Incident · 4 July 1947 · Near Emmett, Idaho (Boise–Seattle route)
United Air Lines Flight 105 sighting near Emmett, Idaho
Also known as United Flight 105, UAL 105, Emmett 1947, Boise 1947 airliner sighting
On the evening of 4 July 1947, ten days after Kenneth Arnold's sighting, the crew of United Air Lines Flight 105 from Boise to Seattle, Captain Emil J. Smith and First Officer Ralph Stevens, with a stewardess they called forward to confirm, watched five objects, and then a second group of four or five, flying in loose formation against the sunset near Emmett, Idaho. They followed them for about 45 miles before the objects disappeared.
As experienced airline pilots, the crew made one of the most cited reports of the 1947 wave; the captain said they were not aircraft, smoke or clouds. The Air Force's opinion was that, at sunset, they could have been aircraft, balloons, birds or an illusion, and that the information was insufficient. The crew's names come from NICAP; they are blacked out in the Blue Book copy.
Sources: Project Blue Book case file (U.S. National Archives) · Oregon Journal, 5 July 1947 · NICAP
Facts and claims
- documented The Oregon Journal of 5 July 1947, preserved in the Blue Book file, reports that the airliner's captain told United Press he saw five “somethings” which were “thin and smooth on the bottom and rough appearing on top”, against the sunset shortly after take-off at 8:04 p.m.: “We saw them clearly… We followed them in a northwesterly direction for about 45 miles. Finally the objects disappeared. We were unable to tell whether they outsped us or disintegrated.” Source: Project Blue Book case file: Portland, Oregon, and the Northwest, July 1947 (incidents of 4 July)
- claimed The captain added: “We can't say whether they were saucer-like, oval or anything else, but whatever they were, they were not another aircraft, nor were they smoke or clouds.” — Emil J. Smith Source: Project Blue Book case file: Portland, Oregon, and the Northwest, July 1947 (incidents of 4 July)
- documented Blue Book's summary, “Incident No. 10”, records two groups of objects (5 and 4) followed for 45 miles, about ten minutes; the Air Materiel Command's opinion: at sunset “the objects could have been ordinary aircraft, balloons, birds, or pure illusion. Insufficient information.” Source: Project Blue Book case file: Portland, Oregon, and the Northwest, July 1947 (incidents of 4 July)
Connected files
Documents
- Project Blue Book case file: Portland, Oregon, and the Northwest, July 1947 (incidents of 4 July) (documented in)
Events
- The 1947 flying disc wave (part of) — A United Air Lines crew reported disks near Boise on the evening of 4 July 1947
Programs
- Project Blue Book (investigated by) — Blue Book's file summarises it as Incident No. 10, with the Air Materiel Command's opinion
People
- Emil J. Smith (witnesses) — Captain of United Air Lines Flight 105, Boise to Seattle, on 4 July 1947
Mentioned in this file
- Kenneth Arnold (Person)
- National Archives and Records Administration (Organization)
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- Wonsan–Sunchon B-29 sightings
- Official UFO Night (Brazil, 1986)