Balloon Identified by Weatherman

• Source: [Butte] Montana Standard
  July 11, 1947

HELENA, July 10 (AP) � Federal weather officials said Thursday they were convinced a balloon found in an eastern Montana farmyard Wednesday was a common �Pilot� balloon used by weathermen to determine wind conditions aloft.

Farmer D.H. Good found the red rubber balloon near Baker Wednesday.

Pilot balloons are released by weathermen who study their movement in the air to determine wind drift. Attached to the spheres are small battery light attachments, for use at night.

BAKER, July 10 (AP) � D.H. Good, farmer west of this eastern Montana town, reported Thursday he found a red balloon 26 inches long in front of his farmhouse Wednesday.

Attached to the sphere was a half-ounce bottle filled with a substance resembling ashes.

Tuesday night, Baker residents watched an object shuttling back and forth in the sky, and a couple sleeping on a porch early that morning reported seeing something flying overhead.