The article below was published in the newspaper The Gastionia Gazette, Gastonia, North Carolina, USA, page 3, on July 10, 1947.
|
Naval Officer Believes Flying Discs Are Tinfoil Screen Used In Weather Balloons To Reflect Radar Rays And Detect Wind's Velocity
ATLANTA, July 10 -- UP -- Lieut. Commander Thomas H. Rentz of the Atlanta Naval Air Station said today he believed the "flying saucers" reported over the country were tinfoil screens used in weather balloons.
The tinfoil screens are used to reflect radar rays and determine the velocity of the wind at various altitudes, he said.
The helium filled balloons burst when they reach about 25.000 feet. The silver screens which they are carrying are then caught in the wind and sail along at a speed up to 165 miles an hour.
A demonstration of the apparatus, known as a "ray wind," [sic, "Rawin"] brought a quick telephone report from a farmer in nearby Henry county that he had seen a "flying saucer."
Lt. Rell Zelle Moore, aerology officer at the air station, said the distance of the "ray wind" and its angle from the ground can ve determined by radar. Observers noting the time balloons are released, the distance and the angle, can determine the wind velocity at each 1.000-foot level.
Lt. Moore explained that wind velocity is important in aviation.
The "ray wind" was developed several years ago but its use became general only recently.
"People are just beginning to see these things," Commander Rentz said, "and that's probably why they are all excited about them."
