The phrase “flying saucer” is arguably one of the most iconic and readily understood to have emerged out of the 20th Century, with almost anyone anywhere understanding what is meant when it’s said.
With that said, it has also been claimed that the term was actually coined by the media and not an eyewitness believing that what they saw was a flying vehicle from another world.
Is this true?
VERDICT:
TRUE
Yes, this is actually true; the term “flying saucer” emerged out of one of the first documented sightings of an unidentified flying object, namely what was seen on June 24, 1947, by businessman and pilot Kenneth Arnold.
Arnold had seen several objects while flying near Mt Rainier in the United States and when asked by reporters to describe what he had seen, he had said that they flew “like saucers skipping on water”.
However, were these objects spotted while searching for a crashed US Marine Corps transport aircraft actually saucers? The answer is in fact that no, they were not.
This is mentioned in several places, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica article on unidentified flying objects which describes what Arnold saw as “crescent-shaped”.
Indeed, as described in a 2022 article in the official magazine of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, writer Russell Lee explains that the official account given to the authorities did not mention a saucer.
“In a report that he sent to the US Air Force in July, Arnold drew a shape not unlike the heel of a shoe. It had a rounded leading edge and the trailing edge came to a shallow point,” writes Lee.
“Whatever Kenneth Arnold saw remains unexplained but subsequent reports used the words ‘flying saucer’. During the next decades, people around the world labelled many sightings of unexplained aerial phenomena as flying saucers,” he added.
Indeed, Lee writes that Arnold had strongly denied ever describing the objects initially as saucers and adds that an East Oregonian reporter Nolan Skiff had used the words “saucer-like aircraft” when he published a short print article the day after the sighting.
He then says that another article written by a reporter employed by the East Oregonian – Bill Bequette – was then picked up by the Associated Press wire service, using the words “nine bright saucer-like objects” to describe what Arnold said he saw.
One thing led to another from there, and “flying saucer” entered the public consciousness.
As for Arnold, he did not enjoy the fame or the attention; he would say in an interview 30 years after the incident “I have, of course, suffered some embarrassment here and there by misquotes and misinformation.”
SOURCES:
