By June 30th sightings for that month had been made in at least thirty states and in two Canadian provinces. The largest number of sightings (twenty) had been made in Washington; runners-up were Oregon and New Mexico (thirteen each); Utah, Arizona and Texas (eight each); California and Idaho (six each); and the remaining states accounted for four or less, making a total of 128 sightings for the month. Daylight sightings predominated, totaling ninety; night sightings came to twenty- eight and ten were of undetermined times. Most people had reported seeing “round objects” or “discs;” some described the objects as “oval.” Witnesses numbered more than 220 persons, representing a wide cross-section of professions, including pilots, scientists, police, public officials, physicians, teachers, students, forest rangers, newspaper men, railroad engineers, military men, housewives, a barber, a dentist, and a postmaster. Observations were made from planes in the air, from moving automobiles, from the inside of homes, through windows, but mostly from open areas outdoors. Instruments that had been used to observe UFOs included binoculars and theodolites, and in one report (Case 13) a photograph was said to have been taken (IV-3).
The vantage point of time allows us to view past events with an objectivity that was impossible as those events were taking place. Looking back today on the UFO sightings of June, 1947, it appears to be unmistakably evident that by the end of the month there was already enough evidence to justify a thorough scientific investigation into these unexplained appearances. It is understandable that such an idea occurred to scarcely anyone in mid-1947. What is so difficult to understand is why it took another nineteen years of continued observations and reports to get such an investigation underway.