PROJECT 1947

UFO REPORTS - 1947



Pendleton, Oregon East Oregonian - June 28, 1947



Experts Reach Deep Into Bag
To Explain 'Flying Discs'

By BILL BEQUETTE

      Several "explanations" were advanced today for the so-called "flying discs" reported seen in several widespread eastern areas.

      Lt. Col. Harold E. Turner, commandant of the White Sands proving ground in New Mexico, was quoted as saying the heated circular exhaust pipes of jet airplanes, when hot, might give an illusion of the discs.

      Kenneth Arnold, Boise, Ida., businessman pilot who first reported in the East Oregonian of seeing the strange objects whizzing over the Cascade mountains in southwestern Washington at an estimated speed of approximately 1300 miles of an hour could only guess at what he had seen.

      He suggested the high speed mirror-bright "planes" might have been guided missiles being tested by the army.

      But if the army knew anything about such activities it wasn't admitting it.  Official spokesmen continued to pooh-pooh the idea, disclaiming any knowledge of such activities in that area.

      Meanwhile, reports of similar objects were received from Washington, Idaho, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

      Another "explanation" was advanced by Howard W. Blakeslee, Associated Press science editor.  He said the mysterious objects flashing across the sky roughly agreed with the way light occasionally was reflected from a distant airplane.

      He couldn't account for the speed, however.

      He said in a clear air the flash of sunlight from a plane could easily be seen 50 miles.  This flash would be round, the shape of the sun, he said adding that any other reflection at a great distance likely would be round since it came only from a small area on the plane.

      Blakeslee said reports of unusual objects in the sky had been numerous since the war.  Atomic bombs and rocket rumors have accounted for most of them, he said, and concluded that for this reason any unusual sights in the sky likely would appear to be exaggerated.

      There were other attempts to explain the mystery.  They ranged from "illusions" and mirages to whisperings of secret Russian weapons.

      But while none were wholly satisfactory, one thing at least was certain: Mr. Arnold – and perhaps others – saw something strange and almost unbelievable.

      What it was perhaps only time will tell.



Boise, Idaho Statesman - June 28, 1947

'Flying Saucer' Observer Says
No One Can Change His Mind

      Kenneth Arnold, businessman-pilot who made the headlines with his story of sighting strange disc-like flying missiles in southern Washington, was back in his home town of Boise today -- and his story hasn't changed a bit.

      "I saw what I saw," he said.   "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 per cent.  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 hullabaloo."

      Arnold resides on a ranch near Boise.   He uses a hayfield for an airport.   He sells fire-control equipment.

      Arnold said he saw strange "flying saucers" -- nine of them -- near Mount Rainier while flying to Yakima Wash., this week.

      He said he is more concerned with the fact that neither the FBI nor the army appear interested in his story.

      "If I was running the country," he said, "and someone reported something unusual, I'd certainly want to know more about it."



Pendleton, Oregon East Oregonian - June 28, 1947

      If the planes or guided missiles seen by Kenneth Arnold were operated by the army or for the army the military should say so but not divulge details.  People would soon forget it but if the affair remains a mystery they won't.




San Francisco Examiner - June 29, 1947

'Flying Saucers'
Seen in Oregon

      SEASIDE (Ore.), June 28 -- (AP) -- The latest report on the "flying saucers" came today from a Seaside woman who said she saw one of them winging soundlessly south at 8:05 p.m.  She was Mrs. Sidney B. Smith, wife of a Seaside policeman, who with her 8 year old daughter, Joanne, said she watched the "round" object for nearly three minutes.

      Mrs. Smith added that it was flying high, east of the city, but she believed it was close enough for her to have heard regular engines.   She said she could hear nothing.


Portland, Oregon Daily Journal - July 2, 1947


Rankin Report Adds Credence to 'Disks'

      The report of a long-time West Coast man was added today to the growing account of "flying saucers" over the west.

