Project Blue Book case file: Kenneth Arnold

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

# 47. RUNNING, WAKEFIELD 24 June 1947

On 24 June 1947 at 1400 I.M. A local cook off from the terminal, Washing- to airport in his personal plane headed for Yakima, Washington. It. A trip was delayed for an hour to search for a large marine transport that supposedly went down near or around the southwest side of 14t. Kenier.

After take-off Mr. Flow directly toward Mt. Runier at an altitude of approximately 9,500 feet, which in the approximate elevation of the high plateau from which it. Twin cities. To make one wreck of this high placed to the westward, searching all of the various ridges for the warine ship and flew to the west near the ridge side of the canyon where Ashford, Washington is located.

Unable to see anything that looked like the lost ship, Mr. made a 360° turn to the right above the little city of Mineral, starting again toward Mt. Renier and climbing to an altitude of 9,200 feet.

The pilot reported that the air was so smooth that it was a real plea- sure flying and, as most pilots do when the air is smooth and they are at a higher altitude, he trimmed out the aircraft and simply cut in his plane observ- ing the sky and the terrain.

Mr. reported that there was a DC-4 to the left and to the rear of him at a approximately 14,000 feet. The sky was reported to be as clear as a crystal. He hadn't flown more than two or three minutes on his course when a bright flash reflected on his airplane. He looked every place in the sky and couldn't find where the reflection had come from. The pilot looked to the left and north of Mt. Ranier where he observed a chain of nine peculiar looking aircraft flying from north to south at approximately 9,500 feet and going, seemingly, in a direction of about 170 degrees. They were approaching Mt. Ranier very rapidly, and he assumed they were jet aircraft. Every few seconds two or three of the objects would dip or change course slightly, just enough for the sun to strike them at an angle and reflect brightly. The objects being quite far away, he was unable for a few seconds to make out their shape or formation. As they approached Mt. Ranier he observed their outline quite clearly. Mr. stated that he found it very peculiar that he couldn't find their tails but assumed they were some type of jet aircraft. The objects were observed to pass the southern edge of Mt. Ranier flying directly south to southeast down the hog's luck of a mountain range. The elevation of the objects was estimated to have varied approximately a thousand feet one way or another but remained very near the horizon which would indicate they were near the same elevation as the witness. Mr. stated that the objects flew like geese, in a rather diagonal chain-like line as if they were linked together. They seemed to hold a definite direction but swerved in and out of the high mountain peaks. The witness estimated the distance between him and the objects to be approximately 25 miles. Using a Zeus fastener or coupling tool he estimated the size of the objects to be approximately two thirds that of a DC-4. He observed the UFO's passing a high snow-covered ridge in between Mt. Ranier and Mt. Adams and reported that as the first object was passing the south crest of this ridge the last one was entering the northern crest of the ridge. Later measurement