The article below was published in the newspaper La Grande Observer, LaGrande, Oregon, USA, on page 4, on June 26, 1947.
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PENDLETON, Ore., June 26 (UP) -- Residents of Pendleton sought an explanation today for the nine strange "saucer-shaped" planes an amateur pilot claimed he saw flying at an estimated speed of 1,200 miles an hour across southwestern Washington.
The story was told by Kenneth Arnold, flying fire extinguisher salesman from Boise, Ida.
He landed here slightly bugeyed, yesterday and told how he spotted the "extremely shiny nickle-plated aircraft" skimming along at 10,000 feet on Tuesday. Arnold was on search for a missing marine corps plane at the time.
"They were shaped like saucers and were so thin I barely could see them," he told Jack Whitman, a local businessman.
"There were nine of them and they were flying in screwy formation about 25 miles away from me. It wasn't any military formation i ever saw before. And they were traveling faster than I ever saw before."
There were no comment from military authorities on Arnold's story.
To: Kenneth Arnold or Newspapers 1940-1949.
