The article below was published in the daily newspaper The Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho, USA, pages 1 and 2, on July 5, 1947.
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By DAVE JOHNSON
A westbound United Air Lines transport, bound from Boise to Seattle, encountered nine flying discs near Emmett Friday night, its captain, E. J. Smith, told The Statesman by telephone from Pendleton.
First Officer Ralph Stevens and Stewardess Marty Morrow, members of the transport's crew, confirmed the captain's statement.
Captain Smith and Stevens said they saw two flights of the objects, which earlier in the day were reported sailing over Portland, Ore.
Smith and Stevens said there were five in the first flight, and four in the second, and in the sec-
Sighted Over Michigan
PORT HURON, Mich. (Saturday) (2P) — Mysterious "flying saucers" were sighted Friday night by several residents southwest of Port Huron, who described them as flat and translucent, 12 to 15 inches in diameter, criss-crossing the sky and moving northward. "They definitely were not fireworks," said one witness.
and flight, three were grouped together and one was flying off in the distance, alone.
"Definitely Not Aircraft"
The story told by Smith, Stevens and Miss Morrow depicted the twin-engine transport roaring along through the deepening dusk, suddenly to be confronted with the objects which Smith said "definitely were not aircraft, but were flat, circular objects, and bigger than airplanes."
The transport carried eight passengers in addition to its crew of three.
It landed at Pendleton, first stop after leaving Boise, where the crew told the Statesman of the weird encounter.
Smith said the transport took off from Boise at 9:04 p. m., and was flying into the still faintly-lighted sky, when Stevens, who was at the controls, reached forward and switched on the landing lights.
Oncoming Objects Signalled
Blinking the landing lights during a night flight is a universal signal, calling for acknowledgement from another aircraft sighted in the area. It is a pilot's way of informing other aircraft that his plane is cruising in the same zone.
Smith said he asked Stevens why he did that. Stevens replied
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there appeared to be an oncoming aircraft ahead.
A moment later, said Smith, Stevens called out, "There is not one aircraft. There are five."
Stevens blinked his landing lights again, but failed to receive acknowledgement. The objects were not lighted, said Smith and Stevens. Stevens said his first thought was that it was a formation of light planes, returning from some Fourth of July celebration.
Flat, Circular in Shape
Then the captain and the first officer, according to their story, saw the things were not aircraft, but were flat and circular. At the time they were first sighted, said Stevens, the transport was at 7000 feet and climbing to an altitude of 8000 feet.
Stevens said it appeared to him the objects were climbing "right along with the transport, although it became apparent that they were not on a collision course with the passenger plane."
He said the objects were observed in a few moments to be to the transport's left, and Ontario's CAA communications station was called and the operator there was directed to go outside and "look about 15 miles southwest" to see if he could spot anything.
He reported he could not see anything in the sky.
Open, Close Formation
Back in the transport, the pilots said the discs were by now opening and closing their formation. The pilots said they appeared to spread out, then close together.
They called the stewardess up to the cockpit and asked her to look, so they could prove to themselves, said Smith, that they weren't seeing things.
She looked and said she could see the objects.
First Group Disappears
Then, said Smith and Stevens, the first group of flying discs "gradually disappeared" in the falling darkness.
Stevens took up the story here and said that four more discs appeared, this time higher than the transport, which by now had reached 8000 feet and was cruising.
These discs, he said, were in one group of three, with another one flying off to one side. He said they gradually disappeared on a northwesterly heading, and that southeast of Ontario, the transport lost sight of the objects.
Both men said the objects were "very flat."
"They were too high to be anything from the ground that wasn't flying," said Smith, meaning that they couldn't be any fireworks effect.
"I wouldn't be able to identify them to you," said Smith. "They were not that clear to us because of the distance from our plane at which they flew."
Not Smoke, Either
"All we can say," said Stevens and Smith, "is that they were flat and circular."
Smith said, "They were not smoke. They were not aircraft."
United Air Lines eastbound flight 130, with Capt. Emory Culbertson in charge, came east of Smith's route toward Bolse, and landed here at 9:45 p. m. He did not see anything of the discs, but Smith, in Pendleton, said that was understandable because Culbertson was flying into a darkening sky while Smith had been flying toward the setting sun.
Seen by Boise Folk
Meanwhile, at least six Boiseans reported they saw "flying objects" over the city between 5 and 6:30 p. m. They were not aircraft.
