1. On 12 July 1947, Mr Kenneth Arnold, Box 387, Boise Idaho, was interviewed in regard to the report by Mr. Arnold that he saw 9
strange objects flying over the Cascade Mountain Range of Washington
State on July 25th. (sic) Mr. Arnold voluntarily agreed to give the
interviewer a written report of exactly what he had seen on the above
mentioned date. The written report of Mr. Arnold is attached to this
report as Exhibit A.
AGENT'S NOTES: Mr. Arnold is a man of 32 years of age, being married
and the father of two children. He is well thought of in the
community in which he lives, being very much the family man and from
all appearances a very good provider for his family. Mr. Arnold has
recently purchased a home on the outskirts of Boise, recently purchased
a $5,000 airplane in which to conduct his business to the extent of
which is explained in the attached. exhibit. It is the personal opinion
of the interviewer that Mr. Arnold actually saw what he stated that he
saw. It is difficult to believe that a man of Mr. Arnold's character
and apparent integrity would state that he saw objects and write up a
report to the extent that he did if he did not see them. To go further,
if Mr. Arnold can write a report of the character that he did while not
having seen the objects that he claimed he saw, it is the opinion of
the interviewer that Mr. Arnold is in the wrong business, that he
should be writing Buck Rogers fiction. Mr. Arnold is very outspoken and
somewhat bitter in his opinions of the leaders of the U.S. Army Air
Forces and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for not having made an
investigation of this matter sooner. To put all of the statements made
by Mr. Arnold in this report would make it a voluminous volume.
However, after having checked an aeronautical map of the area over
which Mr. Arnold claims that he saw the objects it was determined that
all statements made by Mr. Arnold in regard to the distances involved,
speed of the objects, course of the objects and size of the objects,
could very possibly be facts. The distances mentioned by Mr. Arnold in
his report are within a short distance of the actual distances on
aeronautical charts of this area, although Mr. Arnold has never
consulted aeronautical charts of the type the Army uses. Mr. Arnold
stated that his business had suffered greatly since his report on July
25 due to the fact that at every stop on his business routes, large
crowds of people were waiting to question him as to just what he had
seen. Mr. Arnold stated further that if he, at any time in the future,
saw anything in sky, to quote Mr. Arnold directly, "If I saw a ten
story building
FRANK M. BROWN. S/A CIC 4TH AF
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
flying through the air I would never say a word about it", due to the
fact that he has been ridiculed by the press to such an extent that he
is practically a moron in the eyes of the majority of the population of
the United States.
1 Incl. Exhibit "A"
FRANK M. BROWN S/A CIC 4TH AF
CONFIDENTIAL
