Juin 1947

Impossible! Maybe, But Seein' Is Believin', Says Flier

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."

He landed at Yakima somewhat later and inquired there, but learned nothing. Talking about it to a man from Ukiah in Pendleton this morning whose name he did not get, he was amazed to learn that the man had sighted the same aerial objects yesterday afternoon from the mountains in the Ukiah section! He said that in flight they appeared to weave in and out in formation.

Pendleton, Ore., 25 juin (AP) - Kenneth Arnold, un pilote de Boise dans l'Idaho, a rapporté aujourd'hui même avoir observé neuf objets brillants en forme de soucoupes qui volaient à une vitesse « incroyable » et à une altitude de 10 000 pieds ; il dit n'avoir aucune idée de ce dont il pouvait s'agir.

Arnold, un employé des services forestiers des États-Unis qui avait pris part à la recherche d'un avion disparu, dit qu'il a observé les mystérieux objets hier à 15 heures. Ils volaient, déclara-t-il, entre le mont Rainier et le mont Adams, dans l'État de Washington, et semblaient sortir alternativement de leur formation. Arnold dit les avoir chronométrés et avoir estimé leur vitesse à 1 200 miles à l'heure.

Des recherches effectuées à Yakima la nuit dernière n'ont rien donné, dit-il, mais il a ajouté s'être entretenu aujourd'hui avec un homme de l'Utah, au sud d'ici, qui déclare avoir vu hier des objets similaires au-dessus des montagnes aux alentours de Ukiah. « Cela peut paraître impossible, a déclaré Arnold, mais c'est ainsi. »

Supersonic Flying Saucers Sighted by Idaho Pilot

Speed Estimated at 1200 Miles an Hour When Seen 10,000 Feet Up Near Mt Rainier

Nine bright, saucer-like objects flying at "incredible" speed at 10,000 feet altitude were reported here Wednesday by Kenneth Arnold, Boise (Idaho) pilot, who said he could not hazard a guess as to what they were.

Arnold, a U.S. forest service employee searching for a missing plane, said he sighted the mystery craft yesterday at 1 p.m. They were flying between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, in Washington State, he said, and appeared to wave in and out of formation. Arnold said he clocked them and estimated their speed at 1,200 miles an hour.

Inquiries at Yakima last night brought only blank stares, he said, but he added he talked today with an unidentified man from Ukiah, south of here, who said he had seen similar objects over the mountains near Ukiah yesterday.

"It seems impossible," Arnold said, "but there it is."

Pendleton, Ore., June 25 — (AP) — Nine bright, saucer-like objects flying at "incredible" speed at 10,000 feet altitude were reported here today by Kenneth Arnold, Boise (Ida.) pilot, who said he could not hazard a guess as to what they were.

Arnold, a United States Forest Service employee, engaged in searching for a missing plane, said he sighted the mystery objects Tuesday at 3 p.m. They were flying between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, in Washington State, he said, and appeared to wave in and out of formation. Arnold said he clocked them, and estimated their speed at 1,200 miles an hour.

He added he talked Wednesday with an unidentified man from Ukiah, south of here, who said he had seen similar objects over the mountains near Ukiah Tuesday.

"It seems impossible," Arnold said, "but there it is."

Arnold said he clocked the objects from Mount Rainer to Mount Adams, and estimated their speed at 1,200 miles an hour. He said they appeared to fly almost as if fastened together—if one dipped, the other did, too.

After the incident, he said, he talked to other pilots when he landed at Yakima, Wash., but none of them had seen anything similar.

Oregon is perhaps more concerned than many areas over reports of mysterious objects because of the wind-borne balloons launched from Japan during the war. One of the bomb-laden balloons fell near Lakeview, Ore. in May, 1945, killing six persons.

At Portland, Ore., Edward Leach, senior C.A.A. Aeronautical Inspector, said he could offer no explanation of the fast-flying objects reported by Arnold.

"If they were actually as described," Leach said, "I don't know what they could be. I rather doubt that anything would be traveling that fast."

Leach said he was not sure whether objects traveling at 1,200 miles an hour could be seen clearly enough to tell that they were weaving in information, as reported.

In Washington, the War Department said it had no information on the sky mystery.

An army spokesman expressed interest in any objects which would fly at the estimated speed of 1,200 m.p.h., declaring:

"As far as we know, nothing flies that fast except a V-2 rocket, which travels about 3,500 miles an hour — and that's too fast to be seen."

Moreover, the V-2s, unlike the saucer-shaped objects seen in Oregon, are cigar-shaped.

The spokesman said it was safe to say that the army is not conducting any high-speed experimental tests in the area mentioned and is certainly "not shooting" in populated regions.

Pendleton, Ore., June 25 — (AP) — Nine bright, saucer-like objects flying at "incredible" speed at 10,000 feet altitude were reported here Wednesday by Kenneth Arnold, Boise (Ida.) pilot, who said he could not hazard a guess as to what they were.

Arnold, a United States forest service employe engaged in searching for a missing plane, said he sighted the mysterious objects on Tuesday afternoon. They were flying between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, in Washington State, he said, and appeared to wave in and out of formation.

Inquiries at Yakima brought only blank stares, he said, but he added he talked Wednesday with an unidentified man from Ukiah, south of here, who said he had seen similar objects over the mountains near Ukiah Tuesday.

