This short article has been published in the regional daily newspaper Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace on Saturday, July 5, 1947. It closely follows the famous observation of the civil pilot Kenneth Arnold, whom it mentions, and precedes by little the news release and consecutive denial by the Army Air Field of Roswell of their recovery of a flying saucer.
It is interesting to note that the explanation by the Flying Pancake, also nicknamed Flapjack, had already been refuted by the military: there was never more than one Flapjack having flown, certainly not at 2.000 km per hour, certainly not silently, and of course its rare and difficult flight tests were scrupulously logged. However fifty years later in France we still have ... sociologists to explain that "Flapjacks" are the cause of UFO sightings at that time.
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The latest game in the United States consists in raising one's nose in the air and looking up for the mysterious "speedsters" which for a few days have hit the news.
Last week indeed, nine mysterious projectiles were seen crossing the sky in the west of the State of Washington at an apparent speed of almost 2.000 kilometers per hour.
Similar phenomena were announced thereafter at El Paso in Texas, Vancouver and many other places.
It had been thought that it was the "Flying Pancak [sic]" or a plane without wing, but the navalauthorities stated that the "Pancake" had not left its base.
According to Canadian witnesses these speedsters resemble a "tea cup saucer" and cross the horizon in thirty seconds, without emitting any noise, and releasing a fulgurating gleam.
On their side, radar announced no presence of foreign bodies in the sky and the Army states that they have carried out no shooting of reaction propelled projectiles.
The mystery of the "flying saucers" remains intact.
