'Things' in Sky Here Sunday Appear Like Flying Saucers
Ypsillanty Press
July 28, 1952
Ypsilanti residents were "seeing things" too, sunday, adding to the accumulation of evidence that there are really flying saucers. Other areas in south central Michigan also reported the objects.
Mrs. A. M. Vandersall, living east of Ypsilanti and south of the new George School got a good view last Sunday night.
Unable to sleep because of the heat, she had gone into the garden at approximately 11 o'clock. She describes the sky visitors as luminous, with a white light and the front rounded and the rear ragged or feathered, something like the exhaust of jets. first, she saw three close together and three strung out behind. All traveled at incredible speed.
The Wandersalls live but a short distance from the Air Terminal and are familiar with various types of planes including jets. These were much faster than the jets flown from the terminal here. The accompanying sketch was drawn by her to indicate the approximate contour of the strange objects. She glimpsed them through two treetops, fairly low in the sky and going from north to south. All seemed to have a flat, oval shape.
Sunday morning at about 10:15 Warren Erlewine, 437 Owendale, was startled to see a silvery disc sweep over jet planes moving in an arc toward then before lifting away. It was cloudless at the time and he had heard planes going south and saw their vapor.
He estimated that the "flying saucer" was between 200 and 300 feet across and faster in flight than jets. It looked to be circular and was first noticed north of the jet planes. He saw it east to southeast of his residence, apparently in the vicinity of the air terminal.
Other residents of south central Michigan also reported seeing mysterious, flying objects in the sky last night.
One person said he saw an object that looked like a "giant bulb." Other said the objects were "football shaped."
Objects were also reported sighted in the Detroit area.
Volunteer observers of the Civil Air Patrol's "Operation Skywatch" at the Ionia airport reported seeing the objects between 10:15 p.m. and 11 p.m.
This time coincided with reports of sightings at Battle Creek to the south.
Mrs Herman Zanders and Mrs Ray Martin, on duty at the Ionia Airport, were first to report them at that point. The woman's sightings were confirmed by James and Jack Hall, also skywatch observers.
They said the objects were "football shaped" and appeared to resemble shooting stars. Headed southwest, they were reported seen twice, the second time at a lower altitude. The Hall brothers trained binoculars on them.
Mrs. R. D. Davis, Battle Creek housewife, said she saw 14 very bright objects, blurred at the edges, about 10:15 p.m.
Harrison Howes, an accountant living across the street from her, came out of the house in time to see one of the objects. He said it looked like a giant lightbulb.
Lloyd Rainier, a Marshall machinist, said he saw what appeared to be a brilliant white light hovering in the sky when he looked up at Lyons Lake, south of Marshall.
Mrs. Davis acknowledged that she had heard reports of the mysterious unknown objects picked up by radar over Washington D.C. before she saw the lights. But she insisted these reports had nothing to do with what she saw. and she insisted that she had been drinking "only ice tea."
In Detroit, several citizens reported seeing "yellowish-orange things" hovering in the sky.
Descriptions of the "things" varied from cigar-shaped to looking like flying saucers.
The Air force at Selfridge Field where some of the "things" were reportedly seen refused to comment.
Air Force authorities at the local radar base reported no signs of "flying saucers" on their screen. They stated, however, that they may be the Sunday bomber no [...] of Detroit and stated the B-36 bombers, which participated this "raid" flew over this area at high altitudes.
The surprise "attack" on Detroit by B-36 jet bombers climaxed as the first joint air defense test on the U.S. - Canadian Boundary, "exercise sign post."
Detroiters by the scores turned into raid spotters and called police to report the sham battles in the air of the huge bombers appeared over Detroit.
One wave of the make-belief attackers flew directly over the loop area, leaving spectacular vapor trails.
Seen at Capital
Washington, July 28. -- AP -- Radar - which normally doesn't show something that isn't there - has picked up "flying saucers" near the nation's capital for the second time within a week.
Jet fighters pilot searched the skies without directly contacting anything during the six hours that four to 12 unidentified objects intermittently appeared on radar screens at Washington National Airport and nearby Andrews Air Force Base.
One pilot said he saw four lights approximately 10 miles away and slightly below him but they disappeared before he could overtake them. Later, the same pilot said he saw "a steady white light" five miles away that vanished in about a minute.
So far as could be determined this was the first time jets have been sent on the trail of such sky ghosts.