Arnold said he clocked the objects from Mount Rainer to Mount Adams, and estimated their speed at 1,200 miles an hour. He said they appeared to fly as if fastened together—if one dipped, the other did, too.

Oregon is perhaps more concerned than many areas over reports of mysterious objects because of the wind-borne balloons launched from Japan during the war. One of the bomb-laden balloons fell near Lakeview, Ore. in May, 1945, killing six persons.

In Washington, an Army spokesman expressed interest in any object which would fly at the estimated speed of 1,200 miles per hour, declaring: "As far as we know, nothing flies that fast except a V-2 rocket, which travels at about 3,500 miles an hour — and that's too fast to be seen."

Boise Flyer Maintains He Saw 'Em

Kenneth Arnold Sticks To Story of Seeing
Nine Mysterious Objects Flying At Speed
Of 1200 Miles An Hour Over Mountains

By BILL BEQUETTE

Kenneth Arnold, a six-foot, 200-pound flying Boise, Ida., business man, was about the only person today who believed he saw nine mysterious objects -- as big as four-engined airplanes -- whizzing over western Washington at 1200 miles an hour.

     Army and civilian air experts either expressed polite incredulity or scoffed openly at Mr. Arnold's story, but the 32-year-old one time Minot, N.D. football star, clung to his story of shiny, flat objects racing over the Cascade mountains with a peculiar weaving motion "like the tail of a Chinese kite."

     A CAA inspector in Portland, quoted by the Associated Press, said: "I rather doubt that anything would be traveling that fast."

     A Washington, D.C., army spokesman was quoted as saying, "As far as we know, nothing flies that fast except a V-2 rocket, which travels at about 3500 miles an hour -- and that's too fast to be seen."
No High-Speed Tests In Area

     He added that there were no high-speed experimental tests being made in the area where Mr. Arnold reported seeing the mysterious objects.

     The Boise man, who owns the Great Western fire control supply which handled automatic fire fighting systems, described the objects as "flat like a pie pan and somewhat bat-shaped" and so shiny they reflected the sun like a mirror.

     He said the reflection was so brilliant that it blinded him "as if someone had started an arc light in front of my eyes."

     Mr. Arnold reported he was flying east at 2:50 p.m. Tuesday toward Mt. Rainier when the objects appeared directly in front of him 25-30 miles away at about 10,000 feet altitude.

     By his plane's clock he timed them at 1:42 minutes for the 50 miles between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams.  He said he later figured their speed by triangulation at "about 1200 miles an hour."

Admits Might Has (sic) Erred

     He admitted he might have erred 200-300 miles in his figuring but added "they still were the fastest things I ever saw."

     When first sighted, he thought the objects were snow geese.

     "But geese don't fly that high -- and, anyway, what would geese be doing going south for this time of year?"

     Next he thought they were jet planes.  He said he had heard so many stories of the speed of this type of craft traveled so he determined to clock them.

     However, he quickly realized "their motion was wrong for jet jobs."

     "I guess I don't know what they were -- unless they were guided missiles," he said.

     "Everyone says I'm nuts," he added ruefully, "and I guess I'd say it too if someone else reported those things.  But I saw them and watched them closely."

     "It seems impossible -- but there it is."

     Mr. Arnold, who flies 60 to 100 hours monthly throughout five western states, said he was 25-30 miles west of Mt. Rainier, en route from Chehalis to Yakima, when he sighted the objects.

Searching for Lost Plane

     He explained that he had been cruising around the western slope of the mountain in hope of seeing a marine corps plane, missing since last January.

     "I heard there was a $10,000 reward offered to anyone who locates it," he added.

     He said the "planes" remained visible by the flashes of reflected sunlight for some seconds after they passed Mt. Adams, perhaps for as far away as 50 miles.

     Mr. Arnold admitted the angle from which he viewed the objects would make difficult precise estimation of their speed, but insisted any error would not be grave "for that speed."

     The DC-4 was closer than the objects, but at 14,000 feet and somewhat north of him.  He said he could estimate the distance of the objects better because an intervening peak once blocked his view of them.  He found the peak was 25 miles away, he related.

     The Boise flyer said they flew on the west sides of Rainier and Adams, adding that he believed this would make it more difficult for them to be seen from the ground.

     He said he "measured" the formation by a snow-covered ridge over which they passed and estimated the "train" was five miles long.

Thought Window Was Cause

     He said that at first he thought the window of his plane might be causing the reflections, but that he still saw the objects after rolling it down.

     He also described the objects as "saucer-like" and their motion "like a fish flipping in the sun.".

     Mostly, he said, he was surprised at the way they twisted just above the higher peaks, almost appearing to be threading their way along the mountain ridge line.

     "No orthodox plane would be flying like that," he commented.

     "Ten thousand feet is very low for anything going at that speed."

     Mr. Arnold was flying a three-passenger, single-engined plane at 9200 feet at the time, he reported.   His speed was about 110 miles an hour.

     The Boise man, who is married and has two children, landed here yesterday and said he would remain another day or two before returning to Boise.

     He described himself as a "fire control engineer" and emphasized he is not employed by the forest service but is a free-lance contractor.

Bug-Eyed Salesman Reports Fast-Flying Mystery Planes

     PENDLETON, Ore., June 26 -- (U.P.)-- Residents of Pendleton sought an explanation today for the nine strange "saucer-shaped" planes an amateur pilot claimed he saw flying at an estimated speed of 1,200 miles an hour across southwestern Washington.

