Boise pilot's 1947 sighting launched the flying saucer era
Kenneth Arnold's report near Mount Rainier preceded the Pentagon's recent release of declassified files and Idaho's own wave of sightings.
By Aiko Nakamura ·
The term flying saucer originated from a Boise pilot's description of nine objects seen in 1947.
The Pentagon has released seven batches of declassified UFO files since May. These documents follow a long history of public skepticism and government denial regarding extraterrestrial presence. The current economic climate, with gas prices at $4.58 per gallon, has shifted public attention away from the phenomenon. The Pentagon reports that its UFO website has recorded more than one billion hits.
Kenneth Arnold, a Boise businessman and pilot, reported his sighting on June 24, 1947. He was flying near Mount Rainier in Washington when he observed nine shiny objects. He estimated their speed at a minimum of 1,200 miles per hour. Arnold told the East Oregonian newspaper in Pendleton the following day that the objects moved like a saucer skipped across water. Reporters interpreted this description of motion as a reference to shape, coining the term flying saucer.
Ten days after Arnold's report, sightings emerged in Idaho. On July 4, 1947, the crew of United Airlines Flight 105 reported a formation of discs over Emmett shortly after takeoff from Boise. The flight captain had joked before departure that he would believe in discs only upon seeing them. On July 9, Dave Johnson, the aviation editor for the Idaho Statesman, reported a black darting disc high over Boise. He captured 8mm film of the object, which revealed only a faint dot. On July 11, a 30-inch disc with a Plexiglas dome was found in a Twin Falls yard. FBI and Army intelligence agents investigated before four teenage boys admitted they constructed the object as a joke.
The Associated Press ranked flying saucers as Idaho's biggest story of the year. Arnold co-authored a book about his 1947 sighting in 1952 and continued to discuss the event for years. He sought the Republican nomination for Idaho lieutenant governor in 1962 but lost the general election. Arnold died in 1984.
The recent declassification of files marks a shift in the government's stance after nearly eight decades. The timeline moves from Arnold's initial report to local Idaho sightings and finally to the current federal review process.
Source: KIDO Talk Radio · original report published
