[III-12] “Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Observed Feb. 24, 1959, by American-United Airline Pilots.” Compiled by Unidentified Flying Objects Research Committee, Akron, Ohio, Feb. 24, 1960. [III-13] Wylie, C. C. [Speech] _Popular Astronomy_, Vol. LVI (1948), p. 217. [III-14] Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, _The SAO News_, Vol. I, No. 6 (November 1961). [III-15] Dean, C. W. Personal communication. _Chapter_ IV THE SPANGLED HEAV’NS: STARS AND PLANETS Shortly before dawn on March 3, 1955, a spectacular flying saucer appeared over Alaska. The witness, a civilian scientist with the rank of Commander in the United States Navy, was returning from the North Pole on the daily Air Force Ptarmigan weather flight; his mission had been to study the effect of the aurora on radio propagation, for the Department of Defense. He described his experience as follows: _A Mirage of Sirius_ “We were flying southwest of Point Barrow, Alaska, not far from Bering Strait, en route to Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, and our course was roughly southeast. The night was clear and the stars shone brilliantly. I was looking out of the western bomb blister when suddenly I saw a bright object shoot in at tremendous speed from the horizon, directly toward the plane. At first I thought it was a meteor or a fireball and I instinctively ducked, but the object came to a sudden skidding stop about 300 feet away, thereafter riding along with our plane and keeping pace with our speed. I could scarcely believe my eyes. The thing possessed green and red signal lights that flashed back and forth, and something that looked like a lighted propeller on the top. Beyond question, it was a flying saucer.