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Issue 161 for 12 to 19 April 1952 of Paris Match was illustrated with a portrait of actress Rita Hayworth, while Life magazine's article which prompted that of Paris Match had a quite attractive photograph of Marylin Monroe on its cover. That resulted in Life's issue becoming a rather difficult to locate collector's item, collectors often tore off the first page in libraries specimens.
PARIS MATCH is a French magazine with a rather unusual mix of both sensationalistic side but also a journalistic reference. It has both the latest gossips on kinks, princesses, show biz people, the most glamorous high-speed motorboats and very serious and praised articles on political and scientific subjects.
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AN ANTICIPATION FROM "COLLIERS'S"
The problem of the flying saucers echoes that of the exploration of unknown worlds for which the American public is also impassioned. Interstellar travel will be on the agenda. This is how Collier's magazine imagines the future travel to the moon.
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The problem of the flying saucers, which caused more easy jokes than serious analyses, makes an extremely noisy and at the same time disconcerting reappearance in world news.
The American Air Force has just thrown at the American people, from the top of the tribune of the great magazine Life, a solemn call to vigilance which resounds with a disturbing concern. After years of scepticism, it is certain today that the United States Air Force takes reports relating to flying saucers and other mysterious objects reported in the whole world seriously. The U.S. Air Force made the following statements in Life:
"The Air Force invites all the American citizens to report at the nearest air base the appearances of unknown air objects they would witness. This information will be communicated to experts and will be the subject of thorough investigations. The identity of the people having provided them will not be revealed. So nobody will be risk to be ridiculed on this subject. "
"Scientists, private or airline pilots, meteorologists, all well educated observers whose occupation relate in a way or of another with the sky and all what happens there, are meadows to inform in the Air Technical Intelligence Center in Wright-Patterson A.F.B., Dayton, what they were able to observe relating unidentified flying objects."
"The Air Force informs that military planes are on alert to try to intercept the objects. Radar and photography are implemented to try to obtain documents. If the opportunity happens, it will be attempted to recover one of these unidentified objects."
The first flying saucer was seen on June 24, 1947. After five years of investigations, led with an aggressive scepticism, the American Air Force now solemnly surrenders. It recognizes the existence of a great mystery. Exceptionally, they agreed to open their most secret files for the investigators of Life. The scientific conclusions that one can draw will appear fantastic to the laymen. But scientists do not move back in front of the most extraordinary of the explanations:
"We have visitors from another world."
[Two of four of the Lubbock lights photograph:]
These two photographs constitute the central pieces of the "saucers" file. They were taken on last August 30, in the night, by a 18 year old student, Carl Hart, above the town of Lubbock (Texas) with a 35 millimeters movie camera [photographic camera]. The luminous "saucers," grouped in formation, flying at a terrifying speed.
See next pages
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VISITORS FROM ANOTHER WORLD
THE HISTORY of the flying saucers, an specially American history, until now, illustrates the saying (which was used as title to the famous novel by James Cain); "the mailman always ring twice." Before the research which has just led to the revelations diffused by Life, the erudite world of the United States had dealt with mysterious celestial phenomena on a first occasion.
By a hot afternoon of summer, June 24, 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold [businessman and private pilot] brought back his airplane to his base close to Washington after a training flight [searching for a lost airplane]. Suddenly, for the snow-covered crater of mount Rainier, of which slopes became a resort area reknowned in all United States and poetically dubbed "Paradise valley," the pilot discovered with incredulity initially, with stupor later, nine "things" which resembled " saucers " [which rebounded in the air like saucers on water] coming from his left at approximately 30 kilometers and moving as in a formation of ducks towards the mount. Their speed, estimated Arnold, was approximately 1.800 kmh. The "things" passed between the peaks which surround mount Rainier and disappeared in the distance.