     The story was told by Kenneth Arnold, flying fire extinguisher salesman from Boise, Ida.

     He landed here, slightly bug-eyed, Wednesday and told how he spotted the "extremely shiny nickle-plated aircraft" skimming along at 10,000 feet on Tuesday.  Arnold was on a search for a missing Marine corps plane at the time.

     "They were shaped like saucers and were so thin I could barely see them," he told Jack Whitman, a local businessman.

     "There were nine of them and they were flying in a screwy formation about 25 miles away from me.  It wasn't any military formation I ever saw before.

     "I figure they were moving about 1,200 miles per hour because I clocked them with a stop watch during the time it took them to fly from Mount Rainer to Mount Adams.   That's 42 miles and they made it in one minute 42 seconds -- about 1,205 mph."

     Arnold said the strange aircraft were skittering across the southwest slope of Mount Rainier when he first sighted them.

     Whitman suggested tactfully, that Arnold had been seeing things but the pilot insisted, "I must be believe my eyes."

     There was no comment from military authorities on Arnold's story.

Flying Disk Mystery Grows

2 Midwest Men Support Boise Flyer
Descriptions Tally on Fast-Flying Pie Pan Objects

(AP) -- A Boise flyer's tail of nine mysterious objects hurtling through the air over western Washington was discounted by Army and Air experts today, but received confirmation in reports from two midwestern cities.

     Descriptions of the shiny, "piepan" shaped objects, apparently flying in formation at terrific speed tallied in virtually all details, and at least two of the midwesterners added information on "motor noise" and "vapor trails."

Speed Terrific
     "The machine, or whatever it was, was a shiny silvery color -- very big -- and was moving at a terrific rate of speed."

     "The funny thing about it was that it made no noise. I don't think it had any type of internal combustion engine."

     Referring to a claim by Kenneth Arnold, flying Boise Idaho businessman, that he saw nine shiny objects in western Washington similar to the one Savage described, the Oklahoma City man declared: " I know that boy up there (Arnold), really saw them."

     Savage said he told his wife about the object at the time but "she thought I must have seen lightning" and he also told some skeptical pilot friends.

Wife Convinced
     "I kept quiet after that." He continued "until I read about that man seeing nine of the same things. I saw it and I thought it only fair to back him up."

     Mrs. Savage said today she now was convinced her husband saw the object " he was very much worked up about it when he read about the man in Washington," she declared.

     Savage said the object he saw was high up in the air -- "somewhere around 10,000 feet. I couldn't be sure, judging from the ground where I was."

Carpenter Reports 'Discs' in Midwest

KANSAS CITY, June 26, (AP) -- Nine shiny objects flying at a high rate of speed such as described by a Boise Idaho pilot were reported by W. I. Davenport, a carpenter, to have been sighted here Wednesday.

     Davenport, working on the roof of a house, said he saw the objects flying west shortly after noon.  He said he first heard the faint sound of motors.

     "There were nine of them, flying in a group with one a little to one side."  He said, "They were flying so fast I barely had time to count them before they were gone. They were leaving vapor trails."

     He added that he could not describe the shape of the objects since he could not see them clearly.

FLYING PIE-PAN TALE A BIT DOUBTFUL

Pendleton, Ore., June 26 (AP) — A tale of nine mysterious objects — big as airplanes — whizzing over western Washington at 1200 miles an hour got skepticism today from the army and air experts.

The man who reported the objects, Kenneth Arnold, a flying Boise, Idaho, business man, clung, however, to his story of the shiny, flat objects, each as big as a DC-4 passenger plane, racing over Washington's Cascade mountains with a peculiar weaving motion "like the tail of a kite."

An Army spokesman in Washington, D. C., commented, "as far as we know, nothing flies that fast except a V-2 rocket, which travels at about 3500 miles an hour—and that's too fast to be seen."

The spokesman added that the V-2 rockets would not resemble the objects reported by Arnold, and that no high-speed experimental tests were being made in the area where Arnold said the objects were.

A civil aeronautics administration inspector in Portland, Ore., added "I rather doubt that anything would be traveling that fast."

Arnold described the objects as "flat like a pie-pan," and so shiny that they reflected the sun like a mirror.

He said he was flying east at 2:59 p. m. two days ago toward Mt. Rainier when they appeared directly in front of him 25-30 miles away at 10,000 feet altitude.

By his plane's clock he timed them at 1:42 minutes for the 47 miles from Mt. Rainier to Mt. Adams, Arnold said, adding that he later figured by triangulation that their speed was 1,200 miles an hour.

"I could be wrong by 200 or 300 miles an hour," he admitted, "but I know I never saw anything so fast."

He said at first he thought they were geese, but quickly saw they were too big—as big as a DC-4 that was about 20 miles away, he said. The DC-4 pilot reported nothing unusual sighted. Then Arnold said he thought of jet planes and started to clock them, but their motion was wrong for jet jobs.

I guess I don't know what they were—unless they were guided missiles, said Arnold, who continued here on a business trip.

TRUE, SAYS OKLAHOMAN.

OKLAHOMA CITY, June 26.

—Don’t sell those strange flying objects reported whizzing over western Washington short until the returns are all in. A flyer claimed today he saw one flash over Oklahoma City.

“lt was about five or six weeks ago.” said Byron Savage, 38, Oklahoma City business man pilot.

“I was standing in my front yard when a flat, disc-like object came across the city. The machine, or whatever it was, was a shiny, silvery color—very big—and was moving at a terrific rate of speed.”

