Corpus Christi, Texas, Naval Air Station
July 9, 1947
Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times
Thursday Morning, July 10, 1947
Front page
https://www.newspapers.com/image/755290372/?match=1&terms=rawin
NAS Balloons Not Part of Disc Stir
SO FAR AS NAVY KNOWS
By Nancy Heard
Rawin reflectors, shiny kite-like weather observing devices, are used for tests at the Naval Air Station at Corpus Christi, but as far as the Navy knows, haven’t created any such stir as the New Mexico rawin did on Tuesday. That one, picked up in a cow pasture, and thought to be one of the much-touted spinning saucers, was transported by Army plane to Fort Worth, where it was identified as an old rawin.
So far, rawins from NAS have created no excitement (outside the aerology department which considers them valuable wind trackers). For that matter, for years now, the dozens of various weather balloons sent aloft from the aerology office atop the NAS administration building, have almost been ignored by the public.
Some Mailed Back
Occasionally, the Navy says, someone takes the trouble to mail back old beat up radio sondes, to which NAS attaches a return address card, and which sometimes drift 150 miles from the release point. However, no reward is offered for the return of this equipment, the Navy added.
Whether these numerous balloons and-or their attachments could be considered as flying discs is a point the Navy isn’t going out on a limb to guess about.
What they might resemble in the air might be based on several factors, such as time of day, whether the balloon was attached and carrying the apparatus starward, or whether the stuff was falling, or even, imagination.
Some of the Navy’s weather balloons are light colored, and might look silver in the sunshine, and some are black. However, no black flying discs had been reported up to last night.
Short for Radar Wind
Rawin, the Navy explained, is short for radar wind. The reflector is a large light stick frame on which is hung aluminum foil, and when assembled for release, it resembles a six-pointed star.
This device is suspended from a 250-gram helium inflated balloon and is released over a weather observation station to measure wind currents aloft. Its main advantage is when there is a thick low-lying overcast. Although the rawin will not be visible, radar can track the reflector as it passes through the various layers of air during its ascent by triangulation tables, the winds may be accurately recorded.
The rawin normally rises to a height of 50,000 feet before the balloon bursts and the reflector falls to the earth, the fall retarded by a paper parachute.
Another balloon assisted weather device used by the Navy which falls with the help of a parachute is the radio sonde.
This is a small low-powered radio transmitter, an aneroid barometer, a thermo coupled temperature element and a chemically activated glass relative humidity element.
Radio Sonde Attached
The radio sonde is suspended from a 320 gram balloon (about five feet in diameter) and twice daily is released in the skies over NAS to sample the air above. As the radio sonde rises, the pressure, temperature, and relative humidity of the air surrounding it are continuously transmitted to a special electronic recorder on the ground.
The apparatus usually climbs up about 12 miles before its balloon bursts, and it falls, about one and one-half hours after the balloon was released at NAS. It is not saucer shaped.
Photo caption: LIKE NEW MEXICO SAUCER—The “rawin”—radar wind—reflector attached to the Navy weather balloon above, is the same type of apparatus which a New Mexico ranched picked up earlier this week, believing he had found one of the much-publicized flying discs which have been plaguing 44 states of the nation. Miss Mary Belle Kuegle, Wave aerologist first class, holds the device which normally rises to a height of 50,000 feet before the balloon bursts and the rawin falls to the earth, aided by a parachute. (Official U. S. Navy Photograph)
Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator
July 27, 1947, page 3
(Google News)
Miss Kuegel Aerologist At Texas Naval Station
Miss Mary Belle Kuegel, WAVE aerologist first class, stationed at the Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Tex., works daily with what may have been taken for the much publicized flying disks.
A rawin reflector—rawin is short for radar wind—was picked up in New Mexico and thought by the farmer who found it to be one of the spinning saucers. However, the army soon identified it as a useless rawin. However, the public around the Naval Air Station seems to have ignored both the rawins and the weather balloons sent aloft from the aerology office.
Miss Kuegel is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul C. Kuegel, 3337 Loveland Road. She is a graduate of Wooster College and has been in the navy four years.
