Scientist Fears Flying Saucers Portend a Worse ‘Pearl Harbor’

This document, a press clipping from The Daily Oklahoman dated February 26, 1951, details a public disagreement between former Air Force scientist Dr. Anthony O. Mirarchi and Navy scientist Dr. Urner Liddel regarding the nature of 'flying saucers.' Dr. Liddel had previously asserted that reported sightings were merely plastic balloons used for radiation research. Dr. Mirarchi, formerly an air chemist at an Air Force geophysical laboratory, publicly challenged this explanation. He argued that the objects exhibited 'maneuvered motion'—specifically vertical and horizontal movements—that were inconsistent with natural phenomena or drifting balloons. Mirarchi suggested that these objects might be experimental missiles launched by a foreign power, warning that they could portend a 'worse Pearl Harbor' than previously experienced. He noted that he had previously recommended a 'considerable appropriation' for a formal study of these phenomena. In response to Mirarchi's claims, an Air Force spokesman stated that after over 500 investigations, the service had found no concrete evidence to support the existence of flying saucers. However, the spokesman confirmed that the Air Force had not terminated its study of the rumors, which continued under the direction of Col. Harold E. Watson at the USAF Air Materiel Command center in Dayton, Ohio. Mirarchi further highlighted that many 'fireball' observations were concentrated near the Los Alamos atomic installation in New Mexico, a region he deemed critical to national interest.