July 4, 1947 — Portland, OR - Vancouver, WA
1:05–5:30 p.m. Many people in Portland, Oregon—including KOIN newsman Frank Cooley, deputy Clark County Sheriff Fred Krives, Portland police officer Kenneth A. McDowell, and Oregon highway patrol Sgt. Claude Cross—view five large discs moving at high speed to the east, two flying south and three to the east, with an oscillating or wobbling motion, sudden 90° turns or zigzagging. Radio reports alert other officers (including Walter Lissy, Robert Ellis, and Earl Patterson, all WWII veterans) who see the metallic objects that look like a disc or hubcap or pie-pan or half-moon flashing in the sun. No vapor trail or noise (except possible humming) is reported. [Eberhart]
SIGN Incident 5 [McDowell / Police / Main sighting]
SIGN Incident 6, 7, 8/8a, 9, 12 Summaries [Simply states no astronomical explanation]:
Sources:
“Air Liner Crew Confirms Flying Discs over State; Many Seen during Day over City,” Portland Oregonian, July 5, 1947, p. 1,11;
“Portland Police See Disks Sail,” Oregon Journal, July 5, 1947, p. 1;
“Airline Crew Confirms Report Of Flying Disks; Five Spotted,” Oregon Journal, July 5, 1947, p. 2;
Ted Bloecher, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, Case 228,230-236, pp. II-9, III-15-16;
Brad Sparks, Blue Book Unknowns Catalogue, Case 19-22, p. 20;
Edward Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, p. 20;
J Allen Hynek, The Hynek UFO Report, pp. 100-102;
Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence, p. 129, 157;
Michael David Hall and Wendy Ann Connors, Alfred Loedding and the Great Flying Saucer Wave of 1947, Rose Press, 1998, pp. 48-50;
Michael David Hall and Wendy Ann Connors, “Alfred Loedding: New Insight on the Man behind Project Sign,” IUR 23, no. 4 (Winter 1998): 5;
NICAP, “Seven Discs Observed by Many Witnesses”;
Project 1947, “UFO Reports, 1947”;
James E. McDonald, “Statement on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 58;
