Eighty Years of Pilot UFO sightings.

July 7 1947 - San Mateo, California

San Mateo Times, California - 7/7/47

Flying Discs Seen Twice in San Mateo
Woman, Son In San Carlos See 30 In Sky

The "flying saucers" which have turned the heads of the American people skyward for the past weeks came to San Mateo county twice over the week-end, at least that is what a Palo Alto amateur pilot, his wife, and a San Carlos mother and son reported to local officials today.

Mr. and Mrs. Augustin Fernandez, 1566-A Cowper street, Palo Alto, reported to Sergt. Alton Schramm of the California highway patrol Saturday night.

Fernandez said that he and his wife were riding northward on Middlefield road just south of Redwood City when he saw a disc-like object flying overhead in a direction approximately from Santa Cruz to Oakland.

Fast Moving

The object, Fernandez said, seemed to be about four times as fast as a commercial airliner and went out of sight in the haze of the east bay hills.

The pilot described the "thing" as saucer shaped and shining. As the "saucer" started across the bay, he said, it appeared to be an oval shape with a tail assembly and was flying at about 7000 feet.

Fernandez, a Venezuelan student at Stanford, has spent many years in the air. He said the object was clearly visible and easily overtook a DC-3 transport and C-4 which were headed for Mills field.

30 in Group

In San Carlos, Mrs. Marie Maranta, 819 Cedar street, and her son, Stanley Miramon, reported seeing 30 of the discs flying in a "tight formation" at about 2000 feet over the Mills field approach near the San Mateo airport this morning.

Mrs. Maranta said that her son, aged 14, who was in the front yard, called her to come out and look at the "flying saucers." She said that the objects were clearly visible and seemed to be the size of an automobile. "They disappeared," she said, "but a few moments later they again became clearly visible."

Seen by Gardener

She stated that the gardener at the San Carlos school, who was at work near by at the time, stated that he had been watching them for several minutes before the boy had discovered them.

A two-engine transport plane was in the same general area, Mrs. Maranta said, and it appeared that the pilot saw the "things" and headed for them.

Shortly after the report, tower operators at Mills field said their telephones were jammed by calls from newspapers and others asking if any of the pilots had reported the "saucers." So far the tower operators reported no pilots flying into Mills field have reported anything unusual. "They are under orders to do so," the tower stated.

Meanwhile, radar devices at Moffett field continue to report nothing unusual on their scopes.


July 8 1947 - Tucson, Arizona

Flagstaff Daily Sun, Arizona - 7/8/47


Arizonans See Flying Saucers In Backyards
Southwest Skies Crowded By Disks

(By The Associated Press)

Saucers, discs and what-have-you are zipping through Arizona's skies in amazing numbers, according to a host of persons who profess to have seen the weird contraptions.

John W. Phillips, Nogales contractor, and his assistant, William Barker, reported they observed a disc "flying high and fast in a southwesterly direction as if toward the Gulf of Lower California" about 9:45 a.m. today.

Three patients at the Veterans Hospital at Tucson said they saw a flying saucer at 4:50 p.m. yesterday. Lewis Zesper, a former Army pilot, described it as oval shaped, about 25 feet in diameter, light metallic grey in color and wobbly in flight.

He estimated its altitude at 4,000 feet and its speed as in excess of that of conventional jet planes.

George B. Wilcox of Warren, a retired Army major, reported he observed eight or nine discs June 27.

"As they came," he said, "I saw they were perfectly spaced one behind the other and traveling at terrific speed.

They passed over in intervals of three seconds. They were all the same size. They would flash and then disappear with the speed of lightning."

July 8 1947 - Muroc AFB

At 3:50 P.M., 40 miles south of Muroc, a P-51 pilot at 20,000 feet spotted a wingless, tailless "flat object of light-reflecting nature."

He twice attempted an intercept but could not climb high enough. Intelligence later took great note of that incident because they determined that no military or civilian aircraft were in the area.

(Edward J. Ruppelt's personal papers, File R104 and R105, courtesy of Professor Michael Swords.)

