Within 1947 Wave
What Did the Flight 105 Crew Really See?
Three airline professionals saw unidentified objects after leaving Boise, but missing range, radar and photographic data limit what the case can prove.
On this page
- The crew's account from Boise to Pendleton
- Why professional witnesses gave the case weight
- Sunset conditions, missing measurements and possible explanations
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Introduction
Among Idaho’s many reports during the great flying-saucer wave of 1947, the sighting by the crew of United Airlines Flight 105 stands out because it involved trained aviation personnel rather than casual ground observers. On the evening of 4 July 1947, a United Air Lines DC-3 departed Boise for Pendleton, Oregon. Within minutes, the captain, first officer and a flight attendant reported seeing several unusual objects ahead of the aircraft. Their account quickly became one of the most widely discussed sightings of the early saucer era because the witnesses were professionals accustomed to observing the sky and identifying aircraft.[Wikipedia]WikipediaFlight 105 UFO sightingFlight 105 UFO sighting
Yet Flight 105 is also a useful example of the limits of eyewitness evidence. The crew undoubtedly reported seeing something they could not identify, but the absence of radar tracking, photographs, precise distance measurements or independent confirmation leaves major questions unanswered. More than seventy years later, the case remains noteworthy not because it proves anything extraordinary, but because it illustrates both the strengths and weaknesses of some of the best-known reports from Idaho’s 1947 saucer wave.[NICAP]nicap.orgUFO ReportThis is case #34 of the Project Blue Book "Unknowns". That night a United Airlines crew flying near Emmett, Idaho, saw fiv…
What Did the Flight 105 Crew Really See?
The crew’s account from Boise to Pendleton
Flight 105 left Boise shortly after 9 p.m. on 4 July 1947. Contemporary accounts noted that the crew departed during the height of the flying-saucer craze, and Boise tower personnel reportedly joked that they should keep an eye out for the mysterious objects dominating newspaper headlines.[Wikipedia]Wikipedia1947 flying disc craze1947 flying disc craze
About eight minutes after take-off, First Officer Ralph Stevens noticed several unusual objects ahead of the aircraft, roughly in the direction of the setting sun. Captain E. J. Smith joined the observation, and both men watched what they later described as four or five thin objects flying in a loose formation. One appeared larger than the others. According to their statements, the objects seemed smooth underneath and rougher on top, but the crew could not determine their exact shape. They specifically avoided claiming certainty that the objects were classic “saucers”.[Wikipedia]WikipediaFlight 105 UFO sightingFlight 105 UFO sighting
The crew followed the objects for roughly ten to fifteen minutes while travelling northwest from Boise. Reports indicate that the formation disappeared and was then replaced by another group of similar objects. Flight attendant Marty Morrow was called forward and reportedly confirmed seeing the same phenomenon. The crew estimated that they tracked the objects over a distance of around 45 miles before they vanished.[NICAP]nicap.orgUFO ReportThis is case #34 of the Project Blue Book "Unknowns". That night a United Airlines crew flying near Emmett, Idaho, saw fiv…
Notably, the passengers did not provide comparable observations. Captain Smith later explained that the objects were mostly visible through the forward cockpit view, limiting what people seated in the cabin could see. The crew also contacted other aviation personnel by radio, but no corroborating sighting was obtained from nearby aircraft or ground stations.[Wikipedia]WikipediaFlight 105 UFO sightingFlight 105 UFO sighting
Why Professional Witnesses Gave the Case Weight
The Flight 105 report gained attention because it arrived during a period when many saucer stories were being dismissed as mistakes, rumours or publicity. Unlike many witnesses of the era, Smith and Stevens were experienced airline pilots whose jobs required them to distinguish aircraft, weather phenomena and navigation lights. The addition of a third witness from the cabin strengthened the story in the eyes of many newspaper readers.[Wikipedia]WikipediaFlight 105 UFO sightingFlight 105 UFO sighting
Contemporary journalists repeatedly emphasised the crew’s professional status. Later writers looking back at the 1947 wave often cited Flight 105 as one of the first major pilot sightings of the modern UFO era. The report was widely circulated nationally and was frequently presented as more credible than the numerous anonymous or poorly documented saucer claims appearing in newspapers at the same time.[americanheritage.com]americanheritage.comAmerican Heritage Was This the First Reported UFO?AMERICAN HERITAGEOn Independence Day, United Airlines Flight 105 sat on the tarmac before a scheduled flight from Boise to Pendleton. Bef…
