Alternate Perceptions Magazine, June 2021
Advent of the Flying Saucers - 1949
by: Rick Hilberg
March 10 - Mexican authorities refused to dignify with a comment the claim of Ray L. Dimmick, a Los Angeles salesman, that they were preserving as a "state secret" the crash of a "flying saucer" near the capital three months ago in which the pilot, a man only 23 inches tall, was killed. But they said privately that there was no such "secret" and certainly no such crash and no such "little man." The coincidence of the tale with the True magazine story was pointed out. It was remarked that it corresponded with a recent North Carolina radio station hoax. Dimmick was telling his story based on the authority of what he had been told by unnamed business men he met in Mexico City. He had been shown a piece of metal, he said, which had been sold to him as a piece from the wreckage of the saucer. But a “flying saucer" was reported again in the Carolina skies where they have been "seen" before. In Orangeburg, South Carolina, several residents described a "disk" which they said had hovered over the city for 15 minutes and then disappeared, leaving a vapor trail.
Source: Unidentified paper from Canon City, Colorado, March 10, 1950.
April 7, 1949 - Los Angeles -People peering into the heavens today were advised to keep a sharp lookout for a cup to go along with a flying saucer spotted by two Griffith Park employees. Roscoa Johnson, 24, and Frank Escobar, 40, said they saw a "saucer" zig-zag overhead at "jet plane speed" and disappear in the northwest. The men were not together at the time but decided they had seen "something" and reported the matter to their foreman. One of the men said the object appeared as a "silver" disk about five feet in diameter.
Source: Unidentified Los Angeles newspaper, April 8, 1949.
April 8 - Montrose, Colorado - Air Force intelligence men have recovered two segments of what may have been one of the "flying disks" that caused widespread speculation during the summer of 1947, and have supposedly been seen during the past few days. One of the segments was in the possession of Noah L. Clubb of Montrose until he was requested Tuesday to turn it over to the intelligence men. The intelligence men were reported to have spent two days scouring a mile square section of rugged country about 15 miles west of Delta, where a second and longer segment was reported found. Clubb said the intelligence men declared the circular shaped segments were found last October by cattlemen, identified as the Calhoun brothers. Pieced together the segments evidently were part of a wheel-shaped instrument about four feet in diameter, the rail being of aluminum construction. It was slightly less than two inches across and one inch thick. On the outer edge of the wheel, at intervals of about three inches, were tube-like wicks about two inches long and of brass construction. Each wick, which witnesses said might have been fuel feeders, bore an even number. Clubb said the Air Force intelligence men told him they were taking the two segments to Lowry Field, near Denver.
Source: Ibid.
June 28 - Emmett, Idaho - The "flying disk" mystery was reopened today after a brilliant white "flying light" was reported last night. Mrs. Raymond Knox said she saw the light at 9:00 p.m. and called Louis Hower, publisher of the Emmett Messenger, half an hour later. The weekly newspaper publisher said he saw the light for 15 minutes before it vanished into a low cloud. He said it gained and lost elevation and veered both right and left. Other observers said the light appeared round, but was "elongated" when turning. Two years ago two United Air Lines pilots reported "flying disks" over Emmett about the same time of evening. Pilots of two UAL flights over the area reported nothing unusual last night. The flights passed over Emmett while ground observers were seeing the strange light. Durango, Colorado - Mercy hospital's Billy Beara may have seen the long-talked about "flying saucers" or some such article, according to his eyewitness report to the sight he saw Monday night about 10:35. If anyone can match or confirm Billy's story, he'd like to hear from them. And so would the News. "About 10:30 I was getting ready for bed when I looked up into the sky to see a bright object moving from SW to NE at an angle of about 40 degrees. It disappeared behind the trees before I could call anyone to see it," Billy said. The object was about 50 to 100 feet in the air and had a rather flat tail.
Source: Durango, Colorado News, June 29, 1949.
