65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 Serial 130

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

"In both instances, the co-pilot sighted the objects first and called my attention to them. The weather was clear and unlimited, with not a cloud in the sky. We checked the wind, and it was 230-10, or out of the Southwest at ten miles per hour. The air speed of the ship was about 135 MPH. The sun was below the horizon and the objects were silhoueted against the sky, hence we could distinguish no color or reflection."

Ralph STEVENS, co-pilot of the plane, was interviewed at 2130, 9 July 1947. STEVENS corroborated the remarks made by SMITH concerning the flight of the plane, the time the objects were sighted, direction of the flight of the plane, etc. There were two discrepancies in their statements as to the size of the smaller objects and the altitude at which they were flying. STEVENS stated that there was a big difference in the size of the large objects and the smaller ones, and that it was hard to distinguish the shape of the smaller ones. STEVENS also stated that the objects were at the same altitude as their plane and seemed to be climbing with them. In addition to confirming SMITH'S statements concerning the flight, etc., STEVENS stated substantially as follows:

"I was flying the plane when I spotted the first object at 2012 on the 4th of July, eight minutes after departure from Boise, Idaho. I thought it was an oncoming aircraft similar to ours (DC-3) about five miles away, so turned on our landing lights, which is the usual signal to another plane to let it know you're in the vicinity. I mentioned this fact to SMITH, and he watched the object also. While we were both watching, four more objects appeared at the same altitude as the first. They seemed to be at the same altitude as our plane, about 6000 feet. They were heading about 290 degrees magnetic North, so I turned to follow them. We watched them for four or five minutes, then they all merged as one and disappeared. I don't know whether they merged in line of flight or not, nor do I know whether they went beyond our vision or whether they dissipated.

"Two minutes later, the large object reappeared with three smaller ones on its left and one smaller one a great distance to the right. We had the second group in sight for about twelve minutes. The last time seen, they were still in that formation and disappeared into the sunset. Also, when we last saw them, they seemed to have continued climbing after we levelled off and were about nine or ten thousand feet.

"At the time we saw the objects, the sun was below the horizon, but there was quite a bright red glow above the horizon from the sunset. I couldn't really say what distance they were from us, not knowing what they were or how large they were. However, while we were watching them we radiod ahead to Ontario, Oregon, about thirty miles distant, to the weather station there, and told them what we were seeing and asked them to go outside and see if they could see them. They radioed back and said they could