Donald Keyhoe

“ The Air Force says that Wolf 359 is a near star which may be found to have a habitable planet outside our solar system. To illustrate the steps involved, let us assume that a planet of Wolf 359 will be the one we shall explore first.
It will be a formidable undertaking. Once in free space, where there is no resistance, fantastic speeds are expected. Eventually, some researchers believe, free-space travel may achieve an appreciable percentage of the theoretical limit -- the speed of light, which is about 186,000 miles per second. But Wolf 359 is eight light-years from the Earth. ”

“ The Earth satellite vehicle will have to prove itself as a practical base, a sort of aerial aircraft carrier from which rocket ships can operate on the Earth shuttle. Before we are ready for interplanetary travel, we will have to harness some tremendous power not now available -- perhaps cosmic rays. There may have to be other space bases established as refueling stations or navigation check points. Incredible as this sounds, intelligent scientists and engineers expect to do it in a few decades. ”

“ And here's the tip-off line: 'The chance of space travelers existing on planets outside the solar system is very much greater than the chance for space-traveling Martians. The one can be viewed as almost a certainty (if you accept the thesis that intelligent life is not peculiar to the Earth.) ”

“ But to escape Earth's pull, a space vehicle must reach a speed of about 25,000 miles per hour. The necessary speed would be less for escaping from smaller planets (about 5,000 m.p.h. for the Moon) . Once in free space, there would be no gravitational pull. Other possible sources of trouble, however, must be analyzed first -- among them, the effect of cosmic rays, solar radiation, and collisions with meteorites.
Shielding is expected to offset cosmic or solar ray problems. The danger from meteorites has already been discounted in one scientific study. ”

“ To avoid ridicule, most pilots and observers now make reports privately; these have been averaging twelve a month, and Project Saucer, in its own words, is making a "serious, scientific evaluation" of the entire picture.
Several of those interviewed by TRUE believe that the project experts do not have the full answer, but are anxiously trying to fit the puzzle together. The project's suspicions, however, are clearly evident. Planes whose pilots report close encounters with "flying saucers" are checked with Geiger counters for radioactivity. ”

“ There is reason to believe, however, that some other race of thinking beings is a matter of two and a quarter centuries ahead of us.
The only other possible explanation is that the "saucers" are extremely high-speed, long-range devices developed here on Earth. Such an advance (which the Air Force has convincingly denied) would require an almost incredible leap in technical progress even for American scientists and designers. ”

“ In the Gorman case, the Eastern Airlines sighting, and other authentic cases, they insist all the witnesses were either deluded or lying. They dismiss the whole thing as bunk.
It is the opinion of TRUE that the flying saucers are real and that they come from no enemy on Earth. It is also TRUE's opinion that the Air Forces and Project Saucer are doing a serious, important job to safeguard American security. TRUE accepts the official denial of any secret device because the weight of the evidence, especially the world-wide sighting, does not support such a belief. ”

“ The Earth satellite vehicle will be the first attempt at a space base. It is expected to circle the Earth 500 miles out. Once in its orbit, with centrifugal force balancing the Earth's gravitational pull, no fuel will be required except to correct its course. The next probable step will be a similar space base farther out. The Moon rocket is expected to add to our information about space, so that finally we will emerge with a long-range space ship. ”

“ Seriously, though, it might take men from another planet many years to orient their thinking and grasp our way of life. And though most people don't know it, there have been saucer reports as far back as the eighteenth century. ”

“ For the past 175 years, the planet Earth has been under systematic close-range examination by living, intelligent observers from another planet.
2. The intensity of this observation, and the frequency of the visits to the Earth's atmosphere by which it is being conducted, have increased markedly during the past two years.
3. The vehicles used for this observation and for interplanetary transport by the explorers have been identified and categorized as follows: Type I, a small, nonpilot-carrying disk-shaped aircraft equipped with some form of television or impulse transmitter ”

“ It is the opinion of several engineers and pilots whom TRUE has questioned that an F-51, a sturdy war-tested fighter, starting a dive from 20,000 feet would not have disintegrated so thoroughly.
"From thirty thousand, yes," said one engineer. "If the idea was to explain it away, I'd pick a high altitude to start from. But a pilotless plane doesn't necessarily dive. It might slip off and spin, or spiral down, and a few have even landed themselves. ”