      Richard Rankin, veteran of more than 7000 hours in the air, said he saw the much-debated mystery disks high over Bakersfield, Cal., and going "maybe 300 or 400 miles an hour."

      There were 10 in formation flying north, he told the reporter, but when "they returned on the reverse course, headed south, there were only seven.

      "I couldn't make out the number or location of their propellers and couldn't distinguish any wings or tail.  They appeared almost round," he said.

      Rankin said he saw them June 23, but hesitated to describe what he saw until he noted others were reporting the same thing.

      At first, he continued, he assumed he had seen the XF5U-1, the experimental navy "Flying Flapjack."  The navy since has announced it has only one XF5U-1, and it has not left Connecticut.

      Rankin, ex-Portlander who now lives in Palm Springs, Cal., and is brother of late John G. "Tex" Rankin, pioneer stunt flyer, said he observed the "planes" from the ground.

      New reports meanwhile came in from 3 Oregon cities, Astoria, Madras, and Portland.

      At least 10 or 12 of the mystery craft tipped noiselessly from side to side as they moved along the course of the Columbia river Tuesday noon to convince two Portland skeptics that Kenneth "Saucer" Arnold of Boise was telling the truth when he first reported the disks a week ago.

      "We didn't believe the story when we saw it in the papers but we definitely saw the flying objects at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday," reported Mrs. Herbert Baillet, who with her husband is building a house near NE 74th Ave. and Prescott St.

      "I first saw three of them as we sat down to lunch and called my husband's attention to them.  Later there were 10 or 12 of them, flying low below the foothills and apparently over the Columbia river or just on the Washington side.   There was no noise and they did not appear to be flying fast."




Manitou Mountain, Colorado - May 19, 1947
Official Report to USAF, July 2, 1947

HEADQUARTERS FIFTEENTH AIR FORCE
Colorado Springs, Colorado

2 July 1947              



SUBJECT:    Supersonic Platters

SUMMARY OF INFORMATION:


The following information was related to Counter Intelligence Corps Personnel at Headquarters Fifteenth Air Force, Colorado Springs Colorado on 27 June 1947 by Mr D. A. Hauser, 24 North Chestnut Street, Colorado Springs Colorado, Mr. P. J. Smith, 24 Fairview, Manitou Springs, Colorado and Mr. L. D. Jamison, 2415 West Kiowa, Colorado Springs, Colorado.  All three of the men are employees of the Pikes Peak Railway, Manitou Springs, Colorado.

"On or about 19 May 1947 during their lunch period 1215-1315, a member of a train crew called attention to a silver object in the sky approaching from the North East.  It appeared to be travelling at a great speed.  All three men stated that the altitude of the object was very difficult to determine because of its apparent smallness.  They further stated that because of this it was difficult to view the object as being large and having high altitude or small and being at a relatively low altitude.  They did say though that it appeared to be higher than the top of Manitou Mountain which is over 1000 feet higher than the shops which are situated at its base.  No definite shape of the object could be determined and even with the aid of binoculars it still could not be brought into focus.  The binoculars used were of about 4 to 6 power.  The men stated that they were certain that the object did not have any of the physical characteristics of modern conventional aircraft.

The day was discribed (sic) as being clear und sunny with not a cloud in the sky and no ground wind.

On reaching the area just North of Manitou Mountain the object remained in the immediate area for several minutes during which time it was seen to execute manuvers (sic) such as climbing, diving and reversal of direction of flight.  This happened every few seconds.  The distance and location between views prompted two of the men to think that there were more of the unidentified objects in the sky.  At times the object seemed to hovoer (sic) in the air and then start on another path of flight.  When last seen the silver object was climbing very fast towards the West almost directly into the wind.

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Richland, Washington Villager - July 3, 1947


"FLYING DISKS" ARE SEEN HERE
First Noticed by Leo Bernier

      A Richland chapter was added last week to the mystery of the 'flying discs' or 'saucers' puzzling the western states when a village resident, Leo Bernier of 1213 Stevens Drive, reported having seen several of them high in the sky last Tuesday afternoon.

