The article below was published in the daily newspaper The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, on July 25, 1947.
See the case file.
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BOISE, July 24 - Seven V-shaped objects which appeared about the size of fighter planes were reported flying within 1500 or 2000 feet of a civilian aircraft over the Mountain Home desert Sunday.
The pilot told the Idaho Statesman, Boise, that as far as he could determine the objects were not United States planes.
He notified the Civil Aeronautics Administration radio station of his experience and the 190th flight squadron of the Idaho national guard reported it to McChord Field, Washington.
The Statesman quoted the pilot as saying he was "frightened and shaken" by the experience. He said the objects, in tight formation, but not the type of formation used by military aircraft, were flying "at tremendous speed."
The pilot, the Statesman said, has wide experience in aviation. He trained pilots during the war and operates an airport in the Boise valley. He made his information available only on the condition that his name would not be used, the paper said.
The pilot described the objects as being in the shape of a V, with a solid, circular body under the nose of the V.
There was no evidence of any means of propulsion, he said—no propeller and no smoke trails indicating jet or rocket power.
There were no markings of any kind. The color, he said, was a shade he "couldn't describe and hadn't seen before."
He said he had the objects under observation for two minutes.
The pilot said he was about ten miles west of Mountain Home, flying toward Boise at about 10,000 feet on the right side of the highway. He said the objects were flying at about 9000 or 9500 feet.
He described the formation as in two lines of three each with the seventh object either in the center, between the 199th line, or above them.
