On 24 January 1878, Kenneth Arnold’s second sighting, of several, during a flight near LaGrande, Oregon.

 

 

 

 

 

On 14 August 1947, results of first Gallup Poll including questions on UFOs are released, indicating that 9 out of 10 Americans had heard of the phenomenon. One question was “What do you think these saucers are?”. The responses noted in the results did not include a category relating to spaceships. 9% of respondents selected “Other explanations” than those offered.

 

 

 

 

An undated page possibly attached to an Air Force document dated 30 July 1947 includes a comment that “lack of topside inquiries, when compared to the prompt and demanding inquiries that have originated topside upon former events, give more than ordinary weight to the possibility that this is a domestic project, about which the President, etc., know”

 

 

 

 

On 3 September 1947, a memo from Colonel R H Smith (Assistant Chief of Staff Intelligence) to several Commanding Generals in the Army Air Forces stated that the FBI had been asked to assist the Air Force in UFO investigations “to relieve the numbered Air Forces of the task of tracking down all the many instances which turned out to be ash can covers, toilet seats and whatnot”.

The memo was supplied to FBI Special Agent Harry M Kimball by Lieutenant Colonel Donald Springer on 19 September 1947.