Within Idaho’s 1947 saucer episode, this mattered. Many local reports came from distant ground observations in which size, speed and altitude were impossible to judge. Flight 105 involved observers who were already in the air and familiar with aviation conditions. As a result, it became one of the strongest cases cited by believers that something genuinely unusual was occurring over the Pacific Northwest during the first weeks of the saucer craze.[project1947.com]project1947.comUA L Flight 105,J. SmithBy no means the most impressive UFO sighting by an airliner crew, nevertheless, it is a significant one. It occurred in clear wea…
Why the Evidence Remains Limited
The credibility of the witnesses is not the same thing as proof of the objects’ nature. The strongest argument for the case is that three aviation professionals reported an unidentified aerial sight. The strongest argument against any extraordinary conclusion is that almost every critical measurement is missing.[NICAP]nicap.orgUFO ReportThis is case #34 of the Project Blue Book "Unknowns". That night a United Airlines crew flying near Emmett, Idaho, saw fiv…
Several limitations stand out:
- No photographs were taken.
- No radar data were recorded.
- No precise range estimates were available.
- No independent ground observation confirmed the objects.
- The crew could not determine size, altitude or speed with confidence.
- The objects were observed largely against the bright sunset sky.[NICAP]nicap.orgUFO ReportThis is case #34 of the Project Blue Book "Unknowns". That night a United Airlines crew flying near Emmett, Idaho, saw fiv…
These missing details matter because apparent motion in the sky can be highly misleading when distance is unknown. An object close to an aircraft may seem to pace it. A distant object can appear stationary. Without reliable range information, even experienced observers can struggle to estimate speed or manoeuvrability. Modern studies of aerial observations repeatedly emphasise that accurate identification depends heavily on independent measurements rather than visual impressions alone.
Sunset Conditions, Missing Measurements and Possible Explanations
The sighting occurred shortly after departure, with the aircraft flying generally toward the setting sun. That detail became central to later sceptical assessments. Air Materiel Command, which reviewed early saucer reports, concluded that sunset conditions are especially prone to visual misinterpretation. The military ultimately suggested that the crew could have been observing ordinary aircraft, balloons, birds or an optical illusion produced by lighting conditions.[Wikipedia]WikipediaFlight 105 UFO sightingFlight 105 UFO sighting
None of those explanations can be proven today. The surviving evidence is too limited. However, several factors favour a cautious interpretation.
First, the crew themselves expressed uncertainty. Rather than claiming impossible manoeuvres or definite disc shapes, they repeatedly stressed what they could not determine. Their restraint arguably strengthens their credibility, but it also highlights how little information they actually possessed.[Wikipedia]WikipediaFlight 105 UFO sightingFlight 105 UFO sighting
Second, the objects were seen near sunset, when reflections from distant aircraft, cloud edges and atmospheric haze can create unusual visual effects. Without range data, even a conventional object can appear unfamiliar.[Wikipedia]WikipediaFlight 105 UFO sightingFlight 105 UFO sighting
Third, nearby aviation observers failed to confirm the sighting despite radio inquiries. Had large solid objects been travelling through the same airspace, independent observations might have been expected, though the absence of such reports does not by itself disprove the crew’s experience.[Wikipedia]WikipediaFlight 105 UFO sightingFlight 105 UFO sighting
Where Flight 105 Fits in Idaho’s 1947 Saucer Wave
Flight 105 occupies an unusual place in Idaho UFO history. It is neither a debunked hoax nor a case supported by strong physical evidence. Instead, it sits in the middle ground occupied by many of the most persistent UFO reports: sincere witnesses, a detailed narrative and no decisive explanation.[Wikipedia]WikipediaFlight 105 UFO sightingFlight 105 UFO sighting
For historians of the 1947 flying-saucer wave, the case is important because it shows why some reports survived while others disappeared. The involvement of trained airline personnel gave the story lasting visibility. At the same time, the lack of measurements prevented investigators from reaching a firm conclusion. The result is a sighting that remains unresolved in a narrow sense but also unproven in any extraordinary sense.
