THE 'FLYING SAUCER' GENESIS

Newspaper reports of Arnold's 24 June, 1947 sighting, comprise largely of articles based on their editorial version of the same newsfeeds from either the Associated Press (AP), or United Press (UP).

Of paramount import is an early radio interview given to station KWRC by Kenneth Arnold, on the 26 June:

First Radio Interview with Kenneth Arnold

26 June, 1947

NEWSCASTER:

The nation, every newscaster, and every newspaper across the nation has made headlines out of it, and this afternoon we are honored, indeed, to have here in our studio this man, Kenneth Arnold, who, we believe, may be able to give us a first-hand account and give you the same on what happened.

Kenneth, first of all if you'll move up here to the microphone just a little closer, we'll ask you to just tell in your own fashion, as you told us last night in your hotel room, and again this morning, what you were doing there and how this entire thing started. Go ahead, Kenneth.

KENNETH ARNOLD:

Well, about 2:15 I took off from Chehalis, Washington, en route to Yakima, and, of course, every time that any of us fly over the country near Mt. Rainier, we spend an hour or two in search of the Marine plane that's never been found that they believe is in the snow someplace southwest of that particular area.

That area is located at about, it's elevation is about 10,000 foot, and I had made one sweep in close to Mt. Rainier and down one of the canyons and was dragging it for any types of objects that might prove to be the Marine ship, uh, and as I come out of the canyon there, was about 15 minutes, I was approximately 25 to 28 miles from Mt. Rainier, I climbed back up to 9200 feet and I noticed to the left of me a chain which looked to me like the tail of a Chinese kite, kind of weaving and going at a terrific speed across the face of Mt. Rainier.

I, at first, thought they were geese because it flew like geese, but it was going so fast that I immediately changed my mind and decided it was a bunch of new jet planes in formation.

Well, as the planes come to the edge of Mt. Rainier flying at about 160 degrees south, I thought I would clock them because it was such a clear day, and I didn't know where there destination was, but due to the fact that I had Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Adams to clock them by, I just thought I'd see just how fast they were going, since among pilots we argue about speed so much.

And, they seemed to flip and flash in the sun, just like a mirror, and, in fact, I happened to be in an angle from the sun that seemed to hit the tops of these peculiar looking things in such a way that it almost blinded you when you looked at them through your plexiglass windshield.

Well, uh, I uh, it was about one minute to three when I started clocking them on my sweep second hand clock, and as I kept looking at them, I kept looking for their tails, and they didn't have any tail.

I thought, well, maybe something's wrong with my eyes and I turned the plane around and opened the window, and looked out the window, and sure enough, I couldn't find any tails on 'em.

And, uh, the whole, our observation of these particular ships, didn't last more than about two and a half minutes and I could see them only plainly when they seemed to tip their wing, or whatever it was, and the sun flashed on them.

They looked something like a pie plate that was cut in half with a sort of a convex triangle in the rear.

Now, I thought, well, that maybe they're jet planes with just the tails painted green or brown or something, and I didn't think too much of it, but kept on watching them.

They didn't fly in a conventional formation that's taught in our army, they seemed to kind of weave in and out right above the mountaintops, and I would say that they even went down into the canyons in several instances, oh, probably a hundred feet, but I could see them against the snow, of course, on Mt. Rainier and against the snow on Mt. Adams as they were flashing, and against a high ridge that happens to lay in between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams.

But when I observed the tail end of the last one passing Mt. Adams, and I was at an angle near Mt. Rainier from it, but I looked at my watch and it showed one minute and 42 seconds.

Well, I felt that was pretty fast and I didn't stop to think what the distance was between the two mountains.

Well, I landed at Yakima, Washington, and Al Baxter was there to greet me and he said

...[unintelligible]...

And, he told me, I guess I better change my brand, but he kind of gave me a mysterious sort of a look that maybe I had seen something, he didn't know, and well, I just kind of forgot it then, until I got down to Pendleton and I began looking at my map and taking measurements on it.

And, the best calculation I could figure out, now even in spite of error, would be around 1200 miles an hour, because making the distance from Mt. Rainier to Mt. Adams, in, we'll say approximately two minutes, it's almost, well, it'd be around 25 miles per minute.

Now allowing for air, we can give them three minutes or four minutes to make it, and they're still going more than 800 miles an hour, and to my knowledge, there isn't anything that I've read about, outside of some of the German rockets, that would go that fast.

These were flying in more or less a level, constant altitude.

They weren't going up and they weren't going down.

They were just simply flying straight and level and I, I laughed ...[unintelligible]..., they sure must have had a tailwind.

But it didn't seem to help me much.

