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Historic UFO Encounters: Newspaper / Magazine Articles

The definitive answer might be as I highlighted on our comparative thread:
As also noted therein, Arnold later clarified:

"As I described them at the time, their flight was like speed boats on rough water or similar to the tail of a Chinese kite that I once saw blowing in the wind. Or maybe it would be best to describe their flight characteristics as very similar to a formation of geese, in a rather diagonal chain-like line, as if they were linked together. As I put it to newsmen in Pendleton, Oregon, they flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water".

There were never saucer-shaped aeriel artefacts in the first place.

Furthermore, as I have previously questioned, if the objects Arnold clearly confirms were of that shape and it became a concern they were not of earthly origin, then what happened to our real UFOs?

They seemingly never appeared again.

Conversely, 'flying saucers' were in abundance and continued to be so for decades afterwards.
 

Looks very reminiscent of the Northrop YB-49 "Flying Wing":

IMG_1202.JPG
 
Everything 'flying saucer' related, originated from Arnold's misconstrued phrase of how the puzzling objects undulating flight characteristics were similar to "a saucer, if you skipped it across water".

Fast forward some 20 years and still nobody gets the fact he never, ever, depicted objects which actually looked like a saucer-plate?

Evidently so and to this remarkable extent:

www.forteanmedia.com/newspaper_204.jpg
 
Finally got around to searching the newspapers.com archives for 'triangular UFO'. :)

Oh, looks like they're lots of reports to check out.

First one, in date order, is:

Hartford_Courant_Sun__Aug_23__1964__compress88.jpg


Ok... that's obviously interesting.

When does it date from...

Hartford Courant, 23 August, 1964.

Conclusion... is it all just, 'smoke and mirrors'...? :tumble:
 
Finally got around to searching the newspapers.com archives for 'triangular UFO'. :)

Oh, looks like they're lots of reports to check out.

First one, in date order, is:

View attachment 34744

Ok... that's obviously interesting.

When does it date from...

Hartford Courant, 23 August, 1964.

Conclusion... is it all just, 'smoke and mirrors'...? :tumble:
Wonderful! I also love that it looked like a "plane about to crash" and, then OF COURSE, it move "back and forth and up and down".
 
I applied a little haze to the Flying Wing photo and it looks even more like the supposed triangular UFO.
Note how the leading edge of the Wing and the fins appear dark in both photos:

View attachment 34759

View attachment 34761
I think you might be VERY right there blessmycottonsocks!! I would have to go with your interpretation, all things considered. If seen from the right angle it could very well be a flying wing test. NICE! :badge:
 
... If seen from the right angle it could very well be a flying wing test. ...

There's an obvious problem with this interpretation ... The 'flying wing' prototypes were all developed and built by Northrop, and no Northrop flying wing (*-35; *-49) aircraft survived as late as 1958.
 
There's an obvious problem with this interpretation ... The 'flying wing' prototypes were all developed and built by Northrop, and no Northrop flying wing (*-35; *-49) aircraft survived as late as 1958.
Weren't most of the flying wings (there were just a few iirc.) in pretty lousy shape, too? Could it have been some secret test based on one?
 
Weren't most of the flying wings (there were just a few iirc.) in pretty lousy shape, too? Could it have been some secret test based on one?
A next generation test flight but of something that was ultimately junked?
 
Although we appreciate that in later years Kenneth Arnold became enthralled by Charles Fort and the Fortean relationship with Arnold's own experiences, I wondered what the earliest association with our Fortean world might be.

Seems it didn't take long - from the 'Pasadena Star-News', on 7 July, 1947:

Metropolitan_Pasadena_Star_News_Mon__Jul_7__1947_ (1)_compress15.jpg
 
Weren't most of the flying wings (there were just a few iirc.) in pretty lousy shape, too? Could it have been some secret test based on one?

No flying wing was ever in service - they were all experimental / prototype units.

The projects were canceled, and the remaining airframes were recycled into other experimental projects. Most all of these follow-on projects were themselves canceled. The last airframe was scrapped in 1953. No other military aircraft company attempted flying wing designs, and Northrop wouldn't revisit the format until the 1980s and the B-2.
 
I wish I could find a UFO report I saw once about a UFO that looked like a flying wing with no cockpit; the wing shaped object had lines along the wing at regular intervals. There are a number of reports and pictures I have lost. I remember in the early days of the Internet, someone had posted a pic they found on a government site that showed tests of nuclear weapons --they were shocked to see a perfect flying disc UFO in the corner of the photo with the mushroom cloud behind it. It was a startling pic, and I think I clicked on it and it was from a government site. I have never been able to find it again.
 
although it could be a eqal one
Although we appreciate that in later years Kenneth Arnold became enthralled by Charles Fort and the Fortean relationship with Arnold's own experiences, I wondered what the earliest association with our Fortean world might be.

Seems it didn't take long - from the 'Pasadena Star-News', on 7 July, 1947:

View attachment 34790
I think the Sternenschiff and other objects seen in 1851 was the arrival of the "airship" surveillance wave.
 
There's an obvious problem with this interpretation ... The 'flying wing' prototypes were all developed and built by Northrop, and no Northrop flying wing (*-35; *-49) aircraft survived as late as 1958.

Fair point and a quick Google states that the YB-49 was retired in 1953 - that's five years before the alleged UFO photo.

https://www.airspacemag.com/need-to...g-wings-from-the-1940s-still-around-52315894/

But here's where we have to consider what explanation is the more likely; that a YB-49 or similar looking tailless aircraft (of which there were several) did make one last flight in 1958, that the date of the photo is questionable, or that it was some genuinely unknown craft.
Just as an aside, the Spitfire was retired shortly after the war - but I've seen one flying!
 
