Nature cooperated. As in every summer, she offered a rich display of regular meteor showers. By mid-July Aquarids in large numbers are streaking through the sky, to continue into mid-August, and by the beginning of August the Perseids have arrived to join the summer’s parade. The records of the American Meteor Society reflect this rise in the number of meteors. In the nights from July 10 to 31, 1952, five observers stationed in California, Oregon, Missouri, Iowa, and Long Island, New York, counted a total of more than 2000 meteors in some eighty-five hours of watching. The smallest number reported by a single observer in any one hour was nine; the highest was fifty[VII-2]. Nature not only offered dramatic fireworks in the sky; she also produced exactly the right conditions for viewing them. During June and July an unprecedented heat wave lay over the entire East, driving sweltering citizens out of doors to savor the relative coolness of the night air. Furthermore, the nights were dark. The moon began to wane on July 7, and until nearly the end of the month there was little moonlight to dim the brilliance of the meteors flashing through the heavens. No wonder that frightened people hunting for saucers should have had so little trouble finding them, when the sky seemed to be teeming with UFOs. By the middle of July the nine-man investigating force at ATIC was all but buried in saucer reports--more than forty a day, far too many to handle either promptly or adequately. Only a very lengthy history of the saucer era could describe and account for each one of the hundreds of UFOs reported during those weeks. A few of the most publicized incidents are listed here: July 2. A group of UFOs photographed with a movie camera near Tremonton, Utah (p. 130). July 5. A UFO reported over an atomic plant at Hanford, Washington. (A Skyhook balloon.)[VII-1, p. 203] July 7. Flying saucer reported by hundreds of persons in the Pacific Northwest. (This spectacular daytime meteor was visible for a distance of 500 miles on either side of its path and was reported from Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. It made no sound and was so brilliant that observers called it the “Sunshine Fireball.”)[VII-3] July 12. A flying saucer, glowing blue-white, was reported over Indiana. (Another fine meteor.)[VII-1, p. 203] July 13–18. Flying saucers reported from all states in the Union. (Observers for the American Meteor Society counted an average of fifteen meteors per hour on those nights.) July 14. A group of saucers over Chesapeake Bay and Norfolk, Virginia (p. 256). July 16. Saucers photographed by Coast Guardsman, Salem, Massachusetts (p. 122).