Savage said he told his wife about the object at the time but “she thought I must have seen lightning” and he also told some skeptical pilot friends.

CARPENTER AGREES

KANSAS CITY, June 26, (AP) —Nine shiny objects flying at a high rate of speed, such as described by a Boise (Idaho) pilot, were reported by W. I. Davenport, a carpenter, to have been sighted here yesterday.

Pendleton, Ore. —(AP)— Army and CAA spokesmen expressed skepticism today over a report of nine mysterious objects—big as airplanes—whizzing at 1200 miles an hour.

Kenneth Arnold, a flying Boise, Idaho, businessman who reported seeing them, clung, however, to his story of the shiny, flat objects, each as big as a DC-4 passenger plane, racing over Washington's Cascade Mountains with a peculiar weaving motion "like the tail of a kite".

An Army spokesman in Washington, D. C., commented, "as far as we know, nothing flies that fast except a V-2 rocket, which travels at about 3,500 miles an hour—and that's too fast to be seen".

The spokesman added that the V-2 rockets would not resemble the objects reported by Arnold, and that no high-speed experimental tests were being made in the area where Arnold said the objects were.

A Civil Aeronautics Administration inspector in Portland, Ore., added "I rather doubt that anything would be traveling that fast."

Arnold described the objects as "flat like a pie-pan," and so shiny that they reflected the sun like a mirror.

He said he was flying east a 2:59 p. m. two days ago toward Mt. Rainier when they appeared directly in front of him 25-30 miles away at 10,000 feet altitude.

By his plane's clock he timed them at 1:42 minutes for the 47 miles from Mt. Rainier to Mt. Adams, Arnold said, adding that he later figured by triangulation that their speed was 1,200 miles an hour.

"I could be wrong by 200 or 300 miles an hour," he admitted, "but I know I never saw anything so fast."

He said at first he thought they were geese, but quickly saw they were too big—as big as a DC-4 that was about 20 miles away, he said. The DC-4 pilot reported nothing unusual sighted.

Then Arnold said he thought of jet planes and started to clock them, but their motion was wrong for jet jobs.

I guess I don't know what they were—unless they were guided missiles, said Arnold, who continued here on a business trip.

Many Offer Reports; Few of Them Jibe:
Interest in 'Flying Discs' Mystery Mounts

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

The mystery of the “flying discs” deepened today as more Washington and Oregon residents stepped forward to back reports of the eerie saucerlike objects first reported Wednesday by an Idaho flier to have been flying in formation over the Cascade mountains.

One report, this time of a night flight, was reported by Archie Edes of Wenatchee. While driving on the Moses Lake Highway last Friday night with his father and family, Edes said he saw a speeding object “descending in a long slant . . . it looked like a long, oval blue-white flame.

“As we watched, it neared the ground and when it was about 200 feet high It exploded. There was no blinding flash, but there were great showers of sparks and piles of flame seemed to hurtle to the ground,” he said.

A “very bright, shiny object” was reported by Mrs. Dennis Howell of Salem, Ore., a week before, according to Mrs. Howard K. Wheeler of Bremerton. She and her husband sighted three of the objects flying west about 6 o’clock in the evening.

A Yakima woman, Mrs. Ethel Wheelhouse, also reported  sighting the “whatzits” Tuesday afternoon. They sped so fast she could not count them and abruptly disappeared, she said.

PENDLETON, Ore. —(U.P.)— Kenneth Arnold, the flying salesman, isn't taking any more chances on being accused of having spots before his eyes.

Arnold, whose tale of seeing nine “flying saucers” skimming over southern Washington at 1200 miles an hour has cased much skepticism hereabouts, Friday purchased a $150 camera with a telescopic lense. He said he would carry it in his light plane at all times to record graphically from now on any peculiar objects he sees flying around when he's on an air jaunt.

“I haven't had a moment of peace since I first told the story,” the 32-year-old Boise, Ida., business man-pilot sighted.

He said a preacher called him from Texas and informed him that the strange objects Arnold claims to have seen batting through the ozone actually were harbingers of doomsday.

Arnold said he didn’t get the preacher’s name during their phone conversation, but the minister said he was setting his flock “ready for the end of this world.”

That was unnerving, according to Arnold, but it wasn’t half as disconcerting as the episode in a Pendleton cafe.

Arnold said a woman rushed in, took one look at him and then dashed out shrieking, “There’s the man who saw the men from Mars.” She rushed out of the eating place “sobbing that she would have to do something for the children,” Arnold added with a shudder.

Arnold, a representative of a fire control equipment firm, startled the country Thursday by reporting he had seen nine shiny round objects skimming through the air in formation between Mt. Rainier, Wash., and Mt. Adams.

More Sky-Gazers Tell About Seeing the Flying Piepans

By the Associated Press

The mystery of the “flying discs” deepened today as more Washington and Oregon residents stepped forward to back reports of the eerie saucerlike objects first reported Wednesday by an Idaho flyer to have been flying in formation over the Cascade mountains.

One witness, E. H. Sprinkle of Eugene, Ore., produced a photograph last night of “flying objects” which he said he sighted from a Eugene hill June 18. Enlargements showed seven dots in the sky in what could be military formation.

Still another version, this time of a night flight, was reported by Archie Edes of Wenatchee. While driving on the Moses lake highway last Friday night with his father and family, Edes said he saw a speeding object “descending in a long slant . . . it looked like a long, oval blue-white flame.