He told his adventure to the local newspaper. All the Press of the United States, then the Press of other countries, jumped on that. Within a few days, the whole world knew the new expression of "flying saucers." By a well-known phenomenon, in the following months, police stations, observatories and air bases received hundreds of "testimonies" on the famous saucers. One wonders today, with some regrets, if among all these testimonies of which the majority obviously related to collective hallucination and were treated as such, i.e. were thrown in the trashcan, there could not have been one or several observation which, today, could help scientists.
TEN months after the stunning adventure of pilot Kenneth Arnold, a new spectacular, and this time dramatic demonstration of the saucers [of a Skyhook balloon]: three aircraft from Fort Knox air base flew one morning of January in the pure and frozen sky of Kentucky. Almost at the same time [nor exactly what happened], their three pilots discovered opposite them a strange object resembling an ice cream cone with red at the top. One of the "F.51" [F-51] controlled by captain Thomas F. Mantell, rushed to the object which started to take altitude. The two others pilots, breathtaken, witnessed the infernal pursuit. In a few seconds [several minutes] the apparatus chased by their comrade disappeared [lost out of sight] in the sky. They watched for his return and went to search for him. In vain. With fuel running low, they returned to their base. There was no news of captain Mantell [lost consciousness] until the evening when his body was found in the middle of the remains of his plane whose parts had flown up to 800 meters around.
With this drama, the first chapter of the saucers cases finishes. The world followed with passion, scepticism or irony. Before folk singers made it their own, the Secretary for the Defense, Eric Johnson, then president Truman himself, had been interested in them - one and the other stated solemnly that the flying saucers were not an American secret weapon. On top of that, the eminent personalities of the aviation of the United States declared the incident closed by classifying the file on a shelf already loaded with "scientific fiction", i.e. scientific imagination in Wells style. that was in December 1949.
Since then, nothing official appeared anymore in the Press concerning the mysterious celestial phenomena. It is only last Thursday that, alerted by full pages of publicity in the daily newspapers, the American public learned though Life that a center of investigation devoted to the problem of the " not identified air objects " existed at the military base of Wright Patterson, Dayton (Ohio), and that the United States Air Force solemnly reopened the file hastily closed in 1949. Because reports of the flying saucers continue to flow at the rate of one per day.
What is strikening with the new observations - and up to now held secret - which forced official circles to reconsider their position, it is that the more stunning are also the least debatable.
One of the most disconcerting recent appearances of the saucers had for witnesses men of science who cannot possibly be suspected of bad faith and who are accustomed to rigur and precision. In the evening of last August 25, Doctor Robinson, professor of geology at the Texas University, chatted on the terrace of his house of Lubbock with two of his friends, Doctor Oberg, professor of chemistry, and professor Ducker, a specialist in oil matters. Suddenly, Doctor Robinson saw in the extremely clear sky, something which intrigued him. He pushed an exclamation and stood up. His two friends followed his glance: from one end of the horizon to the other end, at an incredible speed, but without any noise, a formation of luminous spots crossed the sky. The phenomenon lasted only a few seconds. The three scientists confronting their impressions described this formation as a score of luminous spots laid out in a V formation like a flock of ducks. While they discussed with animation, a second formation of luminous objects crossed the sky. Thereafter, between November and August, professor Ducker observed twelve similar flights. In the area, hundreds of people were witnesses of these astonishing facts. It was easily proven that they could not be jets. The investigators established that when these phenomena were noted, no plane of the U.S. Air Force flew over the area. These mysterious flights could be filmed [photographed]. An eighteen year old young amateur, student Carl Hart, succeeded in picturing them on August 30 with a 35 millimeters camera. Five [four] images accounting for eighteen to twenty luminous objects more brilliant than planet Venus, were printed on his film. These extraordinary documents (see preceding page) were examined attentively by the engineering departments of the U.S. Air Force which was obliged to recognize that no faking was possible [that possible faking could not be reproduced].
Other strange phenomena were personally noted by an astronomer of worldwide reputation, Clyde W. Tombaugh. One of his claims to fame is to have discovered planet Pluto. Nobody can question the testimony of such a major scientist [...]
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