This article was published in the daily newspaper The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, USA, July 2, 1947.
|
Portland, Ore., July 2 -- (A.P.) -- The report of a long-time West coast pilot was added today to the growing accounts of "Flying Saucers" over the West.
Richard Rankin, veteran of more than 7,000 hours in the air, said he saw the much-debated mystery discs over Bakersfield, Calif., going "maybe 300 or 400 miles per hour."
There were ten in formation flying north, he told a reporter, but then "they returned on the reverse course, headed south, there were only seven."
"I couldn't make out the number and location of their propellers and didn't distinguish any wings or tail. They appeared almost round," he said.
Rankin said he saw them from the ground on June 23, but hesitated to describe what he saw until he noted others were reporting the same thing.
At first, he continued, he assumed he had seen the XF-5U-1, the experimental Navy "flying flapjack." The navy since has announced it has only one XF-5U-1, and it has not left Connecticut.
New reports, meanwhile, came from three Oregon cities, Astoria, Madras and Portland. The Portlanders making the report, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Balliet, said they disbelieved stories about the saucers until they saw at least ten of them winging noiselessly high over the Columbia River Yesterday.
