The article below was published in the newspaper The Press-Democrat, Santa Rosa, California, USA, on pages 1 and 3, on June 27, 1947.
|
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Conjectures multiplied today as widely separated areas reported apparent confirmation of incredibly fast disc-like objects flashing through the sky - but skeptics remained.
Following yesterday's report at Pendleton, Ore., by Kenneth Arnold of Boise, Ida., that he had seen nine saucer-shaped shiny objects dipping and skimming through the sky between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams in Washington state at an estimated 1200 miles an hour came these observations today:
Byron Savage, Oklahoma City businessman-pilot, said that five or six weeks ago he observed from his front lawn a flat disc-like object hurtling through the sky at tremendous speed. He said he told his wife and a few pilot friends, then said no more until he heard of Arnold's report. "I know that boy up there (Arnold) really saw them," Savage declared.
At Kansas City, W. I. Davenport, a carpenter, said yesterday he, too, saw nine speeding objects, moving west high in the sky. They were going fast and he could not make out their shape, he said. However, he reported engine sound and vapor trails - the only one of the observers with that to report.
A Brementon, Wash., housewife - west across the Cascade mountains from where Arnold saw his objects - said that twice in the past 10 days she had seen "platter-like" lights reflecting objects. The first time was last week Tuesday or Wednesday and the seond time at 10 a.m. Tuesday this week.
"I thought surely nothing could travel so fast," Mrs Elma Shingler said. Her observation that they wavered from side to side was similar in Arnold's report of dipping as though planes were changing place in a formation. She said that they were moving northwesterly.
At Eugene, Ore., E. H. Sprinkle said he nearly got a picture of them. A week ago Wednesday, he said, he took his $3.50 camera to a local butte to test it. He spotted objects in the southwest, racing towards the northeast, but before he could click his shutter they were out of sight. He said he had not told of seeing the objects - which he said were similar to those Arnold reported - because he thought no one would believe him. Enlargement prints from his film showed nothing but clear sky.
Dr. H. Hugh Pruett, University of Oregon meteorologist, said that whatever the objects were, they were not of meteoritic origin for meteors do not dip or sway.
PENDLETON, Ore., June 25 (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
(Continued on Page 3, Col. 2)
|
(Continued from Page 1)
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.
