Cedar City, Utah, USA, on June 26, 1947:
ACUFO-1947-06-26-CEDARCITY-1
In the newspaper The Bend Bulletin, of Bend Utah, page 1, for June 28, 1947, I found that "flying discs" had been reported in southern Utah.
This newspaper told that three aeronautical experts at the Cedar City, Utah, airport, said they saw flying discs "flying eastbound at terrific speed" in the night of June 26, 1947.
The witnesses were said to the the airplane mechanic Roy Walters, the Airport manager Royce K. Knight and Western Airlines Local Manager Charles Moore, and they insisted they were not together when they saw the "silver streaks" high in the Utah sky.
In his 1967 book about the UFO wave of 1947, US ufologist gave more information:
Just before sundown, Roy Walter, private pilot, airplane and engine mechanic at the Cedar City Municipal Airport, was flying a small plane northeast of the airport when he saw a "silvery streak" approach him at high speed at about his own altitude, and disappearing to the east between Cedar City and Parowan.
Airport manager Royce R. Knight reported that he, too, had seen the object, from the ground, and he said that as it went out of sight to the east, appearing to "disintegrate in a ball of blue flame." When he first saw it approaching the airport, he thought it was "a silver-colored plane", until he noticed the "terrific speed" at which the object was traveling.
Charles Moore, manager for Western Airlines, who was driving to the airport also saw the object, and dismissed it as a "large meteor" or "falling star."
There were later reports about this sighting in the ufology literature, most of them without the mention that Charles Moore dismissed it as a meteor.
| Date: | June 26, 1947 |
|---|---|
| Time: | Just before sunset. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | June 28, 1947 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, 2 days. |
| Country: | USA |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Utah |
| City or place: | Northeast if Cedar City airport. |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 3 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 3 |
| Reporting channel: | The Press, Ted Bloecher. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Just before sunset. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | Flies fast then disintegrates. |
| Witnesses action: | Observed. |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Silver streak, large meteor. |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 1 + 2 on ground.
[ ] Airborne radar: N/A. [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | DD |
| Armed / unarmed: | Unarmed. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 2 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 1 |
| ACUFO: | Probable meteor. |
[Ref. bbn1:] NEWSPAPER "THE BEND BULLETIN":
|
White Sands Proving Grounds, N. M., June 28 (U.P.) -- An Army rocket expert ventured the opinion today that Kenneth Arnold's flying saucers were merely jet planes but almost a dozen persons spring up about the country to say they had seen the mysterious shiny discs also.
Arnold, a flying fire extinguisher salesman from Boise, Ida., said he saw nine of the weird ships breezing along at a speed of 1,200 miles an hour. Arnold was positive of the speed. He clocked them across a known distance between two mountains.
Lt. Col. Harold R. Turner, commanding officer of the army's rocket proving grounds here, said today that the discs must have been jet airplanes.
Seen in Seattle
But Mrs. E. G. Peterson of Seattle said no -- she had seen the things too. Not only that, her son also saw them. In fact, he called her attention to them.
"My son saw three of them," Mrs. Peterson said. "But by the time I got out there I could only see two. They didn't look like jet ships or anything else I ever saw before.
"They were shiny and seemed to be fluttering in the wind. we must have watched them for five minutes before they disappeared, going east."
Others See Them
Several other residents reported seeing them in the area.
The eyewitness statements were music to the ears of Arnold, who has been the butt of no little ribbing ever since he told of seeing the circular gadgets whipping along at 10,000 feet near Mt. Rainier in southern Washington.
If he and others actually saw the saucers, they must really gave been covering ground.
Arnold said he saw them "about 3 p. m. Pacific standard time" on Tuesday.
Charles Kastl, 60-year old railroad engineer of Joliet, Ill., said he spotted "about nine" of the things as he walked along a highway at 1:50 p.m. Central Standard Time on Tuesday.
That means they must have covered the distance from Seattle to Chicago - about 2,000 miles - in 50 minutes.
Circular Objects Sighted
Kastl said he saw a string of flat circular objects going "faster than any plane I ever saw" about 10 to 12 miles east of Joliet. They were flying about 4000 feet high, going from north to south.
