UFOs in the daily Press:

"Flying Saucers" Have the Northwest Thinking, Many Persons Verify Mystery

BOISE, Idaho, July 5 - (AP) - The entire crew of a west-bound Boise-to-Seattle United Air Lines plane late last night reported they had seen nine flying discs near the airline's route over Emmett, Idaho.

Captain E. J. Smith of UAL trip 105 which left Boise at 9:01 P. M., said that his co-pilot, First Officer Ralph Stevens, blinked the transport's landing lights in the belief the discs were other aircraft.

Blinking landing lights during a night flight is a pilot's signal of warning to other aircraft that a plane is flying in the same area.

Smith said it was eight minutes after takeoff from Boise that Stevens and himself saw five discs, flying what appeared to be "loose formation."

They called Marty Morrow, stewardess, to the cockpit to verify that they were actually seeing the discs, said Smith, and she agreed they saw them.

Then they saw four more of the discs, three clustered together, and a fourth flying, "by itself, way off in the distance."

The plane was flying into the dim twilight sky when the objects were first sighted. Smith told the Idaho Daily Statesman by telephone from Pendleton, where the transport first landed after leaving Boise.

Flying discs have been reported over the northwest for the past two weeks.

Smith and Stevens said that as the landing lights were blinked, they could see no responding lights on the objects.

"The discs were flat and round-ish," they said. "They definitely were not aircraft. But they were bigger than aircraft."

Following their first sight of the discs, said Smith and Stevens, it was observed the five objects were apparently climbing on a course approximating that of the airliner's.

At no time, they said, was there any apparent danger of a collision.

The story they told over the telephone at Pendleton, where the wire was held open as the plane landed and taxied into the terminal.

Smith said he and Stevens had been joking about the discs before they left Boise. They said, "you'll have to show us these things," to local airline personnel.

Then, said Stevens they were off the ground, climbing to cruising altitude, when the objects loomed out of the gathering darkness.

The transport was at an altitude

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Flying Saucers" Have Northwest Thinking, Many Verify Mystery

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of 7,000 feet over Emmett, said Stevens, when he reached forward and turned on the landing lights to avoid what he thought was danger from other planes flying at about the same level.

"At first I thought it was a group of light planes returning from some Fourth of July celebration," he said, "then I realized the things were not aircraft but were flat and circular."

Stevens said the first group appeared to open and close in formation, and flew what he described as a "loose formation."

The objects, after first being seen, veered over to the left of the transport and Smith picked up his radio microphone and called Ontario, Oreg., CAA Radio Communications station, about 65 airline miles from Boise.

"Step outside and look to the southwest about 15 miles and see what you can find," he told the operator.

The operator reported that he could see nothing.

By this time, said Stevens, the first group of discs disappeared.

"Then," said the first officer, "I saw the second group, three together and a fourth off by itself."

By then the transport had reached 8,000 feet and was cruising over the rugged country leading to the Blue Mountains, athwart the liners’ path.

Stevens said these objects "merged, then disappeared, then came back in sight and finally vanished again to the northwest. They seemed to be higher than our flight path this time. When they did finally disappear, they went fast."

Smith and Stevens said they had the objects under observation for from "10 to 15 minutes."

The plane, they said, was southeast of Ontario when they lost all track of the discs.

"I know this," said Smith, "they were nothing from the ground in the way of fireworks reflections or anything like that. I know they weren't smoke, I know they were not aircraft. I don't know how fast they were going. We all saw them. They are flat and circular. They are bigger than aircraft."

PORTLAND, Ore., July 5 - (AP) - The "flying saucer" mystery reached fever pitch today.

Statements followed a day during which the "saucers" were reported seen in many parts of the nation.

Many Portlanders - including police, experienced flyers, and three newspapermen - declared they saw silvery discs undulating over Portland.

In New Orleans, Miss Lillian Lawless said she saw an object, shining like silver or chromium, flying at a great height and at a terrific speed in a northeasterly direction over Lake Pontchartrain.

Describing what they saw as flat, translucent plates 12 to 15 inches in diameter, several Port Huron, Mich., residents reported seeing the "saucers."

Capt. E. J. Smith, Seattle, a veteran of 14 years with United Air Lines, said he observed the round flat objects—"like a pancake standing on end"—for about 12 minutes while flying from Emmett, Idaho, to a point southeast of Ontario, Ore.

He radioed the Ontario airport but airport officials saw nothing.

Sixty persons picnicking at Twin Falls Park, near Twin Falls, Idaho, said they saw the discs yesterday afternoon. A party of seven first saw some and ten minutes later, a crowd of 20 or 30 people saw another batch of nine or ten. Word passed around, and soon the waiting crowd saw another batch circling and climbing.

NEW ORLEANS, July 5 - (AP) - A New Orleans saleswoman reported seeing a mysterious "flying disc" in the sky over Lake Pontchartrain last night.

Miss Lillian Lawless said the object was flying at a great height and at terrific speed in a northeasterly direction. She said she could not estimate the size but that it looked like "a round saucer."

It shone like silver or chromium, she said.

Mysterious "flying saucers" were sighted last night by several residents southwest of Port Huron, who described them as flat translucent plates, 12 to 15 inches in diameter, criss-crossing the sky and moving rapidly.

"They definitely were not fireworks," said one witness.

Mrs. John R. Warner declared "some of them moved slowly and sailed out of the horizon, and then whizzed on. Lights which shone from them occasionally blinked off."

This was the first time the "flying saucers" had been reported over the Michigan area.

SEATTLE, July 5 - (AP) - A Coast Guardsman said last night he believed he had taken the first photograph of one of the mysterious "flying discs" which have been reported recently in flight about the west coast.

Yeoman Frank Ryman, Coast Guard public relations officer, said he took the picture from his home north of Seattle after excited neighbors told him of sighting it high overhead.

The results of his photographic effort showed as a tiny light spot, about the size of a pinhead, against the fine dark background of the evening sky.

He said he took the picture when it was directly overhead.

His wife said they watched it for what seemed like close to 10 minutes as it seemed to speed across the sky. She said her impression was of a shiny ball at great height.