That balance explains why Flight 105 continues to be discussed when examining Idaho’s role in the summer of 1947. It represents one of the state’s most credible witness accounts, yet it also demonstrates how quickly certainty disappears when crucial evidence—range, speed, altitude, radar returns and photographs—is missing.[nicap.org]nicap.orgUFO ReportThis is case #34 of the Project Blue Book "Unknowns". That night a United Airlines crew flying near Emmett, Idaho, saw fiv…
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Endnotes
1.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Flight 105 UFO sighting
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_105_UFO_sighting
2.
Source: nicap.org
Link:https://www.nicap.org/470704emmett_dir.htm
Source snippet
UFO ReportThis is case #34 of the Project Blue Book "Unknowns". That night a United Airlines crew flying near Emmett, Idaho, saw fiv...
3.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: 1947 flying disc craze
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_flying_disc_craze
4.
Source: project1947.com
Title: UA L Flight 105,
Link:https://www.project1947.com/fig/ual105.htm
Source snippet
J. SmithBy no means the most impressive UFO sighting by an airliner crew, nevertheless, it is a significant one. It occurred in clear wea...
5.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Arnold_UFO_sighting
6.
Source: time.graphics
Link:https://time.graphics/event/10182928
7.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWpPi0bPpag
Source snippet
Wikipedia...
8.
Source: americanheritage.com
Title: American Heritage Was This the First Reported UFO?
Link:https://www.americanheritage.com/was-first-reported-ufo
Source snippet
AMERICAN HERITAGEOn Independence Day, United Airlines Flight 105 sat on the tarmac before a scheduled flight from Boise to Pendleton. Bef...
9.
Source: spacedoutclassroom.com
Title: flight 105
Link:https://spacedoutclassroom.com/tag/flight-105/
Source snippet
The Spaced-Out ClassroomAug 28, 2022 — For instance, Roswell became known as a major hotspot for UFOs and aliens...
10.
Source: spacedoutclassroom.com
Link:https://spacedoutclassroom.com/tag/ufo/
Additional References
11.
Source: jasoncolavito.com
Link:https://www.jasoncolavito.com/report-on-ufos.html
Source snippet
Report on UFOsAir Defense Command relayed the report to Project Blue Book. An investigation was started at once. Flight Service, which cl...
12.
Source: kirkmcd.princeton.edu
Title: Gibian and First Officer Jack Harvey, of United Air Lines Flight Trip 105 (
Link:https://kirkmcd.princeton.edu/JEMcDonald/bloecher_67.pdf
Source snippet
Report on the UFO Wave of 1947by T Bloecher · 1967 · Cited by 45 — turned to other sources, including Air Force Project Blue Book files a...
13.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLuHgsXGpqc
Source snippet
3 Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers aka UFO 1947 (Arnold and Smith context)...
14.
Source: thedebrief.org
Title: summer of the saucers
Link:https://thedebrief.org/summer-of-the-saucers/
Source snippet
The DebriefSummer of the Saucers21 Jun 2022 — There are, however, two key cases that came out of the Summer of the Saucers — United Airli...
15.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhqjiAs0DL4
Source snippet
5 UFO Sightings: 1947 Idaho and Kenneth Arnold context[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWpPi0bPpag](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWpPi0bPpag) Wikipedia...
16.
Source: cia.gov
Link:https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp81r00560r000100010001-0
17.
Source: facebook.com
Link:https://www.facebook.com/idahoptv/posts/some-may-describe-these-objects-as-boomerang-looking-but-to-idaho-pilot-ken-arno/10158301321966307/
18.
Source: gutenberg.org
Link:https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/17346/pg17346-images.html
19.
Source: sacred-texts.com
Link:https://sacred-texts.com/ufo/rufo/rufo04.htm
20.
Source: facebook.com
Link:https://www.facebook.com/groups/397526214154529/posts/1264748560765619/