Kenneth Arnold

On June 24, 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold saw what he described as a string of nine shiny unidentified flying objects flying past Mount Rainier at speeds that he estimated to be at least 1,200 miles per hour (1,900 km/h). This was the first post-World War II sighting in the United States that garnered nationwide news coverage and is credited with being the first of the modern era of UFO sightings, including numerous reported sightings over the next two to three weeks. Arnold's description o…