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light. descriptions of what they had seen might have varied, they were all agreed on one basic point: a "strange machine" had landed very near them. By July 30th, the saucers seemed ready to invade the United States on a full scale, thereby setting off a rash of sightings that for sheer bulk and individual drama surpassed even the big saucer year of 1952. Spokane, Washington reported the first UFO's of the summer's bumper crop of celestial phenomena. The citizens of Spokane saw two strange objects in their skies, both bluish white with a slight reddish tinge and oblong in shape. The sheriff's office declared the objects to be weather balloons until the U.S. Weather Bureau informed the law officers that there were no balloons in the area. A spokesman for Fairchild Air Force Base admitted that "a light in the sky had been observed by base personnel," but he went on to deny reports that fighter planes had been dispatched to investigate the- On Sunday night, August 1st, authorities in portions of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas were deluged with reports of UFO's. The Sedgewick County Sheriff's office at Wichita announced to newsmen that the weather bureau had tracked "several of them at altitudes of 6,000 to 9,000 feet." The Oklahoma Highway Patrol stated that Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City was tracking as many as four of the unidentified flying objects on its radar screens at one time. Operators estimated their altitude at about 22,000 feet. Newsmen contacted a spokesman for the Air Force Base, but he refused to confirm or deny the radar observations. Information Officer Lt. John Walmsly told the press: "The reported sightings this evening will be investigated by air force personnel." The Oklahoma Highway Patrol was much less reluctant to comment on the reality of the UFO's than the Air Force had been. Police officers in three different patrol cars had reported observing saucers flying in