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investigations were apparently most thorough, for the Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian defense departments took a very dim view of the whole situation. Their air territories were being invaded. From the sighting data it is apparent that many air planes were involved, not just one or two. Most of these planes were larger than ordinary military planes, and they were able to operate in foul weather over treacherous mountainous territory. Such an operation called for well-equipped bases staffed with mechanics and linked to supply lines to provide the necessary fuel, spare parts and logistical needs. Despite a thorough search by the armed forces of three countries, no such bases were ever discovered. Aircraft carriers were still being developed, and the ones then available could handle only a few small biplanes. In 1942, the United States modified the carrier Hornet to transport General Doolittle’s twin- engined B-25s to the coast of Japan, where they launched their raid against Tokyo. But the B-25s could not land again on the carrier and had to fly on to China. Hitler had just come into power in 1933, and the Luftwaffe did not yet exist. The Soviet Union did not have the planes or, more important, the motivation for such a senseless series of maneuvers over Scandinavia. Besides, the risks of an international incident were tremendous. If one of these planes had crashed and had been found to be the property of any foreign power, the overflights would certainly have been regarded as an act of war. For some peculiar reason, the New York Times suggested that Japan was the culprit. But none of the Scandinavian newspapers even mentioned Japan in connection with the ghost fliers. Japan was having trouble with China at that time and would have had neither the capability nor the motivation for the operation. For a time early in the flap, the Swedish newspapers toyed with theories about liquor smugglers flying around the North. But the official investigations completely ruled out the smuggler theory. As with the waves of 1896-97 and 1909, the 1934 flap featured random low-level flights of recognizable objects and hundreds of flights of high-altitude lights carrying out seemingly intelligent maneuvers. The mystery airplanes were the “‘hard’’ objects used to provide a frame of reference for the more numerous ‘“‘soft”’ objects being deployed through- out the northern latitudes. Witnesses saw and reported definite airplanes carrying red, green and white lights. When brilliant red, green and white lights were seen at higher altitudes, it was assumed that they were attached to ghost fliers hidden by distance. 118 / Operation Trojan Horse