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Project Blue Book case file: Kenneth Arnold

The Black Vault (USAF records) · 62 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This US Air Force Project Blue Book case file on Kenneth Arnold's sighting of nine objects near Mount Rainier, Washington, on 24 June 1947 was released through The Black Vault. It contains the Project 10073 record card, which concludes the objects were a mirage, plus Arnold's telegram, questionnaire data and interview notes. It also includes J. Allen Hynek's analysis arguing the objects were closer and slower than Arnold estimated. Other items are David Johnson's sworn statement on a Boise sighting, a Tacoma investigation telegram and news clippings.

  • p. 6 …ridge in between Mt. Ranier and Mt. Adams and reported that as the first object was…
  • p. 18 …between and around Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams, where first reported seeing objects henceforth described as…
  • p. 32 …of these objects passing another high snow-covered ridge in between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams,
  • p. 33 …most high snow-covered crest of Mt. Adams, I looked at my sweep second hand and…
  • p. 34 …although, by the time they reached it. Adams they were out of my range of vision…
  • p. 51 …47 miles from Mt. Rainier to Mt. Adams. Arnold said, adding that he later figured by…
  • p. 53 …formation between Mt. Rainier, Wash., and Mt. Adams. Arnold said he was able to clock them…
  • p. 54 …47 miles from Mt. Rainier to Mt. Adams, Arnold said, adding that he later figured by…
  • p. 62 …ridge in between Mt. Ranier and Mt. Adams and reported that as the first object was…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

Galley 12-THE WORLD OF FLYING SAUCERS "an eerie feeling." In the intervening months he had also remembered more about their shape (see Figure 2). He no longer described them as saucer-like, flat and shiny like piepans. Instead, a picture based on his revised account shows objects like the crescent moon with a sharp protrusion on the inner, concave side and a dark, mottled circle marking the center of the top surface. Further more, he told the readers of Fate, one object had been darker than the others and of a slightly different form-a detail he had forgotten to mention to reporters, to military officials, to his friends, or even to his wife.

Figure 2. flying saucers. Left, as first described; right, as later sketched.

Arnold had never been much of a reader and was not a science fiction fan, but his interests were obviously widening. The next two issues of Fate carried other articles under his name. Palmer's growing influence is suggested by the titles: "Are Space Visitors Here?" [4] and "Phantom Lights of Nevada." [5]

Cases discussed

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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 62 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.