Kenneth Arnold's sighting

Mystery In The Sky Is Reported

Increditable Speed By Saucer-Like Objects Reported In Oregon

PENDLETON, Oregon, June 26. (AP) -- Nine bright, saucer-looking objects flying at "incredible" speed at 10,000 feet altitude were reported here today 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 searching for a missing plane, said he sighted the mysterious objects yesterday at 3 o'clock. They were flying between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams, in Washington state, he said, and appeared to weave in and out of formation.

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." Arnold said he clocked the objects from Mount Rainier 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 others did, too.

Oregon perhaps is 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 formation, 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.