Awaiting editorial reviewSerial 130
62-HQ-83894 Serial 130: Pan American Airways Crew Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects Near Boston, August 1947
Prepared summary.
On 4 August 1947 at 1600 EDT, Pan American Airways Captain Alpheus O. Powell and navigator Walter I. White separately sighted flying objects near Boston while piloting a Constellation from Gander, Newfoundland to La Guardia Field. Powell described his object as cylindrical, blunt at both ends, roughly the length of a P-40 fuselage, and bright orange; White described his as elliptical, deep gold, and approximately 15 feet long. Air Defense Command at Mitchel Field, New York interviewed both men and issued summaries of information on 12 and 15 September 1947.
Approximately midway between Everett (Mass) Fan Marker and Bedford Radio Beacon, approximately 10 miles NW of Boston, MassachusettsWalter I. White, Pan American Airways navigatorAlpheus O. Powell, Pan American Airways Airlines Captain and first pilotEllipsoid or ovalCylinder
Source text
Document text
[page 1] # CONFIDENTIAL DECLASSIFIED 62-83894-130 Authority: NND 90986 IN REPLY REFER TO: HEADQUARTERS AIR DEFENSE COMMAND MITCHEL FIELD, NEW YORK 12 September 1947 SUBJECT: Unidentified Flying Object (Interview - Alpheus 0. Powell) SUMMARY OF INFORMATION: The following information was received 12 August 1947 from Mr. Alpheus O. Powell, 28 Redwood Road, New Hyde Park, Long Island, relative to the sighting of a possible flying dise 4 August 1947. # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) On 4 August 1947, Mr Powell, an Airlines Captain with Pan American Airways, Inc., was the first pilot of a Constellation type aircraft on a flight from Gander, Newfoundland, to La Guardia Field, New York. Mr. Powell took over the aircraft at Gander, Newfoundland and departed at approximately 1230 P.M., Eastern Daylight Saving Time for La Guardia Field, New York. At 1600 P.M., at a position approximately midway between the Everett (Mass) Fan Marker and the Bedford Radio Beacon (Everett is 3 miles NW of Boston, Mass., and Bedford is 15 miles NW of the same city) both Mr Powell and Mr W. White, navigator on this trip, sighted unidentifiable flying objects. To the best of Mr. Powell's knowledge, the following weather conditions existed at that time: Visibility was good; cloud coverage was from 6-8/10ths, with tops at 10,000 feet; and the wind at the 8,000 foot level was estimated as being 270/25 miles per hour. The aircraft was at 8,000 feet; airspeed 265 mph; and the course was 244 degrees, magnetic. # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) Mr White, who was sitting in the co-pilots seat (the right side of the cockpit) first called Mr. Powell's attention to a bright orange object,, which was on the right side of the plane, and slightly below the level of the aircraft. Mr Powell was unable to see the object, as he had no visibility to the right and down, from his position. Mr Powell immediately glanced out his side window and noticed, at a 45° angle to the loft, and unidentified flying object. It was about one mile away at an altitude of approximately 7,800 feet. Mr Powell banked to obtain a better view of the object. The object was under observation for approximately 30 seconds, and during this time was viewed by Mr Powell. Mr Powell described the object as being about the length of a P-40 fuselage, blunt at both ends, cylindrical in shape, and having a bright orange hue. Mr Powell stated that the object had a definite shape, and that there was no suggestion of gaseous dissipation as there would be if the orange color were the exhaust from a rocket, or a jet aircraft. Mr Powell estimated the course of the object to be 200° magnetic, and that the object was travelling at approximately 150 mph. Mr Powell lost sight of the object, when a cloud came between the aircraft and the object. The pursuit of the object was not continued, inasmuch as it would have necessitated a departure from the established airways, [page 2] # CONFIDENTIAL IN REPLY REFER TO: | HEADQUARTERS | |-| | AIR DEFENSE COMMAND | | MITCHEL FIELD, NEW YORK | 2 15 September 1947 SUBJECT: Unidentified Flying Objects (Interview - Walter I. White) SUMMARY OF INFORMATION: The following information relative to the sighting of a possible flying disc 4 August 1947, was received 10 September 1947 from Mr. Walter I. White, 19-57 79th Street, Jackson Heights, New York. # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) On 4 August 1947, Mr. White, Pan American Airways Ins., was the navigator of a Constellation type aircraft on a flight from Gander, New- foundland to La Guardia Field, New York. At 1600, at a position approxi- mately 10 miles NW of Boston, Mass., Mr Thi te sighted a flying object which he was unable to identify. At this time Mr White was sitting in the co- pilots seat, and looking out the right side for other aircraft that might be in the vicinity. Mr White stated that when he first sighted the object, it appeared to be about 3 miles away, and at least 1,000 feet below the level of the Constellation. Mr White believes that he studied the object for almost 30 seconds before he called the pilot's attention to it. Mr White described the object as being a deep gold in color, and that its' surface reflected light. It appeared to be about 15 feet in length, and from 2-3 feet in depth; elliptical in shape and blunted at the ends. Mr White estimated the speed of the object as being 175 miles per hour, and that it was travelling in an east- erly direction, on a course of approximately 110° magnetic. Mr White then told the aircraft commander that there was an unidentified object to the right, and again glanced out to observe the object, catching a momentary glimpse of it before the pilot banked the plane to the left. When the aircraft banked Mr White lost sight of the object. At this point, Mr Powell, the aircraft Captain, exclaimed that he was able to see a similar object on his side. Mr White was unable to see the object on Mr Powell's side. He stated that he does not believe that it was the same object that he had viewed inasmuch as the one he saw if it had remained on the same course would have been hidden from view by that time by the wings and tail section of the Constella- tion. Mr White stated that the pilot then righted the plane. The entire in- cident transpired in less than a minute and one-half. [page 3] CONFIDENTIAL in conjunction with contract flying for the AAF. Mr White states that he has flown with Mr Powell on a number of occasions, and he considers him to be a very stable person; completely reliable, and not given to "flights of fancy", Related Report: See Summary of Information, 12 September 1947, Hq ADC, subject, "Unidentified Flying Objects" (interview - Alpheus 0. Powell). Previous Distribution: - None Evaluation Distribution - AAF (3 copies) - ADC (2 copies) of source C of information 3 CONFIDENTIAL don [page 4] CONFIDENTIAL AGENTS NOTES: Mr. A. O. Powell is a graduate of the Aviation Cadet Flying Training Program, having graduated from Maxwell Field, Alabama, with the Class of 41-C. Since graduation, Mr. Powell has flown for Pan American Airways and, at this date, has over 4,000 command pilot hours to his credit. Mr. Powell appears to be a calm, intelligent individual, not given to flights of fancy, or easily swayed by what he has previously read in the newspapers as regards reports of this type. Mr. Powell has a fear of publi- city and seemed hesitant to even tell his story lest he become the object of ridicule. Mr Powell was questioned as to the possibility that what he sighted might have been a tow target, a pilot balloon, or a radiosonic device used for meteorological purposes. Mr Powell stated that he has seen numerous pilot balloons, radiosonic devices and tow targets, while on flights; the object observed on this flight definitely was not one of them. Previous Distribution: None Distribution - AAF (3 copies) - ADC (2 copies) [page 5] RESTRICTED BASIC: Ltr. Hq. BARTD, Birmingham AAF, Birmingham, Ala., dtd 8 July 47, subj: Report on Local "Flying Disc." 319.1/684 HEADQUARTERS, FOURTEENTH AIR FORCE, Orlando, Florida, JUL 21 1947 lst Ind. D TO: Commanding General, Air Defense Command, Mitchel Field, New York. 1. Forwarded for information of your Headquarters. 