      "They were going west by southwest around 2 or 2:30," Bernier said, "and were rather silvery and shaped as though a saucer were seen edgewise."

      Bernier didn't say much about them until he read in the paper that they had been seen elsewhere.  "I was worried that people might just laugh," he said.

      The disks were extremely far away, near the horizon, but high in the sky, he stated, and even at that distance were traveling as fast as a P-38 might seem to be going if it were just 600 feet high.

      "They appeared something like a reflection from a plane, but were going too fast for any kind of plane," Bernier said.

      Various theories have been offered for the phenomum [sic], which has been sighted in at least five areas besides Richland, west of the Mississippi.

      In clear air, the flash of sunlight from a plane can easily be seen 50 miles.  The flash is round, the shape of the sun.  Any other reflection from a great distance is apt to be round too.

      Most puzzling factor in the mystery are the great speeds, although it is difficult for the eye to make a correct estimate of speeds, and jet planes travel much faster then regular planes.

      Reports of unusual objects in the sky have been numerous since the war.  Atomic bomb and rocket rumors have accounted for most of them.

      Bernier has his own explanation as good as any.

      "I believe it may be a visitor from another planet, more developed than ours," he says.  "in my opinion we're just beginning to see things this world never dreamed of."



Seen Sunday by Neighborhood

      Just to prove that there was something in the sky, a whole neighborhood reported late this week that they had seen the famed 'discs' last Sunday afternoon above Richland.

      A disc was first spotted by James Harbor, 10, of 1417 Johnston, earlier in the week, but he was having difficulty in getting anyone to believe him, when he saw another one Sunday afternoon, "about 3," while playing with some friends.

      Jimmy immediately called his mother and several neighbors to view it and prove his story.

      "When I first came out," reports his mother, Mrs. Thomas Harbour, "the disc seemed straight above, right over the village.   It seemed to be hovering.   It wavered, then started back and all of a sudden, reversed itself and shot off toward the northeast."

      The disc was bright, but very high in the air, according to Mrs. Harbour.  It was round, with a shimmering edge, as though that moved separately from the center.   It was silvery, as reported elsewhere, but to Mrs. Harbour seemed to have a tail or a stream of smoke clinging to it.

      "I couldn't judge how high it was, but I'm sure it was a terrific size," she stated.   "The whole neighborhood saw it."

      "Others who saw the disc, according to her, were Walter and Donald Schaeffer, neighbor boys, Mrs. Carl Gibons of 1413 Johnston and Mrs. E. D. Ferguson of 1418 Johnston.

      Said Mrs. Gibson, "It was real bright and seemed to go fast, but every once in a while it looked like it was turning or something because it twinkled like a star."

      "It very definitely wasn't a plane.  I've never seen anything like it before...It was spinning," she added.

      "Mrs. Ferguson thought of it as spinning, too, but to her it seemed to have a "sort of a halo or circle around it."

      "It could have been smoke around it which appeared to come from the center or top of the disc," Mrs. Ferguson related.

      "She too agreed that it was shiny, huge in size and very high in the sky.

      "It didn't move like a plane, more like a balloon except that balloons move smoothly and this was jerky," Mrs. Ferguson reported.  She sad [sic] they had to be in a shadow to see it, and that the whole neighborhood was out.



Oklahoma Norman Transcript - July 4, 1947

MORE FLYING DISCS REPORTED

(UP)-- A flight of "flying saucers" has been reported in eastern Canada but reaction there to the mystery missiles reported earlier in nine states of the United States was "they're probably leftovers from the mad hatter's tea party minus cups, of course."

      Dr. and Mrs. C.K. Gunn and two friends said they saw strange objects "traveling at great speed high in the sky" last Tuesday near their home at Summerside on Prince Edward island.

