elements could be "transmuted" but not energy.
Reports generally agreed that the flying objects were round or oval. Estimates of their speed ranged from about 300 miles to 1.200 miles an hour. They were described as flying with an undulating motion, at heights of 10.000 feet and less. Some described them as glowing, or luminous.
Nova Hart, St. Louis mechanic who was trained during service in the war to spot all types of aircraft, said he saw one of the strange objects near Pattonville yesterday. It was flying at an altitude of 300 feet, he said. He described it as circular, with a ribbed framework and silver gray in color. Hart said it appeared to have a motor with a propeller attached on the center and it kpt turning like an airplane doing a slow roll.
[Photo caption:] - NEW Photo - Coast Guard Frank Ryman reported he photographed the mysterious "flying discs" near Seattle, Washington, and said he thought the white dot (arrow) near the center of this picture is it. This photo is nearly 20 times enlarged from Ryman's original.
First published reports of the phenomena occurred June 25. Kenneth Arnold, Boise, Ida., businessman pilot, told of seeing nine of the discs flying in formation at 1.200 miles an hour over the Cascade Mountains in Washington.
Arnold's account was taken lightly. Various explanations were offered - "reflections", "persistent vision", "snow blindness."
Soon afterward other individuals - in New Mexico, Missouri, California and other states - reported they also had seen the flying objects.
July 4 also brought first reports of the flying discs from east of the Mississippi. since then they have been reported seen in widely separated sections of the country - in 33 states in all.
C. E. Holman, of Walter, Okla., asserted yesterday he also had seen the flying saucers June 25. He watched then "flying around and around each other" for about 30 minutes, he said. Then he went to bed.
"I thought about waking up some of my neighbors but decided if it meant the end of the world they would be just as happy sleeping when the world ended," Holman said.
Some folks see spots before their eyes. Others see silver saucers sailing along at high rates of speed.
Two men, in different parts of Amarillo, reported seeing what they identified as saucers flying through the air yesterday afternoon.
George Mouerner, employee of the International Harvester Co., who is living at the Herring Hotel, was standing in front of the hotel about 4:30 o'clock watching an airplane when he saw two bright discs speeding through the air. They were traveling at a high rate of speed and in a southeasterly direction. A man standing besides Mr. Mouerner also saw the discs.
"They appeared to be a dull aluminum color," Mr. Mouerner aid.
At the same time, Bill Louden, of 1014 Fillmore, who was at work at Tiny Fogle's 1305 Polk, reports he saw three of the mysterious discs going southeast at a high rate of speed. He said they were "round and shiny."
Early Saturday afternoon, C. D. Hoover Jr., 1400 Jackson, and C. P. Hutching, 1309-B Madison, reported seeing similar objects floating through the air.
A report was received from Pampa yesterday said about 50 dull-looking round objects passed over the city heading in a southwesterly direction just before dark Saturday night.
