Mountain Home, Idaho, USA, on August 18, 1947:
ACUFO-1947-08-18-MOUNTAINHOME-1
The newspaper The Boise Statesman, of Boise, Idaho, USA, reported on August 20, 1947, that for the third time - in recent weeks - a United Air Line crew reported having seen strange objects in the sky.
Both the captain and co-pilot of United Air Lines flight 147, a Salt Lake City to Spokane trip, told UAL personnel in Boise that they saw two silver-colored round objects pass beneath their plane when they were near the Mountain Home army air base at approximately noon.
The captain of the flight, according to UAL personnel is Boise, agreed that the story is told, provided that neither his name nor that of his co-pilot would be made public.
Their plane was beginning a let down in the vicinity of Mountain Home for the approach to Boise, flying at an altitude of 8000 feet, the captain said.
He said that he saw the two objects pass beneath the plane, at an estimated 2000 feet below him. He said they were traveling almost due south.
He maneuvered his transport plane in an effort to keep the objects in sight and obtained a view which indicated to him the discs were "approximately five feet in diameter."
The co-pilot clocked the flight of the objects for 15 seconds, the captain told United Air Lines people of Boise, and estimated that in the quarter-minute they had gone four miles. This would have made the speed of the objects 960 miles per hour.
The captain said the objects appeared to him to be the shape of "skeet targets". The observation was made.
The captain described the flight characteristics of the objects as "effortless." The Statesman informant said the captain was "visibly impressed" by what he had seen.
Several short summaries of this case were published in the ufology literature in the 2000's.
| Date: | August 18, 1947 |
|---|---|
| Time: | About noon. |
| Duration: | More than 15 seconds. |
| First known report date: | August 18, 1947 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours. |
| Country: | USA |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Idaho |
| City or place: | Mountain Home |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 or 2 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Reporting channel: | United airlines, the Press. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Day. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | Flew fast below plane. |
| Witnesses action: | Observed, chased, clocked. |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 2.
[ ] 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: | 2 |
| ACUFO: | Possible extraterrestrial craft. |
[Ref. bon1:] NEWSPAPER "THE BOISE STATESMAN":
|
A third instance of commercial air line crews encountering disc-like objects in flight near Boise was reported in The Statesman Tuesday.
Both the captain and co-pilot of United Air Lines flight 147, a Salt Lake City to Spokane trip, told UAL personnel here that they saw two silver-colored round objects pass beneath their transport as the plane was near Mountain Home army air base.
The captain of the flight, UAL personnel here said, related his story only on one condition, that neither his name nor that of his co-pilot be made public.
The air liner, beginning a let down in the vicinity of Mountain Home for the approach to Boise, was flying at an altitude of 8000 feet, the captain said.
The pilot said that he saw the two objects pass beneath the plane. He estimated they were 2000 feet below him. He said they were traveling almost due south.
Maneuvering his transport in an effort to keep the objects in sight, the captain said, he obtained a view which indicated to him the discs were "approximately five feet in diameter."
"That is the way they appeared to me at their distance from us," he said.
The co-pilot clocked the flight of the objects for 15 seconds, the captain told United Air Lines people here, and estimated that in the quarter-minute they had gone four miles.
If the calculation is correct, that would have made the speed of the objects 960 miles per hour.
The captain said the objects appeared to him to be the shape of "skeet targets". The observation was made at approximately noon.
The flight characteristics of the objects were described by the captain as "effortless."
The Statesman informant said the captain was "visibly impressed" by what he had seen.
Previous observances of disc-like objects near air liners were made by Capt. Charles F. Gibian on trip 105 near Mountain Home just before sunset on July 20, and by Capt. E. J. Smith, also on trip 105, near Emmett just after dark on July 4.
The most recent observance, according to United Air Lines personnel, was made approximately two weeks after Gibian reported seeing an object.
