The Flight 105 UFO sighting occurred on July 4, 1947, when three crew members aboard a United Airlines flight reported seeing multiple unidentified flying objects in the skies over the Pacific Northwest. The incident was among at least 800 similar sightings in the United States within a few weeks in the summer of 1947, but the first report by professional pilots. The U.S. military ultimately attributed what the crew members saw to "ordinary aircraft, balloons, birds, or pure illusion".
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On June 24, 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported that, while in the air over southwest Washington State, he had seen a string of nine shiny objects flying past Mount Rainier at high speeds. [1] [2] The press coined the terms flying saucers and flying discs for the objects, based on Arnold's description. Arnold's was the first notable UFO sighting after the end of World War II, and was followed by a massive wave of similar reports over the next few weeks, ushering in the modern era of ufology. [2]
At 9:04 p.m. MST, United Airlines Flight 105, served by a Douglas DC-3, took off from Boise, Idaho, bound for Pendleton, Oregon. [3] [4] [5] [6] In a sign of the times, as the plane departed, the Boise tower jokingly suggested to "be on the lookout for 'flying saucers.'" [3]
Eight minutes into the flight, as the airliner was flying "roughly into the sunset", First Officer Ralph Stevens saw what he thought were one or more approaching aircraft in the twilight sky. He responded by blinking the landing lights of the DC-3 and alerting his co-pilot, Captain E. J. Smith. The two men saw four or five objects, which they would later describe as "flat and circular". Smith would tell the Associated Press that they were "bigger than aircraft", but would say to United Press that because of the objects' positions relative to the airliner, "we can't say anything about their shape except that they were thin and were smooth on the botton [ sic ] and rough appearing on the top. We can't say for sure if they were saucer-like, oval or anything else about their size." One was larger than the others, and they were flying in a "loose formation". The objects disappeared, only to be replaced by four more. [3] [4] [7]
The DC-3 followed the objects for 10 to 15 minutes, or about 45 miles (72 km). Smith and Stevens radioed the tower in Ontario, Oregon, as well as another United flight flying east in the area. Neither sighted the objects. They called stewardess Marty Morrow, who was in the cabin of the airliner. She did corroborate what they had seen. The eight passengers did not see the objects, but Smith would attribute this to the objects' positions "mostly dead ahead of us and off the bow". Smith and Stevens were never able to catch up to the objects, which eventually either sped off or disintegrated. [3] [4] [7]
The following day, press outlets nationwide related Smith's and Stevens's accounts of what they had seen. [3] [4] Writing in 1948, one journalist recalled that "no report shook the incredulous so much as the account of Captain Emil J. Smith, veteran airline pilot, and his crew ... Here was substance, something that seemed above flimsy reports. The whole affair reeked of humor, but the story of Captain Smith and his crew, like a very few other reports, suggested a deeper, more authentic meaning running below the surface of the nation's belly laugh. These were reportedly competent men shaken by their own eyesight. There was a substantial evidence which grew in the atmosphere of mirth." [8]
Smith, Stevens, and Arnold were photographed "comparing notes". [9] The Idaho Statesman had Arnold and its aviation editor retrace Flight 105's route in a plane belonging to the newspaper. They saw nothing out of the ordinary. [5] Arnold later said that he felt vindicated by Smith and Stevens's sighting, explaining, "Everybody can't be seeing things ... I might doubt myself, but can't doubt such observers as Capt. E. J. Smith". [10] On July 12, Arnold and Smith were interviewed by agents of the FBI. [11] In late July, Arnold and Smith went to Seattle to investigate the Maury Island hoax, an alleged encounter with a UFO. [1] [12]
On July 28, a "disklike object" was sighted on Flight 105 by a different pair of pilots. [13]
Air Materiel Command ultimately concluded that "since the sighting occurred at sunset, when illusory effect are most likely, the objects could have been ordinary aircraft, balloons, birds, or pure illusion." [14] [15] The Air Force would later point out the power of suggestion likely influenced observers during the craze. [15]
Despite official explanations, the Flight 105 sighting was incorporated into UFO folklore and conspiracy theories. [2] [16] [17] [18]
UFO conspiracy theories are a subset of conspiracy theories which argue that various governments and politicians globally, in particular the United States government, are suppressing evidence that unidentified flying objects are controlled by a non-human intelligence or built using alien technology. Such conspiracy theories usually argue that Earth governments are in communication or cooperation with extraterrestrial visitors despite public disclaimers, and further that some of these theories claim that the governments are explicitly allowing alien abduction.
Kenneth Albert Arnold was an American aviator, businessman, and politician.
The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by extraterrestrial intelligence or non-human aliens, or non-occupied alien probes from other planets visiting Earth.
The Maury Island hoax refers to claims made by Fred Crisman and Harold Dahl of falling debris and threats by men in black following sightings of unidentified flying objects in the sky over Maury Island, Washington, United States. The pair claimed that the events had occurred on June 21, 1947.
Project Sign or Project Saucer was an official U.S. government study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) undertaken by the United States Air Force (USAF) and active for most of 1948. It was the precursor to Project Grudge.