2. This Headquarters has made no investigation of "Flying Disc" reports because this is an isolated case. FOR THE COMMANDING GENERAL: 3 Incls: n/c <signature> V. E. Murphy Lt. Colonel, AGD Asst. Adj. Gen. 92715 24-6 24 JUL 1947 RESTRICTED T 2 [page 6] 62-83894-130 [page 7] # RESTRICTED HEADQUARTERS BIRMINGHAM AIR RESERVE TRAINING DETACHMENT BIRMINGHAM ARMY AR FI ELD Birmingham, Alabama A/J0/10 8 July 1947 SUBJECT: Report on Local "Flying Disc" 7795 TO: Commanding Generel Fourteenth Air Force, ADC Orlando, Florida Attn: A-2 1. Inclosed herewith is a photograph of the "publicized flying disc, which was reportedly witnessed over Birmingham on the night of Sunday, 6 July 1947. # RESTRICTED (cont.) 2. Attention is invited to the two light spots on the print and the light trail following the two discs. The arrow at the top of the photograph indicates the direction of flight. This has been examined by professional photographers in Birmingham and their general opinion is that the two spots shown on the light trail, no flaws in the negative, but instead, an actual photograph of the mysterious disc. 3. The undersigned officer did not personally witness the flight of any disc, however, in view of the numerous reports received from the citizens of Birmingham, it is the general opinion in Birmingham that "something was in the sir." Atta died hereto as inclosure number two is a statement made by the only military personnel of this organization who personally witnessed the flight of the mysterious disc. For addi- tional information attached as inclosure number three are clippings from one of the local newspapers giving an account of the many persons who re- ported seeing the many mysterious objects. 4. The intelligence officer of the Alabama ilitary District has forwarded a similar report through ground for ce channels to the Command ing General, Third Army, Atlanta 3, Georgia. 76 319 11/684 [page 8] RESTRICTED Berci 16 Report on Local "Flying Disc" D333.5 ID (8 Jul 47) 2nd Ind HQ., AIR DEFENSE COMMAND, Mitchel Field, New York, 25 July 1947. TO: Commanding General, Army Air Forces, Washington 25, D. C. ATTN: AC/AS-2 Forwarded for your information. FOR THE COMMANDING GENERAL: 3 Incls: n/c <signature> R. H. SMITH Colonel, GSC Asst Chief of Staff-Intell. don RESTRICTED ## THE WEA. XFurnished by the U, S. Weather For Birmingham and Vicinity Partly cloudy and warm today, to- night and tomorrow with a few scattered showers this afternoon. High today 86, low tonight 70, high tomorrow 90. 47 ** ## PRICE: 5 CENTS ## Flying Saucers' Reported From 39 States, But But Seem To Be Concentrated Here 2 130 # RESTRICTED (cont.) ## City Is Baffled By Dazzling Display Of Spooky Discs The strange things that have been in night skies since June 25, were over Birmingham last night. On one thing everyone who has seen the mysterious objects agree -they are round, saucer-like. After that, every story differs. Each of the hundreds of callers who re- ported witnessing the baffling sky demonstrations here last night had a dif different version of what they saw. Some said the objects were large, some small. They were mov- ing at great speed. They were sus- pended in the air. There was sound along with their movements. They moved noiselessly through the black sky. They were at great distance from the earth. They had fallen to the ground. They were in perfect formation. They were colliding with each other. But whatever the things are that have set the nation agog since first reported 12 days ago by a man in Washington State, they definitely were over the Magic City last night. It seems, in fact, that more Bir mingham residents saw the objects than in any other place. # RESTRICTED (cont.) ## City Is Baffled By Dazzling Display Of Spooky Discs (cont.) man admitted having been jects several weeks ago "but was ashamed to tell my wife." Whatever it is going on in the night skies, it has the entire nation in a dither. The flying discs have eclipsed every other national and international event in the minds of the American people. Broadcasts from England last night said the Britishers were scoffing at the story. But when persons in 30-odd states have reported seeing the ob- jects, there must be something to the story. Birmingham police headquarters was flooded with calls, too, last night. So was the Weather Bureau, the control tower at the airport, air- line officers. At the Birmingham Army Air field, Maj. Jack C. White, com- mandant, ordered an alert and dis- patched a plane to fly around the eity. The plane, with Lt. L. S. Rob- inson at the controls, circled the city for an hour and 15 minutes at from 4,000 to 5,000 feet. He was un- able to report any unnatural ob- jects. # MONDAY, JULY 7, 1947 (cont.) Charles F. Bradley, Birmingham weather man, said he did not believe the spectacle was a weather phe- nomena, "I have instructed my staff to be on the alert for any in- formation they might gather on the matter, he said. GREATEST EXCITEMENT of the evening came when a man re- ravine near Avonwood. ported some of the discs had fallen in a scenes-and found nothing. porter and photographer went to the in porter the scenes-and found nothing. a ravine and near Avonwood. A Residents of the district said the residents to have fallen in the trees. dises had passed low and appeared to have fallen in the trees. Robert Crossland, Age-Herald copy reader, rushed for his camera when the objects passed over his said. residence on 29th Street and High- land Avenue. His developed film revealed two round, white spots on the black, elose together, one lark- er than the other. He said he gave the picture a 15-second exposure. Five other persons were with him when the picture was made. But witnesses aren't needed any longer to bear out reports of the strange demonstration. Too many persons-good, solid citizens have seen the things. In fact, they're thinking of calling the show out at Munger Bowl tonight, "The Disc- light Opera." ## Scores Of People Report # MONDAY, JULY 7, 1947 (cont.) ## Seeing Mysterious Discs Residents of East Lake, South- side, West End, Woodlawn and Bes-into semer reported seeing the flying discs or saucers last night. One disc was reported seen yesterday after-six noon over the Warrior River. The number seen at one time varied. # MONDAY, JULY 7, 1947 (cont.) ## *** Nine of the discs were seen by Connie Murdoch, 512 South 10th Court. "They were gobs of light moving around the sky," she re- ported. H. E. Reagor, 1318 45th Street, said he and neighbors saw "40 or 50" light spots in the sky, apparent- ly over the Central Park Airport area. One resident of East Lake, hear ing of the flying saucers, rushed into his front yard. "I saw the land- ing lights of a DC-3 and 17 light- ning bugs," he reported. Mrs. James Bain, 1225 South 29th re-spotted by disc, as neighbors gathered. Street, saw three dises traveling east to west. Two more were three dises traveling from later, followed by more a single were J. L. Kardus, 2100 Clanton Street, Bessemer, reported seeing "strange tween Bessemer and Red Mountain. lights" moving through the sky be- They were going very fast," he "Whirling saucers" were reported seen by Dan, Smirl, 14, 1429 10th Place, South, and Marvin Pharo, 15, 626 10th Avenue, South. We weren't looking for them," the boys reported. "We were standing in the yard when we saw round silver flashes circling around. They came one at a time at first, then the num- ber increased. They seemed to go over the mountain." # MONDAY, JULY 7, 1947 (cont.) ## *** At police headquarters, Officer E. E. McNeal said reports of the discs began at 8:10 p.m. and ceased about 20 minutes later. *** "Streaks of light flying very slow" were reported seen by Mrs. H. M. Sockwell, 1360 Meadow Lane, Green Acres. She said she rushed her yard as soon as she heard the report on the radio. She and her husband and five neighbors saw of the discs flying "fairly low." She said they were the size of a # MONDAY, JULY 7, 1947 (cont.) ## *** (cont.) "BIG AS TABLES" "I called to find out if I'm crazy," said Mrs. Gordon Mize, of the Bessemer Super-High- way, who telephoned The News this morning to report seeing mysterious flying discs. Mrs. Mize said she and her husband and their hosts saw the "balls of fire" as they pre- pared to get into their car after a visit with Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Bush at Brighton, be- tween 9:30 and 10 last night. She said the flash lights, which appeared as beacon lights coming over a hill, came from the direction of Besse- mer. The lights would come at lightning speed and then stop dead still and hang in the sky, they said. Then they would dart off again, some returning in the direction of Bessemer and some going on. Some would circle. Others would pass each other and scarcely avoid collision. "They were about as large as my dining room table," she said. baseball and traveled in a "big curve from southwest to southeast. The saucers came at intervals of about five seconds. [page 13] A citizen of Fairfield Highlands said the flying discs came over his residence at a speed of about 1,500 miles an hour. "They would go in opposite directions, stop, and bump into each other," he reported. Gene Plumstead, program man-floated ager of WSGN, reported the flying discs over Edgewood Lake. Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Martin and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Arnold, 732 47th Way, South. "Some of them went as fast as-bullets, while others around. They were the size of an automobile tire." # MONDAY, JULY 7, 1947 (cont.) ## ** Mr. and Mrs. William Howell, Ens-1004 East Court, South, reported seeing 11 discs about 8:30 a.m. J. A. Hafner, 3301 Avenue I, ley, said the lights appeared like a spot thrown by a huge searchlight. He said, however, beam such as would come from a He said, however, he could see no searchlight. "About 15 of them passed over our house shortly before 8," said Mrs. Helen Mallory, 1404 North 12th Court. Mrs. Mallory said the objects were first sighted by her son, Milo, who called the rest of the family. "They looked like a flash of light that went by in such a hurry you couldn't describe it," A number of "white round things" were seen in the skies over West End by Mrs. Alfred Hack- barth, 1760 McMillan Avenue. L. M. Cadenhead, 2000 48th she said. Street, Central Park, saw the lights over Powderly "They looked like saucers," said Frank S. Lovelace, policeman for the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Rail- road Company, reported seeing eight or 10 of the objects. "They looked about the size of a dishpan, he said. "They came out of the southeast and whirled around sev- eral minutes." # MONDAY, JULY 7, 1947 (cont.) ## ** (cont.) S-Sgt. I. L. Livingston, of the Bir- mingham Army Airfield, observed the discs from his Green Acres residence. "They were going zig- zag from East to West," he said. R. H. VAUGHN, III, who served as an anti-aircraft gunner in Eu- rope, saw the "flying saucer" dis- play with his father from their home in Ensley Highlands. "I never shot at anything moving as rapidly as they were," he said, Vaughn be- lieves the "discs" are some sort of natural phenomena, like the Aurora Borealis. Jimmy Dewberry, 11, of 1030 16th Avenue, South, said he saw a "fly- ing saucer" while visiting at his grandmother's on 14th Avenue, South. "It looked like a shooting star," Jimmy said, "but it was too low for that. It had a long red tail." ## Searchlight Reflection [page 14] RESTRICTED ## S-T-A-T-M-E-N-T I, Staff Sergeant Ira L. Livingston, RA 14 153 972, Air Corps, have approximately 250 hours flying time as pilot and Armorer Gunner have the following statement to make concerning the appearence of "Flying Discs" in the vicinity of Birmingham, Alabama. # MONDAY, JULY 7, 1947 (cont.) ## S-T-A-T-M-E-N-T (cont.) At 2045 hours, 6 July 1947, while I was eating supper at my residence at 1354 Meadow Lane, Green Acres, Birmingham, Alabama, my next door neighbor, Mr. Herman M. Saokwell, called for me to come to the front door that there were some "Flying Discs" outside. Immediately I went out in the front yard to observe the objects. The objects appeared to the West of Birmingham traveling in a South Eastern direction. They appeared to be approximately 2000 feet above the horizon at a 45 degree angle from where I was standing at an un- estimated distance away. The objects appeared to be approximately two (2) feet in diameter, round in shape, producing a dim glow of light and traveling at an estimated. speed of five (5) to six (6) hundred miles per hour. The objects or object appeared to be traveling in a definite are rather than straight and as soon as one was out of sight another would appear behind it, but not always in the same path. I saw one that seemed to come straight up. The view of where it came from was obstructed by a nearby house; and when it reached the altitude of approximately 2000feet, it started off in the same direction as the others. I did not at any time see any more than one at the time and even though there could have been only one, my personal belief is that there were seven (7) to ten (10). The Discs were silent and appeared to be composed of a single light. [page 15] CONFIDENTIAL HEADQUARTERS, NEWFOUNDLAND BASE COMMAND. NB-T- 10/ 3133 /gdb ATLANTIC DIVISION, AIR TRANSPORT COMMAND RESTRICTED FORT PEPPERRELL, NEWFOUNDLAND APO 862,% POSTMASTER, NEW YORK, N. Y. IN REPLY REFER MBC <empty> Classification changed or Changed to Restricted authority of CC, AD-ATC <signature> 6 Aug 47 (Name) (Rank) (Date) 30 July 1947 SUBJECT: Letter of Transmittal. - TO Commanding General, Atlantic Division, ATC, Fort Totten, Long Island, N. Y. (ATTENTION: AC/S, Intelligence) Reference Letter of Transmittal, this office, dated 28 July 1947, with four (4) inclosures (Inclosures 1, 2 and 3, Final Reports of Sightings of "flying saucers"; and Inclosure 4, Signed Statement - Con stable KEARSEY), transmitted herewith is Final Report of Sighting of "flying saucers" in Newfoundland, which occurred at Harmon Field, Stephen ville, Newfoundland at 03452, 23 July 1947. ## FOR THE COMMANDING GENERAL: 1 Incl: Final Rpt of Sighting, 23 Jul 47 Marion C. Miller MARION C. MILLER, Captain, Air Corps, AC/S, Intelligence. [page 16] # CONFIDENTIAL 4 REstricted FINAL REPORT OF SIGHTING Classification cancelled or chan Restruct (Title) (Name) (Rank) (Date) Organization: 1388th AAF Base Unit # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) | 1. Organization: | 1388th AAF Base Unit (Dat<br />APO 864, c/o Postmaster, New York, N.Y. | |-|-| | 2. Sighting | Strange intermittent flashes that may tie in<br />with "Flying Discs". | | 3. Place : | Harmon Field, Stephenville, Newfoundland. | | 4. Time : | 03452, 23 July 1947. | | 5. Altitude : | Approximately 10,000 feet high. | | 6. Weather | High scattered condition; visibility better<br />than fifteen (15) miles. | | 7. Heading | From South, heading NNE (approximately 30°) | | 8. Speed : | High velocity; stated to be faster than a<br />conventional airplane. | | 9. Description: | The observers saw a light which at first appeared<br />to be a shooting star or airplane. It appeared<br />again, and a mumber of intermittant flashes were<br />seen for a period of approximately three (3) minutes.<br />The flashes were reddish in color. Observers said it<br />was not a falling star because it did not appear as<br />such; nor was it an airplane, because manoeuvers were<br />too abrupt and there was no noise of a motor. | | 10. Reported by: | Miss Patricia Abbott, (Newfoundland National) Government<br />Employee and Lt. Hammaker, Navigator and Public Relat-<br />ions Officer. | | 11. General : | The informants (noted in Par. 10) were walking when they<br />noticed a peculiar reddish light. Both Miss Abbott and<br />Lt. Hammaker stated that at first, they thought it was<br />a falling star, but if left no streak. It appeared<br />again; they thought it might be a plane flying at a<br />very high altitude. After observing its manoeuvers,<br />they concluded, because of the silence (no hum of motor)<br />and abrupt darts of the light, it was definately not<br />an airplane. Neither Miss Abbott nor It. Hammaker har<br />seen anything like it before. | [page 17] RESTRICTED Classification effect of changed to <signature> authority of CC, AD-ATC (Name) (Rank) (Date) /gdb HEADQUARTERS Newfoundland Base Command, ATID-ATC Fort Pepperrell, Newfoundland APO 862, c/o Postmaster, New York, N. Y. 28 July 1947 # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) SUBJECT: Letter of Transmittal. | TO Commanding General, | | | |-|-|-| | Atlantic Division, | ATC, | | | Fort Totten, Long | Island, | N. Y. | | (ATTENTION: AC/S, | Intelligence) | | 1. Transmitted herewith, as inclosures 1, 2 and 3, are Final Reports of Sightings of "flying saucers" in Newfoundland and vicinity Listed as follows: | Final | Report | of | Sighting | -20002, | 10 | July | 1947 | |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | | | | | 00302, | 11 | July | 1947 | | | | | | 00152, | 20 | July | 1947 | 2. Reference TWX-EN 18469, this headquarters, dated 1217302 July 1947, regarding sightings of "flying saucers" by Constable ERIC KEARSEY, Newfoundland Constabulary, at Grand Falls, Newfoundland, on the night of 9 July 1947, attached herewith, as inclosure 4, is signed statement of this sighting by Constable KEARSEY. FOR THE COMMANDING GENERALS [page 18] # CONFIDENTIAL 4. RESTRICTED Classification cancelled or Changed to Restive FINAL REPORT OF SIGHTING authority of CC AD ATC (Name) (Rank) (Date) <signature> 1. org. : 1388th AAF BU, NBC, ATLD, ATC. Harmon Field, Newfoundland. 2. Sighting : Flying Disc or other airborne object. 3. Place 4. Time 5. Altitude 6. Weather 7. Heading 8. Speed : 9. 10. Color : 12. Reported By: 13. General : Approx six (6) miles SSW of Harmon Field. : 2000/7, 10 July 1947 : 8-10,000 ft. : Clear, Scattered Cumulus 8-10, 000 ft. : NNE on horizontal course. # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) Very high velocity. t Shape & Size: Circular like a wheel, estimated to be same size as a C-54 as seen from 10, 000 ft. Translucent or Silvery, left a Bluish Black trail approx 15 miles long. 11. Photographs: Mr. Robert W. Leidy reported that he took two (2) Kodachrome snap shots of the trail. # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) Mr. John N. Merhman, TWA mechanic; Mr. John W. Woodruff, PAA mechanic; and Mr. Robert E. Leidy, PAA mechanic reported the above facts to the Intelligence Officer on 15 July 1947. A Flash Report was TWX ed to : Action copy Commanding General, Hq. ATC, Attn. Asst. Chief of Staff, Intelligence. Info copies: Commanding Generals Hq. ATLD and Hq. NBC Mister's Merhman, Woodruff, and Leidy were enroute from Stephenville Crossing to Harmon Field at the time of the sighting. Mr. Woodruff was the first to see the Disc, it appeared to rent or split the clouds thru which it passed and left a Bluish Black trail approx. fifteen (15) miles long behind it. The trail was similar to the afterglow of a powerful landing light or search light beam after it is suddenly switched off. The object maintained a straight and horizontal course according to Mr. Nerhman and Mr. Woodruff, Mr. Leidy stated it appeared to be on a great curved course on a horizontal plane. The object disappeared into the North Northeast. Mr. Leidy says he took two (2) Kodachrome Photographs of the trail. The film has been transmitted to the Asst. Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Newfoundland Base Command for processing. [page 19] CONFIDENTIAL FINAL REPORT OF SIGHTING Classification cancelled or changed to Restricted ## RESTRICTED. authority of CC, AD-ATC <signature> (Name) (Rank) (Date) # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) ## RESTRICTED. (cont.) | 1. | Organization: | 1388th AAF Base Unit (Name) (Rank)<br />APO 864, c/o Postmaster, New York, N.Y. | |-|-|-| | 2. | Sighting : | Flying Disc or other airborne object. | | 3. | Place : | Codroy, Newroundland, 59°03' W Long.; 47°50' N Lat. | | 4. | Time : | 0030Z hours, 11 July 1947. | | 5. | Altitude : | Approximately 6,000 feet. | | 6. | Weather : | Clear; at dusk. | | 7. | Heading : | From northwest heading eastward. | | 8. | Speed : | Very high velocity. | | 9. | Shape & Size: | Disc shaped; was reported as being the size of a<br />barrel-head, dinner-plate and size of a plane<br />that is flying high. The trail gave the whole<br />object the appearance of a cone. | | 10. | Color : | Flame colored with a trail of a lighter flame color. | | 11. | Reported by: | Mr. John Legge, Mr. Wm. Evans and Albert Samms of<br />Codroy, Newfoundland. | # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) ## RESTRICTED. (cont.) 12. General : Mr. Legge and Mr. Evans were standing outside Mr. Legge's store when they both sighted the object. Both men stated that the disc was very bright with an after-glow which made the object look like a cone. It was a very clear night. In spite of the high velocity of the flying object, they said they could not possibly have mistaken it for a plane or a falling star. Besides the two men, the object was sighted by Albert Samms; he reported what he had seen to his mother. Mrs. Samms stated that Albert was in no way alarmed about it, he was alone and on his way home when he sighted it, and watched it while it was in sight. Albert was quite convinced from the color and behaviour of the object that it was not a plane, but definately some flying object. RESTRIC The informant, Mr. Legge, is believed to be reliable. He is a man of approximately forty; has had considerable experience as foreman of Buchans Mine, Newfoundland, where he was in charge of three hundred men. During the war, Mr. Legge was a mamber of a civilian volunteer Air Detection Corps. With that ckground, Mr. Legge stated that he felt sure that the object he had seen was some- thing I new which he had never seen before. CONFIDENTIAL and 2 [page 20] RESTRICTED Final Report of Sighting ## CONFIDENTIAL 4 General cont'd: Albert Samma is a twelve year old boy. He was alone when he saw the flying object, he was very definite that he nad never seen anything like it before. His mother, Mrs. Samms, is the Post Mistress of the town, and after hearing Albert's description, felt that it answered to the description of a "Flying Disc". Mr. Legge reported his sighting shortly afterwards to Mrs. Samms because he was sure it should be made known to her in order that the incident might be reported by telegram immediately. There was one other sighting reported from a River Warden at South Branch. The man could not be con- tacted at time of interviews with other parties. However, a second-hand description of his sighting was obtained, and it agreed with the sightings at Codroy. <signature> WILLIAM H. SMITH Captain, Air Corps, Intelligence Officer. RESTRICTED CONFIDENTIAL 12 [page 21] # CONFIDENTIAL RESTRICTED FINAL REPORT OF SIGHTING AD-ATC # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) | 1. | Organization: | (Rank)<br />1388th AAF Base Unit (Dat4)<br />APO 864, c/o Postmaster, New York, N.Y. | |-|-|-| | 2. | Sighting : | Flying Disc or other Airborne Object. | | 3. | Place : | On board Steamship "BURGEO" enroute from Sydney,<br />Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland,<br />about one hour out from Sydney. | | 4. | Time : | 00152 20 July 1947. | | 5. | Altitude $ | 30° off the horizon at an estimated quarter mile range. | | 6. | Weather : | Clear and dark. | | 7. | Heading : | NNE (30° East of True North) on horizontal plane. | | 8. | Speed $ | High velocity, stated to be faster than a tracer bullet. | | 9. | Description : | Observers did not see the object, they saw its flashes<br />and all four observers agreed there were four (4) or<br />five (5) flashes approximately one (1) second apart<br />and equidistant. The flashes were said to be silvery<br />to reddish in color, and were described by two observ-<br />ers to be like those of a Fire Fly only larger and at<br />equal intervals, and did not look like a shooting star<br />or airplane. | | 10. | Reported by: | Messrs Maitland, Larkin, Douglas and Hamilton of<br />Hamilton, Metcalfe and Kansas City Bridge Companies<br />which concern is doing the construction at Harmon Field. | | 11. | General :<br /><br />RESTRICTED | The four gentlemen (noted in Par.10) and Captain Gullage,<br />Master of the "Burgeo", were standing on the starboard<br />deck, and as the Captain was trying to describe a previous<br />sighting, he saw the flashes; the other four gentlemen<br />also saw them as described herein, and believed that it<br />was not a meteorite or airplane because of its speed,<br />color, and evenly spaced discharges or flashes.<br /><br />Captain Gullage told the four gentlemen that he had seen<br />the same thing at approximately the same time and location<br />(ship's position) on the evening of 15 July 1947, except<br />at that time, the object or flashes were traveling faster<br />and frequently changing course (he said it changed course<br />abruptly several times) and was headed generally to the | [page 22] RESTRICTED Final Report of Sighting: General cont'd : SSW. The Captain also told the four gentlemen that he was willing to make a complete report if the information is desired for official purposes. <signature> WILLIAM H. SMITH Captain, Air Corps Intelligence Officer. RESTRICTED -2- .14 [page 23] 9 CONFIDENTIAL Classification cancelled or changed to: Restricted authority of CC, AD-ATC RESTITUTED INTELLIGENCE OFFICE HEADQUARTERS 136TH AAF BASE UNIT NEWFOUNDLAND BASE COMMAND, ATLD-AFG APO 564, c/o Postmaster, New York, N. Y. (Rank) (Date) <signature> 16 July 1947 Interrogation of JOHN 2. WOODRUFF, Chief Mechanic, Pan American Airways, Harmon Field, Newfoundland, taken at 1415, 16 July 1947. by Captain William H. Smith, AC, Intelligence Officer. 9. Did you see one of the so called "Flying Diske" or other object on the 10th July! A. Yes, I did. Approximately 1700. Can you give the approximate time? [page 24] RESTRICTED CONFIDENTIAL # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) | 1. | What kind of a break did it make in the cloudst-<br />It out a straight path right through the cloud. | |-|-| | Q.<br />A. | Did it leave a trail?<br />Yes, it left a trail dark blueish in color similar to a high pover<br />light. The trail was from approximately fifteen (15) to twenty<br />(20) miles long. | | 8.<br />A. | Have you ever seen a meteor?<br />Yes. | | 8.<br />A. | Do you think this was a meteor?<br />No, I don't think so, it was cut too clean. This was as straight<br />as an arrow. | | 8.<br />A. | What was the course of the object?<br />Well, looking at the map I'd say North North East. | | 8.<br /><br />A. 444 | Have you been working around airplanes long enough to know the<br />size of an aircraft and the height from a distance?<br />Yes. | | A. | Fow long have you been working around aircraft!<br />Seven (7) years. | | 04 8. | Were you in the Army during the time of the War?<br />No. | | A. 04 | Did you take any pictures?<br />No, I did not, but one of the boys took some. | | A. 24 8. | Do you think the pictures will show up?<br />Yes, it was an ideal day for pictures. | | Sworn<br />this | shu & Woodrull<br /><br />JOHN E. WOODRUFF<br />Chief Mechanic<br />Pan American Airways<br /><br />and subscribed to before me<br />17 day of July 1947.<br /><br />CONFIDENTIAL INSON, JR<br />Captain, Air Corps<br />RESTRICTED Adjutant | [page 25] RESTRICTED CONFIDENTIAL Classification cancelled or changed to <empty> <signature> tion cancelled or <signature> of CC, AD-ATC <signature> (Rank) (Date) INTELLIGENCE OFFICE HEADQUARTERS 1388TH AAF BASE UNIT (authority) NEWFOUNDLAND BASE COMMAND, ATLD-ATC APO 864, c/o Postmaster, New York, N. Y. 16 July 1947 Interrogation of JOHN 3. HERMAN, JR., Supervisor and Mechanic, Trans World Airways, Harmon Field, Newfoundland, taken at 1430 FT, 16 July 1947, by Captain William H. Smith, AC, Intelligence Officer. 8. How long have you been associated with aircraft and aviation? A. Since approximately 1938. 