By the end of the long three-day holiday, flying saucer incidents were still increasing in number. That Sunday morning began with one of the most unique cases for the year. Following is a complete account by the witness of a remarkable UFO encounter in Omaha, Nebraska:
Although I am in the greatest of hurries, being on my way to Omaha to go to the bedside of a sick relative, I must hasten to write you a few lines to describe an incident that took place only a little while ago. My boy and I have been driving steadily since we left Seattle yesterday, and came into this city only a little over an hour ago. It was just daylight, and as we drove down Main street, I happened to glance down one side, and saw a disc about the size of a farm wagon wheel float lightly to the middle of the street, and come to a stop. Instantly I put on my brakes, but I had to back up to get into the street where this thing lit. It stopped for only a few seconds, but I did get a good look at it, for it was only about 30 yards away, and almost still. It was not a saucer, but a disk. This was surrounded by a tube that had an enlarged opening at one end, like a funnel, and ended in a tapered point at the other. In the middle of the disk I could make out a bulge, as if a plate had been welded on the disk, and there were two narrow strips of metal running almost parallel to each other above and below the midsection.
I started to get out of the car thinking that this queer object would fall over and give a chance to examine it closer, but something was holding it up. Something held it upright, and then the strangest thing took place. The disk was being subjected to a number of short jerks, moving forward each time a foot or two. The funnel part of the tube was set into the disk's rim so that the latter could roll freely, and after moving a distance of about 20 yards it rose easily and began at once to climb. I thought for that it was transparent, but no, that was due to the reflection of the light. The sun was not yet up, but this shimmering effect marked the upward climb of the disk. Once it seemed to stand still in midair, spinning rapidly, then it veered of [sic] to what I would say must have been northeast, and soon disappeared from view.
The entire incident lasted only about forty seconds. I went over and examined the place where it had landed, but it seemed to have touched the ground so lightly that it left no mark. I am convinced beyond doubt that the disk's flight was controlled, that it gave out signals indicating its position, and also that it is harmless s1Pocatello, Idaho, Tribune, 1 July 1947.
About 6:00 A.M. EST that day near Miami, Florida, multiple unidentified aircraft were seen. Observers, Fred Walsh and his wife described them as "round, silver objects which were about ten to fifteen feet across." Those UFOs first appeared out of the Everglades and headed due south s2Miami, Florida, Herald, 1 July 1947, p. IB. At 9:30 A.M. one disc appearing larger than an airliner flew over Tampa, Florida, headed southeast s3Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, Index. Then by 10:00 A.M. CST a similar disc was seen over Alexandria, Louisiana. In that case four people tracked the unusual aerial object heading northwest s4Lake Charles, Louisiana, American Press, 1 July 1947. Four discs were seen about that time over New Orleans by US Army private Robert G. Hellman on leave from Camp Bliss. Hellman was on his way to his hotel room that morning when he spotted the discs high above Canal Street. He described them as flashing whirling colored saucers, pink and silver in appearance―flying in a V formation on a steady course s5Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, p. II-5. And around that time of day sightings of more than one disc came out of Texas s6Ibid.
Further west at 8:20 A.M. PST a veteran World War I pilot, Frank Tylman and his son, saw a disc shaped object while
driving two miles west of Pittsburgh, California. Tylman sated that It was shooting toward Mount Diablo. . . It
revolved in a counter-clockwise direction, as we viewed it.
Tylman estimated the height of the object at about
3000
feet feet and definitely moving faster than jet
planes,
although he did state that it approximated the size of a P-80 jet.
The object appeared circular
and it had a definite thickness, being curved outward on both upper and lower
surfaces.
He went on explaining that unlike an aircraft, it left no smoke or vapor nor made any sound that could
have been heard above the noise of his own car and the wind. The sighting lasted only 30 seconds as the disc soon
disappeared into the southern horizon s7Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, p. Ill-17.
