Isaac Koi

This website was the first generated by my self-improving AI system (Skynet), to summarise the top 100 UFO cases.

During the summer of 1947, a remarkable conversion from skeptic to witness occurred when United Airlines captain E.J. Smith encountered unidentified flying objects over the Pacific Northwest. His sighting, which involved multiple credible aviation professionals as witnesses, became one of the most widely reported UFO cases during the initial flying saucer wave. This report examines the Smith sighting in detail, considering the historical context, witness credibility, possible explanations, and lasting significance. The evidence suggests that while conventional explanations cannot be ruled out, the professional qualifications of the witnesses and their detailed observations present a case of continuing interest in UFO studies. Notable aspects include Smith’s prior skepticism, the multiple-witness nature of the event, and the apparent intelligent reactions of the objects to the aircraft’s signals—all factors that contributed to this becoming one of the formative cases in modern UFO history.

The 1947 Flying Saucer Wave: Origins and Context

The summer of 1947 marked a watershed moment in American cultural history—the birth of the modern UFO era. On June 24, 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine mysterious, high-speed objects flying along the crest of the Cascade Range near Mount Rainier. Arnold described these objects as moving “like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water,” which led newspapers to coin the terms “flying saucers” and “flying discs”1. This single sighting captured public imagination and triggered what would become a nationwide phenomenon.

The timing of this wave is significant. It occurred just two years after the end of World War II, as Cold War tensions were developing and the United States was entering a new era of technological advancement. This period saw the emergence of numerous reports of unusual aerial phenomena, with historians documenting at least 800 “copycat” sightings in subsequent weeks, while other sources suggest the total may have reached into the thousands2.

The phenomenon spread rapidly across the United States, with reports from 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada3. Media coverage was extensive, with flying saucer stories making headlines nationwide—the Denver Post even reflected midway through the wave that the sightings might be considered “modern folklore”2. While many observers speculated these reports might be explained by novel technology, mistaken identifications, or mass hysteria, some wondered if the discs might have extraterrestrial origins4.

Reports continued to escalate through early July, reaching a peak on July 7, 19472. It was during this critical period that Captain E.J. Smith had his encounter—one that would become among the most widely reported and credible of the early UFO cases.

From Skeptic to Witness: E.J. Smith’s Background

Captain E.J. Smith was not initially receptive to flying saucer reports. When questioned by reporters on June 26, 1947—just two days after Kenneth Arnold’s famous sighting—Smith dismissively suggested that “what that other fellow (Arnold) probably saw was the reflection of his own instrument panel”5. As a commercial airline pilot, Smith represented the kind of professional aviation expert whose opinion carried weight with the public.

Just over a week later, as Smith prepared to board United Airlines Flight 105 at Boise for a trip to Seattle on the evening of July 4, someone mentioned the wave of saucer sightings taking place across the northwest. Smith’s response was telling: “I’ll believe in those discs when I see them”5. This statement of skepticism, made just minutes before his own encounter, would make his subsequent experience all the more compelling to the media and public.

The Encounter: Flight 105’s Observation

At 9:04 p.m. MST on July 4, 1947, United Airlines Flight 105, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, departed Boise, Idaho, bound for Pendleton, Oregon6. According to Smith’s recollection, the Boise control tower “joshingly” warned them to “be on the lookout for flying saucers” as they departed65.

Just eight minutes after takeoff, as the airliner was flying “roughly into the sunset,” First Officer Ralph Stevens observed what he initially thought were approaching aircraft in the twilight sky6. Following standard procedure for potential collision threats, Stevens blinked the DC-3’s landing lights to alert the presumed aircraft and notified Captain Smith6.

Both pilots then clearly observed four or five objects, which they would later describe as “flat and circular”6. The encounter rapidly evolved into something neither pilot could explain through conventional means:

  1. Five disc-like objects (one larger than the rest) approached the DC-3 head-on5.
  2. The objects quickly reversed direction and took up a parallel course alongside the airliner5.
  3. Smith maintained visual contact with the objects for approximately 45 miles5.
  4. When Stevens flashed the landing lights again, the objects reacted by changing from a tight cluster to a more open formation5.
  5. The discs then began to open and close their formation repeatedly before settling into a loose pattern5.
  6. This first group eventually vanished, and a second group of four objects appeared5.
  7. The new group soon merged together and disappeared to the northwest5.

The sighting was independently verified by the flight’s stewardess, Marty Morrow, providing a third witness to the event54. This multi-witness aspect significantly strengthened the credibility of the report.

