Kenneth Arnold

Kenneth Arnold (1915–1984) was a businessman and experienced private pilot from Boise, Idaho. On 24 June 1947, flying his own plane near Mount Rainier in Washington while joining the search for a missing Marine transport, he reported nine bright objects flying in a chain at very high speed. His report, carried by the wire services, started the 1947 wave of sightings, and the press's phrase for his description, “flying saucers”, named the phenomenon.

He described the sighting in a radio interview at Pendleton, Oregon, the day after, and in a written statement for the Army Air Forces. The Air Force later concluded that he had seen a mirage; Arnold maintained that he had seen real objects.

Sources: Project Blue Book case file (U.S. National Archives) · radio interview (1947)