As that notable day went on, eight saucers were seen near a mountain in Washington State and Francis Howell claimed one "landed" very briefly near Tempe, Arizona s8St. Joseph (Missouri) News-Press, 1 July 1947; and Boulder City (Nevada) Daily News, 1 July 1947, p. 1; and The (Portland) Oregonian, 1 July 1947. The military apparently collected a file on this particular incident, but researchers found only an empty file folder when allowed to review Air Force records on UFOs in the late 1960s. By 1976 when those files had been turned over to the National Archives, no indication of any kind remained that this sighting had ever been investigated. After talking to Alfred Loedding's son Donald, it is believed this may have been one of the "landing cases" he remembers his father talking about s9Interview with Donald Loedding, 22 August 1998.
Earlier that morning at 10:00 A.M. MST well known University of Arizona football coach Niles (Mike) Casteel had reported seeing a flying disc pass over Tucson, Arizona. This same object was reported by Wallace B. Magness of the Air Materiel Command from Davis Monthan AAFB. When describing the incident to UFO researcher James McDonald in 1967, Magness characterized the object he saw as a round light―brighter than he had ever seen before s10"Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, p. II-7. Also in Tucson the same day, a highly respected attorney, Joseph Hendron, and his wife observed three "silver colored discs" fly over at about 5:00 P.M. Three other Tucson witnesses reported discs just 30 minutes before. Among them, was Walter Laos who estimated their speed at 200 miles per hour and altitude between 5,000 to 6,000 feet s11"Six Tucsonians Say They've Seen Flying Saucers," The Yuma Sun & Arizona Sentinel, 9 July 1947, p. 1 (Laos had an earlier sighting on June 22nd).
Arizona is also of note because on the evening of the 6th a series of strange sightings began in Tucson describing large discs accompanied by a group of smaller objects. These were seen to merge with, and later separate from, the larger "parent craft." Amazingly, these same types of observations then moved clockwise around the circumference of the United States until almost the same time the following night. Cities accounting for sightings of "companion ships" associated with larger "mother discs" included Palmdale, California; Tacoma, Washington; Cicero, Illinois; and Manchester, Maine s12Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, p. I-11.
Jumping back into the chronology of July 6th, at 1:00 P.M. Paul R. Bates, a passenger on an airliner ten miles southeast of Boise, Idaho, witnessed a "flying saucer" flash against a mountainous background. He called a stewardess, who ran back to try to see it, but by that point the craft had disappeared to the southwest s13Aldrich, Project 1947: A Preliminary Report On The 1947 UFO Sighting, p. 83.
Only forty-five minutes later, at 1:45 P.M CST, an Army Air Force B-25 crew reported a similar sight during a flight from Ogden, Utah. It became one of the few incidents where a UFO was seen from above. Their plane was 100 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri, at 10,000 feet when the pilot, Archie B. Browning, caught sight of a very bright object. He described it as "shaped like the top of a water tank"―some 30 to 35 feet in diameter. Weather conditions were clear with unlimited visibility when the disc first came into view ten miles ahead and below the left side of the B-25. The UFO may have initially been hovering because as the pilot closed to within one or two miles, the disc began to parallel their eastward bound course and speed of 210 miles per hour. Browning turned toward the strange craft, which was climbing to 11,000 feet. Yet, just at that moment, it accelerated off at great srjeed and virtually disappeared.
Although this report found its way into numerous Air Force files and was periodically commented on over the years, it did not receive an unidentified classification. Today the case has a notation on it attributing the event to a possible "reflection." Actually many such cases were earmarked with astronomical or meteorological explanations simply because Air Force consulting astrophysicist Dr. J. Alien Hynek, hired in 1948, would make comments to that effect on the case files he reviewed for the military.
In other words, remarks of his alluding to only one possible explanation were often seized on to complete the paperwork on an open case file. It is quite true that in those early years Dr. Hynek did not believe that there was much to the disc sightings. He, in fact, felt it could all be attributed to simple "post-war nerves." But his rather careless examination of the early cases was not due to any intentional debunking on his part or conspiracy on the military's behalf. Unfortunately we have no real knowledge of the interaction between Hynek and Loedding. Loedding entered the picture before Hynek but obviously would have been used to brief him once the Air Force contracted for his consultations. Hynek's overall role during the early days of UFO investigations, in retrospect, seems minor.
Yet it must be kept in mind that many of these sightings from early July were never investigated by the military―less than three to five percent n1Research conducted by Jan L. Aldrich. There were simply too many to ever be tracked down and studied. For example, numerous sightings were reported around different areas of the country that day which at best were only gleaned through newspaper accounts by Loedding and other investigators. This is regrettable because some, like the following, occurred around the same time of day. These may have been proved to be connected in some way if they had been investigated as a whole. The best of these sightings took place from an aircraft around 2:30 to 3:00 P.M. MST over Colorado and Kansas and is detailed by the Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Daily Enterprise:
John Phillips, Jr., of Phillips Petroleum aviation department and Henry Barbarick, company pilot, were flying at 10,000 to 12,000 feet. "Phillips who was piloting the plane saw the first 'flying saucer.' He yelled to Barbarick who was reading maps, but Barbarick said the 'saucer' went by so fast that he was unable to see it.
A few minutes later Phillips saw another one of the strange flying objects which he said looked like a large 'hangar door' on the horizon but again Barbarick was unable to catch sight of it.
A moment later another appeared in front of the plane and then shot up and over the plane, and this time Barbarick caught sight of the object.
Phillips said that at least nine of the 'saucers' [appeared] in a space of fifteen minutes. Both men said the discs were flying at such a tremendous rate of speed that they were unable to get a good look at them. They tried unsuccessfully to clock them once when one flashed by. Phillips turned the plane to get a better look at it, but it had disappeared by the time the plane came around.
Phillips said the discs varied in size of a small plane up to a large transport. He said they looked saucer shaped with the front tilted up. He said they were definitely made of metal, since they glistened like silver in the sun. They appeared to be revolving, he said.
Barbarick said that it gave you a feeling
like someone was shooting flak at you.s14Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Daily Enterprise, 1 July 1947, p. 1.
Also in that area of the country at 2:45 P.M. MST a metallic disc moving very fast was spotted over Denver, Colorado, while one appeared at the same time over south central Wyoming s15Denver, Colorado, Post, 1 July 1947; and Denver, Colorado, Rocky Mountain News, 1 July 1947; and Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, p. 111-17. Fifteen minutes later and 100 miles to the north at 3:00 P.M. MST Casper, Wyoming, residents Mr. and Mrs. G.W. Gibson had a sighting of a single glittering disc Casper, s16Wyoming, Tribune-Herald, 1 July 1947. Simultaneously, a very fast disc appeared over Santa Rosa, California. Observers Calvin McEntire and his brother Jack thought it to be the fastest thing that they had ever seen s17Sacramento, California, Bee, 1 July 1947. Four other sightings of a single metallic disc took place in California around that same time in Long Beach, Mill Valley, Hamilton Field, and Fairfield-Suisun ArmyAFB s18Los Angeles, California, Examiner, 1 July 1947; and San Francisco, Chronicle, 1, 8 July 1947; and Salt Lake City, Utah, Tribune, 6, 7 July 1947; and San Francisco News, 1 July 1947.
The incident at the Fairfield-Suisun base involved Army Air Force Captain James H. Burniston and his wife who spotted from their back yard an object traveling three quarters of the way across the sky in a matter of only 60 seconds. He noted an oscillating motion to the mysterious craft as it traveled in a southeasterly direction at about 10,000 feet, rolling from side to side three times, with one side strongly reflecting the sun. As it rolled it became harder to see, suggesting the object was thinner in one dimension than the other. Its j size was compared to a DC-3 and because of other aircraft noises in the j vicinity, Burniston could not ascertain if the object emitted any noticeable -j sound. This case did end up in Air Force records and became considered by j investigators like Loedding to be one of the truly unexplained cases. To this day it remains officially stamped unidentified in Air Force Files s19Project Blue Book Files, Roll No. 1, Cases 39 and 36, listed as Incidents 89 and 47 in 1947 era documents.
