1951
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The photographer was interrogated, in conjunction with OSI, in regard to the photographs of the objects. His account of the incident seemed logical, and there was no obvious indications of a hoax. The photographer had previously been interrogated by the Lubbock newspaper and the photos inspected by Associated Press and Life Magazine representatives. It was their opinion that the photos were not obviously a hoax. The college professors were doubtful as to whether the photographs were the same objects that they had observed because:
1. They had never observed a V-shaped formation of lights. This is not too significant, however, as the arrangement of the lights that they observed varied and since there were several flights the college professors possibly did not see the flights that were photographed. In addition, the photographer states that the objects appeared to be U-shaped but when he developed the negatives, the object was V-shaped.
2. The objects that the professors observed were, in their opinion, not bright enough to be photographed. This is, however, an estimate and could be in error.
It was found that one school of thought of the people in the Lubbock area was that the objects were some type of migratory birds reflecting light from the city. Several people reported that they definitely knew the objects were birds because they could see wings "flapping". It is very possible that some of the people who were looking for the object did see ducks as there were duck flights passing over during this period.
The college professors do not believe the theory that the objects were birds, but they are giving the possibility more thoughts. If they were birds, they would have to be relatively low to give the illusion of a high speed. An occasional flight of birds might pass low over a city on a clear night but it is highly doubtful if they would continue to do this for several nights. Migratory birds usually try to keep away from the cities.
The federal Wild Life Game Warden was visited and although he was not familiar with the incident he doubted if the objects were birds. He stated that they could have been, however. The most likely suspect, if it is a bird, is a member of the Plover family which has a pure white breast, but unless there was a sudden influx of the birds in the Lubbock area, the game warden doubted if there would be enough of these birds to make up as many flights as were observed.
If the photos are authentic, the objects very probably are not ducks because an experienced photographer from the Lubbock Avalanche newspaper attempted to get photos of ducks using both natural light and flash, but failed.
B. Analysis of Photos by Wright-Patterson Air Development Center
The Photographs Reconnaissance Laboratory of WAUC made a preliminary analysis of the photographs. The analysis was made by inspecting the negatives in a comparison microscope. Their conclusions were:
