THE WORLD OF FLYING SAUCERS

The World of
Flying Saucers

A SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATION OF A
MAJOR MYTH OF THE SPACE AGE

Donald H. Menzel
AND
Lyle G. Boyd

DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC., GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-12989
Copyright © 1963 by Donald H. Menzel and Lyle G. Boyd
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America

To Fred L. Whipple, whose studies have added much to our knowledge of meteors—which have furnished more than their share of UFOs.

Contents

PREFACE[xiii]
I. THE SAUCER WORLDS[1]
UFO Reports and the Air Force—The Scientist’s View—The Question of “Evidence”—Various Types of UFO—Descriptions of UFOs—A “Baedeker’s Guide” to Saucerdom
II. LO![13]
Arnold’s Nine Disks—The Great Shaver Mystery—The Maury Island Fragments—Science Fiction Adopts the Saucers—Mirage or Wave Clouds?
III. AIR-BORNE UFOS: BALLOONS TO BUBBLES[31]
The Mantell Tragedy—A Probable Solution of the Mantell Case—A Radiosonde over Virginia—Skyhook and Pibal UFOs—The Guantánamo “Dogfight”—The Wallops Island UFO—Weather Balloons and Saucers—Plastic UFOs and the “Stack of Coins”—Jets and Contrails—The Killian Case— ... And Kites and Soap Bubbles
IV. THE SPANGLED HEAV’NS: STARS AND PLANETS[60]
A Mirage of Sirius—Earth’s Distorting Atmosphere—The “Whipping Girl” of Saucerdom—The Ryan Case—Venus as a Morning Star—Venus as an Evening Star—The Rotating Lights of Japan—UFOs and the Opposition of Mars—The Gorman “Dogfight”—Only a Balloon?—Jupiter through a Jet Trail
V. OUT OF THE SKY: METEORS AND FIREBALLS[88]
Stones from Heaven—Meteor Streams and Showers—The Green Fireballs—Meteors in the Records—Fallacies about Meteors—Facts about Meteors—Unusual Fireballs—Great Meteor Processions—The Chiles-Whitted Sighting—Other Flaming UFOs
VI. LIVING LIGHTS[118]
The Luminous Owls of Norfolk—Things That Glow in the Dark—Sea Gulls as UFOs—The Lubbock Lights—The Lubbock Pictures—Other Winged UFOs—The Tremonton Movies
VII. PANIC[133]
Growth of a Panic—The Scoutmaster’s UFO—Monster in West Virginia—The Panel of Civilian Scientists
VIII. PHANTOMS ON RADAR[145]
Radar as a Reporter—The Principle of Radar—Weather and Radar Echoes—The Kinross Case—The “Invasion” of Washington, D.C.—Radar Experiments in Washington—“Simultaneous” Radar-Visual Reports—“Ghosts” and “Angels” on Radar—The Rapid City Sighting
IX. E-M AND G-FIELDS IN UFO-LAND[172]
Stormy Weather in Texas—The Phenomenon of Ball Lightning—E-M and Non-E-M Saucers—The Saturnian Visitors—Surveillance by Flying Eggs—Saucerdom’s Miraculous Electromagnetic Force—Effects and Causes—“G-Fields” and UFO Propulsion—The G-Field Myth—Electricity, Magnetism, and Gravity
X. CONTACT![198]
Earthlings and Extraterrestrials—The “Contactees”—Adamski’s Travels—Photography and the UFO—The Isle of Lovers Hoax—The Trindade Island Saucer—The Brazilian Naval Ministry—The Icarai Submarine Hunting Club—The Trindade Photographs—Project Ozma
XI. ANGEL HAIR, PANCAKES, ETC.[219]
Angel Hair and Spiders—Other Varieties of Angel Hair—The Wisconsin Pancakes—The Moon Bridge—“Pieces of Saucers”—Silver Rain in Brazil—Other Mysterious Fragments
XII. SPECIAL EFFECTS[238]
The Role of Unusual Coincidence—The Problem of Unknown Lights—Michigan’s Flying Bird Cage—UFOs from Reflections—Sundogs in Utah and France—Bright Spots on Films—Unfamiliar Lights on Planes—Inversions in California—The Chesapeake Bay Case—A Possible Explanation of the Nash-Fortenberry Disks—Other UFOs in “Stack” Formation—The Tombaugh Rectangles
XIII. INVESTIGATORS: AIR FORCE AND CIVILIAN[271]
Official Study of UFOs—Civilian Saucer Groups—NICAP—The “Conspiracy” Fantasy-UFO at Sheffield Lake, Ohio—“The Fitzgerald Report”—The Open Mind
APPENDIX[291]
INDEX[295]

Acknowledgments

PLATE I: [a], The Seattle Times. [b], A Shell Photo

PLATE II: [a], Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. [b], Wide World Photo

PLATE III: [a], Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. [b], Gilberto Vazquez, El Imparcial, San Juan, Puerto Rico

PLATE IV: [a], Wide World Photo.[ b], Wide World Photo. [c], David Atlas, Air Force Cambridge Research Center, Bedford, Massachusetts

PLATE V: [a], Bernd T. Matthias and Solomon J. Buchsbaum, Bell Telephone Laboratories. [b], Dr. John C. Jensen, Nebraska Wesleyan University

PLATE VI: [a], United Press Photo. [b], United Press Photo

PLATE VII: [a], C. L. Johnson. [b], Mrs. William Felton Barrett

PLATE VIII: [a], United Press Photo. [b], Wide World Photo

[Figure 18]. Courtesy True, The Man’s Magazine. Copyright 1952, Fawcett Publications, Inc.

Drawings by Cushing and Nevell