A small number of foo fighter sightings might be dismissed as pilot error, but there are hundreds if not thousands. Are they really just hallucinations of tired or frightened people? Call me Einstein, Flash Gordon or just plain crazy, but I know what I saw! Civilian pilot Kenneth Arnold explained that he was referring to the afternoon of June 24, 1947, when he saw nine strange planes flying in rapid formation over Mount Rainier in Washington.
It’s not the shape of the vehicle itself, however, but the way it moves through the sky that will become ingrained in the popular imagination. Arnold told Eastern Oregon reporter Bill Bequet that they flew like saucers when they jumped on the water, and he later used the term flying saucer for the first time in the national media.
A few weeks later, when the July 8 issue of the Roswell Journal appeared with a front-page headline in New Mexico, the movement’s transformation into its archetypal form was complete. Although both stories originated in local newspapers, they were quickly reprinted around the world, and the allure of the flying saucer, and the hope inherent in its oval shape, subsequently permeated modern popular culture.
Regardless of the truth of these two controversial events, they established UFO science with parts Einstein and parts Lightning Gordon, just with a touch of creative eccentricity.
