David N. Johnson sighting, Boise-Meridian

David N. Johnson, aviation editor of the Idaho Daily Statesman, reported a black round object on 9 July 1947 while flying a National Guard AT-6 between Boise and Meridian. In a sworn statement dated 12 July 1947, he said his newspaper assignment began on 6 July and that he had flown a seven and one-half hour search with Kenneth Arnold on 7 July and a separate search on 8 July. Both were negative.

Johnson wrote that he was at 14,000 feet when the object appeared on his left. He first thought it was a weather balloon. A CAA communicator, Albertson, told him no balloon had been released. He exposed about ten seconds of 8 mm film, then saw the object roll, flash once and break off a partial roll. He said it appeared the size of a twenty-five cent piece and that he could not estimate its distance or speed. He gave the CAA log contact time as 12:17.

Johnson stated that a P-51 and later P-51 flights searched the area with negative results. He wrote that three National Guard men on the ground described a similar object at about 14:00. He said he was tired and may have lacked oxygen. The film, processed in San Francisco, showed no trace of any object. The processor said an object more than a mile away would not have registered.

Special Agent Frank M. Brown of Fourth Air Force CIC interviewed Johnson on 12 July. His memo gave Johnson's 2,800 flying hours and B-29 service and recorded the interviewer's opinion that Johnson saw what he reported. The Fourth Air Force report of 18 July listed the case as pending. Later Air Force check-lists logged it as incident 83, with one object, over a mile away, in sight 10 to 30 seconds. A copy of the same summary gives the observer as David M. Johnson. The record pages given contain no final conclusion on the sighting.