The article below was published in the newspaper The Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, New York, USA, on page 20, on June 27, 1947.
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Pendleton, Ore. -- (UP) -- Kenneth Arnold, a veteran pilot and fire control engineer, yesterday clung 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 Mt. Rainier plateau.
"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 weaved "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."
To: Kenneth Arnold or Newspapers 1940-1949.
