Blue Book file, Rivera and Heaphy (CUFOS)

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

of four witnesses, two of whom used binoculars (Mrs. A. was not included in the report identified as "kites"), that the object was circular to accept the "kite" explanation. A radar kite is a carefully folded aluminum sheet which is like a cube with its corners pushed inward to the center of the cube. This folding turns the "cube" into a collection of "corner reflectors" for radar. The outline of such a device could be square, rectangular, or hexagonal ( probably a distorted hexagon), but never circular. When the ballon bursts the kite "folds" and drifts earthward. It is difficult to image a piece of aluminum that must weigh at least several hundred grams drifting, with no balloon support, for over 300 miles.

Of course the argument that the witnesses saw a radar kite launched in San Francisco presupposes that the wind direction was correct. However, as I found out by calling the weather center (Ashville, North Carolina) the winds at Oakland California and at Medford, Oregon (about 80 miles East of Gold Beach) were out of the Northeast at all altitudes from about 1000 feet to about 30,000 feet. Specifically, the angles of the direction with respect to North(= 0°) and measured clockwise were in the range $ 1 8 0^{\circ} $ to $ 2 7 0^{\circ} $ at Medford at 1300 hours and 1900 hours local time. At Oakland the winds ranged from about $ 1 0 0^{\circ} $ to about $ 3 0 0^{\circ} $ at various altitudes at 1300 and 1900 hours local time on May 24, 1949. Thus the winds would have tended to carry any windborn object toward the southwest , not northward ! This information may have been available to the BB#14 investigators (Battelle) and may have helped them decide that the object was not a radar kite. (Had they decided it was, they obviously wouldn't have included it as one of the"twelve good unknowns". This wasn't the only time that the BB#14 investigators reversed the decision of the BB or Grudge investigators.)

To aid in the study of this sighting I have compiled a table of the grosser features of the various statements and interviews. The reader will note that the estimated times (duration) and distances varied somewhat, but were all comparable. All witnesses agreed on the general shape and color. Apparently the object was of an angular size that was large enough so that the witnesses could determine its circular shape even without binoculars. It was compared in angular size to that of"a large passenger plane" (Mrs. D.) and of "a C-47" as it flies over Gold Beach. These estimates are subjective, but suggest angular sizes comparable to 0.1 to 1 degree (0.0017 to 0.017 radians; for comparison, the angular size of the moon or the sun is about 1/2 a degree). At the very least the object must have been of an angular size of a minute or two (1/60 =0.017 degrees to 2/60 = 0.034 degrees) since the normal resolution of the bright adapted eye is on the order of