UFO SHORTS: The Kenneth Arnold Story

UFO Garage Podcast

Let's take it back to the beginning ya'll...
Many would consider the 1947 Kenneth Arnold story to be the first widely reported UFO sighting.
On June 24th, 1947 private pilot Kenneth Arnold flew his A2 Plane out of an airfield in Chehalis Washington headed toward Yakima Washington. Along the 150 miles journey Kenneth deviated from his flight path in order to locate a Marine C46 Transport aircraft that had recently crashed near Mt Rainier along with 32 Marine passengers. The reward for finding the crash site was $5,000.
Just as he passed Mt Rainier, Kenneth was overtaken by a bright flash that consumed his plane’s cockpit. To the left of his airplane he witnessed 9 shiny half-circular shaped flying craft with an estimated 100ft wing-span in a chain-like formation. The craft at the front of the formation was higher in elevation than the craft in the rear. The formation flew a distance of 50 miles in under 1 minute and 42 seconds which calculates to a speed of around 1,700 miles per hour. Kenneth noticed the craft did not have stabilizers or tails but thought they could have been some type of secret military plane when he reported his sighting to the general manager at the Yakima airfield upon his landing.
The first investigation of Arnold's claims came from Lt. Frank Brown and Capt. William Davidson of Hamilton Field in California, who interviewed Arnold on July 12. Arnold also submitted a written report at that time. Regarding the reliability of Arnold's sighting, they concluded:
"It is the present opinion of the interviewer that Mr. Arnold actually saw what he stated he saw. It is difficult to believe that a man of [his] character and apparent integrity would state that he saw objects and write up a report to the extent that he did if he did not see them."
Soon the press got wind of the story and reporters flocked to get an interview with Kenneth about his experience. When asked about how the craft flew, Kenneth described the flying craft as being half-moon-shaped skipping through the sky like a boat over rough water, flashing light as they skipped like a saucer over water. Thus the infamous term “Flying Saucer” was created from the misunderstanding by the general public of Kenneth Arnold’s reference.
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Script written by: Ben Jinkins & Joe Strelsky
Voice Acting Performed by: William (AKA BigWilly) Townsend, Ben Jinkins & Joe Strelsky
Sound Design: Ben Jinkins
Produced by: Joe Strelsky, Ben Jinkins & Cinnamon Terry
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