UFOs in the daily Press:

Pilot Follows Object of Unknown Identity in Latest Clue

By DAVE JOHNSON
Idaho Statesman Aviation Editor

BOISE, Idaho, July 9 (AP) - Three days of aerial search on an assignment to find a flying disc paid off today when for 45 seconds I watched a circular object dart about in front of a cloud bank.

The object was round. It appeared black, although as it maneuvered in front of the clouds I saw the sun flash on it once.

I was flying at 14,020 feet west of Boise, near the end of my third mission in search of the flying discs which have been reported over the Northwest and elsewhere.

Frankly, I had given up hope of ever seeing one of the objects. I turned the airplane toward Boise to begin a circular letdown over Gowen Field, and over the nose of the aircraft saw the object.

I saw it clearly and distinctly. I turned the airplane broadside to it and pulled back the plexiglass canopy so there would be no distortion. The object was still there.

It was rising sharply and jerkily toward the top of the towering bank of alto cumulus and alto (Continued on Page 4, Col. 1)

'DISC' SEEN BY BOISE BIRDMAN

(Continued From Page 1)

stratus clouds. At that moment, it was so round in shape that I thought it was a balloon.

I opened my radio and called Boise CAA communications station. The log shows the call was made at 12:17 p.m. (MST). I asked if the weather bureau had just released a balloon.

The answer was no, that a balloon had not been released for several hours. With that I snatched my camera out of the map case and began firing. I held the button down for about 10 seconds, and then looked again.

The object was turning so that it presented its edge to me. It then appeared as a straight black line. Then, with its edge still toward me, it shot straight up, rolled over the top of this maneuver, and I lost sight of it.

I asked the CAA and the Gowen Field control tower if there were any aircraft in the vicinity. There was a P-51 fighter plane in the area, but it was behind me. There was a Fairchild C-82 packet flying over Boise, but I watched it pass beneath me.

I saw the circular object east of the city, toward the Anderson Ranch dam. I do not know how far away it was. It had the relative size of a quarter.

The object could have been 10 miles away, or 40. I do not know. If it was a great distance from me, its speed was incredible. The greater distance an object is from the watcher, the slower its speed should appear. This circular thing was maneuvering very swiftly.

The P-51 that was in the area was instructed to scout the region, and its pilot went there. He landed shortly after I did to report he had not seen anything.

I have flown 18 hours in the past three days looking for discs. I have chased and discarded as nothing several flashes in the sky.

I do not believe I was self-hypnotized into seeing anything actually not there.

What I saw was no airplane. It was moving fast, but I don't know how fast. I don't know how big it was. If it was scores of miles distant, it was very large.

When I landed three men of the Idaho National Guard were waiting for me in the operations room. They said they had seen an object performing similar maneuvers, round and black in appearance, against the clouds, and that it disappeared "very fast." It was in the same area where I saw the object.

Their names are Warren Noe and Bob Ayres, crew chiefs, and Ferm Sabala, national guard photographer.

While I am writing this, in comes William W. Hunt of Blackfoot, Idaho, who was driving 14 miles east of Boise when he saw an object from his automobile. He just wanted to tell me about it.