But to the best of my knowledge, and the best of my description, that is what I actually saw, and, uh, like I told the Associated Press, I'll, I'd be glad to confirm it with my hands on a Bible because I did see it, and whether it has anything to do with our army or our intelligence or whether it has to do with some foreign country, I don't know.

But I did see it and I did clock it and I just happened to be in a beautiful position to do it and it's just as much a mystery to me as it is to everyone else who's been calling me the last 24 hours, wondering what it was.

NEWSCASTER:

Well, Kenneth, thank you very much. I know that you've certainly been busy these last 24 hours, 'cause I've spent some of the time with you myself, and I know that the press associations, both Associated Press and our press, the United Press, has been right after you every minute.

The Associated and the United Press, all over the nation, have been after this story. It's been on every newscast, over the air, and in every newspaper I know of.

The United Press in Portland has made several telephone calls here at Pendleton to me, and to you this morning, and from New York I understand, they are after this story, and that we may have an answer ...[unintelligible]... because, if it is some new type of army or navy secret missile, there would probably a story come out on it from the army or navy asking, saying that it is a new secret plane and that will be all there is to it, and they will hush up the story, or perhaps that we will finally get a definite answer to it.

I understand the United Press is checking on it out of New York now with the Army, and also with the Navy, and we hope to have some concrete answer before nightfall.

We certainly want to thank you, Kenneth for coming into our studio.

We feel very pleased that this news which is making nationwide news across the country, we are able to give our listeners over KWRC a first-hand report direct from you, of what you saw.

And we urge our listeners to keep tuned to this station, because anytime this afternoon or this evening, and we get something on it on our United Press teletype, which is in direct communications with new York, Chicago, Portland, in fact, every United Press bureau across the nation, why, we'll have it on the air.

(End)

At the outset, Arnold personally describes how the objects, "looked something like a pie plate that was cut in half with a sort of a convex triangle in the rear".

East Oregonian (Pendleton, Oregon)

25 June, 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.

(End)

The first reporters to interview Arnold were Bill Bequette and Nolan Skiff from the East Oregonian.

This article is attributed to Bill Bequette and the terminology 'saucer-like', originates herein.

The News-Tribune, Duluth (Minnesota)

25 June, 1947

'Flying Saucers,' Up in Air 10,000 Feet, Puzzle Pilot

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

Arnold, a United States forest service employee engaged in a search for a missing plane said he sighted the mysterious objects Thursday at 3 p.m. They were flying between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams in Washington state, he said, and appeared to weave in and out of formation. Arnold said he clocked them and estimated their speed at 1,200 miles an hour.

Inquiry at Yakima (Wash.) brought only blank stares, he said, but he added he talked with an unidentified man from Ukiah (California) 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."

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

An Army spokesman expressed interest in any object which would fly at an 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."

(End)

It is the same Associated Press newsfeed.

However, originating from our 'saucer-like' phrase, this News-Tribune headline is one of the first use of the terminology 'flying saucer'.

East Oregonian (Pendleton, Oregon)

26 June, 1947

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."

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."

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.

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.

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.

(End)

This seems to be the first description of the objects being, "flat like a pie pan and somewhat bat-shaped".

Albuquerque Journal [Morning Edition]

26 June, 1947

Strange Things Seen Flying High, 1200 Miles an Hour by U. S. Pilot

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 employe engaged in searching for a missing plane, said he sighted the mystery craft yesterday at 3 p. m.

They were flying between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, in Washington State, he said, and appeared to weave in and out of formation. Arnold said he clocked them and estimated their speed at 1.200 miles and hour.

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

Arnold said he clocked the time the objects took to fly from Mount Rainier to Mount Adams, and from that estimated their speed at 1200 miles an hour. He said they appeared to fly almost as if fastened together - if one dipped, the others 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.

Recently, there have been several "mystery missile" reports. One which fell on the Hill Military Academy grounds in Portland later was attributed to a thaw blowing out an ice cap from a hollowed-out piece of metal. On another occasion a nurse in Vancouver, Wash., found a red-hot egg-shaped object. Some ad vanced the theory it was a meteor fragment, but geologists said it was not of meteorite composition. It never has been explained satisfactorily.

In Washington, the War Department said it had no information on the Oregon sky mystery. "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," said a spokesman.

(End)

This 25 June newsfeed, seems to be a first mention that the objects, "appeared to fly almost as if fastened together - if one dipped, the others did, too".

Lubbock Morning Avalanche

26 June, 1947

Nine Strange Planes, Flying at Estimated Speed of 1,200 Miles An Hour, Said Sighted

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 South western Washington.

The story was told by Kenneth Arnold, flying fire extinguisher salesman from Boise, Ida. Slightly bug-eyed, he landed here yesterday and said he spotted the "extremely shiny, nickel-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 twenty-five miles away from me. It wasn't any military formation I ever saw before. And they were traveling faster than anything 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 for them to fly from Mount Rainier to Mount Adams. That's 42 miles and they made it one minute 42 seconds - about 1,205 mph".

