ARNOLD, KENNETH
(also reference UFO SIGHTINGS, FIRST INSTANCE)
Though unidentified flying objects have been reported above Earth for centuries, the first time they were described as flying saucers was on June 24, 1947. That was the day Kenneth Arnold, a fire-appliance salesman and an experienced pilot, took off from Chehalis Airport, Washington State, to help search for a C46 Marine Transport plane that had crashed in the Cascade Mountains. As he circled the area, looking for wreckage, a flash of light caught his eye. "I observed, far to my left and to the north, a formation of nine very bright objects coming from the vicinity of Mount Baker, flying very close to the mountain tops and travelling with tremendous speed," he said. "I could see no tails on them, and they flew like no aircraft I had ever seen before.. like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water." Next morning, a newspaper coined the expression "flying saucer" and the Idaho businessman had his place in UFO history.
Source: The World's Greatest UFO mysteries, by Roger Boar and Nigel Blundell

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