That night at 9:20 P.M. spherical objects were again seen in the area, this time at 8,000 feet still moving against the wind at around 300 miles per hour.

This was reminiscent of a sighting just the day before at 10:10 A.M. when Muroc test pilot Major J.C. Wise, while preparing his XP-84 aircraft for takeoff, observed one yellowish-white spherical object traveling at 200 to 225 miles per hour at 10,000 feet. It headed east with an oscillating motion.


(Ibid.; and Project Blue Book Files, Roll No. 1, Case 44, listed as Incident 3 in 1947 era documents.)



July 8, 1947 - Muroc Air Base - California: 11:50 a.m.


The third Muroc sighting took place just before noon. A group of officers and technicians were assembled in Area Two at Rogers Dry Lake, east of Muroc, watching several aircraft prepare to carry out a seat-ejection experiment. As they watched their attentions were drawn to a peculiar object in the north.

Major Richard R. Shoop, of the Office of Technical Engineering at Muroc, reported later that his attention was called to the object by Colonel Signa A. Gilkey, another observer. In his report, Major Shoop said the thin, metallic object he saw was moving in a northerly direction at a distance he estimated to be from five to eight miles off.

It was seen first high up, moving slowly in an oscillating fashion, and appeared to be about the size of a pursuit plane. It was then seen descending almost to the ground, but rose slightly before it was lost to view in the distance toward the mountains in the northwest. The object was of a shiny, aluminum color and its speed was slow, only about three times the rate of descent of the test parachute from the seat ejection experiment, which took place a short time after the object was first seen. Shoop said the observation lasted about eight minutes.

Another witness, test pilot Captain John Paul Stapp, said that at 11:50 a.m., he saw a silvery object, resembling "a parachute canopy" when first observed, traveling somewhat north of due west. As the object slowly descended, presenting a lateral view, it gradually changed its shape from hemispheric to oval, and two "knobs" or "fins" appeared at the top, crossing each other slowly and giving the impression of a slow rotation, or oscillation. It seemed to be flying more slowly than a conventional aircraft as it descended from an estimated altitude of 20,000 feet.

Its diameter appeared to be approximately 50 feet. It descended toward the mountaintops to the northwest and was lost to view after approximately 90 seconds. No sound was heard. No vapor trails were seen, nor any visible means of propulsion.

Following a talk Dr. McDonald gave in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May, 1967, a man came up to him and said he knew one of the witnesses who had been involved in the Muroc sightings in 1947. He identified the witness as Oliver Earl Cooper. In August, Dr. McDonald was able to get in touch with Cooper, and it appears that Earl Cooper was the fourth observer referred to in the final sighting at Muroc on July 8, 1947. (His name was not mentioned specifically in the Air Force files.)

As Cooper recalled the incident for McDonald, he was with a group of four or five people on the west side of Rogers Dry Lake, near Area One (note discrepancy). They were at the east end of a 10,000-foot runway, looking east, with the runway to their backs. He couldn't recall what test was being carried out, but thought it was a fuel test involving the XP-84. He recalled that a pilot had been one of the group (Stapp).

It was a hot, clear day. The object was first seen at about 20 to 25 degrees elevation to the east. According to Cooper's recollection, 20 years later, it was moving in a generally southerly direction -- possibly east southeast (approximately 180 degrees off from the directions listed in the contemporary report). He stated that everyone had looked up, but, that no one would say anything about it until it was noticed that the others were also observing it.

He told McDonald that as the object moved south it stopped, then moved again before it disappeared. It moved in a horizontal path and Cooper recalled no irregularity of motion. He described the speed as not terribly fast -- his impression was perhaps ten miles an hour. He had a vague recollection of its moving a bit from side to side at times, but not fluttering -- just veering somewhat sinuously. He estimated he watched it for four or five minutes.

He described the shape of the object as elliptical, somewhat rounded; its color was off-white, with no glinting from the sun. The altitude was approximately 10,000 feet. Toward the end of the sighting he recalled the object as having accelerated somewhat before disappearing. He did not recall any other reports from Muroc that day, but he may have never had occasion to hear of them.