By Thursday, the saucers had made their way to southern Utah. Three aeronautical experts at the Cedar City, Utah, airport said they saw the discs "flying eastbound at terrific speed" Thursday night.
The Utah witnesses - Airplane mechanic Roy Walters, Airport manager Royce K. Knight and Western Airlines Local Manager Charles Moore -- insisted they were not together when they saw the "silver streaks" high in the Utah sky.
And they must have made previous flights - provided they flew at all. Byron Savage of Oklahoma City said he saw a similar type of craft five or six weeks ago.
[Ref. sdc1:] NEWSPAPER "THE SPOKANE DAILY CHRONICLE":
WHITE SANDS PROVING GROUNDS, N.M., June 28 (UP) -- An army rocket expert ventured the opinion today that Kenneth Arnold's flying saucers were merely jet planes but almost a dozen persons sprang up about the country to say they had seen the mysterious shiny disks also.
Arnold, a flying fire extinguisher salesman from Boise, Idaho, said he saw nine of the weird ships breezing along at a speed of 1200 miles an hour.
Lt. Col. Harold R. Turner, commanding officer of the army's rocket proving grounds here, said today that the disks must have been jet airplanes.
Falling Bodies Explained
Turner came up with an explanation for "falling bodies" reported in at least two places in the south-west today. He said they were meteors. And he dispatched a search party by plane to Tularosa, N.M., and another by automobile to Engle, N.M. to bring back proof.
But Mrs. E.G. Peterson of Seattle said no -- she had seen the things too. Not only that, her son also saw them. In fact, he called her attention to them.
"My son saw three of them," Mrs. Peterson said. "But by the time I got out there I could only see two. They didn't look like jet ships or anything else I ever saw before.
"They were shiny, and seemed to be fluttering in the wind. We must have watched them for five minutes before they disappeared, going east." Several other residents reported seeing them in the area.
The eyewitness statements were music to the ears of Arnold, who has been the butt of no little ribbing ever since he told of seeing the circular gadgets whipping along at 10,000 feet near Mt. Rainier in southern Washington.
If he and others actually saw the saucers, they must really have been covering ground.
Arnold said he saw them "about 3 p.m. Pacific standard time" on Tuesday.
Seen In Illinois
Charles Kastl, 60-year-old railroad engineer of Joliet, Ill. said he spotted "about nine" of the things as he walked along a highway at 1:50 p.m. central standard time on Tuesday.
That means they must have covered the distance from Seattle to Chicago -- about 2000 miles -- in three hours 10 minutes.
Kastl said he saw a string of flat circular objects going "faster than any plane I ever saw" about 10 to 12 miles east of Joliet. They were flying about 4000 feet high going from north to south.
"I could see no connecting link between them, but they acted as though the leading disk had a motor in it to power the others because when it flipped, the others would too. When it would right itself, the others would right themselves."
Kastl said he "didn't think about" the incident, except to tell his wife, until Arnold reported seeing the planes.
If the disks really made the flight from Seattle eastward on Tuesday they must have headed back west the next day. W.I. Davenport, a Kansas City carpenter, said he saw nine of them flying a westerly course while he was working on a roof about noon Wednesday.
He said they were going so fast he barely had time to count them.
By Thursday, the saucers had made their way to southern Utah.
Three aeronautical experts at the Cedar City, Utah, airport said they saw the disks "flying east-bound at terrific speed" Thursday night.
Astronomers at Seattle and Joliet said there was no natural explanation for the reports.
[Ref. tbr1:] TED BLOECHER:
Ted Bloecher indicated that on June 26, 1947, in Cedar City, Utah, just before sundown, Roy Walter, private pilot, airplane and engine mechanic at the Cedar City Municipal Airport, was flying a small plane northeast of the airport when he saw a "silvery streak" approach him at high speed at about his own altitude, and disappearing to the east between Cedar City and Parowan.
Airport manager Royce R. Knight reported that he, too, had seen the object, from the ground, and he said that as it went out of sight to the east, it "appeared to disintegrate in a ball of blue flame." When he first saw it approaching the airport, he thought it was "a silver-colored plane", until he noticed the "terrific speed" at which the object was traveling.
