History of the United States Air Force UFO Programs
1. In the summer of 1947…
Impossible! Maybe, But Seein’ Is Believin’, Says Flyer
PENDLETON, Ore., June 25 (AP)—Kenneth Arnold, with the fire control at Boise and who was flying in southern Washington yesterday afternoon in search of a missing marine plane, stopped here en route to Boise today with an unusual story—which he doesn’t expect people to believe but which he declared was true.
He said he sighted nine saucer-like aircraft flying in formation at 3 p.m. yesterday, extremely bright—as if they were nickel plated—and flying at an immense rate of speed. He estimated they were at an altitude between 9,500 and 10,000 feet and clocked them from Mt. Rainier to Mt. Adams, arriving at the amazing speed of about 1200 miles an hour.
“It seemed impossible,” he said, “but there it is—I must believe my eyes.”
On 24 June, Boise businessman Kenneth Arnold, an experienced mountain and liscensed air rescue pilot, was flying his private plane from Chehalis to Yakima, Washington when he delayed his trip to search for a Marine Corps C-46 transport airplane. After searching the canyons southwest of Mount Rainier, he turned back east, climbed to where the air was smooth and clear, and trimmed out the airplane heading toward Yakima. Minutes later, he was startled by a bright flash that lit up the surfaces of his aircraft. Scanning the sky to the north, he observed a chain of nine peculiar looking aircraft, in loose formation, flying close to the mountaintops at tremendous speed. At first, he thought he was observing jet aircraft, but as they approached Mt. Rainier he was able to observe their outlines against the snow and could not distinguish a tail, and they did not fly like aircraft he had ever seen before.
In the first place, their echelon formation was reversed from that practiced by the Air Force. The elevation of the lead craft was highest with the rest stepped down. At one point, the formation momentarily disappeared behind a peak at the base of Mt. Rainier, revealing their true position and allowing Arnold to clock their speed as they covered the distance to Mt. Adams.
At the time, he described their flight “like speed boats on rough water or similar to the tail of a Chinese kite that I once saw blowing in the wind. Or maybe it would be best to describe their flight characteristics as very similar to a formation of geese, in a rather diagonal chain-like line, as if they were linked together.” As he put it later to newsmen in Pendleton, Oregon, “they flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water.” [1]
Autographed front cover of Kenneth Arnold’s The Flying Saucer as I Saw It (1950). Arnold stated in his book that one of the objects had a somewhat different shape. The cover illustration shows this object with a semi-circular front edge, and a rear that consists of two concave edges joining at a center cusp.”
Autographed front cover of Kenneth Arnold’s The Flying Saucer as I Saw It (1950). Arnold stated in his book that one of the objects had a somewhat different shape. The cover illustration shows this object with a semi-circular front edge, and a rear that consists of two concave edges joining at a center cusp.