I just found this on my computer --I thought me or someone else had posted it before, but dunno, so here it is again:

AirshipCattle.png
 
Fair point and a quick Google states that the YB-49 was retired in 1953 - that's five years before the alleged UFO photo. ...
But here's where we have to consider what explanation is the more likely; that a YB-49 or similar looking tailless aircraft (of which there were several) did make one last flight in 1958, that the date of the photo is questionable, or that it was some genuinely unknown craft. ...

The Northrop flying wings weren't just retired - they were scrapped. The last surviving airframe was written off and designated for scrap in November 1953. That's why not a single one of these fascinating 'birds' is on exhibit somewhere today.

If that's an actual aircraft it's not a military or experimental flying wing.

The date of the photograph is not in question.

The main problem with the Redlands photo is that the oddity in the sky wasn't noticed when the picture was taken - it was first noticed as a glitch in the photo after it was developed. This didn't correlate with claims concerning the mystery object's direction of travel and behavior. I suspect this obvious clash is the main reason the sighting wasn't taken all that seriously.
 
Wow, I just had my mind blown by this larger version Marler has found of the Farmington pic.. Wow.:eek: Now it is up there with the best. Scroll down to see it below the smaller version. He owns it:
https://www.davidmarlerufo.com/farmington-nm-1950
I've been looking at that Farmington photo on Marler's site more closely, and if you look at the back object in the formation closest to you, you can see the smaller round objects half-emerged, appearing like little domes, along the profile. Also, on the main object, what I thought was an opening, now appears to be one of the smaller objects emerging from it. Again you have to scroll waaay down the page and the larger clearer pic is below the smaller blurrier version.
 
I've been looking at that Farmington photo on Marler's site more closely, and if you look at the back object in the formation closest to you, you can see the smaller round objects half-emerged, appearing like little domes, along the profile. Also, on the main object, what I thought was an opening, now appears to be one of the smaller objects emerging from it. Again you have to scroll waaay down the page and the larger clearer pic is below the smaller blurrier version.
Dr. Feliks Zigel (was astronomy professor at Moscow Aviation Institute)
Mentions observations of discs through 8x magnification binoculars
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...RFNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IkgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7098,4541412

"Around the disc at a distance of its two diameters, there were three balls like the one in the center of the disc. The balls slowly rotated around the disc, and the whole system dwindled as it receded from the earth. Some 15 to 20 minutes later, the balls began to depart from the disc in different directions"
 
Here is an Arnold-like crescent maybe same one. And I LURVE this article:
A silver crescent watched through a theodolite for 4.5 hours..

Crescent.jpg


https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/231044908?searchTerm=(silver crescent theodolite pinhead) &searchLimits=q-field0|||q-type0=all|||q-term0=silver+crescent+theodolite+pinhead|||q-field1=title%3A|||q-type1=all|||q-term1|||q-field2=creator%3A|||q-type2=all|||q-term2|||q-field3=subject%3A|||q-type3=all|||q-term3|||q-year1-date|||q-year2-date|||l-format=Article

"More than 100 people have seen it"






yeah.
More:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/217139417?searchTerm=(silver crescent theodolite pinhead) &searchLimits=q-field0|||q-type0=all|||q-term0=silver+crescent+theodolite+pinhead|||q-field1=title%3A|||q-type1=all|||q-term1|||q-field2=creator%3A|||q-type2=all|||q-term2|||q-field3=subject%3A|||q-type3=all|||q-term3|||q-year1-date|||q-year2-date|||l-format=Article
 
Further exploring the now vast newspapers.com archives and out of curiosity, selecting only the exact phrase, "triangular UFO", no derivatives of, such as "triangle UFO", I have only reached 1981 from resultant specific matches in date order and three reports so far might be of related interest.

Even back then, we still have this seeming consistently of an enigmatic aerial artefact at an extremely low level, etc.

They date from 1973, 1977 and 1981 respectively.

www.forteanmedia.com/newspaper_301.jpg

www.forteanmedia.com/newspaper_302.jpg

www.forteanmedia.com/newspaper_303.jpg
 
Further exploring the now vast newspapers.com archives and out of curiosity, selecting only the exact phrase, "triangular UFO", no derivatives of, such as "triangle UFO", I have only reached 1981 from resultant specific matches in date order and three reports so far might be of related interest.

www.forteanmedia.com/newspaper_301.jpg
Damn!! Now THAT's a road encounter --traumatize their sorry asses for the rest of their lives... :eek:
 
Further exploring the now vast newspapers.com archives and out of curiosity, selecting only the exact phrase, "triangular UFO", no derivatives of, such as "triangle UFO", I have only reached 1981 from resultant specific matches in date order and three reports so far might be of related interest.

www.forteanmedia.com/newspaper_302.jpg
Damn!! Now THAT, THAT, THAT is a road encounter --AND..Traumatize their sorry asses for the rest of their lives... :eek::eek:
And the TX sighting is great too.
 
Damn!! Now THAT, THAT, THAT is a road encounter...
This is precisely the point I have long attempted to illustrate re our triangular-shaped UFOs.

Time after time, we have accounts of similar experiences, where the objects act like wasps - they seem to actually show a interest in the observer and come closer for another go!
 
Yeah... I'll admit to being a bit anxious when I am out driving these days :pipe:
 
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