8. Were you in the Army during the War? A. Yes. - What did you do in the Army? Aerial Gunner. Q. Did your job during the var entail you to be able to judge distances and sizes of objects and ranges? A. Yes. 8. On the evening of 10 July 1947, did you see one of the so called "Flying Disks" or an object in the sky! A. Yes, we were coming up over the mountain between here and Stephen- ville Crossing. The car was going up hill and we could see the sky through the windshield. Mr. Woodruff said "look at the cut in the sky". I looked up and saw a blueish black vapor trail. # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) Q. Did you see the object? A. No, I just saw the trail as it was left behind. - Can you describe the effect the object had on the cloud formation? The clouds were very scattered and were about from 8000 feet to 10,000 feet, the object passed through and cut the cloud leaving a gap where you could see the blue sky, like a knife had cut it. The edges were feathered similar to a veld, as if you cut a veld in half. - Did the object appear to be descending, ascending, or horisontal? It was horisontal and seemed to remain on atrue course. - What was your estimate of the course? Approximately North North East. - I did not see the object. Can you give any estimate as to the size of the object? RESTRICTED CONFIDENTIAL J [page 26] CONFIDENTIAL Interrogation of John W. Mehrman, RESTRICTED 4 Q. Can you describe the trail? A. It was blueish black in color, very easily distinguished from the blue sky. A diesel exhaust would be similar to it. Q. Was the trail fan shaped? A. No it was more or less a band across the sky in a straight path. Q. Did it make a noise? A. No noise. Q. What went on in the car when you sighted the object? A. We stepped the car and got out and looked at it. One of the boys had a camera and took a photograph of the trail that the object left. Q. What was the name of the man who took the photograph? A. Robert Leidy. Q. Do you know what type of film Mr Leidy was using? A. Kodachrome, I believe. Q. Do you know whether Mr. Leidy saw the Disk or object? A. I don't believe so. Supervisor and Mechanic Trans World Airways Sworn and subscribed to before me this 1 day of July 1947. <signature> S. L. HIBSON, JR Captain, Air Corps Adjutant CONFIDENTIAL RESTRICTED - 2 - <signature> [page 27] CONFIDENTIAL Classification cancelled or RESTRICTED INTELLIGENCE OFFICE Cal HEADQUARTERS 1388TH AAP BASE UNty of CC, ADATO flary S APO $64, e/o Postmaster, New York, . T. (Rank) (Date) 16 July 1947 # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) Interrogation of BOBET V. RID, Station Mechanic, Pan American Airways, Harmon Field, Newfoundland, taken at 1450 7, 16 July 1947. by Captain William H. Smith, AC, Intelligence Officer. Q. Were you with Mr. Woodruff and Mr. Mehraan on the evening when they sav an object or flying disk passing over the sky on 10 July 1947 A. Yes, I was. Vere you or any members of the party drinking? No, I had one can of beer, that was about half hour before that. Can you tell me the circumstances under which you saw the object er its trail? A. Well, Mr. Woodruff saw it first and said he say the thing travelling through the sky. We did not believe him at first but when he was so concerned about it ve stepped the car and got out. I had my camera so took a picture of it. There was a blueish streak left in the sky which could not have been a cloud formation. It was a definite trail and caused the clouds to break open as it went through. Did it out a path through the cloud? Yes, it was very clear, and you could see the trail right through the cloud, it looked to be travelling in a big circle and it left sharp edges to the clouds. [page 28] RESTRICTED CONFIDENTIAL Interrogation of Rabert W. Leidy (Cont'd) # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) Q. Did you see the object? A. No. Q. How long do you think the trail was? A. I don't know, sir, but the trail was very long, that is why I think something went through the sky because of the trail and blank space it left, you could easily see it. Q. Was the trail on a straight course? A. Well, as I said before, it looked to me from the ground, that it was travelling at a terrific rate of speed in a circle because of the arcs in the path. Q. Have you ever seen a meteor? A. No. Q. Can you estimate the size of the cut in the clouds? A. No. Q. How long have you been working around planes, etc? A. Six (6) years. Q. Were you in the Army during the war? A. No. Q. How many pictures did you take? A. Two. Q. What type camera did you have? A. An Argus, F-2. Q. Was the film black and white or kodachrome? A. It was kodachrome. Q. Where are the film now? A. Well, I took three or four rolls and I am not sure which one the pictures are on. Q. I understood from Mr. Weedraff that they are being developed. A. I think it is out of the camera sir, but I have not sent them out yet. Q. Will you give us the four rolls of film so we can have them processed officially? A. Yes, sir. CONFIDENTIAL REstricted - 2 - <signature> [page 29] CONFIDENTIAL INTERROGATION OF ROBERT W. LEBDY (CONT'D) - Are you willing to give the Army a copy of the pictures of the trail A. Yes. <signature> ROBERT V. LEIDY Station Mechanic Pan American Airways Sworn and subscribed to before me this 17 day of July 1947. <signature> S. L. WINSON, JR Captain, Air Corps Adjutant RESTRICTED CONFIDENTIAL 21 [page 30] RESTRICTED STATEMENT OF MR. JOHN P. LEGGE, CORDROY, NEWFOUNDLAND. TAKEN BY MERCEDES BURKE OF THE INTELLIGENCE OFFICE, HARMON FIELD, EWFOUND- LAND. 17 July 1947. 4 # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) At approximately 10 o'clock in the evening of 10 July 1947 I was standing by my store door; I happened to look up and saw what appeared to be a "FLYING SAUCER". It definately was not a shooting star; I'd seen several stars shoot before, but never like this! nor was it an airoplane, it was too "lit up" and traveling at too great a speed. It wasn't an airoplane on fire because it would have fallen in the water. It was a nice clear night, no elouds, it was just getting dark. I would say it was traveling at the rate of a shooting star but much eloser. I'd say roughly at 6,000 feet. It was visible for about fifteen (15) seconds. It came from the North West heading Eastward. The circle looked to be about the size of a barrel head, and the trail behind looked to be about fifteen (15) feet long. The trail behind the dise made the whole object look like a cone. Another thing that makes me feel sure it wasn't a shooting star is; a shooting star usually leaves a temporary streak, this object I saw left no streak only the one that appeared to travel behind the circle which looked like an after-glow. The circle was a bright red, nearest I could des- cribe it would be the color of a flame, the after-glow (cone-shaped) was a fainter shade. What I saw last Thursday night resembled a shooting star in no way whatsoever. There was only one. [page 31] RESTRICTED 4 STATEMENT OF MR. WM. EVANS, CORDROY? NEWFOUNDLAND. TAKEN BY MERCEDES BURKE OF THE INTELLIGENCE OFFICE? HARMON FIELD, NEW- FOUNDLAND. 17 July 1947. # CONFIDENTIAL (cont.) At approximately 10 o'clock in the evening of 10 July 1947, I was standing outside Mr. Leggo's store talking with him. We both saw this thing dash across the sky. I couldn't be accurate about the directions. If it was a shooting star, I'd never seen one as large before, and it was much brighter than anything I've ever seen in the sky. It looked to be a round object, I couldn't say it was anything else but round; it had a tail on it which showed yellowish, but not as bright as the eirele which appeared and nearest I could describe it would be sort of red and yellow. The streak behind, I would say, was little over a yard long; the eirele looked to be about the size of a large dinner plate. It went so fast, it was hardly in sight before it disappeared. I could not give any idea of the height; all I can say is it was much eloser than a shooting star and travelling at a great speed. Whatever it was it was flying through the air; it wasn't just a streak across the sky. To me it wasn't in any way like a shooting star, and I am sure it wasn't an airoplane. I called it a "FLYING SAUCER" because it seemed exactly like what we had been hearing,so much about on the radio. <signature> Wm. EVANS Witness: <signature> Witness: <signature> [page 32] RESTRICTED STATEMENT OF ALBERT SAMMS, CORDROY, NEWFOUNDLAND. TAKEN BY MERCEDES BURKE OF THE INTELLIGENCE OFFICE, HARMON FIELD NEW- FOUNDLAND. 17 July 1947. Last Thursday night I was out by our house, I happened to look up and saw what I thought was an airoplane. It was flying at the height of a plane that is flying high. Then I thought it looked strange for an airoplane, because it was all lit up so bright, planes do have a light or two, but this thing was very bright - sort of a bright reddish yellow. I saw it only for a minute because it was travelling at a teriffie speed. It shot out of sight so quickly I thought it strange if it was an airop- lane. Then, I remembered what I'd been hearing about "FLYIND SAUCERS" I ran in and told my mother. <signature> ALBERT SAMMS Witness: <signature> Witness: <signature> RESTRICTED 24 [page 33] RESTRICTED 4 Albert rushed in and told me about this thing he'd just seen. at first he thought it was an airoplane but then he remembered having heard about "FLYING SAUCERS" and he thought that's what it must have been. I questioned him; he said it couldn't have been a plane because a plane wouldn't shoot down like that did, besides it was too "lit up" Mr. Legge reported the same thing to me in order that I might report same to St. John's in the morning. Mrs JOHN SAMMS. Ms John Hamms. что RESTRICTED q # NEWFOUNDLAND CONSTABULARY STATION Grand Falls, DATE July 13th, 1947. SUBJECT Re:- Strange objects seen flying over Grand Falls on night of July 9th. at approx. 