Kenneth Arnold

Kenneth Arnold (1915–1984) was a private pilot and businessman from Boise, Idaho, whose June 24, 1947 sighting of nine high-speed crescent-shaped objects near Mount Rainier, Washington is the conventional starting point of the modern UAP record. ^[1]

Arnold was searching for a crashed C-46 transport plane when he reported observing the objects moving at a speed he estimated at 1,200 miles per hour, in a formation he described to the East Oregonian newspaper as 'like a saucer if you skip it across the water.' ^[2] The Associated Press picked up the wire the following day; a Chicago Sun reporter's reduction of Arnold's 'skipping saucer' description coined the term 'flying saucer,' which entered general use within weeks. ^[3]

Arnold cooperated with the U.S. Army Air Forces investigation that followed (the precursor to Project Sign and ultimately Project Blue Book), filed a written report, and remained a public commentator on UAP cases for the rest of his life. He attended the 1949 government UAP press conference and was interviewed at length by Edward R. Murrow on CBS Radio in 1950. ^[4] Arnold's contemporaneous written account, photographs of his Calair A-2 aircraft, and the AP wire copy survive in the Project Blue Book records held at the National Archives.