science fact or science fiction UFOs ARE ALIEN AIRCRAFT OVERHEAD MEGAN BORGERT-SPANIOL
1 flying saucers On June 24 1947 pilot Kenneth Arnold was flying his small plane above the state of Washington The sky was clear as Arnold soared 9,200 feet 2,804 m above the ground Suddenly a bright light hit the plane Arnold looked in the direction the light came from He was shocked at what he saw Nine aircraft flew past Arnold They were moving in a V-shaped formation But the mysterious aircraft didn’t have wings and tails like most aircraft One of the objects was crescent-shaped and the others were circular They moved together at great speed Arnold guessed the aircraft were traveling about 1,700 miles per hour 2,736 kmh He had never seen anything like them Later Arnold described the objects to the press He said the objects moved like saucers skipping across water Newspapers mistakenly reported that the objects were shaped like saucers From then on such objects were often called flying saucers 4
Kenneth Arnold’s story was a national headline An investigation determined that Arnold saw a mirage or disk-shaped clouds Arnold thought the objects might have been new military aircraft But the US War Department thought Arnold had imagined the aircraft As Arnold’s story spread other witnesses reported seeing similar aircraft What were these unidentified objects and where did they come from 5