“As we watched, it neared the ground and when it was about 200 feet high It exploded. There was no blinding flash, but there were great showers of sparks and piles of flame seemed to hurtle to the ground,” he said.

A “very bright, shiny object” was reported by Mrs. Dennis Howell of Salem, Ore., a week before. According to Mrs. Howard K. Wheeler of Bremerton, she and her husband sighted three of the objects flying west about 6 o’clock in the evening.

PENDLETON. June 27 (UP) — Kenneth Arnold said today he would like to get on one of his 1200-mile-an-hour "flying saucers," and escape from the furor caused by his story of mysterious aircraft flashing over southern Washington. "I haven't had a moment of peace since I first told the story," the 32-year-old Boise, Ida., business man-pilot sighed.

He said a preacher called him from Texas and informed him that the strange objects Arnold claims to have seen batting along through the ozone actually were harbingers of doomsday.

Arnold said he didn't get the preacher's name during their phone conversation, but the minister said he was getting his flock "ready for the end of this world."

Episode In Cafe

That was unnerving according to Arnold, but it wasn't half as disconcerting as the episode in a Pendleton cafe.

Arnold said a woman rushed in, took one look at him and then dashed out shrieking. "There's the man who saw the men from Mars." She rushed out of the eating place "sobbing that she would have to do something for the children," Arnold added with a shudder.

Arnold, a representative of a fire control equipment firm, startled the country yesterday by reporting he had seen nine shiny, round objects skimming through the air in formation between Mt. Rainier, Wash., and Mt. Adams. Arnold said he was able to clock them with the stop watch on his own plane's instrument panel. He said they were spinning off a neat 1,200 m.p.h.

Wants To See FBI

"This whole thing has gotten out of hand," Arnold went on. "I want to talk to the FBI or someone."

"Half the people I see look at me as a combination Einstein, Flash Gordon, and screwball. I wonder what my wife back in Idaho thinks."

But all the hoopla and hysterics haven't caused Arnold to change his mind or back down. He doesn't care if the experts laugh him off. He said most of his aviator friends tell him that what he saw were probably either one of two things: New planes or guided missiles still in the United States Army air forces' secret category. Some theorized they were experimental equipment of another nation, probably Russia.

"Most people," he said, "tell me I'm right."

Experts Tee Off

But meanwhile, aeronautical experts in Washington and elsewhere were toeing off on Arnold's story with facts and figures straight out of the books.

Their principal point seemed to be that if Arnold's saucers moved as fast as he claimed, they couldn't have been tracked with anything short of radar.

The fastest man has yet flown is 647 miles per hour—a record set recently by Col. Albert Boyd in a P-80.

Silver City Folks Report Sighting Of Mystery Disc

SILVERY CITY June 27 (UP) -- Dr. R.F. Sensenbaugher and members of his family reported seeing a brilliant disc sail out of the northern sky Wednesday evening, the Silver City Daily Press said today.

First report of such discs came from Pendleton, Ore., Wednesday where Kenneth Arnold, flying Boise (Idaho) businessman, reported seeing nine such objects, each as big as a DC-4 passenger plane, moving at a high rate of speed. A similar report came from Oklahoma City residents.

Dr. Sensenbaugher, a dentist, Mrs. Sensenbaugher, and her sister, Mrs. C.B. Munroe, were riding along the Tyrone road last Wednesday about 8 p.m. when they reported a luminous disc sailed out of the northern sky and disappeared in a few seconds over the southern horizon.

Dr. Sensenbaugher said the disc appeared to be about half the size of a full moon, very brilliant, far-distant and apparently not moving at excessive speed.

They could not connect the appearance with any natural phenomenon they had experienced and their curiosity was further whetted when they read about such bright objects being seen in the skies of Washington and Oklahoma.

Arnold Insists Tale of Flying Objects O.K

PENDLETON, June 27 (AP) -- Kenneth Arnold, a veteran pilot and fire control engineer, Thursday clung stoutly to his story that he saw nine shiny crescent-shaped planes or pilotless missiles flying in formation at a speed of at least 1,200 miles per hour over the Mt. Rainier region.

     "It's God's truth -- I will swear it on a Bible. I saw them and I clocked them. They traveled 48 to 50 miles in 1 minute and 42 seconds."

     (A plane traveling 48 miles in 1 minute and 42 seconds would be moving at a speed of 1,692 miles per hour.)

     Arnold said he saw the objects flying in "weaving formation" in a line at 10,000 feet as he piloted his own small private plane over Mineral, Wash.  He said he flew at a right angle to the line of flashing objects.

     When he landed at Pendleton, in route to Boise Idaho, Arnold told his story and stuck to it.

     "Some of the pilots thought it over and said it was possible. Some of them guessed that I had seen some secret guided missiles. People began asking me if I thought they were missiles sent over the North Pole. I don't know what they were, but I know this -- I saw them."

     Arnold, general manager and owner of the Great Western Fire Control Company, said he first saw the objects when they flashed in the sun low over the slopes of Mt. Rainier.

     "Then I saw them, weaving and ducking in and out as they came south not more than 500 feet over the plateau. They looked like they were rocking. I looked for the tails but suddenly realized they didn't have any. They were half-moon shaped, oval in front and convex in the rear. I was in a beautiful position to watch them. I thought they might be jet planes, and I clocked them. Then when I saw they had no tails and I realized how fast they were going, I knew they were like nothing I had ever heard of before. There were no bulges or cowlings; they looked like a big flat disk. They were larger than the ordinary jet plane but slightly smaller than a DC4, if you don't count the rear fuselage."