In his statements to the press, Smith gave somewhat varied descriptions of the objects. To the Associated Press, he indicated that the objects were “bigger than aircraft,” while to United Press he noted that due to the objects’ positions relative to the airliner, “we can’t say anything about their shape except that they were thin and were smooth on the bottom and rough appearing on the top”6.

The E.J. Smith UFO Sighting of 1947: A Critical Analysis of Early Aviation Encounters - Full-Text (SVG)

Immediate Aftermath and Investigation

The Smith sighting quickly became front-page news across the country, with his experience reported in “nearly every major newspaper”5. The timing could not have been more impactful—occurring during the July 4th holiday weekend when flying saucer reports were reaching their peak nationwide.

Following the sighting, Smith made himself available to discuss his experience with both the press and investigators. On July 28, he participated in a meeting regarding the controversial Maury Island incident (an alleged UFO encounter that occurred near Puget Sound). This meeting included Kenneth Arnold and two U.S. Army Air Force investigating officers, Lt. Frank Brown and Cpt. William L. Davidson7.

Credibility Assessment: Evaluating the Witnesses and Evidence

Professional Qualifications and Observer Reliability

The E.J. Smith case stands out among early UFO reports due to the professional credentials of the witnesses involved. Several factors contribute to the high credibility rating of this sighting:

  1. Professional Expertise: Smith was an experienced airline captain with United Airlines, a position requiring thousands of flight hours, extensive training in aircraft identification, weather phenomena recognition, and observational precision. His co-pilot, Ralph Stevens, possessed similar qualifications.
  2. Multiple Independent Witnesses: Three aviation professionals—Smith, Stevens, and stewardess Marty Morrow—all observed the same phenomena simultaneously. This reduces the possibility of individual misperception or hallucination.
  3. Prior Skepticism: Smith’s documented skepticism toward flying saucer reports just days before (and minutes before) his own sighting makes his report particularly compelling. Unlike many witnesses who might have been influenced by media coverage to interpret ambiguous stimuli as flying saucers, Smith had publicly expressed disbelief in the phenomenon.
  4. Contemporaneous Reporting: The sighting was reported immediately, rather than days or weeks later, reducing the possibility of memory distortion or embellishment.

These factors align with what Dr. J. Allen Hynek (who oversaw Air Force UFO studies) would later note about UFO witnesses being “at least average” in intelligence, often “decidedly above average,” and sometimes “embarrassingly above average”8. As experienced aviation professionals, Smith and his crew would certainly fit into Hynek’s higher credibility categories.

Modern Credibility Rating Systems

While the E.J. Smith sighting occurred decades before modern UFO evaluation frameworks were developed, we can retrospectively apply criteria such as the Newsweek/Scientific Coalition for UFOlogy scale9 to assess its relative strength:

  • Multiple witnesses (Smith, Stevens, and Morrow): +1 point
  • Expert witnesses (two professional pilots): +1 point
  • Objects displaying unusual flight characteristics (rapid direction changes, formation shifts): +1 point
  • Close encounter of the first kind (objects observed at relatively close range): +1 point
  • No photographic evidence: 0 points
  • No physical effects reported: 0 points
  • No reported occupants: 0 points

Even by these modern standards, the Smith sighting would rate moderately high on the credibility scale, primarily due to the multiple expert witnesses and the unusual flight characteristics they reported.

Counterarguments and Skepticism: Alternative Explanations

Despite the credibility of the witnesses, several conventional explanations might potentially account for what Smith and his crew observed. These deserve serious consideration in any balanced analysis:

Conventional Aircraft

Given that First Officer Stevens initially identified the objects as approaching aircraft, this remains a plausible explanation. In the twilight conditions described (“roughly into the sunset”6), the perception of conventional aircraft could be distorted by lighting, distance, and atmospheric conditions. The post-WWII period saw various experimental aircraft being tested, and some military planes of the era had unusual configurations that might appear disc-like from certain angles.

However, this explanation struggles to account for several reported aspects of the sighting:

  1. The objects’ ability to quickly reverse direction
  2. Their reaction to the DC-3’s landing lights by changing formation
  3. Captain Smith’s assessment (as an experienced commercial pilot familiar with all conventional aircraft of the era) that these objects were unlike any known aircraft

The E.J. Smith UFO Sighting of 1947: A Critical Analysis of Early Aviation Encounters - P1 (SVG)

Weather Phenomena and Atmospheric Effects

Various atmospheric phenomena could potentially create the impression of solid objects in the sky, particularly in twilight conditions:

  1. Lenticular clouds: These disc-shaped clouds can form at high altitudes and have a solid appearance.
  2. Sun dogs and light reflections: Atmospheric ice crystals can create bright reflections that might appear to move as the observer’s position changes.
  3. Temperature inversions: These can create mirages and optical distortions that might be interpreted as solid objects.

