they still had the target and there were many
excited people watching the big pale, orange scopes as two little
bright points of light began to close on a bigger blob of light.

Then the pilots gave the "Tally-ho"--they were in visual contact.

But the "Tally-ho" had no more been given than the big blob of light
on the target began to pull away from the fighters and was soon off
the scope.

The pilots kept visual contact, though, and the radio provided the
details of the chase to the now blind crew in the radar room.

The two jets bored north, with afterburner on, and the needles on
their machmeters passed the "1.0" mark. But still the UFO was just as
far away as it had ever been.

The chase went on for a few minutes more before the pilots pulled
their throttles back into the cruise position, turned, and came home.

Even before they landed, the people at the airbase saw the big,
round and bright UFO rapidly begin to fade and then it was gone.

So ended the glamour and the dog work began.

Each man who had seen the UFO visually was carefully interrogated.
Weather reports were collected. Radarscope photos were developed. The
two pilots received special attention. The exact bearing of the UFO
was measured and 300 degrees magnetic was correct.

The bundle of data was packed up and sent to Project Blue Book. The
panel of experts convened.

First, the radarscope photos were examined.

"Those targets could be interference from other radars," said the
radar expert, and he mentally ticked off a dozen and one other
similar cases of known interference. The weather data, and locations
and frequencies of other radars were checked out.

Beyond doubt it was interference from another radar that caused the
target.

Now, the visual sighting.

Balloon? No, the fighters could have caught a balloon in seconds.

Airplane? Same answer. These jets were the fastest things in the air.

Planet or star? Out came the almanacs and the puzzle went to the
astrophysicist. Venus was on a bearing of 300 degrees from the Duluth
Municipal Airport at 5:20P.M. on March 23rd. _But_ Venus was just
below the horizon at that time and the observers said the UFO was
"moving fast."

Once again the weather charts were studied. The atmospheric
conditions were such that it was very possible that due to refraction
Venus would have been visible just on the horizon. The fact that the
UFO faded so fast would bear this out because the conditions for s