392 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The pilot of a Pittsburgh-Buffalo plane, which should have taken 

 off at 6 p. m. sharp from Pittsburgh, reported no observations of the 

 meteor, though if visible at all it should have been conspicuous from 

 the copilot's seat, particularly if the trail endured for a couple of 

 minutes. 



Pittsburgh proper, however, turned in several reports of the meteor, 

 though the Pittsburgh Airport, 6 or 8 miles to the south, missed it 

 completely. These Pittsburgh reports, some of which are excellent, 

 did not reach me till Feburary 1, 1939, half a year after the event. 

 They had been sent to Canada or to Philadelphia and were finally 

 forwarded to me by Dr. Charles P. Olivier, of the Flower Astronomical 

 Observatory and director of the American Meteor Society. 



Pointed ends fell, 

 back into cloud 

 ' Shane. 





GEMERAL APPEARANCE 

 AT EXPLOSION 



'Very high— 

 about 10 

 mllea 

 north. 



Floating southward very 

 slowly; evidently not 

 nrach wind. 



Clouas were traveling 

 west to east at same 

 time. 



Figure 19. — Sketch of clouds and explosion as noted from "north side" Pittsburgh. 



An observer (36) on the "north side" of the city (i. e., north of the 

 Allegheny River) reports on June 26: "Myself and young son wit- 

 nessed this phenomena. We usually watch for an airplane that Hies 

 over each night shortly after 7 o'clock (D. S. T.). Scanning the skies 

 we saw this flash, then a puff of smoke, thin-pointed skyward, much 

 thicker in the center with a jagged-edge appearance, and smooth 

 thin-pointed earthward; called wife from house who witnessed and 

 verified belief in smoke theory instead of cloud. About 1 or Iji 

 minutes later heard explosion much louder and higher than fireworks 

 bomb, and watched smoke assume appearance of a cloud drifting 

 slowly southward and disintegrating over a vast space; smoke wns a 

 vivid white." Figure 19 is a copy of his sketch. The time interval 

 (1-1}^ minutes) is probably somewhat underestimated. The sketch 

 shows the smoke moving eastward, but reports it moving southward. 

 It also mentions clouds. 



From Oakmont, which is about 10 miles from downtown Pittsburgh 

 in a direction somewhat north of east, the wife of a science teacher 



