Project Blue Book case file (combined PDF)

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# 3 Photos Air Saucer Mystery Stirs Row

By TOM NEWTON Herald-Examiner Staff Writer

Controversy continued today over pictures of a "flying saucer" reported taken near El Toro Marine Base by Rex Heflin, Orange County Highway Department investigator. Heflin told

Heflin told The Herald Examiner he had received a call from a man identifying himself as a colonel with NORAD (North American Air Defense). asking him to refrain from comment at present.

The highway investigator said he intended to check the validity of the call later today.

Heflin, 37. Monday released three photos of "a silver object" he spotled at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 3 while working in an area between the El Toro Base and the nearby Marine Corps Air Facility.

Neither air station reported any unidentified objects on the radar that day.

He told investigators he "glimpsed the silver object and estimated it to be 30 feet in diameter and about eight feet thick."

## 'NO SOUND'

Heflin said it was visible for about 15 seconds and moved from west to east, accelerating at about the same speed as a jet plane.

"It made no sound." he said, "but a beam of white light rotated underneath the saucer."

Authoritative sources confirmed his claim that "the light was visible in the last of the three pictures, using a magnifying glass." The "saucer" was slightly tipped in the third picture, revealing its underside.

The county employe said he carried the camera as part of his work. Photographers said it would have been possible to take the three pictures within 15 seconds with the camera Heflin carries.

## 'RADIO DIED'

Hefflin, who says he "doesn't believe in flying saucers," said tha. during his sighting of the object he tried to contact his base station in Santa Ana.

He said: "The radio went dead twice while I was trying to contact the station, but it has worked ever since without trouble."

The incident occurred during a period when numerous sightings of UFO's (unidentified flying objects) were reported throughout the Midwestern and Southeastern sections of the country.

Heflin said he is willing to take a lie detector test regarding the pictures.

He said the NORAD officer tentatively set up a meeting for tonight or Thursday night in Santa Ana.

Officials at the El Toro Base said they were copying the pictures for a full report to the 11th Naval District in San Diego. The report will eventually reach Washington.