He said that all of his group were asked to make statements on the sighting later.

He did not recall the seat-ejection experiment, although his recollection about this point twenty years later can be expected to he vague, as well as for other finer details.

He told McDonald that later the sighting was explained to them as possibly a weather balloon. They were told that it changed apparent size because of "atmospheric conditions." Apparently no explanation was given for the balloons to have been able to fly into the face of the wind.

(Source: Ted Bloecher - REPORT ON THE UFO WAVE OF 1947)

July 8 1947 - Avalon, California - 1:00 P.M. PST

Los Angeles Examiner, California 7/9/47


Several hundred witnesses on Santa Catalina Island off Long Beach observed a formation of "saucers."

Most observers agreed that there were six disc-shaped objects in the formation which passed over the island.

Among those were Army Air Corps veterans Bob Jung, Kenneth Johnson, and Alvio Russo.

Jung actually got a photo of the objects as did Alvio Russo. Russo, who had piloted 35 combat missions over Europe, estimated their speed at 850 miles per hour.

Jung clarified the details by stating that they were flying in two elements of three each about as fast as a Navy Tiny Tim rocket. He said the formation came in from the northeast and disappeared over the hills to the south of Avalon Bay.


July 8 1947 - Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, Virginia 7/8/47


Lt. Cmdr. L.D. Patterson of the Naval Station reported five yellowish discs like the moon, flying in formation over the Air Station from the West. Patterson said the formation was surrounded by a mist, and the bodies each left trails.

Walter Hurst who telephoned the Ledger-Dispatch for Patterson, said that Patterson, a pilot of considerable time in the air, was unable to establish the altitude having no point for calculation.


July 8 1947 Dishman, Washington - Afternoon

Spokane Daily Chronicle, Washington 7/10/47


A young war veteran and student pilot said he had spotted a "flying disc" from his plane as he was flying at a 500-foot altitude in the Mount Spokane area during the afternoon.

The pilot, James Davidson, a Spokane Naval Supply Depot employee, said "It was not flying fast. It appeared to be the size of a wagon wheel."

The side of the disc exposed to the sun was shiny. It looked like it had a hole in the center," he added.

He reported that he had tried to take a photograph of the object. The negatives, however, "did not reproduce well."

He said he hadn't believed reports of flying discs at first, "but I do now."


July 8 1947 - Olympic Mountains, Washington 9:00 a.m. PST

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Washington) 7/9/47

Pilot Chet Pro was flying a seaplane over Puget Sound off Ballard when he saw "two or three" disc-like objects to the west, over the Olympic Mountains... he described the objects as "flying high and going very fast."

July 9 1947 - Glacier Park, Montana 3:53 P.M. MST

Flathead Monitor (Montana) 7/10/47


-Kalispell Pilots Sight 'Flying Saucers-

Two men flying over Glacier Park spotted seven flying saucers heading in a northwesterly direction. The two men, Ed Johnson and Joe Dimio, noted that the craft were only visible for a short period—indicating they traveled at a fairly fast rate.


July 12 1947 - Utah Lake, Utah 2:30 p.m. PST

Pilot Earl Page, was flying from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Salt Lake City with his wife Beulah and their son Ron. When they were over Lake Utah, flying north, they saw "six or eight objects coming towards us and slightly to our right. They were at the same altitude as we.

I did not notice them until we were practically to them. As they passed I banked the plane sharply and flew after them for a few minutes, during which time they left us as if we were standing still... They were silver-white, oval top and bottom, much like two saucers face to face.

They were closely spaced. They fluttered as a group for a second or two and then stabilized for a second or two, alternately between these two modes."

APRO Bulletin, May, 1962, p. 5


July 13 1947 - Wingville, Oregon 7:00 P.M. PST

Baker Record-Courier (Oregon) 7/17/47

A round object flying over Baker Valley with a "dipping motion" was seen by many witnesses and several aircraft pilots who tried in vain to pursue it.