At 3:00 P.M. EST a Clearwater, Florida, woman reported "tumbling objects that looked like pie pans traveling very high in the air and at a very fast rate of speed." As the discs passed over on a west to southeast course, "trees bowed" from a strong gust of wind assumed to be caused by their passing s20Bradenton, Florida, Herald, 8 July 1947; and Clearwater, Florida, Sun, 1 July 1947, p. 1. At 4:00 P.M. CST, twelve people in Throckmorton, Texas, saw a disc that produced a "sizzling noise" s21Lake Charles, Louisiana, American Press, 10 July 1947.
An hour and a half later in Emporia, Kansas, a silent UFO shaped like a dirigible "floated" low over a wheat field. This object approached three women working in the field from the south, but then veered off slowly toward the southwest s22"Emporia Women See Flying Saucer Floating Slowly Over Flint Hills," Emporia, Kansas, Gazette, 7 July 1947, p. 1. Only half an hour later at 6:00 P.M. EST two shiny disc-shaped objects zoomed over Cincinnati, Ohio, traveling south to north s23Cincinnati, Ohio, Enquirer, 1 July 1947.
Proving to be the busiest day to date, the saucers' activities even made the front page of the New York Times and would do so for the next three days. UFOs also drew the attention of the military who had Army, Navy, and National Guard aircraft patrolling the Pacific coast regions for flying discs despite what some officials feared were low fuel reserves s24Actually the National Guard units had ample fuel surpluses but the Army Air Force had a perceived need to conserve aviation gasoline for upcoming demonstrations dedicating Air Force Day.
At Manhattan Beach, California, témoin flew a P-51 fighter on patrol over Van Nuys at 35,000 feet. Five P-51s of the Oregon National Guard cruised the Cascade Mountains and a sixth over Portland―all without success. A new P-80 jet fighter at Muroc Army Air Field and six P-51s at Portland stood ready, but no sightings occurred s25"Sky Disc Hunted By Coast Planes," The New York Times, 1 July 1947, pp. 1,3. An Air National Guard air unit at Sioux Falls, North Dakota, had a little more excitement when a report came in of a "silvery disc with a short tail." One of its pilots on patrol that afternoon received the call to intercept, but he could not locate the UFO. Back in the northwest, the Oregon Guard put eight P-51s in the air and three A-26 bombers armed with telescopic cameras. General Irving O. Schaefer of Colorado's Air National Guard told reporters that he had his fighter planes on ;; standby ready to make an intercept at a moment's notice s26Robert W. Fenwick, "Fast Buckley Plane Waiting to Chase Disk With Camera," The Denver (Colorado) Post, 1 July 1947.
Military intelligence units also began to meaningfully enter the scene, making files on some sightings and even conducting a few low level investigations s27Associated Press news service, 6 July 1947. On that day the Army Air Force intelligence group under the Air Materiel Command in Dayton, Ohio, did feel the need to make a statement to the press, but could only say it had not collected any "reputable information" s28Chicago (Illinois) Tribune, 1 July 1947, p. 8 (Loedding at this early date may have not even been consulted about the sightings). Then, for some reason, Major General Curtis E. LeMay made a statement. LeMay had been the famed leader of the strategic bombing campaign of Japan but by then headed up research and development of all new technology at the Pentagon for the Army. He gave no real insight to military thinking on the phenomenon, simply stressing that the reports were nothing to worry about s29Ibid. Thus, by July 6th, it is still too early to document Alfred Loedding as being involved in any meaningful way with the disc inquiries. However that would soon change.
Anyone involved with military matters that weekend would have been very curious about all the reports which continued coming in on the 6th. By evening a disc appeared over Beverly, Massachusetts. That night in Massachusetts two very similar discs were seen in Wenham s30Salem (Massachusetts) Evening News, 1 July 1947, p. 1. At 5:15 P.M. EST Patrolman Frederick Schlauch of the Elizabeth, New Jersey, police department told of seeing two "shiny objects" flying toward the northeast.
