speed"

The radio operator in the Davis-Monthan air force base control tower
contacted First Lt. Roy L. Jones, taking off for a cross-country
flight in a B-29, and asked him to investigate. Jones revved up
his swift aerial tanker and still the unknown aircraft steadily
pulled away toward California. Dr. Edwin F. Carpenter, head of
the University of

{p. 11}

Arizona department of astronomy, said he was certain that the object
was not a meteor or other natural phenomenon. . . .
Switchboards Swamped
Switchboards at the Pima county sheriff's office and Tucson police
station were jammed with inquiries. Hundreds saw the object. Tom
Bailey, 1411 E. 10th Street, thought it was a large airplane on
fire. [A later check showed no planes missing.] He said it wavered
from left to right as it passed over the mountains. Bailey also
noticed that the craft appeared to slow perceptibly over Tucson.
He said the smoke apparently came out in a thin, almost invisible
stream, gaining substance within a few seconds.

This incident had an odd sequel the following day. Its significance
was not lost on the Daily Citizen. It ran another front-page story,
headlined:

WHAT DO YOU MEAN ONLY VAPOR TRAIL?

As though to prove itself blameless for tilting hundreds of Tucson