Russians led, with the U.S. Navy and their XF-5-U-1, the "Flying
Flapjack," pulling a not too close second. The desire to cover all
leads was graphically pointed up to be a personal handwritten note I
found in a file. It was from ATIC's chief to a civilian intelligence
specialist. It said, "Are you positive that the Navy junked the XF-5-
U-1 project?" The non-earthly category ran the gamut of theories,
with space animals trailing interplanetary craft about the same
distance the Navy was behind the Russians.

This confused speculating lasted only a few weeks. Then the
investigation narrowed down to the Soviets and took off on a much
more methodical course of action.

When World War II ended, the Germans had several radical types of
aircraft and guided missiles under development. The majority of these
projects were in the most preliminary stages but they were the only
known craft that could even approach the performance of the objects
reported by UFO observers. Like the Allies, after World War II the
Soviets had obtained complete sets of data on the latest German
developments. This, coupled with rumors that the Soviets were
frantically developing the German ideas, caused no small degree of
alarm. As more UFO's were observed near the Air Force's Muroc Test
Center, the Army's White Sands Proving Ground, and atomic bomb
plants, ATIC's efforts became more concentrated.

Wires were sent to intelligence agents in Germany requesting that
they find out exactly how much progress had been made on the various
German projects.

The last possibility, of course, was that the Soviets had discovered
some completely new aerodynamic concept that would give saucer
performance.

While ATIC technical analysts were scouring the United States for
data on the German projects and the intelligence agents in Germany
were seeking out the data they had been asked for, UFO reports
continued to flood the country. The Pacific Northwest still led with
the most sightings, but every state in the Union was reporting a few
flying saucers.

At first there was no co-ordinated effort to collect data on the UFO
reports. Leads would come from radio reports or newspaper items.
Military intelligence agencies outside of ATIC were hesitant to
investigate on their own initiative because, as is so typical of the
military, they lacked specific orders. When no orders were
forthcoming, they took this to mean that the military had no interest
in the UFO's. But bef