(nos: wnsun-z) max?4 - - 3. am ?53? 51.5 2' 15?s?" 3.1: AAGS .. HIS TORY r11 Eu.- f, an 2.53 .17? .wa- 1 Aprii 30 June 1947 C) rxJ? rm:- (.9 01 co 115% g? 732d Base Uhit (102d AACS Squadron) EcChord, Field Tacoma, Washington pus-'- Completed: 26 July 19h? gym: WM A 11:33 .H Hal Eustace Louis Preg Lt, Sig Major, AC Author Commanding i 4m ?4.14 Svo?a??n?h?R?j a; -, INTELLIGENCE 9% ?The purpose of the follOWing is to report animosity toward the - as: . t- . 324 5 Army growing out of the rash of "flying saucer" reports emanating . from the Pacific Northwest, and is not to be taken as lending cre? dence to these silly-season episodes. ?g A Interviews with persons claiming to have seen "flying discs" Sn; and with reporters handling the stories reveal an antagonistic at- titude toward the Army. They were skeptical of the Armr's denials of knowledge concerning "discs,? and were resentful when their quer- -a ?ries brought facitious answers. - The attitude of Mr._Kenneth Arnold of hoise, Idaho, the first person to report sighting the ?discs,? was typical. He asserted: ?well, if the Army doesn't know what'they (the discs) are, it sure ought to be trying to find out;" Mr. Arnold, about 32, is a veteran light plane pilot. He was dragging the area near Mt. Ranier for a missing-aircraft when he . sighted the "discs" silohouetted against the mountain. He watched and timed them until he thought they were over another checkepoint and fron this estimated.their speed at 1200.mph. An\examination of his nethod of computing the speed revealed his_premise to be sound, fies wk Karim: A531: 3: but he had no method of being certain that the objects were actually over his second checkepoint.l They could have been on a line between si 5? 3 5- 4i him and the check?point, rather than over it. When reminded that the human would have considerable difficulty in following an object at 1200 mph, or. Arnold responded: "But these things were big -- as big as 0-545." His attitude is summed up in his statement: don't believe it, but I saw it." He is so positive that he really saw the "discs" he has purchased a motion picture hand camr' era and takes it with his on all flights. _He is very much on the . defensive about the whole matter, fearing that "Feople will think and he hails with glee corroborating reports from other persons claiming to have seen "discs." iHe seems to he reasonably well balanced, although exciteable, and has no apparent ulterior . motive in the "disc" affair other than to prove that he is not "nuts." The writer was present in the Seattle office of the Interna- tional News Service when Capt. E.J. Smith and Co?pilot Ralph Ste- phone, United Airlines pilots who claimed to have seen "discs, compared notes with hr. Arnold. They agreed generally on the shape of the "discs,? and disagreed as to speed and the _appearance of the top side of the "discs. Mr. Arnold said the ones he saw were all the same size, whereas the United?pilots said they saw a large one and "three or four" smaller ones. They called the plane's hostess into the pilot compartment, they said, and asked her, without prompt? ing, if she could see anything up front. She saw the "discs" also, they reported. Capt. Smith and Co?pilot Stephens apparently had no ulterior motive, although it was noted that they responded with alacrity and hair-combing when it was suggested that a news photo be made of than and Mr. Arnold viewing a picture of a "disc" taken the previous night by a Seattle Coast Guardsman. Even so, Capt. Smith does not appear to be the type of.man who would lend himself to chicannery, or could easily be.midled. The pieture of a ?disc? sentioned above was a dark ?xlo print of the sky (no clouds showing) and in the lower leit hand corner was a small streak of light about a quarter of an inch long. This, so the caption read, was the Miss." A large, economyhsized white arrow pointed out the tiny white blurr. I This was telephotoed to.New York followed hy an anxious teletyped Venerry "How's pix?" "The arrow," New York laconically peeked back in - disgust "was swell." The man who took the picture was no babe?in?the-woods - he was trying to peddle it to all the picture agencies at a nice price. The majority of the "disc? reports in this section undoubtedly .originated from attention-seekers, crackapots, victims of torpid livers and faulty elimination, and the rocking-chair fleet of Sundayhsupplement scientists. I ?As stated in the first paragraph; the purpose of this report is not to lend credence to "flying discs" but is to report ill-will toward and suspicion of the Army growing out of the situation. That this animosity is not a figment of the imagination is evidenced.by'VFW National Commander Louis E. Starr wiring?Washing? ton for an explanation of the "flying discs." and, getting none, ominously grumbled in public print: "Too little is being told to ~?the people of this . :ihis squadron is critically short of i d?,Ju?only three of an authorized i3? Ix; During the past quarter, this squadron received intelligence files from Group. 8-2 started its own registry system, saving time 10 AACS - ATS QUAHERLY HISTORY July-~30 September 1947 732d AAF BU (102d MOS Sq) McChord Field, Tacoma, Washington Completed: ?7 October 1947 Hal L. Eustace lat Lt, Air Corps Author ROS 99918130 cooperation with the Mochord Field PRO was established for expediting AACS releases. In line with 102d AACS Squadron's policy of full co- operation with base comenders, Lt. Eustace is aiding the Base PRO in line with the wishes of Col. Julius A. Kolb, Mochord Field commander. On 1 July Lt. Eustace was given 5-2 duties vice Lt. Vancura, who was attending radioactivity detection school at San Francisco. Lt. Vancura returned 21 August and was reassigwd his old duty. He departed on a 26-day leave 2 September. Capt. Radtke was named 5-2 16' September. Other changes during the quarter included: 8 Aug-nape. Thos. D. Garner appointed squadron custodian of documents and devices vice 1st Lt. Garland Rayborn. 16- ?Aug-?Japt. Samuel Flame, Jr., appointed Great Falls security officer and custodian, vice Capt. James E. Cinnamon. 2'7 Aug-?apt. John F. Thompson appointed squad- ron custodian of documents and devices, vice Capt. Thos. D. Gamer. (Inasmuch as "flying discs" were covered "in the 8-2 section of the previous 102d Squadron quarterly history, this follow-up is presented here). Two Hamilton Field pilots were killed in a crash at Kelso, Wash? as an aftermath of the rash of "flying disc? rumors in this section. This fatal accident grew out of the efforts of two Tacoma resi- dents to sell a "flying saucer" story to a pseudo-scientific magazine of the "Amazing" type. Newspapers were anonymously tipped that these persons had material from a "disc." The magazine asked Mr. Kenneth Arnold, Boise light-plane pilot who was the first to claim to have seen "saucers" to investigate these claims. Eventually, this information was supplied to A-2 at Hamilton Field, and the two pilots flew here to interview these per- 7 sons. They supplied the "material" -- from a slag pile and the pilots left for Hamilton Field. They crashed and died near Kelso. Wild rumors circulated that the plane was "shot down carrying 'olas? sified materialI from a flying disc." This luridly played-up crash and the equally lurid Hughes investigation shoved aside AAF publicity 'on the eve of Air Force Day.