Summary
Idaho businessman and experienced private pilot whose June 24, 1947 sighting of nine high-speed crescent-shaped objects near Mt. Rainier, Washington became the first widely-reported post-WWII UAP incident and directly triggered the formation of Project Sign - the U.S. Air Force's first official UFO investigation program. The term 'flying saucer' emerged from press misreporting of Arnold's description of the objects' motion (he described them moving like saucers skipping on water, not being saucer-shaped). Army Air Force Counter-Intelligence Corps investigators who debriefed Arnold concluded he was credible and sincere. His sighting remains unexplained in the official record. He continued investigating UAP cases - including the Maury Island incident (July 1947) - and co-authored 'The Coming of the Saucers' (1952) with publisher Raymond Palmer.
Roles
- -Private pilot; businessman, Great Western Fire Control Supply
- -Idaho search and rescue pilot
- -Author - The Coming of the Saucers (1952, with Raymond Palmer)
Organizations
Education
- -University of Minnesota (attended, did not graduate)
Early Career
- -Worked in sales and operated Great Western Fire Control Supply Company, a fire-suppression equipment business based in Boise, Idaho, which required extensive travel by private plane throughout the Pacific Northwest
- -Accumulated approximately 4,000 flight hours in his Callaway Flyer (later a Cessna 140) - a highly experienced private pilot by any standard, not a novice witness
- -Served as a search-and-rescue pilot for the Idaho Search and Rescue organization, conducting actual SAR missions in mountainous terrain - establishing both his competence and his familiarity with aerial phenomena and optical effects at altitude