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For many, the modern obsession with UFOs began with the so-called ‘Roswell Incident’ in 1947, when a craft carrying strange beings allegedly crashed on a farm in New Mexico. But there’s an even more compelling case that occurred just days before Roswell,
ALIENS coming to earth in their flying saucers has been a sci- fi staple for decades.
There have been hundreds of movies featuring space ships filled with little green men who are often coming to invade..
Of course, many will argue that the fictional storyline has a basis in real life, with claims Earth HAS already been visited by interplanetary daytrippers.
And one of the most important incidents – one which has had us looking to the skies ever since – involved pilot Kenneth Arnold seeing a squadron of NINE metallic objects making their way over the Cascade mountain range in Washington State on June 24, 1947.
It was Arnold who coined the term ‘ flying saucers’.
He also went to the grave in 1984 adamant about what he had witnessed.
Events began when Arnold – who owned his own firefighting equipment supply firm – took off on a bright afternoon from Chehalis, Washington, heading for Yakima, Washington, on a business trip.
Flash
His journey was interrupted by a call for assistance over the airwaves after a US Marine Corps transport airplane went missing, presumed crashed, near the 14,400ft peak Mount Rainier.
Arnold searched the ridges of Mount Rainier for an hour without luck and eventually continued on his way.
He explained: “The sky and air were as clear as crystal. I hadn’t flown more than two or three minutes on my course when a bright flash reflected on my airplane.
“It startled me as I thought I was too close to some other aircraft.
“I looked every place in the sky and couldn’t find where the reflection had come from until I looked to the left and the north of Mount Rainier.
“I observed a chain of nine peculiar- looking aircraft flying from north to south at approximately 9,500 feet, going in a seemingly definite direction of about 170 degrees north to south.
“Every few seconds they would dip or change their course slightly, just enough for the sun to strike them at an angle that reflected brightly in my eyes.
“They approached Mount Rainier and I observed their outline against the snow quite plainly.”
At this point, Arnold wasn’t particularly anxious – despite the ‘ planes’ looking like semi
circular discs. He simply “assumed they were some new type of jet”.
But what did “upset” Arnold, as he put it, was the speed at which these things were moving.
Using a gauge in his cockpit, Arnold calculated that they were moving at 1,700mph – three times faster than any known manned craft in 1947.
He said: “I would have given almost anything that day to have had a movie camera with a telephoto lens. From now on, I will never be without one.”
Arnold landed at Yakima and told his pals what he’d seen.
They listened patiently, but clearly didn’t believe him.
Yet Arnold still assumed these saucers were simply top- secret military ‘ vehicles’ being tested by the authorities.
He revealed: “I told a number
SEEING THINGS: Arnold sent drawings of sightings to US Air Force of pilot friends of mine what I had observed.
“They didn’t scoff or laugh, but suggested they might be guided missiles or something new.
“In fact, several former Army pilots informed me that they had been briefed before going into combat overseas that they might see objects of similar shape and design to the ones I described.
“They assured me that I wasn’t dreaming or going crazy.”
Arnold’s story went global within days of him giving an interview to a local newspaper.
He got in touch with the FBI and the US Air Force to try to get some clarification on what exactly he’d seen.
But no official explanation was forthcoming as the authorities remained tight- lipped.
It left Arnold to become an unwanted celebrity.
In the end, he started to believe that what he had seen was not of this earth.
One of the things that convinced him of this fact was that the discs were making turns which were so abrupt that no human within would have been able to survive the G- forces involved.
On July 7, 1947, Arnold told a reporter: “If our government knows anything about these devices, the people should be told about them at once.
‘Some people think these things may be from another planet’
Disturbed
“A lot of people out here are very disturbed. Some think these things may be from another planet.
“But they aren’t harming anyone and I think it would be the wrong thing to shoot one of them down – even if it can be done.
“Their high speed would completely wreck them.
“There is no doubt in my mind that these objects are aircraft of a strange design and material that is unknown to the civilisation of this earth.”
British historian Mike Dash has written extensively about the
SENSATIONAL STORY: Major US newspapers ran articles on Arnold’s out- of- this- world claim
case. And he reckons Arnold’s story is utterly convincing.
He explains: “Arnold had the makings of a reliable witness. He was a respected businessman and experienced pilot.
“He seemed to be neither exaggerating what he had seen, nor adding sensational details to his reports.
“He also gave the impression of being a careful observer.
“These details impressed the newspapermen who interviewed
him and lent credibility to his account.”
When the Army did eventually investigate they, too, found Arnold to be a “truthful” witness.
But their official – and, it has to be said, somewhat unsatisfactory – explanation was that he had simply seen a ‘ mirage’ reflecting off the snow- capped mountains.
It is an explanation that sounds even less convincing given the events in Roswell just weeks later.