into Soviet areas. Practically all were seen at night, and therefore
none had been described as a flying disk. Instead, they were said to
be colored lights, red, green, blue, and orange, often blurred from
their high speed.

But there was a puzzling complication. Mystery lights, and sometimes
flying disks, were simultaneously reported over Greece, Portugal,
Turkey, Spain, and even French Morocco. Either there were two answers,
or some nation had developed missiles with an incredibly long range.

By January 1947, ghost-rocket sightings in Europe had diminished to
less than one a month. Oddly enough, the first disk report admitted by
Project "Saucer" was in this same month. The first '47 case detailed
by Project "Saucer" occurred at Richmond, Virginia. It was about the
middle of April. A Richmond weather observer had released a balloon
and was tracking it with a theodolite when a strange object crossed
his field of vision. He swung the theodolite and managed to track the
thing, despite its high speed. (The actual speed and altitude--the
latter determined by a comparison of the balloon's height at

{p. 66}

various times--have never been released. Nor has the Air Force
released this observer's report on the object's size, which Project
"Saucer" admitted was more accurate than most witnesses' estimates.)

About the seventeenth of May 1947, a huge oval-shaped saucer ten times
longer than its diameter was sighted by Byron Savage, an Oklahoma City
pilot. Two days later, another fast-flying saucer was reported at
Manitou Springs, Colorado. In the short time it was observed, it was