Page 29 - Pierce County Lawyer - September October 2025

“I would have given almost anything that day to have
had a movie camera with a telephoto lens and from
now on I will never be without one”- Kenneth Arnold
“When these objects were flying approximately straight and
level, they were just a thin black line and the only time I could
get a judgment as to their size was when they flipped. These
objects were holding an almost constant elevation; they did not
seem to be going up or to be coming down, such as would be
the case of rockets or artillery shells. I am convinced in my own
mind that they were some type of airplane, even though they
did not conform with the many aspects of the conventional
type of planes that I know.”
The objects looked like
shiny pie plates cut in
half, and they moved
like saucers skipping
across the water. They
were depicted by
Arnold in illustrations
and models like this
one. >>
<< The USAF’s
YB-49 flying
wing’s first
official jet
powered flight
occurred on
October 22,
1947. The Delta
wing design
looks similar
to what Arnold
described and
its exterior surfaces were silver and reflective but the plane
could not break the sound barrier and generated copious
exhaust trails which would have stood out against the backdrop
of Mt. Rainier’s peaks and glaciers.
The First Widely Reported UFO Sighting
June 24, 1947
After the objects departed, Arnold went on to Yakima,
where he reported what he had seen to his friend, Al Baxter,
the General Manager of Central Aircraft Company. He then
flew on to Pendleton, Oregon where he spoke to The East
Oregonian which published his story the same day. This was
the first widely reported UFO sighting in the United States
and the first time the newspapers began using the term,
“flying saucers.”2
2 Supersonic Flying Saucers Spotted By Idaho Pilot was the eye-catching headline
crafted by the Chicago Sun Times.
The Second Widely Reported UFO Sighting July 4, 1947
On July 4, 1946, around 9:00 pm, United Airlines Flight 105 left
Boise, Idaho for Seattle. Less than ten minutes later, Captain E.
J. Smith and his co-pilot, Ralph Stevens, observed nine objects
flying in formation at 7,100 feet. Just like Arnold, Cpt. Smith
was a very experienced pilot and a respected member of his
community. His report was also fully backed by his co-pilot and
all other crew members.
(L-R) Pilots E.J. Smith,
Kenneth Arnold, and
Ralph E. Stevens met
and compared notes
on July 8, 1947. Smith
later agreed to assist
Arnold investigate the
Maury Island Incident
in Tacoma, WA. Getty
Images/Bettmann
The Third UFO Sighting—
Roswell, New Mexico
July 8, 1947
On July 8, 1947, the Army/Airforce announced that
a “flying disc” had been found on a ranch near Roswell, New
Mexico and “was in Army possession.” The Summer of the
Saucers was in full swing and the public was eagerly devouring
every new twist.3
The Maury Island Incident
Following the Roswell
incident, the Chicago based
owner of FATE magazine,
Ray Palmer, contacted
Arnold and offered to pay
him $200 to go to Tacoma,
Washington and investigate
another UFO sighting that
had recently occurred on
Maury Island.
The primary witness was
Tacoma resident, harbor
patrolman, and timber
salvage operator, Harold
Dahl, later described by
Arnold as a physically imposing, “two-fisted lumberjack of a
man.” Dahl claimed that he was in his trawler with his teenage
son and his dog off Maury Island looking for salvage logs when
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE.
3 The Roswell Incident is beyond the scope of this article.
S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r 2 0 2 5 | P I E R C E C O U N T Y L A W Y E R 2 9