a record.

(In the final Project "Saucer" report, the attempt to explain away
this sighting was painfully evident. Analyzing this case, Number 206,
the Air Force said: "If the facts are correct, there is no
astronomical explanation. A few points favor the daytime meteor
hypothesis--snow-white color, speed faster than a jet, the roar,
similarity to sky-writing and the time of day. But the tactics, if
really performed, oppose it strenuously: the maneuvers in and out of
cloud banks, turns of 180 degrees or more, Possibly these were
illusions, caused by seeing the object intermittently through clouds.
The impression of a fuselage with windows could even more easily have
been a sign of imagination."

(With this conjecture, Project "Saucer" listed the sighting as
officially answered. The Hague space-ship case was unexplained.)

{p. 73}

In following up the Jackson and Bethel reports, I talked with two
officials in the Civil Aeronautics Administration. One of these was
Charley Planck, who handled public relations. I found that the pilots
concerned had good records; C.A.A. men who knew them discounted the
hoax theory.

"Charley, there's a rumor that airline pilots have been ordered not to
talk," I told Planck. "You know anything about it?"

"You mean ordered by the Air Force or the companies?" he said.