Following reports in last week's Sunday Dispatch of "flying saucers" over Devon, four men at London Airport say they saw last Sunday "something new and unknown" in the sky.
Each of the four is well qualified to make accurate observations of aerial phenomena.
This is the evidence :
Mr. Fred Wikinson?Pan-American Airways operational staff man at Heathrow, five years R.A.F. flight engineer :
"About 7 o'clock last Sunday evening I was on the ramp supervising preparations for a Transatlantic flight when I saw a lighted body coming from east to west at terrific speed.
'Not A Jet'
"I thought at first it was a jet. But then I saw that its shape, light and presence of a blue flame from the tail made that impossible.
"It flew on a straight line. It did not describe a curve as a shooting star, comet, or rocket would. I put its speed at about 1,000 m.p.h."
Mr. Patrick Joseph Maloney?ex-R.A.F. gunner for 5½ years, at London Airport with Pan-American for 12 months after three years at Shannon :
"It was going east to west and much too close for a shooting star. It was a bright white light, metallic coloured, elongated, but as it went out of sight it seemed to become spherical. There was no noise."
'Flat, Round'
Mr. Fred Perrier?ex-anti-aircraft gunner, aircraft and recognition spotter :
"It was cigarette-shaped when I first saw it. It was not a jet aircraft : nor was it a shooting star or comet ; it was not a firework.
"Before it dispappeared, it looked flat and round."
Mr. E. Newman?American-Pan American Airways maintenance man, eight years in air service, ten months at London Airport :
"I put it as a bluish-green light, lasting for a few seconds. It travelled on a straight line. I'm dead sure it was no aircraft or meteor."