the F-94 was getting within radar range,
the target would put on a sudden burst of speed and pull away from
the pursuing jet. The speed of the UFO--for by this time all
concerned had decided that was what it was--couldn't be measured too
accurately because its bursts of speed were of such short duration;
but on several occasions the UFO traveled about 4 miles in one ten-
second sweep of the antenna, or about 1,400 miles an hour.

The F-94 was getting low on fuel, and the pilot had to break off the
chase a minute or two before the UFO got out of range of the ground
radar. The last few plots on the UFO weren't too good but it looked
as if the target slowed down to 200 to 300 miles an hour as soon as
the F-94 turned around.

What was it? It obviously wasn't a balloon or a meteor. It might
have been another airplane except that in 1952 there was nothing
flying, except a few experimental airplanes that were far from
Michigan, that could so easily outdistance an F-94. Then there was
the fact that radar clocked it at 1,400 miles an hour. The F-94 was
heading straight for the star Capella, which is low on the horizon
and is very brilliant, but what about the radar contacts? Some people
said "Weather targets," but the chances of a weather target's making
a 180-degree turn just as an airplane turns into it, giving a radar
lock-on, then changing speed to stay just out of range of the
airplane's radar, and then slowing down when the airplane leaves is
as close to nil as you can get.

What was it? A lot of people I knew were absolutely convinced this
report was the key--the final proof. Even if all of the thousands of
other UFO reports could be discarded on a technicality, this one
couldn't be. These people believed that this report in itself was
proof enough to officially accept the fact that UFO's were
interplanetary spaceships. And when some people refused to believe
even this report, the frustration was actually pitiful to see.

As the end of July approached, there was a group of officers in
intelligence fighting hard to get the UFO "recognized." At ATIC,
Project Blue Book was still trying to be impartial--but sometimes it
was difficult.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Hoax or Horror?

To the military and the public who weren't intimately associated
with the higher levels of Air Force Intelligence during the summer of
1952--and few were--General Samford's press conference seemed to
indicate the peak in official interest in flyi