Incident · 24 June 1947 · Near Mount Rainier, Washington
Kenneth Arnold sighting near Mount Rainier
Also known as Kenneth Arnold sighting, Mount Rainier 1947, Arnold sighting, first flying saucers
Partly explained. The Air Force concluded the objects were a mirage, after an earlier analyst suggested known aircraft; Arnold maintained they were real objects. (Project Blue Book case file: Mt. Rainier, Washington, June 1947 (Kenneth Arnold))
On the afternoon of 24 June 1947, the private pilot Kenneth Arnold, flying near Mount Rainier in Washington, reported nine bright objects moving in a chain past the mountain at a speed he estimated at well over 1,000 miles an hour. He told reporters at Pendleton, Oregon, and described it on local radio the next day. The wire services carried his story across the country, the press turned his description into “flying saucers”, and hundreds of similar reports followed over the next weeks, among them the Roswell announcement of 8 July.
The Army Air Forces investigated. An early analysis argued his estimates were inconsistent and that the objects may have been known aircraft; the Air Force's final conclusion, recorded in the Blue Book file, was a mirage. Arnold maintained that he had seen real objects.
Sources: Project Blue Book case file (U.S. National Archives) · Arnold's radio interview (1947)
Facts and claims
- claimed In a radio interview the day after, Arnold said that about 3 p.m. on 24 June 1947, flying from Chehalis to Yakima near Mount Rainier, he saw “a chain which looked to me like the tail of a Chinese kite, kind of weaving and going at a terrific speed”; the objects flashed in the sun, had no tails, and “looked something like a pie plate that was cut in half”. Timing them between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, he estimated “around 1,200 miles an hour”, or more than 800 allowing for error. — Kenneth Arnold Source: Kenneth Arnold and the first UFOs, with Arnold's 1947 radio interview (Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World, 2019) at 10:24
- documented Project Blue Book's record card files the sighting as nine objects seen for 2½–3 minutes, “mirror-like reflections which dipped and twisted at a very high rate of speed”, and concludes “Other (MIRAGE)”. Source: Project Blue Book case file: Mt. Rainier, Washington, June 1947 (Kenneth Arnold)
- documented An Air Force summary in the file states: “It is the Air Force conclusion that the objects of this sighting were due to a mirage”, citing the very stable, clear air Arnold described, and notes that his description of objects moving like saucers skipping on water “was shortened to ‘Flying Saucers’ by newspaper men”. Source: Project Blue Book case file: Mt. Rainier, Washington, June 1947 (Kenneth Arnold)
Connected files
Documents
Events
- The 1947 flying disc wave (part of) — It began with Kenneth Arnold's report of 24 June 1947
Programs
- Project Blue Book (investigated by) — Blue Book's record card marks the conclusion “Other (MIRAGE)”
People
- Kenneth Arnold (witnesses) — He saw the nine objects from his own plane near Mount Rainier on 24 June 1947
Videos
- Kenneth Arnold and the first UFOs, with Arnold's 1947 radio interview (Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World, 2019) (subject of)
Mentioned in this file
- National Archives and Records Administration (Organization)