{p. 111}

know about this case personally. Marvin Miles--he's an aviation writer
in Los Angeles--was down at White Sands Proving Ground some time ago.
He talked with a Navy rocket expert who was in charge of naval
guided-missile projects. This Navy man--he's a commander in the
regular service--told Miles they'd seen four saucers down in that
area."

"You're sure he wasn't kidding Miles?" I said. Then I remembered
Purdy's tip about a White Sands case.

"I told you I checked on this myself," Redell said, a little annoyed.
"After Miles told me about it, I asked an engineer who'd been down
there if it was true. He gave me the same story, figures and all. The
first saucer was tracked by White Sands observers with a theodolite.
Then they worked out its performance with ballistics formulas."

Redell looked at me grimly.

"The thing was about fifty miles up. And it was making over fifteen
thousand miles an hour!"

One of the witnesses, said Redell, was a well-known scientist from the
General Mills aeronautical research laboratory in Minneapolis, which
was working with the Navy. (A few days later, I verified this fact and
the basic details of Redell's account. But it was not until early in
January 1950 that I finally identified the officer as Commander Robert
B. McLaughlin and got his dramatic story.)