      Roland Phillipson, one of the four, described the objects as shapeless, but glistening in the sunlight.

      Father Burke-Gaffney, astronomer and dean of engineering at St. Mary's college at Halifax, said the saucers were "outside the realm of astronomy."   Another Canadian source said "It's probably a matter for witch doctors."

      Army research experts in Washington said they can't explain the saucers reported whizzing across the sky by persons in eight states, but they said they are investigating.

      An Albuquerque, New Mexico Chamber of Commerce official, Max Hood, reported he saw "a disk-like bluish object following a zig-zag path in the northwestern sky" over New Mexico on July 01.

      Other "saucers" previously were reported seen over a Navajo Indian reservation in northwestern New Mexico, and over Gallup, near Silver city, Sante Fe, Elephant Butte and other points in the state.

      A U.S. meteorologist, E.E. Unger of Louisville, said he saw a circular object flying through the air Tuesday night as he left a neighborhood theater.  He said it was moving about 100 miles an hour, and giving off an orange light.  Mrs. Louis Goldstein, wife of a deputy sheriff at Monterey, California, reported she saw one of the "flying saucers" or discs at 7:45 a.m. (PST) today while looking out a window of her home by Monterey airport.  "I know people will say I'm crazy, but I saw a quite-rounded flying object, not circular, with a red glow on one edge," Mrs. Goldstein said.  "I saw it for 10 or 15 seconds - then, suddenly it vanished."

      Airlines reported no planes in flight in the area at the time.  The only plane at the airport was grounded.  The projectiles, variously described as "too fast for an airplane and not fast enough for a falling star," "not moving at all," and "traveling at great speed," were reported seen again Thursday night streaking over Denver.

      It was the third report of the "saucers" this week, while persons in Idaho, Oregon, California, New Mexico and other states reported seeing various versions of the unexplained projectiles last week.

      Mrs. L.M. Wagoner and her eight-year-old son of Sherman, Texas reported they saw a flying disc about 7 p.m. Sunday while traveling between Dallas and Corsicana.  Mrs. Wagoner said the disc, about the size of a man's hat, was traveling northward and disappeared in a few seconds.

      A Dallas man, Tom Dean, said he and his wife and daughter saw a disc-shaped object "going like blue blazes from northeast to southwest at cloud level" Tuesday while traveling between Dallas and Fort Worth.  Dean said it resembled a flattened-out balloon and was in sight for 12 or 15 seconds.

      A shiny disc, traveling about 150 miles per hour, was seen over El Paso, Texas, at 3:30 p.m. MST, Sunday, June 22, by Dr. G. Oliver Dickson, an optometrist.  He said it was shaped a little like a blimp, coming to a point at each end.  The sun's rays were not reflected on it, he added.

      Lt. Gov. Donald S. Whitehead of Idaho said today that he saw a strange comet-like object hanging high in the western sky on June 24.   That was the day Kenneth Arnold, Boise, Idaho, first reported seeing the projectiles over southeastern Washington.

      Their stories varied.  Arnold had estimated the projectiles speed at 1,200 miles an hour.  Whitehead said the objects he and three other witnesses saw "didn't move, but just seemed to go below the horizon with the rotation of the earth."   At Denver Henry Martin and Walter Harrod said they caught a brief glimpse of a group of "bright objects" flying at about 5,000 feet Thursday night.  Martin said they looked like coffee can cups.  They were traveling in a southwesterly direction, he said.

      State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Menary, of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge detail, reported seeing a dozen bright metal objects "about the size of a football" whiz over San Francisco Bay June 24 and fall into the sea.

      Dick Rankin, former Portland, Oregon flyer, said he saw the discs high over Bakersfield, California, going from 200 to 400 miles an hour June 23. There were ten of them in a formation flying north, he said.