He had just finished changing a tire when he caught sight of the objects. Schlauch stated that they were very shiny and moved erratically. Schlauch compared them to "chrome plates" which were "diving in a fluttery fashion." He estimated the speed of the objects close to that of a fighter plane―around 400 miles per hour but stressed they "were not planes" s31Newark, New Jersey, Star-Ledger, 7 July 1947; and Newark, Evening News, 7 July 1947; and Trenton, New Jersey, Evening News, 1 July 1947; and The New York Times, 1 July 1947; and New York Sun, 1 July 1947; and New York World-Telegram, 1 July 1947.
In Washington D.C. at 8:40 P.M. EST, former Army flying Cadet Hazen Kennedy glimpsed an "orange-colored" object flying at 1,000 to 1,500 feet moving at over 1,000 miles per hour s32Washington, DC, Post, 1 July 1947; and Baltimore, Ohio, Sun, 7 July 1947; and Chicago (Illinois) Tribune, 1 July 1947; and Atlanta, Georgia, Constitution, 1 July 1947. In Rochester, New York, at 8:30 P.M. EST Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Ohley observed from their back yard a white disc "zipping" eastward s33Rochester, New York, Democrat-Chronicle, 1 July 1947; and Albany, New York, Knickerbocker News, 1 July 1947; and New York World-Telegram, 1 July 1947. A man in Glen Falls had a similar sighting but noted red and blue fire-like lights on the object that he had seen s34The New York Times, 1 July 1947, pp. 1, 5. In Valley Stream, New York that evening John Heathcote, fourteen years of age, saw three "plate-like" objects flying in a V formation toward the west s35New York World-Telegram, 1 July 1947; and Windsor, Ontario, Daily Star, 1 July 1947.
The night's activities continued with a sighting in Missouri at 6:00 P.M. CST near Mound City, when a Mr. and Mrs. Dunn and their children were taking a car ride with Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Hendrix and their children. The couples spotted what they described as a flying saucer about three to four miles east of Mound City. They then pulled off the road and Mrs. Hendrix noted that it had a silver hue and seemed to be of good size as it passed slowly toward the west. But after about five minutes an aircraft came into the area from the northeast causing the saucer to suddenly change direction and head off rapidly to the north.
Thirty miles away in Industrial City Mr. and Mrs. témoin reported seeing through field glasses an odd object traveling very quickly to the east at high altitude. It looked like a shiny light from the ground, but aided by his binoculars Mr. Painter could make out a disc surrounded by a dark shadow-like haze. Around 7:00 P.M. W.C. Miller of St. Joseph and five other persons observed a bright flying disc very high in the sky traveling in a southwesterly direction. They had it in sight for about two and a half minutes. Around that same time the J.E. Johnson family of the 2900 block of Jule Street reported a flying saucer traveling over from the northeast to the southwest. It remained in sight for about five minutes s36"Flying Disc Is Seen Near Here," St. Joseph (Missouri) Gazette, 1 July 1947, p. 1; and "Flying Saucers Seen by Three Groups," St. Joseph (Missouri) News-Press, 1 July 1947, p. 1. The C.D. Frank family and Ernest Smith and his wife also saw a silver disc while driving south of St. Joseph at 7:00 P.M. s37Kansas City, Missouri, Times, 1 July 1947.
At 7:45 P.M. Dr. Walter Hoefer, with his son and daughter, reported seeing six round oval objects flying just west of St. Louis. Mr. Hoefer stated that they silently flew south at a very high altitude. He was able to run and grab his binoculars before they were out of sight. With the aid of the field glasses he noted a light spot in the center of the objects s38St, Louis, Missouri, Globe-Democrat, 1 July 1947; and St. Louis, Missouri, Post-Dispatch, 7 July 1947; and Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, p. III-8-9.
