I don’t know what these people saw.  There has been a lot of interest generated by these sightings because of the extremely high qualifications and caliber of the observers.  There is some legitimate doubt as to the accuracy of the speed and altitude figures that McLaughlin’s crew arrived at from the data they measured with their theodolite.  This doesn’t mean much, however.  Even if they were off by a factor of 100 per cent, the speeds and altitudes would be fantastic, and besides they looked at the UFO through a 25-power telescope and swore that it was a flat, oval-shaped object.  Balloons, birds, and airplanes aren’t flat and oval-shaped.

Astrophysicist Dr. Donald Menzel, in a book entitled Flying Saucers, says they saw a refracted image of their own balloon caused by an atmospheric phenomenon.  Maybe he is right, but the General Mills people don’t believe it.  And their disagreement is backed up by years of practical experience with the atmosphere, its tricks and its illusions.

When the March issue of True magazine carrying Commander McLaughlin’s story about how the White Sands Scientists had tracked UFO’s reached the public, it stirred up a hornets’ nest.  Donald Keyhoe’s article in the January True had converted many people but there were still a few heathens.  The fact that government scientists had seen UFO’s, and were admitting it, took care of a large percentage of these heathens.  More and more people were believing in flying saucers.

The Navy had no comment to make about the sightings, but they did comment on McLaughlin.  It seems that several months before, at the suggestion of a group of scientists at White Sands, McLaughlin had carefully written up the details of the sightings and forwarded them to Washington.  The report contained no personal opinions, just facts.  The comments on McLaughlin’s report had been wired back to White Sands from Washington and they were, “What are you drinking out there?” A very intelligent answer—­and it came from an admiral in the Navy’s guided missile program.

By the time his story was published, McLaughlin was no longer at White Sands; he was at sea on the destroyer Bristol.  Maybe he answered the admiral’s wire.

The Air Force had no comment to make on McLaughlin’s story.  People at ATIC just shrugged and smiled as they walked by the remains of Project Grudge, and continued to “process UFO reports through regular intelligence channels.”

In early 1950 the UFO’s moved down to Mexico.  The newspapers were full of reports.  Tourists were bringing back more saucer stories than hand-tooled, genuine leather purses. Time reported that pickpockets were doing a fabulous business working the sky-gazing crowds that gathered when a plativolo was seen.  Mexico’s Department of National Defense reported that there had been some good reports but that the stories of finding crashed saucers weren’t true.