On 24 June, 1947, Kenneth Arnold, a successful salesman and
experienced search and rescue pilot, took off in his small plane from
Chehalis, Washington en route to Yakima. Close to Mineral, Washington
and about 25 miles from Mount Rainier, he noticed a formation of 9
unusual objects flying from north to south.

When Arnold landed at Yakima, Washington, he told some people of the
incredible new high speed aircraft he had witnessed. He flew on to
Pendleton, Oregon and found a number of reporters were waiting, eager
to learn about these new aircraft.

Asked to describe how they flew, Arnold explained, "they flew like a
saucer would if you skipped it across the water". A reporter named
Bill Begrette coined the phrase "flying saucer" and people have been
claiming to see "flying saucers" ever since!


As a columnist for Fortean Times magazine and contributor to a number
of related publications, I was recently discussing the 50th
anniversary of this story and noted Arnold's description of the
objects he witnessed, in particular his following comments:

"They flew like many times I have observed geese to fly in a rather
diagonal chain-like line as if they were linked together"

and separately

"They didn't fly like any aircraft I had ever seen before. In the
first place their echelon formation was backward from that practised
by our Air Force. The elevation of the first craft was greater than
that of the last. They flew in a definite formation but erratically.
As I described them at the time their flight was like speed boats on
rough water or similar to the tail of a Chinese kite that I once saw
blowing in the wind. Or maybe it would be best to describe their
flight characteristics as very similar to a formation of geese, in a
rather diagonal chain-like line, as if they were linked together. As
I put it to newsmen in Pendleton, Oregon, they flew like a saucer
would if you skipped it across the water. They fluttered and sailed,
tipping their wings alternately and emitting those very bright
blue-white flashes from their surfaces. At the time I did not get the
impression that the flashes were emitted by them, but rather that it
was the sun's reflection from the extremely highly polished surface
of their wings".


Arnold dismissed geese as an explanation due to the reflective nature
of the objects and his estimate of their speed and distance.

As a keen bird watcher and member of the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds, I realise that birds can be reflective and I'm
dubious about Arnold's speed and distance estimates. I would be
interested in any informed opinions of how closely Arnold's comments
might conceivably describe a flock of birds common to that area in
June, 50 years ago.

Appreciating this is perhaps something of an unusual query to the
list, any replies can be sent to my e-mail address if that is
preferable.



Best wishes,

James Easton,
Scotland.

E-mail: pulsar at compuserve.com