11.15 and 11.40. ## Sir: I respectfully report for your information that on Wednesday night, the 9th. inst. I arrived home from duty at approx. 11.30. # NEWFOUNDLAND CONSTABULARY (cont.) ## Sir: (cont.) Upon arrival at home I joined my wife, my mother-in-law, and Mr. John Jackman a resident of St. John's and friend of the family, who were sitting on the front steps of the house. I was asked by my wife if I had seen the "flying saucers" I thought she was joking and replied that I had seen nothing flying. Jackman and my mother- in-law then told me that they had really seen four objects flying in an easterly direction just before I arrived. I asked them to describe what they had seen. Jackman said that four round shaped figures had passed overhead at a terrific speed and were flying side by side. On looking skywards again my wife, Jackman, and myself, saw a object which I would describe as being a huge jelly- fish flash across the the sky. It would be difficult to determine its height and speed owing to the brief period it was visible. It's colour also would be hard to say, but there seemed to be a phosphorus glow about it, it was round in shape and about the size of a barrel head, it appeared to be flying in a rocking motion. This sir, is about all I can say about the matter, we continued to sean the sky for about a half hour but no sign of them were seen again. [page 35] 4 # NEWFOUNDLAND CONSTABULARY STATION Grand Falls, D DATE July 13th. 1947.. SUBJECT Re:- Strange objects seen flying over Grand Falls on night of July 9th. at approx. 11.15 and 11.40. ## Sir: I respectfully report for your information that on Wednesday night, the 9th. inst. I arrived home from duty at approx. 11.30. # NEWFOUNDLAND CONSTABULARY (cont.) ## Sir: (cont.) Upon arrival at home I joined my wife, my mother-in-law, and Mr. John Jackman a resident of St. John's and friend of the family, who were sitting on the front steps of the house. I was asked by my wife if I had seen the "flying saucers" I thought she was joking and replied that I had seen nothing flying. Jackman and my mother in-law then told me that they had really seen four objecte flying in an easterly direction just before I arrived. I asked them to describe what they had seen. Jackman said that four round shaped figures had passed overhead at a terrific speed and were flying side by side. On looking skywards again my wife, Jackman, and myself, saw a object which I would describe as being a huge jelly- fish flash across the the sky. It would be difficult to determine its height and speed owing to the brief period it was visible. It's colour also would be hard to say, but there seemed to be a phosphorus glow about it, it was round in shape and about the size of a barrel head, it appeared to be flying in a rocking motion. This sir, is about all I can say about the matter, we continued to sean the sky for about a half hour but ne sign of them were seen again. Constable. tearsey [page 36] From detailed study of reports selected for their impression of veracity and reliability, several conclusions have been formed: (a) This "flying saucer" situation is not all imaginary or seeing too much in some natural phenomenon. Something is really flying around. (b) Lack of topside inquiries, when compared to the prompt and demanding inquiries that have originated topside upon former events, give more than ordinary weight to the possibility that this is a domestic project, about which the President, etc. know. (c) Whatever the objects are, this much can be said of their physical appearance: 1. The surface of these objects is metallic, indicating a metallic skin, at least. 2. When a trail is observed, it is lightly colored, a Blue-Brown haze, that is similar to a rocket engine's exhaust. Contrary to a rocket of the solid type, one observation indicates that the fuel may be throttled which would indicate a liquid rocket engine. # NEWFOUNDLAND CONSTABULARY (cont.) ## Sir: (cont.) 3. As to shape, all observations state that the object is cireular or at least elliptical, flat on the bottom and slightly domed on the top. The size estimates place it somewhere near the size of a C-54 or a Constellation. 4. Some reports describe two tabs, located at the rear and symetrical about the bi axis of flight motion.. 5. Flights have been reported, from three to nine of them, flying good formation on each other, with speeds always above 300 knobs. 6. The discs oscillate laterally while flying along, which could be snaking. 27 [page 37] 1a.. CONFIDENTIAL Berci 16 HEADQUARTERS FOURTH AIR FORCE Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, A-2 Intelligence Hamilton Field, California 4AFDA 333.5/1208-I 25 August 1947 SUBJECT: Investigation of Flying Disc. TO: Headquarters, Army Air Forces, Washington 25, D. C. ATTENTION: AC of AS-2 1. The attached true copy of the letter of Mr. F. M. Johnson of Portland, Oregon, was received by this officer 22 August 1947. 2. Your attention is invited to the similarity of statement by Mr. Johnson and Mr. Arnold. 3. This letter is being referred this date to the Special Agent In Charge, FBI, San Francisco, for any investigation they may care to make. 1 Incl: Cy of ltr fr F.M.Johnson (in dup) <signature> DONALD L. SPRINGER Lt. Colonel, GSC AC of S, A-2 BATOGH see 107. CONFIDENTIAL 28 [page 38] 10.. # CONFIDENTIAL PORTLAND, OREGON, August 20th 1947 Lt. Col. Donald L. Springer, Assistant Staff Sir. Saw in the portland paper a short time ago in regards to an article in regards to the so called flying disc having any basis of fact. I can say am a prospector and was in the Mt Adams district on June 24th the day Kennet Arnold of Boise Idaho claims he saw a formation of flying disc. And i saw the same flying objects at about the same time. Having a telescope with me at the time i can asure you they are real and noting like them I ever saw before they did not pass verry high over where I was standing at the the time, plobly 1000 ft. they were Round about 30 foot in dimater tapering sharply to a point in the head end in an oval shape. with a bright top surface. I did not hear any noise as you would from a plane. But there was an object in the tail end looked like a big hand of a clock shifting from side to side like a big magenet. There speed as far as i know seemed to be greater than anything I ever saw. Last veiw I got of the objects they were standing on edge Banking in a Cloud. Yours Respectfully /s/ F. M. Johnson 106 No. West 1st Ave Portland, Oregon A TRUE COPY: <signature> DONALD L. SPRINGER Lt. Colonel, GSC, AC of S, A-2 [page 39] CONFIDENTIAL PORTLAND, OREGON 30, July 1947 aar # C-E-H-T-1-F-I-C-A-T-E 9 on 30 July 1947 Mr Richard Hankin, 834 N. E. Simpson Street, Portland, Oregon was inter ewed by this agent and stated in substance as follows: # C-E-H-T-1-F-I-C-A-T-E (cont.) My name is Richard Rankin. I am47 years old and have flown since I was nineteen years old. I first soloed in an air craft in 1919. I have flown over all the western parts of the United Stat es many times and have mapped all of the western part of the United States during the years before the late war for the US Forest Service. I am familiar with almost every part of the western United States. During a great part of my life I have done stunt flying for air shows and various other types of aeronautical exhibitions. My brother was "Tex"Rankin who was quite well known in both civilian and Military flying circles for many years before his death and during the late war ran thousands of Flying Cadets through primary training schools owned and oper- abdd by him. To date I have accomplished 7000 hours in the air as pilot of both civilian and Military aircraft. I am well acquainted with most articles that one would see in the air and I feel that I am well qualified to say when I see articles flying through the air, although I would not attempt to say that I am infallable and state that I could definitely identify every . object that might be flying through the air. The following is. an account of what I saw on 14 June 1947 from the yard of my home at 1806 South "" St, Bakersfield, California. # C-E-H-T-1-F-I-C-A-T-E (cont.) At approximately 1200 noon on the 1 of June I was lying in the front yard of my home. There was a lad mowing the lawm at the time. I looked up into the sky and saw ten articles flying from the South to th North at what I uld judge to be 8500 ft. The objects were flying at approximately what I would judge to be 350 miles per hour. As I have stated before, I have done quite a lot of map work for the US