The main challenge for atmospheric explanations is accounting for the reported intelligent behavior of the objects—specifically, their apparent reaction to the DC-3’s landing lights by changing formation patterns.

Psychological Factors and Expectancy

The intense media coverage of flying saucers in the days before the sighting created a cultural environment where people might be primed to interpret ambiguous aerial phenomena as discs or saucers. The Boise control tower’s joking warning to watch for flying saucers indicates how saturated the culture was with the topic at that moment.

Yet, Smith’s prior skepticism somewhat counters this explanation. As someone who had publicly dismissed flying saucer reports just days earlier, he would likely have been more resistant to misinterpreting conventional phenomena as extraordinary objects.

Critical Analysis of Reporting Inconsistencies

Several inconsistencies in the reporting of this case warrant attention:

  1. Description variations: Smith provided somewhat different descriptions to different news agencies, which could indicate either the difficulty in precisely describing the objects or potential embellishment/distortion in the reporting process6.
  2. Date discrepancies: While most sources identify the sighting as occurring on July 4, 1947510, at least one source places it on July 54. This could be a simple reporting error but indicates the need for caution when evaluating historical accounts.
  3. Lack of instrumentation: The sighting was purely visual, without radar confirmation or photographic evidence. This limits our ability to objectively verify the nature of what was observed.

These factors don’t necessarily undermine the core credibility of the witnesses but do highlight the challenges in precisely reconstructing historical UFO events based primarily on media accounts.

Influence and Impact: The Smith Sighting in Historical Context

Transformation of Public Perception

The E.J. Smith sighting had a significant impact on public perception of the flying saucer phenomenon for several reasons:

  1. Skeptic-to-witness narrative: Smith’s transformation from public skeptic to witness created a compelling narrative that resonated with the public and media. His case suggested that even those predisposed to dismiss flying saucer reports might change their minds if confronted with direct evidence.
  2. Professional credibility: As commercial airline pilots, Smith and Stevens represented exactly the kind of trustworthy, experienced observers whose testimony would be difficult to dismiss. Their professional standing lent credibility to the broader phenomenon.
  3. Timing within the wave: Occurring during the peak period of the 1947 flying saucer wave (and on July 4th, a high-visibility holiday), the Smith sighting received maximum media attention and helped sustain public interest in the phenomenon.

This case exemplifies how the 1947 wave evolved from isolated reports to a nationwide phenomenon with high-credibility witnesses. As commercial pilot sightings accumulated, the narrative shifted from potential misidentifications by amateur observers to a pattern of reports from trained aviation professionals.

Establishment of UFO Patterns

The Smith sighting helped establish several patterns that would become recurring elements in UFO reports for decades to come:

  1. Formation flying: The objects were observed in formation, a characteristic that would appear in many subsequent UFO reports.
  2. Intelligent reaction: The objects’ apparent response to the aircraft’s landing lights by changing formation suggested intelligent control—a pattern that would become central to the UFO narrative.
  3. Professional pilot witnesses: The involvement of commercial pilots as witnesses would continue to be a significant aspect of UFO reporting, with airline crews among the most credible observers throughout UFO history.

These patterns contributed to the emerging conceptualization of UFOs as potentially intelligently controlled craft rather than simple atmospheric phenomena or optical illusions.

Integration into Official Investigations

While the search results don’t provide extensive information about official investigations into this specific case, we know that Smith was later invited to a meeting regarding the Maury Island incident, which included U.S. Army Air Force investigating officers7. This indicates some level of official interest in his experience.

The Smith case would have been among the hundreds of reports that eventually led to the establishment of the Air Force’s Project Sign in 1948 (later renamed Project Grudge and finally Project Blue Book), the first official UFO investigation program. Though the Air Force ultimately attributed what many crew members saw during this period to “ordinary aircraft, balloons, birds, or pure illusion”6, the accumulation of credible reports like Smith’s necessitated formal investigation.

Evidence Evaluation: Primary Sources and Documentation

Contemporary Media Coverage

The primary documentation of the Smith sighting comes from contemporary newspaper accounts, which reported his experience widely. According to the search results, the story “made nearly every major newspaper”5, indicating extensive media coverage.

These newspaper accounts provide the most direct information we have about the sighting, though they must be evaluated with the understanding that journalism of the era may have prioritized sensationalism over accuracy in some cases.

Military and Official Records

Given that the Smith sighting occurred during a period of active military interest in flying saucer reports, it’s likely that some official documentation exists in government archives:

  1. The U.S. Army Air Forces (which became the U.S. Air Force in September 1947) was actively collecting flying saucer reports during this period.
  2. Smith’s participation in the meeting about the Maury Island incident alongside military investigators suggests some official interest in his experience7.
  3. Later Air Force projects (Sign, Grudge, and Blue Book) likely incorporated this case into their analyses of the 1947 wave, though the search results don’t specifically confirm this.