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

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

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

(End)

This United Press newsfeed seems to be the first time 'saucer-shaped' appears, as opposed to 'saucer-like'.

Although implying Arnold used the depiction, the quote is not directly from Arnold, instead, purportedly a second-hand recollection from a local resident, Jack Whitman.

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

The Idaho Daily Statesman

28 June, 1947

Boise Airman Positive He Didn't See Ordinary Craft Reflections

Kenneth Arnold, Boise business man and pilot who startled the nation with a story of nine objects flying at incredible speed between Mt. Rainier and Mt, Adams in Washington, Friday said he is positive he was not just seeing sunlight reflected from a conventional aircraft.

Arnold's story of seeing the nine objects, flashing in the sun, had caused some authorities to express the belief that what he had seen were ordinary aircraft or one aircraft with the sun flashing from the fuselage as the planes or plane passed through the air.

But Arnold, who returned Friday to his home on the bench above Bradley airport, said he saw outlined against the snow on Mt. Rainier a single-file line of the flying objects.

Arnold said the objects bore some resemblance to the flying wing type of aircraft, with the exception that the forward portion was semi-circular and the rear, or trailing edge came to a convex point, not sharp, but blunted.

He said if the object were placed over a DC-4, a four-engined transport plane, the extreme edges of the object would just about reach the outboard engines on each side of the big plane.

Arnold said when he first saw the objects, they were coming in a line around Mt. Rainier from the north. As he saw them against the snow of the mountain, and saw the sun reflecting individually from the objects, he said he thought they were jet aircraft.

Then," he said, "I noticed they had no tails, and that's when I really began to pay attention to them. The sun did not flash from all of them at once, that's how I knew there were more than one object and that they were separate flying things. The sun would sparkle from the first, then the last, then one in the middle, and so on, as they flew toward Mt. Adams."

Whatever the first object did, he said, the others did also. The result, he said, was a weaving flight path which enabled him to see the overall outline of the objects against the white side of the mountain. Flying level, he said, the objects looked like a thin black line, but when they turned and changed course in the turn, the resulting bank made it possible for him to see their shape.

Arnold said he could not say what they were. "Some of the newspaper reporters I talked to in Pendleton wanted me to express an opinion, but I couldn't do that because I don't know what they were."

Arnold said no military or federal authorities had talked to him. He said he tried to contact the FBI in Pendleton, but found the office in the postoffice "always locked." He said he put a note under the door asking the agent to call him, but got no response.

"If I were a military or other authority and something like this was reported," he said, "I would try to find out all I could about it."

Arnold's report was followed by other stories from across the nation west of the Mississippi that people had seen similar objects. The latest report was from Emmett, in a letter signed by a woman who asked her name not be published if the letter were quoted.

She said on the same day Arnold saw the objects, she saw shiny objects in the sky due east of Emmett "at what appeared to be quite a distance and height." She said the "shiny objects" were "weaving and circling very rapidly in formation... and after a while they dispersed in all directions."

Arnold, who is a pilot of considerable experience in flying over mountainous country, since he has flown patrol for the forest service, said that on Tuesday, June 24, he left Chehalis, Wash., for Yakima at 2:15 p. m. The object of his flight, he said, was to hunt for a Marine corps transport which has been missing with 32 men aboard since Christmas eve. He flew toward the south side of Mt. Rainier, he said, and had reached an altitude of 9200 feet near Mineral, 35 miles east of Chehalis, He said he made a turn to continue a phase of the search, and toward Fairfax, 25 miles northeast of him, he saw the objects for the first time.

Arnold said they were in a "chain" formation, and were weaving. "At first," he said, "I thought they were geese. Then I said, there couldn't be any geese at this altitude, and then I began to realize how far away the objects were."

Arnold said he watched in amazement as the objects flew past Mt. Rainier, traversed his line-of-sight distance between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams in less than two minutes, and vanished with an occasional flash of the sun still twinkling in the clear air.

(End)

This article features a clear description of the objects appearance and how, reportedly:

"Arnold said the objects bore some resemblance to the flying wing type of aircraft, with the exception that the forward portion was semi-circular and the rear, or trailing edge came to a convex point, not sharp, but blunted".

In a 1950 radio interview, Arnold recalled:

"These objects more or less fluttered like they were, oh, I'd say, boats on very rough water or very rough air of some type, and when I described how they flew, I said that they flew like they take a saucer and throw it across the water. Most of the newspapers misunderstood and misquoted that too. They said that I said that they were saucer-like; I said that they flew in a saucer-like fashion".

This remains indeterminable, as discussed with Bill Bequette.

An Interview with Bill Bequette