An A.P. account in the New York Times had caught my attention. The
story, released at Fort Knox, admitted Mantell had died while chasing
a flying saucer. Colonel Hix was quoted as having watched the object,
which was still unidentified. But there was no mention of Mantell's
radio messages--no hint of the thing's tremendous size.

Though I knew the lid was probably on, I went to the Pentagon. When
the scare had first broken, in the summer of '47, I had talked with
Captain Tom Brown, who was handling saucer inquiries. But by now Brown
had been

{p. 17}

shifted, and no one in the Press Branch would admit knowing the
details of the Mantell saucer chase.

"We just don't know the answer," a security officer told me.

"There's a rumor," I said, "it's a secret Air Force missile that
sometimes goes out of control."

"Good God, man!" he exploded. "If it was, do you think we'd be
ordering pilots to chase the damned things?"

"No--and I didn't say I believed it." I waited until he cooled down.
"This order you mentioned--is it for all Air Force pilots, or special
fighter units?"

"I didn't say it was a special order," he answered quickly. "All