In ufology, conspiracy theory, science fiction, and comic book stories, claims or stories have circulated linking UFOs to Nazi Germany. The German UFO theories describe supposedly successful attempts to develop advanced aircraft or spacecraft prior to and during World War II, further asserting the post-war survival of these craft in secret underground bases in Antarctica, South America, or the United States, along with their creators.
Donald Strehle Whitehead was an American politician from Idaho. The state's 23rd and 28th lieutenant governor, he served a combined six years between 1939 and 1951.
The Chicago O'Hare UFO sighting occurred on November 7, 2006, around 4:15 p.m. when 12 United Airlines employees and a few witnesses outside O'Hare International Airport reported a sudden UFO sighting. The Federal Aviation Administration refused to investigate the matter because this unidentified flying object (UFO) was not seen on radar, instead calling it a "weather phenomenon".
From July 12 to 29, 1952, a series of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings were reported in Washington, D.C., and later became known as the Washington flap, the Washington National Airport Sightings, or the Invasion of Washington. The most publicized sightings took place on consecutive weekends, July 19–20 and July 26–27. UFO historian Curtis Peebles called the incident "the climax of the 1952 (UFO) flap"—"Never before or after did Project Blue Book and the Air Force undergo such a tidal wave of (UFO) reports."
A flying saucer, also referred to as a flying disc, is a descriptive term for a type of flying craft having a disc or saucer-shaped body, commonly used generically to refer to an anomalous flying object. The term was coined in 1947 but has generally been supplanted since 1952 by the United States Air Force term unidentified flying objects, UFOs for short. Early reported sightings of unknown "flying saucers" usually described them as silver or metallic, sometimes reported as covered with navigation lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly, either alone or in tight formations with other similar craft, and exhibiting high maneuverability.
The interdimensional hypothesis is a proposal that unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings are the result of experiencing other "dimensions" that coexist separately alongside our own in contrast with either the extraterrestrial hypothesis that suggests UFO sightings are caused by visitations from outside the Earth or the psychosocial hypothesis that argues UFO sightings are best explained as psychological or social phenomenon.
The Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting occurred on June 24, 1947, when private pilot Kenneth Arnold claimed that he saw a string of nine, shiny unidentified flying objects flying past Mount Rainier at speeds that Arnold estimated at a minimum of 1,200 miles an hour (1,932 km/h). This was the first post-World War II sighting in the United States that garnered nationwide news coverage and is credited with being the first of the modern era of UFO sightings, including numerous reported sightings over the next two to three weeks. Arnold's description of the objects also led to the press quickly coining the terms flying saucer and flying disc as popular descriptive terms for UFOs.
The Twin Falls saucer hoax was a hoaxed flying disc discovered in Twin Falls, Idaho, United States, on July 11, 1947. Amid a nationwide wave of alleged "flying disc" sightings, residents of Twin Falls reported recovering a 30 in (76 cm) "disc". FBI and Army officials took possession of the disc and quickly proclaimed the object to be a hoax. Press reported that local teenagers admitted to perpetrating the hoax.
The Coming of the Saucers is a 1952 book by original 'flying saucer' witness Kenneth Arnold and pulp magazine publisher Raymond Palmer. The book reprints and expands early articles the two had published in Palmer's Fate magazine. The work blends first-person accounts attributed to Arnold with third-person summations of UFO reports.
The 1947 flying disc craze was a rash of unidentified flying object reports in the United States that were publicized during the summer of 1947. The craze began on June 24, when media nationwide reported civilian pilot Kenneth Arnold's story of witnessing disc-shaped objects which headline writers dubbed "Flying Saucers". Such reports quickly spread throughout the United States; historians would later chronicle at least 800 "copycat" reports in subsequent weeks, while other sources estimate the reports may have numbered in the thousands.
The Rhodes UFO photos, sometimes called the shoe-heel UFO photos, are two photos that were reportedly taken on July 7, 1947 by amateur astronomer and inventor William Albert Rhodes. The photographs purport to show a disc-like object flying above Phoenix, Arizona. Rhodes's account and photographs were published by the Arizona Republic on July 9.
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects is a 1956 book by then-retired Air Force UFO investigator Edward J. Ruppelt, detailing his experience running Project Bluebook. The book was noted for its suggestion that a few UFO sightings might be linked to spikes of atomic radiation. Contemporary media summarized four topics discussed in the book:
"Have We Visitors From Space?" was an article on Flying Saucers by H. B. Darrach Jr. and Robert Ginna that appeared in the April 7, 1952 edition of Life magazine. The piece was strongly sympathetic to the hypothesis that UFOs might be the product of extraterrestrials. Publicity surrounding the piece is believed to have contributed to the 1952 UFO flap, a subsequent wave of reports that summer.
On the night of January 20, 1951, multple individuals reported an unidentified cigar-shaped straight-winged aircraft over Sioux City, Iowa. By January 22, papers nationwide publicized had their reports. The incident continues to be discussed in the 21st-century.