Forest Service. I distinctly remember that at the time I saw the articles I mentioned it to the lad who was mowing the lawn at the time. I told the lad that the objects were in all probability some sort of Army or Navy test planes from the nearby test centers on the deserts of Southern California. Having quite a knowledge of aircraft in general I attempted to explain to the lad mowing the lawn that the objects were probably on same sort of training mission for either the Army or Navy. At that time I did not give the slightest thought to anything but that the objects were some sort of test ship for the Government Services. The okects resembled the pictures that I have seen of the F5U-1, the so called "Flying Flapjack bk that the Navy is testing. After the objects disappeared I proceeded into the house and had my noon meal. At approximately 15 I went back into the yard to sit and lie in the shade. At this time the objects re- appeared going from Borth to South, although this time there were only seven of the articles. When I first saw the original ten objects they were flying in a yn formation with one objct seemingly starggling in the rear of the formation. When the objects apperaed the second time they were still in the V formation although there was only seven of the objects at this time. I remember & this time that I told the lad, tho was still working on the lawn, that probably three of the objects had poceeded back to their base on a diff- erent course. I actually thought that thi was the case, that the other three objects had probably gone back to their base on the other side of the mountains from Bakersfield. A week or so later when I read of Mr Kenneth Arnold claiming that he had seen articles flying through the air over the Cascade Mountains in [page 40] CONFIDENTIAL (2) 9 Washington I realized that the articles that I saw were probably the same thing. I was still reluctant to mention this to anyone thinking that they would prob ably say that I was crazy. After some time I mentioned the ind dent to the editor of the "Oregonian", a Portland, Oregon newspaper. At this time I was in Portland for the remainder of the summer. The results d the conversation with the editor of the paper is put forth in the accompanying newspaper article. I fully realize that this is a broad statement-in view of the fact that there has been so much publicity had put forth in various news- papers of the country. I am of sound mind in every respect and I am firmly convinced that the articles I saw are actually some sort of flying machines although I cannot say from where they came or to where thay were going. I say what I have said with no idea of publicity or personal gain. SIGNED <signature> Richmond Rankin Portland, Oregon 30 July 1947 152 CONFIDENTIAL [page 41] CONFIDENTIAL ## THE OREGONIAN, THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1947 11 # Pilot Recalls Seeing Discs "THE OREGONIAN" Portland, Oregon. 3 July 1947 # Pilot Recalls Seeing Discs (cont.) ## Dick Rankin Tells Of Odd Aircraft More reports of "flying flap- jacks" turned up Wednesday, one from no less than Dick Rankin, brother of the late Tex Rankin, and himself an expe- rienced pilot of more than 7000 hours flying time. Rankin, who is recovering from an old back injury re- ceived in an automobile acci- dent, came to Portland over the week end to spend the sum- mer. He saw the "silver cau- cers" over Bakersfield, Cal., June 23, while lying on the lawn sun bathing, he told The Oregonian. "I hesitated to say much about them," Rankin said, "un- til I noticed all the hullabaloo in the papers. I puzzled over their strange shape for a while and finally concluded that they were the navy's new XFSU-1 flying flapjacks, which are thin and round, with twin propellers and stubby tail." [page 42] August 20, 1947 65-480 Director F SAC Butte PLYING DISOS # Refer teletype to the Burem dated August 15, 1947. # Refer teletype to the Burem dated August 15, 1947. (cont.) Enclosed please find the newspaper account carried by the Svin Falls, Idaho "Times News" on August 15, together dth a sheet of paper on which A. C. URI attempted to sketch his impression of the instrument which he claims to have seen. Concerning URIE's sketches, it may be noted that he believed the felled outer edge which he attempted to create in hisdrawing to have been about a foot through. URI likewise believed that the tubinh or exhaust flame which he and his sons claim to have seen was about a foot through and extended at least to the back end of the device. The flame did not appear to taper off not to widen out toward the back. # Refer teletype to the Burem dated August 15, 1947. (cont.) BILLY and KEITH URIE stated that they could see a knot on the side of the device from which the flames were shooting, and that they could see day- 11ght between the exhaust flame and the side of the device. The flames did not leave any smoke or odor. The URIE boys thought that the "side view" sketch should show that the device was more sharply angled from bottom to top, while URIE himself thought that it was more streamlined and carved. URI said that the instru ment came to a pointed or rounded top. In his notations, URIE mistakenly said that he had seen it on Thurs- day. During interview, he stated that it actually had been on Wednesday, August 13, 1947, when he and his sons saw the contrivance about 1:00 P.M. URI explained that he had sent his boys to the river to get some tope from his boat. When he thought they were overdue, he went outside his tool shed to look br them. He noticed them about 300 feetaway looking in the sky and he blanced up to see what he called the flying disc. He said he could only see it for a moment before it disappeared behind a hill which obscured his view. [page 43] As the machine vent by the URIE place, the trees over which is almost directly passed (Norman Populars) did not just bend with the wind as if a plane had gone by, but in URI's words, "spun around on top as if they were in a vacuum." KEITH URIB, eight years of age, said he first saw the machine coming down the canyon, heading from east to west and following the con- tours of the ground. BILLY, age ten, saw it almost immediately. Both watched 12 fly out of sight behind a tree in a matter of moments. They said they then ran to their Father and learned that he doo had seen the machine. # Refer teletype to the Burem dated August 15, 1947. (cont.) URI seemed completely sincere about the incident. He said his wife and daughter were in the house at the time and had not seen the machine. He questioned his brother, who also lives in the canyon, but his brother had been eating at the time and had seen nothing. URI and his two boys maintained that they had never before seen one of the discs. URIE, when interviewed, appeared to be a sober, middle-aged man. JOHN BROSNAN, the "Times News" reporter who originally furnished Special Agents with information about the incident, likewise stated that URIE appeared completely sincere about the machine. No further attempt was made to locate L. W. HAWKINS, inasmuch as J. H. BOR, who was with HAWKINS at the time, was interviewed. BROW's name was withheld from the newspaper because HAWKINS and BROWN were fishing at Salmon dame while BROWN was supposed to have been working in Twin Falls. [page 44] Below the title, it states: - "Regional Newspaper Serving" - "TWIN FALLS" - "Nine Irrigated Idaho Cou" (likely "Counties") The graphic features a waterfall under a sunburst. and spaper # TWIN FALLS, IDAHO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947 Member of Associati Key Information: * **Title:** Heads Up, Folks! The Discs Are Flying Again * **Dimensions:** Height: 10 feet, Length: 20 feet (indicated by 20 PT/-) * **Views Provided:** Side View, Bottom View, End View * **Power Source:** Described as jets emitting a fiery glow (from surrounding text). * **Sighting Location:** Snake River Canyon, six miles west of Blue Lakes Ranch (from surrounding text). * **Witness:** A. C. Urie (from surrounding text). This is an artist's conception of the flying disc that A. C. Urie saw sweeping through Snake river canyon six miles west of Blue Lakes ranch. It seemed to be powered by jets emitting a fiery glow on both sides, and could well be the inspiration for something new in women's hats, such as a "flying saucer" creation. (Drawing by Vic Goertzen- staff engraving) * * * Flying Saucer Reported Flashing Down Canyon At 1,000 Miles Per Hour; Two Others Are Seen # TWIN FALLS, IDAHO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947 (cont.) ## By JOHN BROSNAN Just as Magic Valley and the nation were starting to let go of lampposts after reeling under a welter of flying saucer reports, two more Twin Falls county men re- vived speculation on the mystery with vivid descriptions of discs they saw From A. C. Urie, who operates the Auger Falls Trout farm six miles west of Blue Lakes ranch in Snake river canyon, came perhaps the most detailed account of one of # TWIN FALLS, IDAHO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947 (cont.) ## By JOHN BROSNAN (cont.) the fast-flying objects the nation has yet