9 Jul 47
Daniel Guenther
Statement of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
at Boise, Idaho, July 12, 1947
To Whom It May Concern:
On the sixth day of July, 1947, I received from XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX of the Statesman Newspapers, incorporated in Idaho as
The Statesman Printing company, an assignment which was in substances
'Conduct an aerial search of the northwest states in an effort to
see and photograph a flying disc. Conduct this patrol for so long a time
as you believe reasonable, or until you see a flying disc.'
In accordance to these instructions, I took the Stateman's airplane,
and with XXXXXXXXXXXXXX as passenger, flew a seven and one-half hour mission
on the seventh day of July, 1947. This mission was without result. It
covered an area embracing the confines of the Hanford plant in Washington,
and territory between and around Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams, where XXXXXXXX
first reported seeing objects henceforth described as saucers or discs.
On the eighth day of July, 1947, I took an AT-6 of the 190th Fighter
squadron, Idaho National Guard, of which I am a member, and flew to northern
Idaho, into northwestern Montana briefly, to Spokane, Washington, and back
to Boise by way of Walls Walls, Washington, and Pendleton, Oregon. This
search also was negative.
On the ninth day of July, 1947, I continued the search, again using a
national guard AT-6, this time centering my efforts over the Owyhee mountains
west and southwest of Biose, a portion of the Mountain Home desert on a track
southeast of the Mountain Home army air base, thence into the Sawtooth moun-
tains, and back in the general direction of Boise on a line carrying me well
to the north of the Shafer butte forest service lookout station, into the
Horseshoe Bend area, and thence back in a southwesterly direction to a point
between Boise and the village of Meridian, west of Boise a few miles.
During this search, which lasted approximately two and one-half
hours, I flew under and around rapidly forming cumulus clouds over that
area known as the Camas Prairie, east of Boise. The clouds were near the
village of Fairfield in that valley, and Fairfield is 76 miles airline
distance east of Boise. At that time I saw nothing in the vicinity of
these clouds.
At the time I reached the point between Boise and Meridian, I was
flying at an altitude of 14,000 feet mean sea level, which would be a mean
average of 11,000 feet above the earth in this area, not considering errors
in the altimeter induced either by barometric changes since my takeoff, or
by the temperature at that altitude.
I turned the aircraft on an easterly heading, pointing toward Gowen
Field, and had flown on that course for perhaps a minute when there suddenly
appeared in the left hand portion of my field of vision an object which was
black and round.
I immediately centered my gaze on the object. At that time, due to its
erratic movement, I thought I was seeing a weather balloon. I called the
CAA'S communication station at Boise, and asked if the weather station had
recently released a balloon. The reply from communicator Albertson was that
the bureau had not. I do not remember his exact words; I am under the
impression he said 'not for several hours' or gave me the exact time of the
previous release, which was around 03:30 that day.
Upon hearing this response, I turned the aircraft broadside
to the object, pulled back the plexiglass covering to avoid any
distortion, took my camera from the map case, and exposed about 10
seconds duration of eight millimeter motion picture film. During
the time the camera was at eye level, I could not see the object be-
cause of minuteness of scope introduced by the optical view finder,
with which the camera, an f.1.9 Eastman, was equipped.
Taking the camera away and once again centering my gaze on the
object, I observed it to roll so that its edge was presented to me.
At this time it flashed once in the sunlight. It then appeared as a
thin black line. It then performed a maneuver which looked as if it
had begun a slow roll, or a barrol roll, which instead of being com-
pleted, was broken off at about the 160-degree point. The object
rolled out of the top of the maneuver at this point, and I lost sight
of it.
This entire performance was observed against the background of
clouds previously forming over the Camas Prairie. The object appeared
to me, relatively, as the size of a twenty-five cent piece. I do not
know how far away it was. I do not know, nor can I truthfully estimate
its speed. I can only say it was not an airplane, and if it was at a
very great distance from me, its speed was great, taking into consider-
ation that apparent speed is reduced to the viewer if an object is a
very great distance away.
I forgot to look at my clock to determine the exact time I saw
the object. The CAA's log of radio contacts shows my first contact
to have been made at 12:17 hours. But a few seconds elapsed between
the time I first saw the object, and the time I called the CAA's station.
I subsequently related over the radio a description of what I
saw, and communicator XXXXXXXXX may remember it. The control tower may
have a recording of the conversation. I have not checked to determine.
The purpose of my relating over the air what I saw was to enable
rapid transmission of the report to the newspaper, for at that time I
was on assignment and my energies thenceforth were devoted to (1) trans-
mitting the information and (2) conducting a further search, which I
did after landing for fuel and to make some telephone calls.
The next search, begun within half an hour after landing from the
first one, consumed another two hours, but was negative. I explored
thoroughly the region where I saw the object.
