The Flying Saucers are Real | Page 7

no.
"There's something damned queer going on. For fifteen months, Project
'Saucer' is buttoned up tight. Top secret. Then suddenly, Forrestal gets
the Saturday Evening Post
{p. 19}
to run two articles, brushing the whole thing off. The first piece hits the
stands--and then what happens?"
Purdy swung around, jabbed his finger at a document on. his desk.
"That same day, the Air Force rushes out this Project 'Saucer' report. It
admits they haven't identified the disks in any important cases. They
say it's still serious enough--wait a minute--"he thumbed through the
stapled papers--" 'to require constant vigilance by Project "Saucer"
personnel and the civilian population.'"
"You'd think the Post would make a public kick," I said.
"I don't mean it's an out-and-out denial," said Purdy. "It doesn't mention
the Post--just contradicts it. In fact, the report contradicts itself. It looks
as if they're trying to warn people and yet they're scared to say too

much."
I looked at the title on the report: "A Digest of Preliminary Studies by
the Air Materiel Command, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, on 'Flying
Saucers.'"
"Have the papers caught it yet?" I asked Purdy.
"You mean its contradicting the Post?" He shook his head. "No, the
Pentagon press release didn't get much space. How many editors would
wade through a six-thousand-word government report? Even if they did,
they'd have to compare it, item for item, with the Post piece."
"Who wrote the Post story?"
Purdy lit a cigarette and frowned out again at the skyscrapers.
"Sidney Shallett--and he's careful. He had Forrestal's backing. The Air
Force flew him around, arranged interviews, supposedly gave him
inside stuff. He spent two months on it. They O.K.'d his script, which
practically says the saucers are bunk. Then they reneged on it."
"Maybe some top brass suddenly decided it was the wrong policy to
brush it off," I suggested.
"Why the quick change?" demanded Purdy. "Let's say they sold the
Post on covering up the truth, in the interests of security. It's possible,
though I don't believe it. Or they could simply have fed them a fake
story. Either
{p. 20}
Way, why did they rush this contradiction the minute the Post hit the
stands?"
"Something serious happened," I said, "after the Post went to press."
"Yes, but what?" Purdy said impatiently. "That's what we've got to find
out."

"Does Shallett's first piece mention Mantell's death?"
"Explains it perfectly. You know what Mantell was chasing? The
planet Venus!"
"That's the Post's answer?" I said, incredulously.
"It's what the Air Force contract astronomer told Shallett. I've checked
with two astronomers here. They say that even when Venus is at full
magnitude you can barely see it in the daytime even when you're
looking for it. It was only half magnitude that day, so it was practically
invisible."
"How'd the Air Force expect anybody to believe that answer?" I said.
Purdy shrugged. "They deny it was Venus in this report. But that's what
they told Shallett--that all those Air Force officers, the pilots, the
Kentucky state police, and several hundred people at Madisonville
mistook Venus for a metallic disk several hundred feet in diameter."
"It's a wonder Shallett believed it."
"I don't think he did. He says if it wasn't Venus, it must have been a
balloon."
"What's the Air Force answer?" I asked Purdy.
"Look in the report. They say whatever Mantell chased--they call it a
'mysterious object'--is still unidentified."
I glanced through the case report, on page five. It quoted Mantell's
radio report that the thing was metallic and tremendous in size. Linked
with the death of Mantell was the Lockbourne, Ohio, report, which tied
in with what Jack Daly had told me, over a year before. I read the
report:
"On the same day, about two hours later, a sky phenomenon was
observed by several watchers over Lockbourne Air Force Base,
Columbus, Ohio. It was described as 'round or oval, larger than a C-47,

and traveling in level
{p. 21}
flight faster than 500 miles per hour.' The object was followed from the
Lockbourne observation tower for more than 20 minutes. Observers
said it glowed from white to amber, leaving an amber exhaust trail five
times its own length. It made motions like an elevator and at one time
appeared to touch the ground. No sound was heard. Finally, the object
faded and lowered toward the horizon."
Purdy buzzed for his secretary, and she brought me a copy of the first
Post article.
"You can get a copy of this Air Force report in Washington," Purdy
told me. "This is the only one I have. But you'll find the same answer
for most of the important cases--the sightings at Muroc Air Base, the
airline pilots' reports, the disks Kenneth Arnold saw--they're all
unidentified."
"I remember the Arnold case. That was