Symposium on unidentified flying objects: hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 29, 1968.

242
of
silvery
discs.
Such
sightings
are
rare,
or
essentially
absent,
from
the
reports
of
more
recent
years.
It
is
interesting
to
wonder
about
how
many
apparitions
of
this
type
were
ob-
served
and
not
reported.
My
wife's
uncle,
Mr.
Earl
Page,
then
a
resident
of
Kennewick,
Washington,
had
ob-
served
on
July
12,
1947,
a
formation
of
six
or
eight
silvery
discs
pass
by
his
small
airplane
at
fantastic
speed.
Mrs.
Page and
their
son
were
present
and
saw
the
objects,
which
"fluttered
as
a
group
for
a
second
or
two,
and
then
stabilized
. . .
alternating
between
these
two
modes."
The
Pages
were
flying
north
over
Utah
Lake.
Mr.
Page
told
his
story
to
a
few
friends
who
laughed
at
him,
and
from
then
on
he mentioned
it
to
no
one.
Any
one
of
the
sightings
of
forma-
tions
of
saucer
-like
objects
during
the
summer
of
1947
could
perhaps
be
dis-
missed
from
the
mind.
A
large
number
of
independent
sightings,
however,
pro-
duces
a
pattern
which
is
quite
impres-
sive.
2.
The
Chesapeake
Bay
Case,
July
14,
1952.
This
is
one
of
the
best
docu-
mented
sightings
on
record, involving
extremely
high
speeds
and a
sharp
change
of
direction
(Fig.
3).
First
Officer
William
B.
Nash
and
2nd
Offi-
cer
William
H.
Fortenberry
were
fly-
ing
a
commercial
plane
from
New
York
to
Miami,
approaching
Newport
News,
Virginia.
At
8:12
(just
after
dark)
a
brilliant
red
glow
suddenly
appeared
in
the
west.
It
was
soon
re-
solved as
six
coin
-shaped
objects
flying
in
line
formation.
They
glowed
with
a
brilliant
orange
-red
color
on
top,
were
estimated
to
be
100
feet
in
diameter
and 15
feet thick.
They moved
rapidly
toward
the plane,
at
one
point
breaking
slightly
in
their
perfect
formation
asthe
second
and
third
objects
wavered
slightly
and
almost overran
the
leader.
They
turned
in
unison
on
edge
and
re-
versed
position
in
the
formation,
the
last
object
moving up
to
the front
posi-
tion
with
the others following.
They
then
abruptly
reversed
direction,
mov-
ing
off
somewhat
to the
right
with
the
original
leader
again
in
the
lead
posi-tion.
The
turn
was
executed
almost
like balls
bouncing
off
a
wall
with
no
wavering or
arc apparent.
Two
other
objects
raced
out
from
beneath
the
plane
and
took
up
positions
seven
and
eight in
the
formation.
They
decreased
in brilliance just
before
making
the
4
Fig.
3.
The
action
of
the
Chesapeake
Bay
discs
as reported
by
Nash
and
Forten-
berry.
(a)
Discs
at
first
approach.
(b)
They
flip
over
and
reverse
order.
(c)
They
zhange
direction,
recede,
and
are
joined
by
two
others
(from
Menzel and
Boyd,
1963).
turn;
objects
seven
and
eight
were
by
far
the
brightest
as they
approached
the
formation;
and
for
a
brief interval
or
two
all
eight
blinked
out
and
then
came
back
on
again.
They
sped
off,
climbing
to
an
altitude
above
that
of
the
airplane,
and
then
one
by one
but
at
random
their
lights
blinked
off
and
the
sighting
was
finished.
In
repeating
mentally
their
observation, the
pilots
estimated
that
it
had
lasted
only
about
12
to
15
seconds.
Menzel
and
Boyd
(1963),
after
con-
sidering
many
possible
explanations
forthe
sighting,
concluded
that
the
pilots
must
have
seen
the
illuminated
discs
produced
by
a
red
searchlight
shining
through
nearly transparent
thin layers
of
haze. Charles
Maney
(1965)
cor-
responded
with
Menzel
for
several
months,
considering
all
of
the
possible
explanations
that
might
come
to
mind.
Apparently
Menzel would
have
readily
accepted
several
explanations
if
Maney
had
not
one by one
clearly
demon-
strated
their
implausibility.
The
pilots
themselves thoroughly
rejected
Menzel's
searchlight
hypothesis,
saying
that
they
were
familiar
with
such
phenomena,
and
this
was
simply not
what
they
ob-
served.
The
details
described
above
are
certainly
difficult
to reconcile
with
a
searchlight hypothesis.
The
extremely
short
duration
of
the
sighting,
how-
ever,
makes
one
question
the
absolute
accuracy
of
the
account.
Did
some
points
develop
a
bit
with
discussion
andremembering?
Furthermore,
the
veloci-
ties
of
the
UFO's
calculated
at
between
6,000
and
12,000
mph
through
a
dense
atmosphere
at
2,000
feet
and
including
an
instantaneous
reversal in
direction,
are,
to
say
the
least,
extremely
difficult
to
fit
into
our
present
concepts of
the
universe.
Light
images
could
perform
these
maneuvers,
but
how
could
they
perform
some
of
the
other
maneuvers
reported
by
the
two
pilots?
•
This
case
is
presented as
an
example
of
the
problems
met
by
a
UFO
re-
searcher.
To
solve
a
sighting
such
as
this
to
everyone's
satisfaction
would
re-
quire
turning
the
clock
back.
3.
Trindade
Island,
January 16,
1958.
Figure
4
shows
a
photograph
taken
by
a
Mr.
Almiro
Barauna, a
pro-
fessional
photographer,
from
the
deckof
the
Almirante Saldanha,
a
Brazilian
Navy
ship.
Several
UFO's
had
beenseen
in
the
vicinity
of
Trindade
Island
(a
Brazilian possession
off
the coast
of
Africa) during
its
reactivation
as
a
naval base
in
connection
with the
In-
ternational
Geophysical
Year.
In
the
instance
reported here,
several
sailors
at
opposite
ends of
the ship spotted the
approaching
object
simultaneously
and
began
to
shout
the
news
to
everyone
else.
Soon
the
approximately
100
sailors
on
board,
including various
offi-
cers,
were
watching
the
object.
Mr.
Barauna
was
preparing
to
take
some
photographs
and
had
his
camera
ready.
Fig.
4.
The
third
(and
best)
photograph
of a
UFO
taken
by Almiro Barauna
on
January
16,
1958,
near
the
island
of
Trin-
dade.
The
insert
is
an
enlargement of
the
object
to
the point
of
evident
grain
in
the
print.
Supplied
by
The
Aerial
Phenomena
Research
Organization.