     Arnold said that the objects waved "like the tail of a Chinese kite."

     "They hugged the horseback between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams, and the flashing they made in the sun reminded me of the reflection of a great mirror."

More See Flat, Fast Discs Cavorting In Sky

By Associated Press

Conjectures multiplied Thursday as widely separated areas reported apparent confirmation of incredibly fast disc-like objects flashing through the sky -- but skeptics remained.

Following Wednesday's report at Pendleton, Ore., by Kenneth Arnold of Boise, Idaho, that he had seen nine saucer-shaped shiny objects dipping and skimming through the sky between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams in Washington state at an estimated 1,200 miles an hour, came these observations Thursday:

Byron Savage, Oklahoma City businessman-pilot, said that five or six weeks ago he observed from his front lawn a flat disc-like object hurtling through the sky at tremendous speed. He said he told his wife and a few pilot friends then said no more until he heard of Arnold's report. "I know that boy up there (Arnold) really saw them," Savage declared.

At Kansas City, W. I. Davenport, a carpenter, said that Wednesday he, too, saw nine speeding objects, moving west high in the sky. They were going fast and he could not make out their shape, he said. However he reported engine sound and vapor trails -- the only one of the observers with that to report.

A Bremerton, Wash., housewife -- west across the Cascade Mountains from where Arnold saw his objects -- said that twice in the past 10 days she had seen "platter-like" light-reflecting objects. The first time was last week Tuesday or Wednesday and the second time at 10 a.m. Tuesday this week.

"I thought surely nothing could travel so fast," Mrs. Elma Shingler said. Her observation that they wavered from side to side was similar to Arnold's report of dipping as though planes were changing place in a formation. She said they were moving northwesterly.

At Eugene, Ore., E.H. Sprinkle said he nearly got a picture of them. A week ago Wednesday, he said, he took his $3.50 camera to a local Butte store to test it. He spotted objects in the southwest racing toward the northeast, but before he could click his shutter they were nearly out of sight. He said he had not told of seeing the objects -- which he said were similar to those Arnold reported -- because he thought no one would believe him. Enlargement prints from his film showed nothing but clear sky.

Against these supporting observations, skeptics sought explanations. Capt. Al Smith, United Air Lines pilot on the Seattle run, said he thought Arnold saw reflections of his instrument panel and Dr. J. Hugh Pruett, University of Oregon meteorologist said that "persistent vision," often noted after looking at bright objects such as the sun, could have kept such reflections before him after they had passed.

Elmer Fisher, first meteorologist in the Portland weather bureau, suggested a slight touch of snow blindness from the mountain peaks.

These possibilities were centered on Arnold's observations and left unanswered the question raised by the other reports.

Pruett said that whatever the objects were, they were not of meteoric origin for meteors do not dip or sway.

Pilot Still Puzzled By Aerial Objects

PENDLETON, Ore., June 27 (UP) -- The next time Kenneth Arnold sees saucers flying through the sky he'll get a picture of them.

The 32-year-old Boise, Ida., businessman pilot whose report of nine disc-like objects flashing through the sky at incredible speed brought a number of similar reports as well as expressions of doubt, today bought a movie camera with a telescopic lens so "next time I hope I'll have a picture of what I see."

He said that while he was inclined to join the skeptics, he couldn't because "I saw it," adding that all he wanted was an explanation of what he saw.

Flying Objects Are Not Jets

PORTLAND, Ore., June 28 (INS)—Whatever Kenneth Arnold, Boise aviator, saw while flying over Southwest Washington, they definitely were not Army jet-propelled flying wings as suggested in published reports.

Arnold claimed he saw a formation of saucer-like objects flying 1200 miles an hour.

The flurry of conflicting reports that followed Arnold's story prompted Lester Halpin, KOIN radio news editor to wire Army Air Force General Carl Spaatz in Washington, D.C. Halpin asked if the objects could have been flying wings and if the general considered the security of the country involved.

In reply to Halpin's wire, AAF headquarters advised: "Shiny objects reported seen over Washington state are not jet propelled flying wings. Only two jet propelled flying wings are on order by Army Air Forces neither of which has been completed. Army Air Forces have no aircraft that could fit reported description of objects. Security is not involved."

IT'S DISKS AGAIN; NEW ERA FORESEEN

by Associated Press.

BOISE, Idaho, July 27. —Kenneth Arnold. Boise business man-pilot who first “spotted” the flying disks, added a letter from France to his growing file of correspondence offering solutions to the airborne saucers.

The unidentified Frenchman, writing from Paris, said the disks are a part of a “great revelation to be made this year”

Arnold said the writer declared hieroglyphics on the grand pyramid in Egypt predicted that ¡n June, July and August of this year a new era would begin for humans.

“It sounds fantastic,” Arnold commented, “but I don’t doubt it.”

Flying Saucer Story Grows

Reports Pour In From Wide Area

Kenneth Arnold, the Boise businessman who touched off nation-wide conjecture with his story of the "flying saucers,"Friday armed himself with a C150 movie camera in case he should ever again meet up with the missiles he saw putting through the skies over Western Washington.

     "Next time," he vowed, "I'll get proof to back up my story." At the same time, the one time North Dakota football star fired a telegram at the Oregonian whose roundup story of opinion on Arnold's elusive sky travelers reported views of observers who intimated with tongue in cheek levity that the pilot was seeing spots before his eyes.

Mirror Angle Out

     The telegram, sent just before he took off in Pendleton in his single engine three seater plane for Boise, said:  

"I am certainly on your side of the fence and I did not believe it either but I have never suffered from snow blindness, mirages, or spots before my eyes of any kind."

     Arnold said he, "made certain" the objects were not the result of reflections from his own airplane, as suggested by a veteran United Airlines pilot. His story, he reiterated, "is positively true."

     Arnold told Pendleton newsmen he was not a pilot who did "crazy things" or who did "screwy flying."  He said he had never been charged with a flying violation during his three years as a licensed pilot.

Jap Balloons Recalled

     He recalled that wartime stories of the Japanese balloons sitting over the Pacific Northwest were treated with skepticism and he suggested "that's the way it might be with my story."

     But Arnold's story had its backers. By Friday noon several residents of Oregon and Washington stepped forward with tales of the eerie saucer-like objects which the Boise flyer said he spotted flying in formation over the Cascades.

     E. H. Sprinkle of Eugene said enlargements of a snapshot he took with a $3.50 camera showed seven dots shaped like an "X" or "V" lined across the sky. Laboratory reports, however, suggested the dots were only dust spots on the negative.

     In the northerly city of Bellingham, Wash., George Clover said he looked up into the sky about 10 A. M. Tuesday and saw three shiny objects "like kites" heading south toward Seattle. He insisted they had no wings or pontoons and were traveling "real fast."

Widespread Reports In

     "At first I thought they were army jet jobs," he said, "because the engines didn't sound like gas engines."

     A Kansas City carpenter said he saw nine such discs, too.  So did a pilot in Oklahoma City.  Still another version, this time of a night flight, was told by Archie Eden of Wenatchee, who saw what he described as a speeding object descending in a long slant while he was driving on the Moses Lake highway.

     "As we watched, it neared the ground and when it was about 200 feet high it exploded.  There was no blinding flash, but there were great showers of sparks, and piles of flame seemed to hurtle to the ground," he said.

     A Yakima, Wash., woman Mrs. Ethel Wheelhouse, reported sighting the "whatzits," Tuesday afternoon. They sped so fast she could not count them and they abruptly disappeared, she said.  In Portland, Mrs. Jerry Nuels, 6510 S. E. Foster St., said she saw some flying discs south of Kelso last Friday.  She said that they were "bright and shiny."

Science Steps In

     From New York, the Associated Press attempted a scientific explanation of Arnold's story and the other scattered reports.

    The reports from five areas west of the Mississippi river centering about the mysterious disc-like objects roughly agree with the way light is occasionally reflected from a distant airplane, the news service pointed out.

     In clear air, the flash of sunlight from airplanes can easily be seen 50 miles. The flash, the news service reported, is round, the shape of the sun. Any other reflection at a great distance is also likely to be round, coming only from a small area on the plane.

     As for Arnold -- he flew to Boise to spend the weekend with his wife and children and try, if he could, to forget the hullabaloo provoked by his story of 1200 mile-an-hour speedsters. "All I wanted was an explanation of what I saw," he said ruefully brushing the spots from his eyes.

Army Rocket Experts Believe ‘Saucers’ Were Jet Planes

White Sands Proving Grounds, N. M., June 28 (U.P.)—An army rocket expert ventured the opinion today that Kenneth Arnold’s flying saucers were merely jet planes but half a dozen persons sprang up about the country to say they had seen the mysterious shiny discs also.

Arnold, a flying fire extinguisher salesman from Boise, Ida., said he saw nine of the weird ships breezing along at a speed of 1,200 miles an hour. Arnold was positive of the speed. He clocked them across a known distance between two mountains.

Lieut. Col. Harold R. Turner, commanding officer of the army’s rocket proving grounds here, said
today that the discs must have been jet airplanes.

But Mrs. E. G. Peterson. of Seattle said no—she had seen the things, too. Not only that, her son also saw them. in fact, he called her attention to them.

“My son saw three of them,” Mrs. Peterson said. “But by the time I got out there I could only see two. They didn’t look like jet ships or anything else I ever saw before.

“They were shiny, and seemed to be fluttering in the wind. We must have watched them for five minutes before they disappeared, going East.”

Several other residents reported seeing them in the area.

The eyewitness statements were music to the ears of Arnold, who has been the butt of no little ribbing ever since he told of seeing the circular gadgets whipping along at 10.000 feet near Mt. Rainier in southern Washington.

If he and others actually saw the saucers, they must really have been covering ground.

Arnold said he saw them “about 3 p. m., Pacific Standard Time,” on Tuesday.

Engineer’s Observation

Charles Kastl, 60-year-old railroad engineer, of Joliet, Ill., said he spotted “about nine” of the things as he walked along a highway at 1:50 p. m., Central Standard Time on Tuesday.

That means they must have covered the distance from Seattle to Chicago—about 2,000—in 50 minutes.

Kastl said he saw a string of flat circular objects going “faster than any plane I ever saw” about 10 to 12 miles east of Joliet. They were flying about 4,000 feet high going from north to south.

“I could see no connecting link between them, but they acted as though the leading disc had a mo-
tor in it to power the others because when it flipped, the others would, too. When it would right itself, the others would right themselves.”