July 3 - Longview, Washington - Both Eastern and Western Washington residents saw things in the sky yesterday. But not the same things. Around Moses Lake, thousands of spectators attending the three-day holiday celebration craned their necks skyward as 36 F-84 Thunderbirds from Hamilton Field, California, swooped in for a Washington visit. At Longview, a former Navy lieutenant commander and 150 townspeople talked of flying disks swishing through the sky at an altitude estimated as 30,000 feet. The disk report was made by Moulton Taylor, operator of the Longview airport and former research specialist in the Navy's guided missile program. He notified the airport from his home, and the 150 or more Junior Chamber of Commerce members, firemen and field attendants preparing for an afternoon air show soon reported seeing the same phenomena. Taylor said the three objects are "definitely not meteorological balloons, stars or planes as we know them." He said he was making a complete report for the Air Force Department. The jet fighters seen at Moses Lake were accompanied by F-82 Mustangs from Moses Lake and McChord Field. All will fly today over five Washington cities from Prosser to Hoquiam before returning to their home fields.
Source: Tacoma, Washington News Tribune, July 4, 1949.
July 9 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Those fabulous "flying saucers", mysterious heavenly bodies, reappeared over various sections of the city and suburbs last night moving in practically every direction. Excited residents called the Enquirer office and the Electrical Bureau at City Hall to report the presence of strange objects and to enquire as to what they might be. Some informants said the small, illuminated plates or disks moved in a circular direction toward the Trenton area. Others said they circled over sections of West Philadelphia. All agreed that they disappeared as mysteriously as they came by "just vanishing into the clouds." The "saucers" were present for an off-and-on period from 9:30 to 11: p.m., according to the callers. Two of last night's viewers were a Tacony couple who watched in astonishment from the back porch of their home on Tulip Street. George G. Wunsch and his wife, Caroline, said they saw nine of the unexplainable things. They appeared at even intervals about a minute apart, starting shortly after 10:30. According to the couple, the objects had a dull illumination visible beneath the evening's white cloud layer. At first, the couple thought it was a spotlight hitting the clouds, but saw that there was no beam of light coming from the earth. Wunsch said each disk appeared about every minute. They moved "considerably faster" than an airliner but were still clearly visible to the naked eye. Barry McGuian, a theatrical photographer, and his wife of Spruce Street, saw a similar object earlier in the evening. They too thought at first it was a searchlight. But no beam was there. Both said the platter circled about their West Philadelphia neighborhood for some time. At intervals, they reported, it seemed to stop for about eight seconds.
Source: Philidelphia Enquirer, July 10, 1949.
July 24 - Boise, Idaho - Seven V-shaped objects which appeared about the size of fighter planes were reported flying within 1,500 or 2,000 feet of a civilian aircraft over the Mountain Home desert today. The pilot told the Idaho Statesman, Boise, that so far as he could determine the objects were not United States planes. He notified the Civil Aeronautics Administration radio station of his experience and the 100th fighter squadron of the national guard reported it to McChord Field, Washington. The Statesman quoted the pilot as saying he was "frightened and shaken by the experience." He said the objects were in tight formation, but not the type of formation used by military aircraft, were flying "at a tremendous rate of speed." The pilot, the Statesman said, has wide experience in aviation. He trained pilots during the war and operates an airport in the Boise Valley. He made his information available only on the promise that his name would not be used, the paper said. The pilot described the objects as being in the shape of a V, with a solid, circular body under the nose of the V. There was no evidence of any means of propulsion, he said - no propeller and no smoke trails indicating jet power. There were no markings of any kind. The color, he said, was a shade he "couldn't describe and hadn't seen before." He told the Statesman that there was not a moving thing on them. He said he had the objects under observation for two minutes, adding "it was two minutes of excitement." The pilot said he was about ten miles west of Mountain Home, flying toward Boise at about 10,000 feet on the right side of the highway. He said the objects were flying at about 6,000 or 6,500 feet. He described the formation as in two lines of three each with the seventh object either in the center, between the two lines or above them. "It left me with a funny, ghostly feeling," he told the paper. It was two years ago on July 4 that Capt. E. J. Smith, his copilot and stewardess reported a formation of objects over Emmett. Shortly thereafter, the nation was deluged with stories of weird flying objects. Reports came from seasoned pilots as well as from the man in the street.
Source: Unidentified newspaper from Moscow, Idaho, July 26, 1949.
