Kenneth Arnold’s Sighting
June 24th 1947. Mount Rainier, Washington USA
Kenneth Arnold’s UFO sighting is generally considered the first of modern, post-World War 2 sightings to gain international attention. A respected businessman and experienced private pilot, Arnold was flying from Chehalis to Yakima, Washington on a business trip when he saw a bright flash of light ahead and to his left.
Arnold initially believed it may be another close flying aircraft, as the light resembled sunlight reflecting off a mirrored surface, but he determined the only craft in his view was a Douglas DC-4 approximately 15 miles behind him.
Thirty seconds after the first flash, there was a further series of flashes appearing as a chain of nine objects.
He determined that this was not a trick of his eye or a reflection from his own plane, nor could it have been geese due to the high altitude, reflective nature and the speed they travelled. They also did not have the distinctive tail or wings of an aircraft.
Arnold’s drawing of one of the objects he saw, provided to the Army Air Force
As they got closer Arnold was able to see that they had a dark reflective surface, continuing to flash in the sun as they changed direction. He described them as convex in shape, appearing as thin disks that became almost invisible when viewed along their edge.
Arnold estimated the objects to be 30 metres in length, but army air force analysts later calculated that they were closer to 85 metres (280ft) based on human visual acuity and the estimated distance.
The objects moved in an echelon formation that spanned approximately 5 miles across. Arnold reported that they travelled along a level horizontal plane but weaved from side to side “like the tail of a chinese kite”, occasionally banking on their sides in unison, and producing the blinding reflective flashing that had first drawn his attention.
By timing their flight across the 50 miles between Mt Rainier to Mt Adams Arnold later calculated that they were travelling over 1700mph - three times faster than any manned aircraft in 1947.
Arnold stated that no human pilot inside the craft would have been able to survive the pressure of the maneuvers at the speeds he witnessed.
“I saw what I saw, no one can change my mind. I’ll match my judgment, position, and everything on what I saw with my own eyes. I never suffered from snow-blindness, spots before my eyes, or hallucinations. Physically, I’m 100 percent. I’ll submit to any kind of test. I only reported what any pilot would report. I certainly have nothing to gain in a business way with all this hullaballoo.”
Kenneth Arnold’s reports have been corroborated by other witnesses. Fred Johnson was on Mt Adams on the 24th of June at approximately the same time as Arnold was passing in his plane. He wrote to AAF Intelligence that he saw six dark oval objects that were tapered sharply to a point. He also reported that these objects seemed to affect his compass.
Interestingly, while the AAF officially dismissed Arnold’s sighting as a mirage, they determined Johnson to be a credible witness and his report was listed as the first unexplained UFO report in Air Force files.
On the 4th July L.G. Bernier wrote to the Portland Oregon Journal saying that he had seen three disk-like objects matching Arnold’s description flying in a diagonal formation in the direction of Mount Rainier on the 24th June about 30 minutes before Arnold saw the first flash. Bernier recounts how they were travelling at high speed, “faster than any P-38 [plane]” - the max speed of a P-38 is 440mph.
Ethel Wheelhouse also reported seeing several strange objects flying in formation and at incredible speeds in the same area and time as Arnold in Yakima, Washington.
A member of the Washington State Forest Service on fire watch reported seeing a chain of flashing lights on Mt Rainier at 3pm on the 24th June.
Newspapers in the Seattle area received sixteen other reports of UFO sightings on July 24th. In the weeks following there were several hundred reports of similar sightings of “saucer” or disk-like objects across the world, including the alledged crash in Roswell.
10 days later on July 4th, a United Airlines crew flying over Idaho reported seeing nine disk-like objects that kept pace with their plane for 10-15 minutes before suddenly disappearing.
That same afternoon, Frank Ryman, an off-duty U.S. Coast Guard Yeoman, snaps the first photograph of an alleged "flying saucer" from the yard of his home in Lake City, north of Seattle (below). The photo showed a small bright disc against a dark sky and was published by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer the following morning.
July 4, 1947 is still remembered as one of the most important days in record book of the "flying saucer" phenomenon.
Enlargement of the photo taken by Coast Guardsman Frank Ryman on July 4, 1947 as published in the Milwaukee Sentinel. The caption for the photo read, "Ryman said he sighted it in Lake City, a Seattle suburb. He estimates it was 10,000 feet in the air and travelling at 500 miles an hour. He estimated its speed by timing its travel over a distance he knew. Arrow points to disc.”