Page:Ruppelt - The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects.djvu/75

 considered to be completely reliable. The sighting was verified by Capt. ———, also an F-80 pilot.

The possibility that this was a balloon was checked but the answer from Air Weather Service was “not a balloon.” No aircraft were in the area. Nothing we know of, except possibly experimental aircraft, which are not in Germany, can climb 23,000 feet in a matter of minutes and travel 900 miles per hour.

By the end of 1948, Project Sign had received several hundred UFO reports. Of these, 167 had been saved as good reports. About three dozen were “Unknown.” Even though the UFO reports were getting better and more numerous, the enthusiasm over the interplanetary idea was cooling off. The same people who had fought to go to Godman AFB to talk to Colonel Hix and his UFO observers in January now had to be prodded when a sighting needed investigating. More and more work was being pushed off onto the other investigative organization that was helping ATIC. The kickback on the Top Secret Estimate of the Situation was beginning to dampen a lot of enthusiasms. It was definitely a bear market for UFO’s.

A bull market was on the way, however. Early 1949 was to bring “little lights” and green fireballs.

The “little lights” were UFO’s, but the green fireballs were real.