Roswell Morning Dispatch
8 July, 1947

Report Flying Disk Found
By The Associated Press

Two flying disks were reported found in Texas and at least one is being investigated by military officials as the total number of Texans claiming to have seen the mysterious objects passed the 50 mark yesterday.

The disks were reported found on a beach near Trinity Bay, near Houston, and near Hillsboro.

The Houston Chronicle said a great deal of mystery surrounded the one found near there by Norman Hargrave, a jeweler, Sunday. He first reported that he had found the aluminum disk floating near the beach while he and his wife were walking. He described it minutely, even giving an inscription he said it carried.

Today he said it was all a joke, but the Chronicle, after extensive checking, said “there are some mysterious facts contained in his (Hargrave's) first report that lend credence to the tale.”

Hargrave first said the disk bore this wording: “Military secret of the United States of America. Army Air Forces M4339658. Anyone damaging or revealing description or whereabouts of this missile subject to prosecution by the U.S. government. Call collect at once, LD446, Army Air Forces Denot, Spokane, Wash.” He said the words “non-explosive” also were carried.

It was recalled that the initial reports of flying saucers or disks originated in the Spokane area.

The Chronicle, meanwhile, telephoned Spokane, and said it “brought interest” on the part of the commanding officer, but he would not confirm or deny that the missile may have carried the message. Later he referred Houston to Wright Field, Ohio, but the commanding officer there was out of town.

In Houston, Col. R. W. Warren, commanding officer of Ellington Field, said he had been instructed by Washington to investigate.

Houston police would not say if they had the missile.

The second flying disks (sic) was reported found by Bob Scott, a farmer living two and a half miles east of Hillsboro. He said the disk fell on his place Friday, and that it resembled a saucer. He said it was so bright he could not look at it very long.

He said he was afraid people might believe he was “going to extremes in imagining things” and he told no one but his family until yesterday.

Then he notified O.F. Kissick and Joe Gerick, Hillsboro, who went to the field and investigated. Most of it had melted, they said. Gerick said one piece looked like tin foil, but when he picked it up, it appeared to be celluloid.

Another development in Houston was a suggestion by Charles Odom, 23, air force captain in the last war, that the flying disks might be “crystal balls” similar to those he said were used by the Nazis.

He said these balls were electronically operated, and while in midair would send back to a radar screen on the ground the altitude, speed and other data of bombers it approached. He said the balls would fly up to the altitude of bombers, were apparently magnetized, and then flew along with the plane formations.

Odom is now with Pan American Airways.

His suggestion brought a comment from Col. J. D. Ryan of the 8th Air Force, Fort Worth Army Air Field, that he had never seen such balls, nor had he ever heard of them, although he made about 60 missions.

Col. Ryan said the U.S. now uses a balloon sent aloft to gain such information. The balloon has a reflector on the bottom which is picked up by ground radar. He said they were made of rubber, but as they expanded they became opaque.

Meanwhile, more and more Texans reported seeing the flying saucers. Mrs. Sadie McCauley of Houston said she saw seven flying over Texas City at 4:05 p.m. Sunday. She said she and several other passengers on a bus saw them from the Alvin Highway. She said they were flying in a single line.

Mrs. R. R. Whitlock of Bonham said she saw it was heading south. She said it fit the “usual description.”

Jim Purdy, Lubbock store manager and former pilot with the Royal Air Force, said he saw a “silvery disk-shaped object” flying above Lubbock about 1:39 p. m. Sunday. He said it fit the description of the flying saucers.

He said he first saw it at about 1,000 feet altitude, moving to a slow, tumbling motion that exposed a bright side and a dull side. After about 20 seconds, it gained speed rapidly and began flying in a direct line toward the northeast.

Purdy, a pilot since 1939, said the object did not have any of the characteristics of a plane. He said for one thing it gained speed much more rapidly than any plane he had ever seen.

G.B. Garrett of Corsicana said he had seen one of the disks June 26 near Madisonville. He said it was headed in the direction of Houston at an undetermined speed. He said it looked like a huge shiny mirror, silvery in color. He said he saw it long enough to know it was not an airplane.

Over 50 Texans have reported seeing the mysterious objects during the last ten days.