the letter was written, ATICs intelligence specialists were confident
that within a few months or a year they would have the answer to the
question, "What are UFO's?" The question, "Do UFO's exist?" was never
mentioned. The only problem that confronted the people at ATIC was,
"Were the UFO's of Russian or interplanetary origin?" Either case
called for a serious, secrecy-shrouded project. Only top people at
ATIC were assigned to Project Sign.

Although a formal project for UFO investigation wasn't set up until
September 1947, the Air Force had been vitally interested in UFO
reports ever since June 24, 1947, the day Kenneth Arnold made the
original UFO report.

As Arnold's story of what he saw that day has been handed down by
the bards of saucerism, the true facts have been warped, twisted, and
changed. Even some points in Arnold's own account of his sighting as
published in his book, _The_ _Coming_ _of_ _the_ _Saucers_, do not
jibe with what the official files say he told the Air Force in 1947.
Since this incident was the original UFO sighting, I used to get many
inquiries about it from the press and at briefings. To get the true
and accurate story of what did happen to Kenneth Arnold on June 24,
1947, I had to go back through old newspaper files, official reports,
and talk to people who had worked on Project Sign. By cross-checking
these data and talking to people who had heard Arnold tell about his
UFO sighting soon after it happened, I finally came up with what I
believe is the accurate story.

Arnold had taken off from Chehalis, Washington, intending to fly to
Yakima, Washington. About 3:00P.M. he arrived in the vicinity of
Mount Rainier. There was a Marine Corps C-46 transport plane lost in