      At Bath, South Carolina, Jack Reams reported that last week he saw a disc 12 inches in diameter, giving off a small weird light as it whizzed through the sky at a tremendous speed.




Portland Oregonian - July 5, 1947


Air Liner Crew Confirms Flying Discs Over State
Many Seen During Day Over City

Reports of two to 20 fantastic "flying discs" over the Portland-Vancouver area Friday were confirmed by the crew of a westbound Boise-to-Portland United Airlines plane.

      Their report, detailed enough to shake the most incredulous, left them equally shaken.

      "No object I know of could disappear so quickly," Capt. E. J. Smith, veteran pilot of the plane, reported in an interview at Portland.

Three Sight Objects

      He, First Officer Ralph Stevens and Stewardess Marty Morrow all saw the objects, which appeared to be 30 or more miles away, eight minutes after take-off from Boise at 9:04 PM, and had them -- nine in all -- under observation for an estimated 10 to 15 minutes.

      Seen from approximately the same altitude, the UAL crew could give no clue to their shape, other than that they were "very thin, very flat on the bottom, and appeared to be rough or irregular on top.  They are not aircraft.  They are bigger than aircraft."

      Scores of persons in the Portland area Friday reported seeing, "flying discs" or something like them.   Most observers agree the objects were moving rapidly, apparently in formation at about 10,000 feet.

      Coincidentally, the Associated Press and army officers at Fort Lewis, Wash., announced a flight of six bombers and 24 P-80 jet-propelled Shooting Stars were making a holiday demonstration flight at great altitude over Portland about the time the first "discs" were reported.

Police Cars Alerted

      The first "saucers" sighted were said to be "right over" Oaks amusement park.  Don Metcalfe, Oaks employee, told William LeRoy, park superintendent, that he had seen them.

      An "all car" alert by Portland police radio brought reports from Patrolman Earl Patterson, in car 13, and Patrolmen Walter Lissy and Robert Ellis, in car 82, that they had spotted them.

      Patterson, an air corps veteran who was at S. E. 82nd avenue and Foster road, said the discs came from the west, passed under the sun and proceeded southwesterly.  They were either aluminum or eggshell white, did not flash or reflect the sun, and were traveling fast, Patterson said.  It was his opinion they were not airplanes and would have to be radio controlled.  They were erratic in flight, wobbling and weaving, he said.

Veterans Spy Objects

      Lissy and Ellis, both veterans and civilian pilots, said they saw three discs which remained in sight about 30 seconds.  They could not judge speed or height because the objects near Oaks park were traveling at "terrific speed."   They heard no sound but said they saw flashes and noted erratic flight including sudden changes of direction.

      Capt. K. A. Prehn of the harbor patrol, Harbor Pilot A. T. Austed and Patrolman K. C. Hoffi, who were at the Irving street headquarters of the harbor patrol, said they saw the discs going south over the Globe mills at about 10,000 feet.  They seemed to oscillate, weave and turn until sometimes a full disc, sometimes only a crescent was visible.

      All three said they were undecided, whether there were three or six discs because of the flashes.  Captain Prehn described the sight as a "wobbling hubcap." A regular plane was in the sky at the time, but these were not planes, they agreed.

Deputies Report Streaks

      Sgt. Claude Cross reported seeing two objects from state police headquarters, 9200 S. E. McLoughlin boulevard.  They looked like toy balloons, almost pure white and traveled sidewise with no flashing lights, he said.

      Sheriff's Deputies John Sullivan, Clarence McKay and Fred Krives of the Clark county, Wash., sheriff's office, reported seeing 20 streak over Vancouver in a straight line, traveling west and south.  They heard a low hum or "drone," and described the objects as "dark, not flashy and more like a bunch of geese."

      Harry Hale, production manager of The Oregonian, said he saw a shiny object in the sky just west of Beaverton, while driving toward Portland Friday morning.  The object was moving swiftly in a southerly direction, but disappeared suddenly.



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