Charles Moore, manager for Western Airlines, who was driving to the airport also saw the object, and dismissed it as a "large meteor" or "falling star."
[Ref. hwc1:] MICHAEL D. HALL AND WENDY CONNORS:
Thursday 26 June [1947] [... other cases...]
At 7:45 P.M. MST in Cedar City, Utah, observers reported seeing one silvery colored disc fly over at about 2,000 feet with great velocity heading eastward. 33
Apparently that same object was seen by Roy Walters, a private pilot who had his sighting while airborne near Cedar City. Royce R. Knight, the airport manager at Cedar City, visually confirmed Walters' sighting.
Still another man, Charles Moore, told of seeing a single unidentifiable luminous object speeding east over Cedar City at the same time. Moore was manager for Western Airlines and in his mind dismissed the incident as a "large meteor." 34
Interestingly, far to the north of Cedar City a teacher, Glen Bunting and two other independent witnesses, observed a very similar round disc moving eastward just three minutes earlier. 35
The sources are indicated as:
33 Salt Lake City, Utah, Desert News, 30 June 1947; and Salt Lake City, Utah, Tribune, 28 June 1947.
34 Randle and Schmitt, UFO Crash at Roswell, p. 18.
35 Salt Lake City, Utah, Desert News, 21 [!] June 1947.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:
698: 1947/06/26 19:40 1 113:00:00 W 37:43:00 N 3333 NAM USA UTA 6:9
NE/CEDAR CITY,UT:AIRPT MGR+AVIATORS:SCR >>E/SECONDS:S/L TRAJ:XFAST:NO MNVRS.
Ref# 15 RANDLE+SCHMITT:UFO CRASH at ROSWELL Page No. 15: TOWN &CITY
[Ref. dwn1:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:
French ufologist Dominique Weinstein compiled a catalog of the cases of UFOs observed from aircraft. The case appears in the February 2001 (6th edition) of this catalog:
| DATE | 47.06.26 |
|---|---|
| TIME | 19.40 |
| COUNTRY | USA |
| PLACE | Ceddar City, Utah |
| P | |
| TYPE OF PLANE AND WITNESSES | a private plane pilot |
| UFO DESCRIPTION | a UFO flying at great speed towards the east |
| Radar | |
| G | |
| X | |
| E | |
| SOURCES | 310 |
The source "310" is referenced at the end of the catalog as:
UFO Crash at Roswell, K. Randle and D. Schmitt (Avon Books 1991)
[Ref. gvo1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
1947, June 26
USA, in Utah
Glen Bunting and two other independent witnesses observed a single object flying eastward at high speed. A similar and equally fast craft was reported in Utah by Roy Walters, a private pilot who made the observation near Cedar City. The manager of the Cedar City airfield, Royce R. Knight, confirmed the sighting. Another independent witness in Cedar City, Charles Moore, also saw a single object flying eastward at high speed. ("UFO's: A Century of Sightings" by Michael David Hall, Galde Press Inc. 1999, p. 38)
[Ref. wia1:] "WIKIPEDIA" (EN):
| Report publish date | Location | Date of claimed sighting | Nams | Notes | Bloecher # |
| Jun 28 | Cedar City, Utah | Jun 26 | Roy Walters (27) | #68 | |
| Jun 28 | Cedar City, Utah | Jun 26 | Royce R. Knight (27) | #69 | |
| Jun 28 | Cedar City, Utah | Jun 26 | Charles Moore (27) | #70 |
The source "27" is described as "28 Jun 1947, Page 1 - The Bend Bulletin at Newspapers.com".
Nothing is said of the plane; but evidently it was a civilian, unarmed plane.
|
It seems obvious to me that this sighting was probably a meteor sighting. This is apparent in the descriptions of the phenomenon, and was also the explanation by ground witness Charles Moore, Western Airlines manager.
Probable meteor.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | June 5, 2026 | Creation, [bbn1], [sdc1], [tbr1], [hwc1], [lhh1], [dwn1], [gvo1], [wia1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | June 5, 2026 | First published. |