July 28 1947 - Boise, Idaho

Las Cruces Sun-News 7/29/47

-Airlines Pilot, Reporting New Flying Disc, Wants Them Kept Off Airways-


BOISE, Idaho, (AP) -- It's flying disc time again in Idaho and the United Air Lines pilot who spotted the latest one says "they ought to be kept off the civil airways."

Capt. Charles P. Gibian, who while coming in to Boise for a landing last night reported spotting a disc-like object "going like hell" at about 9,000 feet, told the Boise Statesman:

"If it is real it must be some sort of military experiment and if that is the case they ought to arrange to keep the objects off the civil airways."

Army and Navy spokesmen have denied knowledge of the discs.

Gibian, who talked to the Idaho Statesman by telephone from Pendleton, Ore., became the second United pilot on flight 105 to report seeing the flying object.

His predecessor was Capt. E. J. Smith who said he spotted two groups of discs July 4, near Emmett, Idaho.

Smith's story came during the climax of the flying discs reports, which started in late June in the state of Washington.

During early July there were few states in the nation without at least one report of a disc and persons in numerous other countries, including Japan, also said they sighted the objects.

Gibian's disc -- or whatever -- was the first reported since word of the objects tapered off about two weeks ago.

The pilot said his first officer, Jack Harvey, also saw the object last night.

They say they saw a round, flat object in the sky west of Mountain Home, a village 45 miles east of here.

Gibian said if the object was 40 miles or so distant from the airliner, it was as big as an airplane.

July 29 1947 - USAF file - Hamilton Air Base, California - 2:50 p.m. PDT


Assistant Base Operations Officer, Capt. William Rhyerd, and LieutenantWard Steward, an ex-B-29 pilot, watched as two round, shiny white objects with estimated 15-25 foot diameters, flew three to foure times the apparent speed of a P-80 jet fighter also in sight, coming in on a preliminary landing approach.

The P-80 flew in excess of 250 miles per hour as the unknowns proceeded to pass by the jet "as if it was standing still."

One object flew straight and level, a second object then appeared, flying a left to right "protective" maneuver from side-to-side like an escort fighter over the first craft until they each passed southward toward Oakland, and then out over the ocean.

The duration of their sighting lasted about fifteen seconds as the craft sped by in a clear sky. No noise could be detected.

Lieutenant Stewart piloted B-29 bombers during the war and had considerable experience as a flyer. He conveyed authority to Intelligence officers when questioned, stating that the objects were "unlike any conventional type of aircraft he had ever seen."


August 4 1947 - USAF file - Bethel, Alaska - dusk

DC-3 Captain Jack Peck and copilot Vince Daly sighted a black saucer-shaped object cross their flight path. It had come in at a right angle to their aircraft and Peck instinctively made a precautionary climb from 1,000 to 1,200 feet to avoid any chance of collision.

He then swung in behind the disc and chased the peculiar looking craft as it became silhouetted against a brilliant evening sky.

Peck pursued at 170 miles per hour until losing sight of it four minutes later. They noted that the disc had a smooth streamlined surface with no visible means of propulsion. The speed of the object was subsequently computed at 510 miles per hour.


August 18 1947 - Mountain Home, Idaho - 12:00 p.m.

Boise Statesman (Idaho) 8/20/47

Two silver round flat disc-shaped objects, looking like "skeet targets", passed beneath United Airlines Flight 147 flying at 8,000 feet near Mountain Home Army Air Base, Idaho.

The objects flew off to the south, at a speed estimated at 900 miles per hour by pilot and copilot.


12 September 1947 - USAF Files - Midway Island - 1:00 A.M. local time

A Pan American flight eastbound from Midway Island to Cahu.

Just after passing Necher Island, the crew spotted an intense incandescent white light off the starboard side of their aircraft. At first the pilot thought it might be the navigation lights of another plane, but it was far too bright for that.

