Portland, Oregon July 4 1947 sightings
4 July 1947 · Portland, Oregon
Summary
Portland police and other residents reported disc-shaped objects on the afternoon of 4 July 1947. An Army counterintelligence agent's memorandum dated 7 July says a radio alert went out over the Portland City Police Radio at 1305, after Patrolman Kenneth A. McDowell called in the sighting. McDowell said he was feeding pigeons behind the station when they became excited, and he saw five large discs east of the city, two flying south and three flying east. The Oregon Journal of 5 July put the alert at 1:06 p.m..
The same memorandum records an interview with Patrolman Earl E. Patterson, a former Air Corps pilot, who saw one aluminum-coloured disc flying southwest and estimated its altitude at 30,000 feet. Patrolmen W. A. Lissy and D. W. Ellis, both private pilots, described three white discs in straight-line formation at about 40,000 feet. The agent wrote that all informants were dependable and trustworthy officers. Oregon State Police Sergeant Claude Cross reported three discs travelling northwest. The Oregon Journal said a plane was in the sky at the time, but the harbor patrol witnesses were emphatic that the disks were not planes.
The Journal also listed later reports. E. A. Evans said he saw three objects cross east in two to four seconds. Mrs. Lawrence J. Hayward described a disk "like a new dime flipping around" at 4:30 p.m. Thomas W. Dwyer reported objects before 5 p.m. flying southeast. Sherman Cook recovered a piece of paper from a golf course. A second copy of the Journal text in the Air Force compilation records two sceptics: one called it an optical illusion, and Dr. Walter Kelley, Jr. said the objects looked like bits of crumpled foil.
The Department of War incident summaries reproduce the check-lists for McDowell, Patterson, Lissy, Ellis, Evans, Hayward and Dwyer. A Portland summary page gives the McDowell time as 1305, while the Air Force copy gives 1905. Wire reports said a Portland newspaper plane sent to look for the objects found nothing but empty sky. The documents give no official conclusion on what the objects were.
Where the files disagree
Two documents give different accounts of the same detail. Both are quoted as written; we don't say which is right.
Ground temperature
Direction of Patterson's disc
What the files say
“He saw no indication of any motivating force nor heard any sound coming from the discs and could give no description other than round.”
Page 14 →“He thought it appeared radio-controlled because the disc could change direction at a 90° angle without difficulty.”
Page 16 →“At 1305, 4 July 1947, a radio alert was issued via the Portland City Police Radio, advising all cars and listeners that some fast flying objects were in the air over Portland and vicinity.”
Page 184 →“Both officers estimated the discs altitude at 40,000 feet.”
Page 183 →“There was a plane in the sky at the time, but all were emphatic that the disks were not planes.”
Page 182 →“The Oregonian dispatched a plane to hunt Portland's saucers. It found nothing but empty sky.”
Page 122 →
Also discussed in
Explanations in the record
What the documents themselves say the event was, as recorded. Not our assessment.
- A Portland physician-style sceptic, Al F. Sanford, said the sightings were an optical illusion. — Air Force UFO case compilation for United States sightings, page 33
- Dr. Walter Kelley, Jr. called the reports a hoax and said the objects looked like bits of crumpled foil, perhaps cigarette wrappers. — Air Force UFO case compilation for United States sightings, page 33