PORTLAND, Ore., Jan 7―(U.P.)―An Oregon state geologist reported today that a mysterious cylinder which fell on the Hill Military campus Saturday "could have been made of refractory material used in rocket experiments."
Five-inch Cone
Dr. John E. Allen, chief geologist of the Oregon state department of geology and mineral industries, made the report following a spectrographic analysis of the strange cone, which is five inches long and three inches across the base. He turned the object over to the army for further examination.
Leon Thompson, commandant of the military academy, told newsmen today how a localized hail storm preceded the fall of the strange object as he walked across the academy campus.
"I was walking on the campus Saturday and hail started to fall in my immediate vicinity only," Commandant Thompson said.
Thing Falls
"The sun was shining outside my immediate radius. I was just passing Registrar Thomas Pogett when the 'thing' struck the ground.
"'They almost got you,' I told Pogett. The cylinder bounced five feet in the air. There was no one in sight and no airplane overhead Pogett picked it up" Thompson said.
Dr. Allen's analysis showed the object contained aluminium, titanium, magnesium, calcium, chrome abd rorcon, and the geologist declared that "one of the essentials of a rocket is a refractory lining which can withstand tremendous temperatures."
No Cadets
He believed that the cone could have been a plug from a rocket and some speculated that a rocket explosion could have caused the localized hail to fall.
"The nose of the cone was puffed up some," Thompson said. Luckily, there were no cadets walking on the campus at the time."
Naming the source of the cone would be "wild guessing," the geologist believed, but Oregon residents, recalling the Japanese balloons which were falling over the state two years ago were willing to try.
Maybe American
The Oregonian, in a copyrighted story, quoted Dr. Allen as conjecturing that:
- The cone might be connected with the White Sands, N. M., rocket tests.
- It must have come from the Mojave desert in California, where military rocket tests are being conducted.
- Nothing has ever been said about the landing places of rockets reported going north over Sweden.
Others theorized that the movement of winds which carried Japanese bombs loaded with incendiary bombs from Japan to Oregon during the war was favorable to bringing the new mystery to the west coast.
Strange Object
LOS ANGELLES, Jan. 7.―(U.P.)―A strange, wierdly flashing object seen plunging seaward last night by observers from Bakersfield to San Diego was variously identified today as a meteor, a rocket and an airplane.
Authorities called the phenomenon "an exceptionnally large meteor."
Reports of the fiery ball swamped police switchboards, some describing the cylindrical, flaming object as an exploding aircraft. Municipal airport said no planes are missing.
Santa Monica life guards, in a rescue boat, chased the streaming flare that apparently ended in the sea off Playa Del Rey. Coast guard planes and boats searched last night and went out again today.
The Rev. F. C. Thurmur of Oceanside said he heard a place explode and watched it glide into the sea "like a ball of fire" a mile of Oceanside.