Immediately after sighting the object, I asked if there were other
aircraft in the area. There was a P-51 of the 100th squadron practic-
ing maneuvers in the vicinity of Luna, but that was behind me. A C-30
passed over Boise, but I saw that aircraft go beneath me by some 2,000
feet. The P-51 in the vicinity of Luna proceeded to the area where I
saw the object, at my request, and conducted a search. It was negative.
During the afternoon, flights of P-51s were sent out to cover the area,
and some of them flew high altitude missions on oxygen. Those searches
were negative.
I was subsequently informed that personnel on both the United Air
Lines side of Gowen field, and on the national guard side, observed a
black object manouvering in front of the same cloud formation, which by
now had grown so that the clouds reached a probable height of 19,000 or
20,000 feet from a mean base of 13,500 to 14,000 feet, mean sea level.
Three of these men were national guard personnel and I talked to them,
asking them to describe what they saw, before telling them my story,
in order to avoid suggestion or inference of a leading nature. They
saw the object (from the ground) while I was on my second search.
They believed the time to have been 14:00. The object performed
in the same erratic manner, they said, as I observed.
The above is the extent of the story, and information concerning
myself is now in order.
I have approximately 2800 hours of flying time in equipment
ranging from primary trainers to B-29s. Of course, that does not in-
crease my powers of observation except as to those practiced daily by
an airman. It does not make my eyesight any sharper except again as
to the incidental demands upon the eyes of a pilot.
At the time of the experience related above, I had flown four-
teen and one-half hours on an assignment to find a disc and if possible,
to photograph it. In all frankness, I was tired. I may have been
suffering, although slightly, from want of oxygen.
Prior to sighting the object, I had concluded there was no point
in pressing the search, that I probably would never see the disc-like
objects referred to by XXXXXX and by XXXXXXXXXXXXX of United Air Lines.
At all times during the search, both on that day and the two
preceeding days (particularly when I was with XXXXXX) I had literally
talked to myself to keep beating into my head that I would not fall
victim to the power of suggestion or self-hypnosis arising from a
naturally very intent desire to find a disc and bring success to the
assignment given me.
I therefore do not believe that I was the victim of suggestion
or hypnosis. I am familiar with the optical illusion of a fixed object
beginning to move after it is watched a sufficient length of time. I
know what tricks the eyes will play as to moving bodies, and have learned
of this particularly during night formation flying.
I saw the object appear suddenly. If it had moved in a jerky
fashion (as it did at first) for the full length of time I observed it,
I would not be so strong in saying that I saw something not an aircraft,
not a balloon, and not a corpuscle moving across the retina of either
eye. The maneuver described by the object when its edge was presented
to me convinces me that I saw an object actually performing in an
erratic flight path.
The question remains, of course, whether I saw it. The motion
picture film, developed and processed by XXXXXXXXXXX in the Eastman
laboratories at 241 Battery Street, San Francisco, showed no trace of
any object. XXXXX says that if it was more than a mile distant from me
at the size I described, the object would not have registered suffic-
iently on the film to be shown. He said it probably was too far away
to be apparent even through great enlargement of the negative, and
enlargement in that case is limited because of the size of the film
and the fact I did not have any telescopic equipment on the lense. The
exposure was f.16, stop set at infinity, at a speed of 16 frames per
second.
I have worried over this matter a great deal since seeing it.
I 'took myself aside' and said, 'come now, XXXXXXXX don't be stupid.'
But I cannot bring myself to the point of thinking I did not see any-
thing. The impression of the moment was too vivid, too relistic, and
I knew in the air when I saw that partial slow roll or barrel roll,
that I was not a victim of illusion.
I trust this matter will be of help to those investigating the
flying disc phenomena which have been reported.
A chart is attached depicting the movements of the object as I
saw it.
This statement is made voluntarily and freely, in response
to the request of Mr. Brown and Captain Davidson, who called on me
this morning.
/s/ XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subscribed and sworn to before me, _a notary public,_ this _12th_
day of _July_, 1947.
/s/ XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chart to which reference is
made on page six, statement
of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
[Skizze]
This design portrays the movements of the object to
which reference is made in the attached statement. At
all times the object appeared as black. Positions (1), (2)
and (3) show the jerky, rising motion. Position (4) is where
the object rolled, presenting its edge to me. It then
followed the dotted line, rolling over the top of the maneuver
and disappearing at position (5).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
***
www.fbi.gov, ufo3.pdf, S. 2-6 von 111
http://foia.fbi.gov/ufo/ufo3.pdf
Daniel G.
P.S. Die Skizze: ufo3.pdf, S. 6 von 111
--
Just the Cases - UFO sightings database
http://cs.tu-berlin.de/~thomasg/ufodb.htm