65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 Section 004

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L. A. 105- b45
1 r . N. SMITH, S1.'ITH MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 105 Pasadena Avenue,
South Pasadena, California, who was with NOACK at the time the object was
discovered, advised Special Agent EDiiARD OLSEN on December 28, 19L8, that
he was present at the time the object was located on his, SLITH 1 s, landing
field near Helendale, California. S! ITH advised that they had taken some
pieces off the object and that subsequently, upon returning to Los Angeles,
he had learned that the object was actually a model kite or tow target which
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had been built by th~/'~Sm1 AND RICE l!ANL'F.lCTURING COMPANY of Los Angeles. r
Mr. S1ITH stated that he had talked to both OHLSON and RICE and that they
had admitted to him having experimented with the object over his, S1iITH' s,
airfield. J.:r . S}..ITH made available three of the parts of the target Tihich
he had secured while at the airfield.
The information furnis~ed by Mr . SY.ITH w;st mified by Special
Agent EJJW'ARD OLSEN in an interview with llr. HENRY . . CE, OHLSot' AND RICE
l:A!'lJ'F.i'.CTUlING COMPANY, 3340 Emery Street, Los Angeles. The parts made
available by ~ r . SI:ITH were exhibited to l r. RICE, and he advised that
the model tow target or kite had been taken to the airfield for flight
tests by himself and CIAUDE LER~LFORD, 5454 Chesley Avenue, Los
Angeles 43, California. Lr. P..ICE -s~ed that iOLFORD is the inventor
of the object and OHLSON A?lD RICE had originally agreed to finance him
to develop the tow target or Kite as a toy. l[r . RICE explained that
they were primarily interested in developing the contra?tion as a toy
kite to be sold in a much smal ler model; hmvever, the inventor, against
t1eir -wishes, had developed a much larger model which he had hoped to
sell as a tow target to be used behind airplanes . A~ . RICE stated that
since he had gone that far they felt that they should give the project
a test and ther eupon they took it out to the desert as a precautionary
measure . ?r. RICE stated that the flight test was a failure; the model
crashed soon after it was airborne and was thereafter abandoned on tte
field.
In the absence of her husband, l rs . CLAUDZ LEROY '":OLFORD,
SL.51.i Chesley Avenue, was interviewed and eY.hibited the three parts
of the kite made available by l.'.r, SMITH . She readily identified the
three items as part of a kite her husband had built for the 2ICE
!iANUFACTlJliirG COt..PANY. She advised that she also accompanied her
husband to the desert at the time the tests were made, She explained
that the kite had crashed and that the manuficturing company did not
want to put any more cash in it so it was abandoned on the desert.
The ttree parts of the kite were returned to ~!ATHA.fl: SUITH on
January 7, 1949 , The Sub-District Office, I . G. (USAF), 1206 Santee
Street, Terminal Annex, Los Angeles, California, was aaprised of the
information contaimd herein inurediately upon its receipt .
REFERRED UPON CO!PLETION TO l'HE OFFICE OF ORIGIN
2.