Flying Disc Found On Ranch Near Roswell
ROSWELL -- The army reported that a Corona, N. M. rancher had discovered a "flying disc" and that it was being turned over to the air forces material command for study. The announcement of the discovery came from Col. William H. Blanchard, command officer of the Roswell Army Air base, who specifically described the object as "a flying disc." He said the disc had been forwarded to high headquarters--the 8th Air Force at Fort Worth, Tex. Blanchard would reveal no further details. Subsequently, Army Air Force headquarters in Washington announced that Brig Gen. Roger Ramey, commanding officer of the 8th Air Force, was forwarding the object to the air forces material command at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. Sheriff George Wilcox of Roswell said the disc was found about three weeks ago by W. W. Brizell on the Foster Ranch at Corona, 75 miles northwest of Roswell.
Wilcox said that Brizell does not have a telephone, and so did not report finding the disc until the day before yesterday. Brizell told the sheriff he didn't know just what the disc was and at first thought it might be a weather meter.
The Sheriff's office notified the army, which sent intelligence officers to pick up the object. Then today the army announced possession of a disc.
The sheriff quoted Brizell as saying that the object "seemed more or less like tinfoil." The rancher described the disc as about as large as a "safe in the sheriff's office." The safe is about three and one half by four feet. Reward money posted by private sources for discovery of a disc has reached $3000, but it was not know whether the Corona rancher would lay claim to the money. An Oelwein, Ia, salesman already had claimed the reward money for a shiny steel disc about 6 1/2 inches in diameter he discovered this morning. However, newspapermen who examined it did not believe it was a "flying saucer." The salesman, Lloyd Bennett, insisted, however, that he would claim the reward money. Brig. Gen. Roger B. Ramey, co. general of the 8th Air Force, said that "in my opinion" a "flying disc" found Tuesday near Roswell, N. M. is "the remnants of a weather balloon and a radar reflector." The general officer said that "the object is in my office right now and as far as I can see there is nothing to get excited about." He said that the "so-called disc" was of box kite construction and covered with tinfoil. Ramey also revealed that part of a weather balloon was found nearby when it was picked up in New Mexico.
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