The third report, estimating the distance of the discs from the plane at 2000 feet, is the first one in which air line pilots claimed a definite estimate of distance and speed.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:
1233: 1947/08/18 12:00 1 115:40:00 W 43:10:00 N 3333 NAM USA IDH 6:8
nr MOUNTAIN HOME,ID:PILOTS/UAL FLT 147:2 SKEET-SCRS >UNDER AIRLINER/1500kph
Ref#131 GROSS,L.:UFOS a HISTORY-1947 6 books Book # 6 Page 23: IN-FLIGHT
[Ref. dwn1:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:
French ufologist Dominique Weinstein compiled a catalog of the cases of UFOs observed from aircraft. This case appears in the February 2001 (6th edition) version of his catalogue as:
| DATE | 47.08.18 |
|---|---|
| TIME | 12:00 |
| COUNTRY | USA |
| PLACE | near Mountain Home, Idaho |
| A | |
| TYPE OF PLANE AND WITNESSES | United Airlines flight 147 pilot + co-pilot |
| UFO DESCRIPTION | 2 objects shaped like "skeet target" seen flying under plane |
| Radar | |
| G | |
| X | |
| E | |
| SOURCES | 03 |
The source "03" is referenced at the end of the catalog as:
Project 1947 Reports, newsclippings and documents (cases from Jan Aldrich and Barry Greenwood)
[Ref. gvo1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
1947, August 18
USA, near Moutain Home, Idaho
The pilot and co-pilot of United Airlines Flight 147 observed two "ski-shaped* objects flying beneath their aircraft. (J. Allen HYNEK: "New Report on UFOs" - Belfond 1979, pp. 40-41)
[Ref. fre1:] FRANCIS RIDGE - THE NICAP WEBSITE:
Aug. 18, 1947; Near Mountain Home, Idaho (BBU) [= "Blue Book Unkown"]
12 p.m. United Airlines Flight 147 pilot and copilot saw 2 "skeet target" shaped objects flying under the plane. (Project 1947)
(Ref. tai1:) "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Date: Aug. 18, 1947
Location: Near Mountain Home, Idaho BBU
Time: 12 p.m.
Summary: United Airlines Flight 147 pilot and copilot saw 2 "skeet target" shaped objects flying under the plane
Source: Project 1947
The United Airlines transport plane was quite likely a DC-3, the plane UAL operated on Flight 147.
The DC-3 is the civilian airline version of the famous Douglas C-47 "Skytrain" military transport plane. The photo below is a United Airlines DC-3 - some are still flying in airshows in the 2000's.
|
The DC-3 has a cruising speed of 207 mph (333 km/h), a capacity of 21 to 32 passengers or 6,000 lb (2,700 kg) of cargo, and a range of 1,500 miles (2,400 km); it can operate from short runways.
|
The Kenneth Arnold sighting of June 24, 1947, widely publicized in the press at the time, had some effects in this case.
The co-pilot clocked the objects. This is what Arnold had done, it was explained in the press, and it showed that the objects seen by Arnold were faster than the aircraft of that era. The pilots in this case did the same.
Arnold had ended up complaining about the media harassment he endured following his report; this had been reported in the press. In this case, the pilot and his co-pilot asked that their anonymity be preserved.
As for the sighting itself, it is noteworthy that the objects flew below their aircraft, which was already flying quite low, on approach for landing. And these objects were said to have flown at 960 mph (1,545 km/h).
The fastest aircraft of 1947 was the Bell X-1, piloted by the famous Chuck Yeager, which reached 700 mph. That is well below 960 mph. It is also a speed achieved at high altitude, 43,000 feet (13 km), which would never have been reached at low altitude. Furthermore, the X-1 was an experimental rocket plane that never flew anywhere near Idaho. Finally, that speed was achieved only on October 14, 1947, and there were never two X-1s flying together.
On August 20, 1947, the Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak, a jet aircraft, had reached approximately 650.8 mph (1,047 km/h). It had broken the speed record. But it had flown only at Muroc Army Air Field (now Edwards AFB), a test field, in California. Moreover, it was painted red.
There is no way around it: all operational jet aircraft at the time of this case did not exceed 550-600 mph (885-965 km/h).
And none of them had a disc shape.
Even if the co-pilot's timing had been off, the fact that what would in any case remain a very high speed would have been achieved at an altitude of 2,000 feet below an aircraft on approach for landing makes an explanation involving jet aircraft highly improbable.
Possible extraterrestrial craft.
* = 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 | July 10, 2026 | Creation, [bon1], [lhh1], [dwn1], [gvo1], [fre1], [tai1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 10, 2026 | First published. |