Historical Compilations and Analyses

The Smith sighting has been documented in several historical compilations focused on the 1947 wave:

  1. “UFOs: A History, 1947” records details of Smith’s experience5.
  2. Ted Bloecher’s “Report on the UFO Wave of 1947” likely includes this case in its comprehensive analysis of the period3.
  3. Various websites and UFO documentation projects, such as Project 1947, have preserved information about this case5.

These secondary sources help place the Smith sighting in its proper historical context and demonstrate its enduring significance in UFO research.

The E.J. Smith UFO Sighting of 1947: A Critical Analysis of Early Aviation Encounters - P2 (SVG)

Gaps in the Record and Future Research Directions

Despite the considerable documentation of the Smith sighting, several significant gaps remain in our understanding:

Technical and Observational Details

More precise technical details about the objects’ appearance, movement, and behavior would help in evaluating potential explanations:

  1. Exact measurements and observations: Were there any estimates of the objects’ size, speed, altitude, or distance from the aircraft?
  2. Environmental conditions: Detailed weather data for the flight path could help evaluate atmospheric explanations.
  3. Flight recorder data: While flight data recorders weren’t sophisticated in 1947, any available flight logs or official records from United Airlines might provide additional context.

Witness Follow-up Interviews

More comprehensive interviews with the witnesses, particularly:

  1. Later recollections: Did Smith, Stevens, or Morrow provide additional details in subsequent years that might clarify aspects of the sighting?
  2. Consistency checks: Systematic comparison of each witness’s account could help identify core reliable elements versus possible embellishments or memory distortions.

Official Investigation Records

Access to complete military investigation files, if they exist, could provide valuable additional perspective:

  1. Intelligence assessments: How did military intelligence evaluate Smith’s report in the context of other sightings?
  2. Air traffic records: Were there any other aircraft, weather balloons, or known aerial activities in the area that might explain the sighting?
  3. Radar data: Was there any radar coverage of the area that might have captured the objects Smith and his crew observed?

Conclusion: The Enduring Significance of the Smith Sighting

The E.J. Smith sighting of July 4, 1947, remains a significant case in the early history of the modern UFO phenomenon for several compelling reasons. First, it features multiple credible witnesses with professional aviation expertise. Second, Smith’s transformation from skeptic to witness creates a particularly compelling narrative that’s difficult to dismiss as mere suggestion or expectancy. Third, the reported behavior of the objects—changing formations in apparent response to the aircraft’s signals—suggests intelligence rather than natural phenomena.

While conventional explanations cannot be ruled out entirely, the professional qualifications of the witnesses and their detailed observations present a case that continues to resist simple dismissal. At minimum, the Smith sighting represents an important historical data point in understanding how the modern UFO phenomenon developed and gained credibility during its formative period.

What remains most significant about this case is not necessarily what it tells us about the nature of UFOs themselves, but rather what it reveals about how credible witnesses, media coverage, and cultural context combined to establish the enduring patterns of UFO reporting and research that continue to this day. The Smith sighting, occurring at the very dawn of the modern UFO era, helped set the template for how we continue to evaluate and discuss unexplained aerial phenomena more than seven decades later.

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  1. https://www.historylink.org/file/2067 ↩ ↩2

  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_flying_disc_craze ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. http://kirkmcd.princeton.edu/JEMcDonald/bloecher_67.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. https://www.greetingsfromsiouxfalls.com/flying-saucers ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. http://www.project1947.com/fig/ual105.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17

  6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_105_UFO_sighting ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  7. https://www.vashonbeachcomber.com/news/time-again-75th-anniversary-of-the-maury-island-incident/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  8. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp81r00560r000100010001-0 ↩ ↩2

  9. https://www.newsweek.com/ufo-sightings-encounters-credibility-video-1371313 ↩ ↩2

  10. https://www.crystalinks.com/mauryisland1947.html ↩ ↩2

  11. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jun/23/ufos-over-washington-first-report-flying-saucers/ ↩

  12. https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/flying-saucers-ufo-history ↩

  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maury_Island_incident ↩

  14. https://sgp.fas.org/library/ciaufo.html ↩

  15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJjd4O1eUzo ↩

  16. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0688332.pdf ↩

  17. https://www.utias.utoronto.ca/2018/08/15/1960s-dr-gordon-patterson-establishes-the-utias-ufo-project/ ↩

  18. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000838057.pdf ↩