Context
June 24, 1947. A Tuesday. Kenneth Arnold, a fire-control equipment businessman from Boise, took off from Chehalis, Washington, at about two in the afternoon. He was bound for Yakima, then an air show in Pendleton, Oregon. He flew a single-engine CallAir A-2 and had about 4,000 flying hours. He took a detour. A US Marine Corps C-46 transport had crashed near Mount Rainier, and there was a $5,000 reward for finding it.
The sighting
He had just made a 360 degree turn above the little city of Mineral. Then, in his words, "a bright flash reflected on my airplane." He thought he was too close to another aircraft. Instead he saw "a chain of nine peculiar looking aircraft flying from north to south." They weaved among the peaks "like the tail of a Chinese kite." Flying level, they were "just a black thin line." When they tipped, they flashed in the sun "just like a mirror." He could not make out any tail.
Arnold checked his clock. It was one minute to three as the first object passed the southern edge of Rainier. As the last one passed Mount Adams, the sweep second hand showed one minute and forty-two seconds. He worked it out at around 1,200 miles an hour. The chain was at least five miles long. The whole observation lasted about two and a half minutes.
Aftermath
Reporters Nolan Skiff and Bill Bequette of the East Oregonian soon had the story. Arnold described objects "flat like a pie-pan and somewhat bat-shaped." He later said he had told Bequette they flew "like a saucer if you skip it across the water." On June 26 the Chicago Sun ran the headline "Supersonic Flying Saucers Sighted by Idaho Pilot." At least 800 copycat reports followed within weeks. Arnold felt the glare. "Half the people look at me as a combination of Einstein, Flash Gordon and screwball."
He was not the only one watching that afternoon. Fred Johnson, a prospector on Mount Adams, said he saw several round objects through a pocket telescope. He heard no engine noise, and he said his compass needle fluctuated. Others in Washington reported flashes and shiny discs.
Investigation
On July 12, Lt. Frank M. Brown and Capt. William Davidson of the Counter Intelligence Corps interviewed Arnold at Hamilton Field. Brown's memo was plain. "It is the personal opinion of the interviewer that Mr. Arnold actually saw what he stated that he saw." On August 1, both officers died when their B-25 crashed while carrying supposed debris from the Maury Island incident, later judged a hoax. Arnold's report was among the credible cases that led to Project Sign, then Grudge and Blue Book. Blue Book's card gave the final word. "Other (MIRAGE)."
Explanations
The debate never settled. Steuart Campbell argued for mirages of snowy peaks caused by temperature inversions. Officials at McChord suggested P-80 jets, but the nearest were about 600 miles away. Donald Menzel proposed blowing snow, then wave clouds, then water spots on the window. When Edward Ruppelt asked about snow, he "got a flat 'Impossible.'" Others offered meteors, American white pelicans and F4U Corsairs. Martin Shough concluded the objects could not have been birds.
Legacy
In 1950 Arnold set the record straight for Edward R. Murrow on CBS. "They said that I said that they were saucer-like; I said that they flew in a saucer-like fashion." The case remains filed under mirage. It is also the sighting that gave the world its flying saucers.
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