Here may be some additional details relevant to the alleged 'Secret Weapon' referenced in a 1947 Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper article.

Apparently the papers of James Marion Snodgrass were sought after by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in 1995, as per the following item from:

"During this quarter we received 56 films of Eugene La Fond documenting work at sea during the 1960's and the papers of James Marion Snodgrass (38 cartons). The Snodgrass papers were received with a deposit agreement. A deed of gift is under negotiation now. We also received an original 1969 political cartoon signed by Ronald Reagan concerning state oceans policy and slides of work at sea from Peter Brueggeman."

This item was courtesy of Mr. Bob Barnes, who located it while browsing through a search engine under the name of SNODGRASS. I would be inclined to wager that the James Marion Snodgrass indicated in this article may be the same as from the '47 newspaper report, as the "James Marion Snodgrass" combination of 3-names together seems quite rare.

It appears that the Scripps Institute of Oceanography knew of Snodgrass and had an interest in the acquisition of some of his files, which may or may-not be relevant to this 'Secret' situation he was reportedly involved with while at the motion picture division of the Dayton Acme Company [Dayton, Ohio?].

Upon reading the '47 article, I first presumed that this exotic weapon was perhaps related to the projection of images -holograms, as per his association with a 'motion picture division' of the Dayton Acme Co., but upon closer scrutiny, the term 'weapon' and comparison to "A-bomb potential" seems to negate that possibility, as holographic projection would only serve as a potential counter-measure in any battlefield application and not have destructive capability as the term 'weapon' would imply.

I also surmised that this weapon may be an early EMP [Electromagnetic Pulse] bomb. However, according to a report by Defence Analyst Carlo Kopp entitled: "The Electromagnetic Bomb - a Weapon of Electrical Mass Destruction," Kopp states, "The ElectroMagnetic Pulse [EMP] effect was first observed during the early testing of high altitude airburst nuclear weapons." This statement indicates that the EMP effect was observed *after* the conflict at Tarawa, which was during WWII at which time no high altitude atomic tests had been conducted there.

The second person mentioned in the article, Professor Leech, would be another name to keep alert for.

In light of Snodgrass' connection to The Scripps Institute of Oceanography, I think it could be plausible that the alleged " Secret Weapon" could be nautically based. What seems puzzling is how that Snodgrass could go from a Chief engineer of the motion picture division of the Dayton Acme Co., a consultant engineering firm in Ohio from 1947, to having papers considered valuable to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in 1995.

Further, our understanding of the Tarawa Battle during WWII may shed some light on this. A Navy-Marines operation was enacted in the Central Pacific against Japan in August of 1943. The following information was found at:
          https://ac.acusd.edu/History/WW2Timeline/CRAIGE/doc1.html

The Marshall Islands would serve as an air base from which further operations could be launched against the Marianas, and from there against the Japanese home islands. But 500 miles to the southeast of the Marshalls, an archipelago of atolls called the Gilberts stood between U.S. forward ground air bases and the Marshalls. The Gilberts had only one workable airstrip for refueling American aircraft and that was on the island of Betio in the western Gilbert Island atoll of Tarawa. The Japanese commander in charge of the defense of Tarawa, Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, said "A million men cannot take Tarawa in a hundred years." He commanded 2,600 imperial marines, the best amphibious troops in the Japanese armed forces. With the importation of 1,000 Japanese workers and 1,200 Korean laborers the island airstrip of Betio had been transformed into one of the most formidable fortresses in the world, boasting 14 coastal defense guns(four of which were taken from the surrendered British garrison at Singapore), 40 strategically located artillery pieces, covering every approach to the island, a coconut-log sea wall four feet high lining the lagoon and over 100 machine gun emplacements behind the wall. All this was concentrated on an island only a mile long and a few hundred yards wide. Meanwhile an armada of 17 carriers, 12 battleships, eight heavy and four light cruisers, 66 destroyers and 36 transports carrying the 2nd Marine Division and a part of the 37th Infantry Division- some 35,000 soldiers and Marines headed for Betio in early November of 1943. In the moments before pre-invasion bombardment began, the task force naval commander, Rear Admiral Howard F. Kingman announced to the landing troops "Gentlemen, we will not neutralize Betio. We will not destroy it. We will obliterate it!" Neither Shibasaki nor Kingman knew what they were up against.

Thanks to Jim Martin for the information regarding Tarawa.

Aside from being a slight curiousity, there is nothing substantive indicating that this strange story is UFO-related.