“ If the saucers that have been seen came from other worlds, which isn't at all Buck Rogerish, they may be powered by atomic energy or by the energy that produces cosmic rays -- which is many times more powerful -- or by some other fuel or natural force that our research hasn't yet discovered. ”

“ The Air Force estimate of fifty years may be too small. It may take that long to establish the Earth satellite and launch our first Moon rocket. Our V-2 rockets indicate some of the problems. On the take-off, their present swift acceleration would undoubtedly kill anyone inside. When re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, they get red-hot. Both the acceleration and deceleration must be controlled. ”

“ The publicized story of this "space ship" set off another scare -- also the usual cracks about screwball pilots. But regardless of how much Project Saucer already knew, this evidently was a jolt. Chiles and Whitted were highly respected pilots. The passenger's confirmation added weight. But even if all three had been considered deluded, the Air Force could not get around the similar reports from Robbins Air Force Base.
The authorized magazine version omitted all mention of the Robbins air-base sighting. ”

“ In view of the statements to be quoted from this man, who must necessarily be anonymous, it should be said that he is a hard-headed practical engineer of long experience, responsible for the design of aircraft known by name to every literate American. ”

“ J.A. Hynek, a project astronomer, a TRUE investigator learned that 17 per cent have been ascribed to stars, planets, meteorites, etc. Dr. Hynek believed that perhaps more could be thus explained. However, he refused even to hazard a guess as to what the remaining large number of sighted objects might be. ”

“ As the F-51s approached, it would have had to speed up again to 180 m.p.h., then to more than 360 to keep ahead of Mantell.
This writer, as a Navy-trained balloon pilot, as well as a Marine Corps airplane pilot, is reasonably familiar with free (drifting) balloons. But it doesn't take a balloon pilot to see that the recorded performance of the Fort Knox "saucer" is impossible for a balloon.
THE THREE fighter pilots chased the mysterious object for half an hour -- Mantell for thirty-five minutes. (I have several times chased balloons with a plane, overtaking them in seconds.) ”

“ TRUE learned that a rocket authority stationed at Wright Field has told Project Saucer personnel flatly that the saucers are interplanetary and that no other conclusion is possible. In the light of some of the sighting reports on the record, it is hard to disagree with him. Take the Chiles-Whitted case, for example.
At about 1:45 a.m., on July 24, 1948, a strange, flaming object came hurtling southward through the night skies over Robbins Air Force Base, Macon, Georgia. Observers at the base were astounded to see a huge, projectilelike craft race overhead, trailing a varicolored exhaust. ”

“ Type II, a very large (up to 250 feet in diameter) metallic, disk-shaped aircraft operating on the helicopter principle; Type III, a dirigible-shaped, wingless aircraft which, in the Earth's atmosphere, operates in conformance with the Prandtl theory of lift.
4. The discernible pattern of observation and exploration shown by the so-called "flying disks" varies in no important particular from well-developed American plans for the exploration of space expected to come to fruition within the next fifty years. ”

“ Astronomers, rocket experts, guided-missile consultants, aero-medical men and other specialists work on a hush-hush basis. Teams of Air Intelligence officers and technicians fly to any scene of a reliably reported sighting.
One case that apparently baffled project men was the mystifying "dogfight" which occurred one night at Fargo, North Dakota.
It was about 9 o'clock in the evening, October 1, 1948. Lieutenant George F. Gorman, former wartime instructor and now a National Guard pilot, was returning to Fargo Airport after a routine F-51 patrol flight. ”

“ Gorman reported his speed at full power as 350 to 400 m.p.h.
"When I attempted to turn with the light, I blacked out temporarily due to excessive speed. I am in fairly good physical condition, and I don't believe there are many if any pilots who could withstand the turn and speed effected by the light and remain conscious." ”

“ The other group among the flying-disk believers accepts the transparent light-disk answer -- but is convinced it was controlled from an interplanetary craft hovering at high altitude, not by an Air Force plane. ”

“ If a flying disk were traveling at high speed, a blur could be expected. That all the pictures were not blank seems significant.
Later, another TRUE investigator put this question to several Air Force officials: "If all the flying saucers are bunk (as one top official declared) what is Project Saucer doing? ”