At that same time several miles away in Shrewsbury, Mr. and Mrs. George Willson and their daughter and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Downs reported seeing two groups of three discs zooming eastward s39Ibid. Just to the east in St. Louis, Mrs. N.P. McDonald and her daughter Nancy and Mrs. Walter Simonds at Scanlon Avenue saw an eastward bound flight of six objects in two groups of three each s40Ibid. Another St. Louis resident, Miss Lois Bogner, confirmed the same sight from Sutherland Avenue as did Leonard Coleman and his sister from another part of town at Pershing Avenue s41Ibid. Finally, in Ferguson, Missouri, William A. Good and his wife saw a disc at that same hour s42Ibid.
At 8::55 P.M. CST Staff Sergeant Ira L. Livingston in Birmingham, Alabama, reported that he and his neighbor, Herman M. Sockwell, and others noticed a round object in the western sky heading south in an arched flight path. After it passed, they observed six more, one at a time, traversing the same course. Livingston, who had 250 hours as a pilot and aerial gunner, estimated that the objects were traveling 500 to 600 miles per hour at around 2,000 feet with a dim glow.
The Air Force file detailing Livingston's sighting fails to make any mention of the vast multitude of other sightings simultaneously going on around the city and in that whole area of the country like those from Missouri. In fact, hundreds of other Birmingham residents observed discs as the local radio station logged as many as 400 calls on the strange lights between 8:00 and 9:00 P.M. s43The (Portland) Oregonian, 7 July 1947. One Birmingham witness, Marvin Pharo, said the objects steadily increased in numbers and seemed to "go over the mountain" to the south. J.H. Chatham, a state mine inspector, along with his neighbors, described seeing "egg-shaped" fluorescent discs flying "fairly low against the mountain" outside of Birmingham.
Other city residents like Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Martin described them as "saucer-like." Miss Connie Murdock on 512 South 10th Court Street observed nine objects that she could only characterize as "like gobs of light moving around in the sky" s44Birmingham, Alabama, News & Age-Herald, 1 July 1947; and Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, p. III-4. Robert Crossland of the Birmingham Age-Herald captured two photographs of the strange objects. Army Intelligence did analyze the photos and agreed with professional Birmingham photographers that it represented "an actual image of the mysterious discs" s45Project Blue Book Files, Roll No. 1, Case 40, listed as Incident 56 in 1947 era documents.
Others back in St. Louis, Missouri, may have had still more sightings up to 8:00 P.M. CST s46"More St. Louisans See Discs In Air, Like Flying Piepans," St. Louis (Missouri) Star-Times, 1 July 1947. As late as 9:30 P.M. at least one more Missouri report came in 50 miles to the south of St. Joseph. Filed to newspapers by S.D. Wilson of Independence, he told of spotting a "row of saucers" flying in single file in a northerly direction over Gardner Lake. They traveled at a high rate of speed in a straight line. Each appeared to have a bright light on their undersides s47"Big Little Stories Picked Up In a Day's News Run," Independence (Missouri) Examiner, 9 July 1947, p. 3.
Aside from the various accounts of the disc sightings, the national media via the newspapers and radio were also running stories by the 6th on possible explanations for the phenomena. Many theories were expressed including a possible link to nuclear testing and even a suggestion the sightings could represent physical manifestations of signals from Mars. Most scientists, however, chose to ignore the subject and those that would comment, suggested a connection to military testing.
Two of the country's leading astronomers were quoted by the press on that point. Dr. Gerard Kuiper, head of the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory at Williams Bay, Wisconsin, and Dr. Oliver Lee, head of Northwestern University's Dearborn Observatory at Evanston, stated that the curious discs were "man-made" and probably "radio-controlled." Lee said that "the Army, Navy and Air Force are working secretly on all sorts of things" s48Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, p. MO. Ironically, many in-the military by that date were themselves starting to wonder if some other branch of the service had an experimental test vehicle undergoing secret trials. Time, however, would prove no such domestic program ever existed. Although that was one theory the early investigators, like Alfred Loedding, had to examine.