The flight crew tracked the unknown object and determined it held a true course of 350 degrees while holding at a steady altitude of 9,500 feet. The captain estimated its distance from their aircraft at five miles.

But just as he took the plane off automatic pilot, the light approached within one mile, then it quickly veered off to a course of 190 degrees at which time the light split into two parts.

The two separate orbs then changed to a less bright reddish hue and flew in a side-to-side formation until zooming out of sight at tremendous speed (in six seconds), estimated at over 1,000 miles per hour.

July 23 1947 - Morristown, New Jersey

John H. Janssen stated "While my eyes played over the horizon, I became aware of a shaft of light that seemed like that of a photographer's flash bulb. It came from aloft, very high up. It was above that position over my plane's nose that flier's call 11 O'clock.

At first I thought it was merely the reflected sun bouncing off the sides of an exceedingly high flying aircraft. I gave it no more thought.

But then the engine of my own plane began to perform peculiarly. It coughed and sputtered spasmodically.

So I pulled on the carburetor heat and gave it full throttle hoping to thaw any ice that might be accumulating in the carburetor. The engine emitted one final wheezing cough and then quit.

Now, the nose of my plane, instead of dropping to a normal glide, remained... rigid... fixed on the horizon, in its normal level flight attitude.

Abruptly, I became aware that my plane was now defying the basic law of gravity.

I became frightened and close to panic at so weird a predicament. I saw that the airspeed indicator was at zero!

There was now an odd prickling, electric-like sensation coursing through my body.

I had an eerie feeling that I was being watched and examined by something that minutely studied my features, my clothing, and my airplane... I flicked a cold bead of perspiration from my eye. Then I saw it!

Above and slightly beyond my left wing tip was a strange wraith-like craft, one of the flying objects!

Its flanged and protecting rim was dotted on either side with steamer-like portholes.

It seemed to radiate a dull metallic hue that conveyed an impression of natural strength, and a super-intelligence not of this planet. It was motionless.

Perhaps a quarter of a mile away... beyond, and slightly higher, I could see another (similar) object, seemingly fixed in the sky.

I assumed that the second strange ship was but waiting for the one nearest me to complete its examination.

Then I had the most unaccountable urge to reach up and snap on the magneto switch. I had turned it off when the engine quit. I switched both magnetos to the on position.

Slowly the propeller began to turn... then the engine burst into a steady rhythmic roar. The plane nosed up into a stall, dropped off, picked up airspeed and steadied under control," recalled Mr. Janssen.

"I really believe these craft to be operated by an intelligence far beyond that developed by we earth-bound mortals and (I) am inclined to agree with the theory that they are space craft from another planet... In all probability these are reconnaissance craft and as they have been seen all over the world and not only in this country, are probably making a thorough study of us and our terrain and atmosphere before making any overtures."

He went on to theorize on possible magnetic and anti­gravity methods of propulsion to explain the acceleration of the objects.


(source: www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk...)

There ya go Karl - a few Pilot Sightings for ya!

See 4:30

originally posted by: A51Watcher
There ya go Karl - a few Pilot Sightings for ya!

Ha many many thanks for all the info mate, really is some fascinating reading there!


Above are the new vid addresses for the little Rissington incident involving RAF pilots Michael Swiney and David Crofts. - always thought that was a truly interesting one as well.

Cheers

originally posted by: karl 12

See 4:30

originally posted by: A51Watcher
There ya go Karl - a few Pilot Sightings for ya!

Ha many many thanks for all the info mate, really is some fascinating reading there!


Above are the new vid addresses for the little Rissington incident involving RAF pilots Michael Swiney and David Crofts. - always thought that was a truly interesting one as well.

Cheers

Haha yes indeed. My pleasure old friend as you contributed greatly to my database.

Obviously there were more than just one or two pilots corroborating Kenneth Arnold's sighting, there were in facts scads of them!

And with the same characteristics Arnold reported.

Captain of Aurigny Flight 544 from reporting what he saw en route to Alderney.
2nd pilot confirmed sighting as well as Traffic controller

Sozz if it's in thread already.