If we want to take an objective look, we must be aware that Arnold said there were nine objects but Johnson said he saw only six. The Air Force, in its file notes, "There are several major differences, notably as Dr. Hynek points out that these objects had tails, and that the inferred size, as determined from the estimated distance, is quite different."
But again, we retreat to the evidence in the case file. If Arnold's estimate of distance is correct, then we wouldn't expect him to see fine details on the craft. Even if he badly overestimated the distance, he was still a long way from them. Johnson, on the other hand, was must closer and he looked at them through a telescope. That means, quite simply, that he might have observed details on the craft that were invisible to Arnold because of the distances involved.
We are left with two very interesting cases, that, when linked, provide an important corroboration for one another. We are left with two cases that have no good explanation for them. Those explanations tried all are badly flawed or so outrageous as to be useless. Of course the fact that the reports are not explained does not mean that either Arnold or Johnson saw extraterrestrial space craft. It only means that they saw something unconventional that, at the time, was not explained as aircraft, mirages, blowing snow or raindrops on the cockpit canopy. That tends to rule out the mundane so that we are left with the extraordinary.
July 7, 1948: The Rhodes Photographs
Less than two weeks after Kenneth Arnold's sighting hit the newspapers, a self-employed, self-proclaimed scientist living in Phoenix, Arizona took what might be the first, and the best, photographs of one of the flying saucers.
William A. Rhodes told reporters, FBI agents, and Army investigators basically the same story. He had been on the way to his workshop at the rear of his house when he heard a distinctive "whoosh" that he believed to be from a P-80 "Shooting Star," a jet powered aircraft. He grabbed a camera from a workshop bench and hurried to a small mound in the backyard. The object was circling in the east at about a thousand feet in the air.
Rhodes sighted along the side of his camera and took a photograph. He advanced the film, and then hesitated, thinking that he would wait for it to get closer. Then, worried that it would disappear without coming closer, snapped the second picture. That was all the film he had.
The story, along with the pictures, appeared in the Phoenix newspaper, The Arizona Republic. In it, reporter Robert C. Hanika, wrote, "Men long experienced in aircraft recognition studied both the print and the negative from which they were made, and declined to make a guess on what the flying object might be." It was also noted that "The marked interest Rhodes has for all aircraft has led most persons who have been in contact with other observers of the 'flying discs' to believe the photographs are the first authentic photographs of the missiles, since Rhodes easily can identify practically any aircraft."
Rhodes said that the object appeared to be elliptical in shape and have a diameter of twenty to thirty feet. It appeared to be at 5000 feet when first seen and was traveling, according to Rhodes, at 400 to 600 miles an hour. It was gray which tended to blend with the overcast background of the sky.
The object had, according to Rhodes and a confidential report from the Project Blue Book files, "what appeared to be a cockpit canopy in the center which extended toward the back and beneath the object. The 'cockpit did not protrude from the surface but was clearly visible with the naked eye." There were no propellers or landing gear, but there did seem to be trails of turbulent air behind the trailing points of the object. Speculation was that there were jet engines of some kind located there. The craft moved silently, although Rhodes had said that a jet-like roar was what called his attention to it.
The news stories apparently alerted the military to Rhodes' sighting. Various investigations were launched. On July 14, 1947, Lynn C. Aldrich, a special agent for the Army's counterintelligence corps (CIC) in a memo for the record available in the Project Blue Book files wrote, "On 8 July 1947, this Agent obtained pictures of unidentifiable objects (Exhibits 1 and 2) from the managing editor of the Arizona Republic newspaper. The pictures were taken by Mr. William A. Rhodes… [of] Phoenix, Arizona, at sunset, on 7 July 1947."
Then, on August 29, according to a "Memorandum for the Office in Charge," George Fugate, Jr., a special agent of the CIC and stationed at Forth Air Force Headquarters, interviewed Rhodes in person. Fugate was accompanied by Special Agent Brower of the Phoenix FBI Office. This interview is important because of some of the confusion about location of the negatives and prints of the photographs that would develop later.
During the interview, Rhodes again told the story, suggesting that he thought, at first, it might have been the Navy's "Flying Flapjack" which had been featured on the May 1947 cover of Mechanix Illustrated. He rejected the idea because he saw no propellers or landing gear. Research shows that the Navy built a single "Flapjack" and that it never flew outside the Bridgeport, Connecticut area.
At the end of Fugate's report, he wrote, "Mr. Rhodes stated that he developed the negatives himself. He still had the negative of the first photograph (Exhibit III), but he could not find the negative for the second photograph."
On February 19, 1948, Lewis C. Gust, the chief, Technical Project Officer, Intelligence Department (though the Project Blue Book files fail to identify the man or his organization beyond that), wrote what might be considered a preliminary report on the analysis of the photographs. "It is concluded that the image is of true photographic nature, and is not due to imperfections in the emulsion, or lack of development in the section in question. The image exhibits a 'tail' indicating the proper type of distortion due to the type of shutter used, the speed of the object and the fixed speed of the shutter. This trailing off conforms to the general information given in the report."
On May 11, 1948, Rhodes was again interviewed but this time by high-ranking people. Lieutenant Colonel James C. Beam, who worked with the head of intelligence at Wright Field Colonel Howard McCoy, and Alfred C. Loedding, who was an important civilian at AMC, traveled to Phoenix. In their official report of their trip, they wrote, "Although Mr. Rhodes is currently employed as a piano player in a night club, his primary interest is in a small but quite complete laboratory behind his home. According to his business card, this laboratory is called "Panoramic Research Laboratory and Mr. Rhodes is referred to as the 'Chief of Staff.' Mr. Rhodes appeared to be completely sincere and apparently is quite interested in scientific experiments."
It would become apparent in later documents, reports, and memos that military investigators were concerned with Rhodes billing himself as a scientist or as the chief of staff of his private laboratory. They seemed to think that there was something about the man's character that could be determined from what seems to be little more than a marketing ploy rather than a willful attempt to misrepresent himself.
In later investigations they would detail his background, noting that that Phoenix city directories showed that he had worked at Wayne's Midway Inn and later as a musician. They also interviewed neighbors who all said that Rhodes was a quiet, responsible neighbor, who seemed to be somewhat pompous and egotistical in his public demeanor. But the neighbors also noted that they considered him a genius who had built a telescope to study astronomy and a television with little in the way of outside assistance.