MODERN U FO REPORTS AND T H E I R RELIABILITY has been commented upon by writers as confirming oppos ing theories, all with limited success. Twenty-minute ball lightnings would be more surprising to the physicist than flying saucers piloted by vegetable men. The "light" was seen close to the aircraft by control-tower operators and by people in other locations, who viewed it from very differ ent angles and gave consistent descriptions, tending to prove that the phenomenon occupied a definite location in space, unlike a distorted image of a rising star or planet, or a looming effect. But the idea that the light was some kind of "flying saucer" is clearly repulsive. The suggestion made by certain enthusiasts that the object was guided by re mote control "of some sort" is inadequate, as it raises more questions than it answers. All we have are several excellent reports by competent pilots and observers, and the recog nition of a pattern. A similar incident took place at Andrews Field near the Capital on November 18 at 9 : 45 P.M. On December 3 a strange "ball of light" of the same type was seen, this time at Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base in Califor nia. The "object" climbed toward a plane against a strong wind and disappeared from view at thirty thousand feet altitude, still rising.
1949 Nineteen hundred and forty-nine is another year that might reveal surprising information to future investigators if they are able to gather more information concerning sightings in Asiatic countries. Between the two excellent American reports of April 24 ( Charles Moore } and August 20 ( Clyde Tombaugh) a wave may have taken place in Sweden and the U.S.S.R., but it is difficult to support this assumption from our present data. UFO activity that year, at any rate, seems to have begun somewhere in South America in March and developea- in the U.S. at the begin ning of April. On March 21 the Adams-Anderson incident took place fifteen miles north of Stuttgart, Arkansas where an object with eight to ten lights ( again enthusiastically labeled "portholes" in the specialized journals ) was seen trav eling north. It was associated with a blinking blue light. On April 6, several incidents occurred at White Sands Prov ing Grounds in New Mexico. The next day a huge "column of metal" was reported at Des Moines, Iowa; the UFO was
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