June 24, 1947. Kenneth Arnold, a fire-control equipment businessman and private pilot from Boise, was searching for a crashed Marine Corps C-46 near Mount Rainier. Instead he saw a chain of objects sweep past, which he timed at around 1,200 miles an hour. His sighting gave the world the term "flying saucer" and set off at least 800 copycat reports. That July, Raymond A. Palmer paid him $200 to look into the Maury Island Incident. In December 1948, Kenneth Gorman wrote to him about the Gorman Dogfight.
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Private pilot who investigated the case for Ray Palmer
Pilot whose June 24 sighting near Mount Rainier set off the wave
Private pilot and businessman from Boise, the primary witness
Pilot whose June 1947 sighting started the wave; investigated with Smith and re-flew the route
Pro early1947 sighting whose 20th anniversary fell on the same night