| Hartford,
Connecticut, COURANT, 12 August 1946, page
Rockets Seen Frequently Over Sweden
Mysterious
Objects With Fiery Tails Are Experimental Missiles
Stockholm,
Sweden, Aug. 12 - (AP) - Ghost rockets, mysterious spool-shaped
speeding objects with fiery tails, have become a common
sight in Sweden, and military officials no longer doubt
that the country is in a target area for experimentation
with remotely controlled missiles.
Since
July 1, newspapers have published reports of the flying
fireballs nearly every day.
In
the beginning many believed excited eye-witnesses had seen
nothing more ominous than meteors. However, between July
9 and July 12 military authorities received 300 reports
of the missiles and since that time added reports have poured
in daily. Fragments examined by scientists gave little in
the way of clues, except to indicate the presence of coke
and other common materials.
Authorities,
promising a communique on the results of the investigation
within a few days, have cautioned Swedish newspapers not
to publish the names of places where the ghost rockets appear,
so that the senders would not be provided with important
data. Official quarters declined to speculate on the source
of the missiles, but it was believed elsewhere that the
rockets come from some place along the Baltic coast of Germany.
Has
Flaming Tail
The
Swedish public has taken the rockets with surprising calm.
Fears that a missile might do damage in a densely populated
area have not been realized.
In
general, the ghost rocket is described as a small object
with a flaming tail which speeds at great heights and vanishes
within a few seconds. Eye-witnesses say the rockets make
no appreciable sound.
Newspapers
recently carried a picture of the rocket, secured accidentally
by a cameraman who was photographing a landscape. It showed
a streak of light trailing from a small dark body, looking
much like a comet.
Military
authorities said the missiles evidently passed over Sweden
in a huge curve. Some reports indicated the objects carried
a device for self-destruction, and military experts said
some apparently had exploded in the air. The longest flight
of any of the missiles, so far as military experts could
determine, was about 600 miles, as compared with the range
of 35 to 45 miles for the first German V-2 rocket bombs.
There
is no comparison, however, with the rocket bombs. The mystery
missiles are small, and at low altitude seem almost square.
The bottom of the object appeared to have been painted red,
eyewitnesses said. Some observed these missiles flying extremely
low.
These
reports have been substantiated by a Swedish officer, a
flyer, who saw one of the rockets during a recent flight.
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