Circleville

July 6, Columbus (Ohio) Sunday Dispatch, Front Page

PICKAWAY 'SAUCER IS ARMY WEATHER DEVICE

A buzz of excitement swept Pickaway County Saturday when a farmer eight miles south of Circleville reported finding a "mysterious" object in his field thought to be connected with the "flying saucer" mystery.

Sherman Campbell said he found the object attached to remains of a balloon on his farm on West Fall Rd. near the Ross-Pickaway County line. Pickaway County sheriff's office said several other calls were received from persons who claim they found similar "discs."

The object found by Campbell was the shape of a six-pointed star, 48 by 50 inches in dimension, and covered with tinfoil. At the top was the remains and neck of a balloon measuring five inches in circumference.

A wave of speculation immediately arose whether Campbell's find might be one of the "flying saucers" which has baffled West Coast observers during the past week.

But officials at the Port Columbus weather station said the description of the object tallied with one used by the Army Air Forces to measure wind velocity at high altitude by the use of radar.

Progress of such devices through the sky, an Army Airforce official said, is comparatively slow, and not at the high speeds witnesses have attributed to the "flying saucers."

July 6, The Columbus Citizen, Front Page

. . . A report came from Chillicothe that a flying saucer had been found on the ground near there. All other reports had the saucers spotted in the air.

Mrs. Sherman Campbell, wife of a Pickaway County farmer, brought the contraption into town. She said her husband found it while plowing. It was a balloon and foil-covered kite affair and looked like it might give the impression of a fiery saucer in flight.

The Citizen, advised of the Chillcothe discovery, checked official sources, however, and soon learned the balloon-kite was an instrument oft-used by weather observers in studying the atmosphere. Lt. Robert Straub, officer of the day at the Clinton County Air Base scene of the Army Air Forces All-Weather Flying Center said the device was known as a "radiosone."

"It is used to take sounding by radar of the atmosphere," he said.

"Every weather station in the country uses them."

Farmer Campbell said: "I thought it was an old sack of something." As his plowing took him nearer to the gadget, he investigated and took the odd-looking contraption home.

Mrs. Campbell brought it into town yesterday, showed it to the news staff of the Chillcothe Gazette, then left to show it to her friends.

Ernie Ortman, a Gazette reporter, gave this description of it:

It looked like a meteorologist's balloon, with a six-pointed kite-like contraption suspended from the balloon.

The kite-like contraption if fanned by air current, could give the appearance of a flying saucer.

Ortman said the kite was covered mostly with tin foil.

Ortman said there was some lettering and numbers discernible on the wooden frame work of the kite.

He said the inscription showed in one spot:

"LMYRCX210."

In another spot were the initials: "W.V.V." and what Ortman thought was either "RIO" or the capital letter "R" and the number 10 (R 10).

Sherman Campbell, who lives on the Westfall road in Wayne township, near the Pickaway-Ross county line, reported the finding of a star-shaped silver foil covered object which he believes is one of the mysterious "flying saucers."

While working in the field he spotted a strange object. He described his find as 50 inches high, 48 inches wide and weighing about two pounds. He said the silver foil was stretched over a wooden frame. The star-shaped object had six points.

He said there was a balloon attached which had deflated and there was no way of knowing how big it was.

Discovery of the object was the first reported in the country. A Coast Guardsman on the west coast reported photographing one from a distance, but no one has seen one of the "flying discs" close.

The Circleville Herald, Tuesday, July 8

Second 'Disc' Recovered In County Area

A second mysterious silver foil-covered six-pointed contraption was delivered to the office of The Circleville Herald, Tuesday afternoon, by David C. Heffner, Route 1, Soutsville, who said he found it on the fence line of his farm on the old Tarlton road four and one-half miles east of Circleville.

The strange gadget, its origin and purpose undetermined, is quite similar to the first which was found Saturday on the farm of Sherman Campbell on the Westfall road in Pickaway county near the Ross county line.

Visions of a "landing" of one of the now world-mystifying "flying saucers" near Circleville were conjured when Mr. Heffner reported his find Tuesday to Sheriff Charles Radcliff and to The Herald.

Although generally believed to have been sent aloft in connection with weather observations the possibility remained that the queer contraption may be one of those strange objects identified thus far throughout the nation merely as "flying saucers."

Unlike the first find in Pickaway county, Tuesday's find has attached to it the almost complete remains of a thin rubber balloon which when inflated must have measured at least 10 feet in diameter.

The markings on the newly found gadget are: "ML 387, B-AP, Mfg. By Chase."

The Circleville Herald, July 9, Page One

DEVICE LIKE LOCAL 'DISCS' FOUND IN WEST

Pickaway Countians Believe 'Kites' Are Answer To U.S. 'Saucer' Tales

Circleville had the distinction, Wednesday, of being the first city in the nation to have on display two queer six-point foil-covered box-like contraptions which may [illegible text]

Although [illegible text] the "flying saucers" [illegible text] not been [illegible text] Wednesday, and although press dispatches said that 80 weather stations have been sending aloft foil-covered gadgets in connection with weather observations, the mysterious gadgets found on Pickaway county farms presented a possible solution to the "flying saucer" conundrum baffling the nation.

Excitement buzzed throughout the United States early Tuesday night when an alleged "flying disc" was reported found on a ranch in eastern New Mexico. Shortly afterward, however, an Army Air Corps announcement said the find was a contraption whose description tallied closely with the gadgets discovered in Pickaway county and placed on exhibition in the office of The Circleville Herald.

A third similar box-like gadget covered with silver foil was found Tuesday afternoon on a farm near South Bloomfield.

Last Saturday, the news was flashed throughout the nation that the first such contraption had been found on the farm of Sherman Campbell on the Westfall road in Pickaway county eight miles south of Circleville.

The second such find was reported to Sheriff Charles Radcliff Tuesday afternoon by David C. Heffner, who said he discovered it on a line fence on his farm on the old Tarlton road four and one half miles east of Circleville. Mr. Heffner's post office address is Route 1, Stoutsville.

The gadgets found by Mr. Campbell and Mr. Heffner were brought to the Circleville Herald. Each is constructed of a light wood frame. Only a remnant of the thin rubber balloon remained attached to the Campbell find, but the other contraption discovered on the Heffner farm includes most of the remains of the balloon which must have measured more than 15 feet in diameter when it was inflated. That device bears the markings: "ML 387, B-AP. Mfg. By Chase."

Followed in the skies by radar the strange gadgets found near Circleville would have when whirling in the air appeared like a "flying saucer."

As to the box-like object reported in New Mexico Tuesday night, identification as a bit of of "meteorological equipment" was made by Warrant Officer Irving Newton, Stetsonville, Wis., an official of the Eighth Army headquarters weather department.

The Fort Worth office said the "disc" was only a bit of equipment used by Army and weather bureau officials.

An amplifying statement by public relations officer Capt. G. F. Haist said:

"Experts have identified the equipment as a box kite or a "rawin high altitude sounding device" used by meteorologists."

The original announcement of the discovery of a so-called "flying disc" came from the Foster ranch near Corona, N.M. An employee on the ranch found the balloon.

An Air Corps public relations officer at Roswell, N.M., Lt. Warren Haught, electrified the country with his report of finding a "disc," but a few hours later the report blew up with the Fort Worth identification.

Brig. Gen. Roger Ramey, commanding general of the Eight Air Force field, had insisted the "disc" evidently was nothing other than a weather or radar instrument of some sort.

For a time officers planned to bring the "disc" to Wright Field, Dayton, O., by plane. Its identification as remnants of a weather balloon cancelled those plans.