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originally posted by: Blue Shift
originally posted by: hiddenNZ
a reply to: Blue Shift
whats more plausable...."MA FPE" or WRECK in the letter?
It looks like the latter to me.
It would be plausible except for the clear and obvious fact right in front of your eyes that it doesn't work. What it could be is some kind of Army Air Force acronym or code with which we are completely unfamiliar, and that it is indicative of the reflector array that was connected to the balloon. "M1-IPC" or something like that.
originally posted by: Ectoplasm8
I can see FINDING, you can see VIEWING, and others see VICTIMS. Hardly absolute evidence of anything other than it's up for interpretation because of the poor quality.
NYU radar targets used during the time were ML-307. Good find and possible fill-in word.
originally posted by: In4ormant
1. Why does this super secret balloon project look like it was constructed out of the cheapest materials possible and constructed with the same skill level as my 3 year old neice?
2. If it was so super duper secret then why were they so quick to come out and show it in all its rickety glory?
Just say it was a satellite and move on. Keep the secret project secret.
originally posted by: Blue Shift
originally posted by: In4ormant
1. Why does this super secret balloon project look like it was constructed out of the cheapest materials possible and constructed with the same skill level as my 3 year old neice?
It was pretty good sized and needed to be very light. It would also be discarded or lost after one use. Without a lot of cheap plastic around at the time, tin foil and balsa wood is pretty light and a good choice. Just because it was Top Secret doesn't mean it would be made out of platinum and diamonds.
2. If it was so super duper secret then why were they so quick to come out and show it in all its rickety glory?
The project was secret, but the thing itself was pretty innocuous, and easily passed off as a simple weather balloon target, rather than a Soviet nuclear weapon explosion detector.
Just say it was a satellite and move on. Keep the secret project secret.
No satellites at the time. Weather balloon was a good explanation. Much better than telling people a modified V-2 rocket carrying baby corpses was launched by Nazis from White Sands and went astray.
originally posted by: In4ormant
I doubt that flimsy thing was going to be one of our lines of defense against the Russians.
originally posted by: FoxesNeverQuit
a reply to: IsaacKoi
Great post!
I always thought the photos looked a bit staged, like they werent really looking at what they should be
hope someone can decipher these scans ?
this is a great post... probably one of the only sites that still does what it says on the tin
originally posted by: Blue Shift
originally posted by: In4ormant
I doubt that flimsy thing was going to be one of our lines of defense against the Russians.
It was only going to try to detect experimental Russian atomic explosions, which didn't happen until two years later. No DEW Line in place yet.