The article below was published in the newspaper The Eugene Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA, on page 1, on June 26, 1947.
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PENDLETON, Ore. -- (AP) -- 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 hatad 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 Tuesday 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.
Inquiries at Yakima last night brought only blank stares, he said, but he added he talked with an unidentified man from Ukiah, south of there who said he had seen similar objects over the mountains near Ukiah Tuesday.
"It seemed impossible," Arnold said, "but there it is."
After the incident, he said, he talked to other pilots when he landed at Yakima, Wash., but none of them had seen anything similar.
At Portland, Ore., Edward Leach, senior CAA aeronautical inspector, said he could offer no explanation of the fast-flying objects reported by Arnold.
E. H. Sprinkle, 503 Pearl St., added to a "Buck Rogers" tale that spread from Pendleton to Kansas City about nine bright objects racing through the sky at an "incredible" speed.
Sprinkle told of similar objects that he said he sighted a week ago Wednesday, rather than this Wednesday as reported by a U. S. Forest Service pilot from Boise, Ida., and a Kansas City carpenter.
That day, Sprinkle had taken his "ä3.50 camera" up on Skinner's Butte to give it its first test. At about 2:15 p.m., he said, he spotted the objects in the southwest but they nearly had disappeared before he could get a picture. They were traveling northeast. He could not estimate their speed and said he only got a fleeting glimpse.
He explained that he had delayed reporting the planes because he did not hink anyone would believe him. Enlargements of the pictures failed to show anything.
To: Kenneth Arnold or Newspapers 1940-1949.