Kastl said he “didn’t think about” the incident, except to tell his wife, until Arnold reported seeing the planes.

If the discs really made the flight from Seattle eastward on Tuesday must have headed back West the next Day. W. I. Davenport, a Kansas City carpenter, said he saw rune of them flying a westerly course while he was working on a roof about noon Wednesday.

Tremendous Speed

He said they were going so fast he barely had time to count them.

And they must have made previous flights—provided they flew at all. Byron Savage, of Oklahoma City said he saw a similar type of craft five or six weeks ago.

Astronomers at Seattle and Joliet said there was no natural explanation for the reports.

Meanwhile, Turner came up with an explanation for “falling bodies” reported in at least two
places in the southwest today. He said they were meteors. And he dispatched a search party by plane to Tularosa, N. M., and another by automobile to Engle, N. M.., to bring back proof.

Flying Saucers Spotted In Sky By Illinois Man

JOLIET, Ill. -(UP)- A railroad engineer said yesterday he saw “about nine” spinning discs speeding through the sky last Tuesday, the same day an Idaho flied said he saw some flashing “flying saucers” in the air.

Charles Kastl, 60, an employe of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railroad for 38 years, said he saw the discs at about 3:50 p.m.as he was walking along a highway to work.

No other person in the Joliet area reported anything unusual.

---

May Be Jet Planes Army Officer Says

WHITE SANDS, N. M. -(AP)- Lt Col. Harold R. Turner says “flying discs” reported seen in several western areas Wednesday night may have been jet airplanes.

The White Sands proving ground commandant said in an interview that jet planes have circular exhaust pipes and that these when heated might give an illusion of discs.

The area over which the “flying saucers” were reported seen widened to southwestern New Mexico yesterday.

First reports of such objects came from Pendleton, Ore., the same night when Kenneth Arnold, Boise, Ida., business man, reported seeing nine of them weaving across the sky. Similar reports came from Oklahoma and Idaho.

---

Kastl said he saw a string of flat, circular objects going fast er “than any plane I ever saw” about 10 to 12 miles east of Joliet. They were flying at about 4,000 feet, he said.

“They appeared to be very high, and were going from north to south,” he said. “I could see no connecting link between them, but they acted as though the leading disc had a motor in it to power the others, because when it flipped, the others would too. When lt would right itself, the others would right themselves.”

Kastl said he did not tell anyone but his wife about seeing the objects until yesterday, “because I didn’t think anything about it.”

When he returned from a railroad run yesterday, however, he learned that Kenneth Arnold, Boise, Ida., pilot, had reported seeing objects similar to the ones he claimed to have seen. Arnold said he saw objects over mountains in the Pacific northwest.

Arnold said he saw the “objects” at 6 p. m. about three hours later than Kastl reportedly saw a similar sight.

Charles Preucil, head of the Joliet Astronomical Society, said there would be no natural cause for a dip1ay such as Kastl described.

“SAUCERS” NOW SEEN IN CANADAN SKIES

VANCOUVER, B. C., June 29. (AP)—Now the “flying saucers” have invaded Canada.

Two Vancouver citizens reported yesterday they had seen the mysterious, round, shining objects flying over this city at great speed.

William Crodie reported that he sighted “a silvery object without wings or tail” on Friday night. He said it was sinking slowly.

A woman who would not permit the use of her name told a reporter she saw some vaporous disc-shaped objects swoop over her house a month ago, but didn’t tell any one because “people would think I was crazy.”

PORTLAND, Ore. —AP— Westerners were seeing “flying saucers” almost everywhere yesterday — from Canada to Texas — and a red hot controversy raged about it all.

Kenneth Arnold, Boise, ldaho, flying businessman, started it by reporting he saw nine mystery objects zipping over western Washington last Tuesday at what he estimated was 1,200 mile-an-hour speed.

Experts dismissed bis report with statements that no known aircraft could go that fast and that no guided missile tests were being made in that part of the west.

Hardly were the words out of their mouths when others began reporting “flying saucers” and the controversy was on.

There was a similarity in all reports — the objects were found like saucers, traveling south at a high rate of speed with little or no noise, and of such brightness that reflections from the sun were “almost blinding.”

Three persons In El Paso, Texas, said they had seen them in the last few days. Two persons in Vancouver, B. C., reported some. The latest of a score of reports in the Pacific Northwest came from a Seaside Ore., woman, who said she saw one before sunset Saturday night.

There were two popular theories — that the objects were experimental airplanes or guided missiles to which the armed forces will not admit, or that they were guided missiles from foreign soil.

A spokesman for the Army expressed interest in anything that could go 1,200 miles an hour, but no responsible official or air expert came to the defence of the reports or of the theories behind them. Some suggested that perhaps imagination had become the better part of sight.

Two Vancouver citizens reported Saturday that they had seen the mysterious, round, shining objects flying over that city at great speed.

William Crodie reported that he sighted “a silvery object without wings or tail” Friday night. He said it was sinking slowly.

A woman who would not permit the use of her name told a reporter she saw some vaporous disc-shaped objects swoop over her house a month ago, but didn’t tell anyone because “people would think I was crazy.”

Gilles F. a écrit:L'interview de Kenneth Arnold à la Radio Station KWRC  Pendleton, Oregon - June 25, 1947 * :
http://www.ufosnw.com/history_of_ufo/arnoldaudio.mp3

* Retrouvée par Pierre Lagrange si je ne m'abuse ?