Page 15 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - September 2021

A Different Perspective on UAP Report 15

UAP Report and a Mini

Estimate of the Situation -

A Comparison

Continued from Page 14

They [the objects] were approaching Mt.
Rainier very rapidly, and I merely assumed they
were jet planes. Anyhow, I discovered that this
was where the reflection had come from, as two
or three of them every few seconds would dip or
change their course slightly, just enough for the
sun to strike them at an angle that reflected
brightly on my plane... I thought it was very
peculiar that I couldn’t their tails but assumed
they were some type of jet plane. I was
determined to clock their speed, as I had two
definite points I could clock them by... I watched
these objects with great interest as I had never
before observed airplanes flying so close to the
mountain tops... I would estimate their elevation
wrote to the Air Force on August 20, 1947, made was that his compass was spinning wildly
could have varied a thousand feet one way or
saying: when the objects were near suggesting some
another up or down...
kind of magnetic interference. If that is
"Saw in the portland (sic) paper a short time accurate, he is not only another witness to what
They flew like many times I have observed geese
ago in regards to an article in regards to the so Arnold saw, but the first to report that the
to fly in a rather diagonal chain-like line as if
called flying disc having any basis in fact. I can objects interacted with the environment.
they were linked together... Their speed at the
say am a prospector and was in the Mt Adams Garrett, of course, didn’t have access to that
time did not impress me particularly, because I
district on June 24th the day Kenneth Arnold of information at the time, which might have
knew that our army and air forces had planes
Boise Idaho claims he saw a formation of flying changed the direction of some of that early
that went very fast.
disc (sic). And i saw the same flying objects at research.
about the same time. Having a telescope with
A number of news men and experts suggested
me at the time i (sic) can asure (sic) you there Dr. Donald H. Menzel, the late Harvard
that I might have been seeing reflections of even
are real and noting like them I ever saw before scientist, decided that Johnson was being honest
a mirage. This I know to be absolutely false, as
they did not pass verry (sic) high over where I in his report, that is, Johnson was not lying
I observed these objects not only through the
was standing at the time. plolby (sic) 1000 ft. about it. Johnson, according to Menzel, was
glass of my airplane but turned my airplane
they were Round about 30 foot in diameter merely mistaken in his analysis of the sighting.
sideways where I could open my window and
tapering sharply to a point in the head and in an Menzel wrote that Johnson had probably seen
observe them with a completely unobstructed
oval shape. with a bright top surface. I did not bright reflections from patches of clouds. It
view... When these objects were flying
hear any noise as you would from a plane. But didn't seem to matter to Menzel that Johnson
approximately straight and level, there were just
there was an object in the tail end looked like a saw the objects only about a thousand feet over
a black thin line and when they flipped was the
big hand of a clock shifting from side to side like his head, watched them through a telescope, and
only time I could get a judgement as to their
a big magnet. There speed was far as I know had them in sight for almost a minute before
size.
seemed to be greater than anything I ever saw. they vanished, disappearing into a cloud.
Last view I got of the objects they were standing
Unlike most of the other sightings Garrett used,
on edge Banking in a cloud." In the Project Blue Book files, which didn’t
with Arnold there was a great deal of
exist when Garrett was writing his Mini EOTS,
information. A stronger case for something
It is signed, "Yours Respectfully, Fred Johnson." there is a note about the Arnold sighting. An Air
unusual could be made by attaching to it to his
Force officer who reviewed the case wrote,
Mini EOTS.
Although there was no official government “The report cannot bear even superficial
study at the time, the Army Air Forces had examination, therefore, must be disregarded.
One of the important points was that the Arnold
asked the FBI to interview Johnson. The FBI There are strong indications that this report and
report was not stand alone. There seemed to be
report contained, essentially, the same its attendant publicity is largely responsible for
independent corroboration for his sighting.
information as the letter that Johnson had sent to subsequent reports.”
Unfortunately for Garrett, that corroboration
the Army. The FBI report ended, saying,
would not appear until a month after he had
"Informant appeared to be a very reliable Not content with a negative note in the file, the
forwarded his Mini EOTS to his higher
individual who advised that he had been a officer added, “It is to be noted that the observer
headquarters.
prospector in the states of Montana, Washington has profited from this story by selling it to Fate
and Oregon for the past forty years." magazine.”
Fred Johnson, who claimed to be a prospector,
reported watching five or six disk-shaped craft
Dr. Bruce Maccabee, a physicist with the Navy Such a comment doesn’t actually negate the
as they flew over the Cascade Mountains about
and who has a private interest in UFOs, wrote in case. Even if Garrett had this information in
the time Arnold had lost sight of his. He said
the International UFO Reporter, that the 1947, it is unlikely that he would have included
they were round with a slight tail which differed
Johnson sighting is important, not because it it in his report. The idea is does not affect the
slightly from what Arnold had said. Johnson
takes place near where Arnold saw the nine case, given all that is known about it.
thought the objects were about thirty feet in
objects, but because it seems to be an extension
diameter. He could see no formation and as they
of the Arnold sighting. It provides independent Garrett’s next sighting involved multiple
banked in a turn, the sunlight flashed off them
corroboration for the Arnold sighting, witnesses and pilots including Wilson H.
just as Arnold had said. As they approached,
strengthening that case, and reducing, to Kayko, John H. Cantrell, Theodore Dewey and
Johnson noticed that his compass began to spin
ridiculous, some of the explanations that have one man identified only as Redman.
wildly. When the objects finally vanished in the
been offered to explain it. (Maccabee, 1995b)
distance, the compass returned to normal.
The most important point might be that Johnson (Continued on Page 16)
After learning of the Arnold sighting, Johnson