produced. The flying saucer Urie saw was skimming along through Snake river canyon at a height of about 75 feet at 1 p. m. Wednesday. At 9:30 a. m. the same day, L. W. ins, Twin Falls county commis- sioner and former county sheriff from Filer, also saw two circular at about objects soaring along at a great height near Salmon dam 40 miles southwest of Twin Falls. Here is Urie's eye-witness de- scription of the flying dises seen by him and his son, Keith, 8, and Billy, 10: "I obtained a close-up view of the flying saucer as it passed by the trout farm at 1 p. m. Aug. 13 going Hawk-down Snake river canyon at a height of about 75 feet from the canyon floor. I would estimate the speed 1,000 miles per hour." Urie explained that the incident occurred while the two boys were coming across the river from the north side in a boat. He had be- [page 45] ## 'Saucer' Seen Flying Down Snake Gorge (From Page One) river facing toward the north. The boys saw it coming about half a mile up the canyon, and we all lost sight of it in less than a mile." While the impression was still vivid in their minds, the three got together and made rough sketches of what they had seen. These, in turn, were the basis for the artist's" conception of of the strange affair by Vic Goertzen of Twin Falls for the Times-News. # TWIN FALLS, IDAHO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947 (cont.) ## 'Saucer' Seen Flying Down Snake Gorge (cont.) "It was all one color-sort of a light sky blue with a red, tubular fiery glow at the side of the top or hood," Urie continued. that The particular point, and it rode canyon floor is rough at up and down over the hills and hol- lows at a speed indicating some type of control faster than the reflexes of man. It is my opinion that it is guided by instruments and must be powered by atomic energy. as it made very little noise-just a s-w-1-s-h as it passed by." Urie described the size as about 20 feet long by 10 feet high and 110 feet wide, giving it an oblong shape. It might be described as look- ing like an inverted pie-plate or broad-brimmed straw hat that had been compressed from two sides. Pressed for his candid opinion of just what it was, Urie said that he was convinced that there was some- thing to this flying saucer situation. "I know a number of the people who have also seen them and I know that they're not just imagining something or trying to get their names in the paper." Urie com- mented. "I do know that it scared the boys and made me feel pretty uneasy," he added. # TWIN FALLS, IDAHO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947 (cont.) ## 'Saucer' Seen Flying Down Snake Gorge (cont.) Tracing down a rumor that County Commissioner Hawkins had seen an unusual object in the air on the same day as Urie's experience, the Times-News called him at his Filer home. "Yes, I did." he replied without hesitation. "I'll have to admit I've been skeptical all along until I saw it with my own eyes. I can't say what it was, but I can say there's something in the air." Hawkins related that while at Salmon dam Wednesday morning. a sound resembling the echo of a motor caused him to look upward, and there he saw two circular ob- jects that reflected light. They were traveling at a great speed and higher than han most airplanes, accord- ing to Hawkins. Aside from this, he declined to add details, except to say. "There's something in the air." His general description, however. corresponded closely to those of hundreds of persons who reported seeing flying saucers after Kenneth Arnold. Boise businessman. had touched off the deluge by telling of coming upon nine disc-like objects while he was flying in his private plane in Washington. # TWIN FALLS, IDAHO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947 (cont.) ## 'Saucer' Seen Flying Down Snake Gorge (cont.) Thereafter, the nation became in- creasingly flying saucer conscious. creating a state of mind that made it possible for four teen age Twin Falls boys to cause a mild sensa- tion when they built a model flying. dise and tossed into a local yard July 10. This was subseuently re- vealed as a hoax. following investi- by the army and FBI. gation Thereafter the saucer reports tapered off off into a few scattered in- cidents until the question was re- vived by this week's occurrences. Speculation has ranged from mention that the discs could be army or navy guided missile experi- ments, or that they could be similar experiments by some foreign coun- try. to "something out of this World." Whatever, they are, a lot of people have seen "something." [page 46] CONFIDENTIAL 7 HEADQUARTERS FLYING DIVISION, AIR TRAINING COMMAND Office of the Commanding General 1F Randolph Field, Texas 10 July 1947 333.5 SUBJECT: Unidentifiable Objects TO Commanding General Tenth Air Force Brooks Field, Texas Attn: ACofS, A-2 1. The inclosed MOIC is forwarded for your information. 2. In the event that Lt. E. B. Armstrong has been interviewed by your Headquarters, request that a copy of the MOIC be furnished to this Headquarters. FOR THE COMMANDING GENERAL: | 1 Incl<br />MOIC | H. L. CRISIER<br />Lt. Colonel, G.S.C.<br />Asst. Chief of Staff, A-2 | | |-|-|-| | 333.5 | 1st Ind | DC | HEADQUARTERS TENTH AIR FORCE, OFFICE OF THE ASST CHIEF OF STAFF, A-2, BROOKS FIELD, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, 16 July 1947 TO: Commanding General, Flying Division, Air Training Command, Randolph Fld., Texas ATTN: Asst Chief of Staff, A-2 Inclosed is Memorandum for the Officer in Charge in reference to Lt. B. B. Armstrong, as suggested in paragraph 2, basic communication. 1 Incl MOIC, dtd 15 July 47 1 Incl withdrawn MOIC, dtd 7 July 47 S.H. MORROW Colonel, GSC Asst Chief of Staff, A-2 Inal 2 CONFIDENTIAL 97 [page 47] 7 UNIDENTIFIABLE OBJECTS Williams Fld, Chandler, Aris. 15 July 1947 MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE: 1. On 14 July 1947, 1st Lt Erie 3. Armstrong, 0-2059709, 170th AAP Base Unit, Ferry Division, Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas ma interviewed and the following information was obtained: Lt Armstrong departed Williams Field, Arizona at 1400 CST on 28 June 1947 in a P-51 for Portland, Oregon, by the way of Medford, Oregon. At approximately 1515 CST on a course of 300 degrees, and ground speed of 285, altitude 10,000 feet, approximately thirty miles northwest of Lake Meade, Nevada, Lt Armstrong sighted five or six white, circular objects at four o'clock, altitude approximately 6,000 feet, course approximately 120 degrees, and an estimated speed of 285 MPH. Lt Armstrong said the objects were flying very smoothly and in a close formation. The estimated sise of the white objects were approximately 36 inches in diameter. Lt Armstrong stated that he is sure the white objects were not birds, since the rate of elosure was very fast. Lt Armstrong was certain that the white objects were not Jets or conventional type aircraft sime he has flown both types. [page 48] CONFIDENTIAL 7 UNIDENTIFIABLE OBJECTS WILLIAMS FIELD, CHANDLER, ARIZONA. # TWIN FALLS, IDAHO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947 (cont.) ## 7 July 1947 MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE: 1. On 1 July 1947, Lt William G. McGinty, USN, 195803, P-80 Student, Williams Field, Chandler, Arizona, was interviewed by this Agent, and stated in substance: That on 30 June 1947, at about 0910, MST, he was flying at 25,000 feet over Grand Canyon, Arizona, in a P-80 type aircraft. He stated that he was heading south towards Williams Field, Arizona, when he saw two round objects going at inconceivable speeds, straight down. He further stated that his reactions were to turn away from the objects. He further stated that one of the uniden tifiable objects followed the other seconds apart. He further stated that due to the speed of the objects, he could only see that they were circular, and that they were possible light gray in color. He further stated that it was his opinion that the objects were approximately eight feet in diameter. In conclusion, he stated that the objects would have probably hit the ground approximately twenty-five miles south of the South Rim of Grand Canyon, Arizona, AGENT'S NOTES: Lt McGinty gave his permanent address as: N.A.M.T.C., Point Hugu, Port Hueneme, Calif. # TWIN FALLS, IDAHO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947 (cont.) ## 7 July 1947 (cont.) 2. On 1 July 1947, Captain Malcolm G. Armstrong, 0-734168, Instructor, Single Engine, Williams Field, Chandler, Arizona, was interviewed by this Agent and stated in substance: That his brother, 1st Lt S. B. Armstrong, stationed at Hq, 10th AAF, Brooks AAF, Texas had related to him that he saw a formation of unexplainable objects in the vicinity of Lake Mead, Nev. Captain Armstrong, further stated that his brother stated the objects were heading south, and were at approximately 10,000 feet altitude. AGENT'S NOTES: Captain Armstrong could not give too much information on the objects that his brother had seen. Lt. E. B. Armstrong can be contacted at Hq, 10th AAF, Brooks Field, Texas for further information. T&T MA see 38X Lynn C. Aldrich, Special Agent, CIC-AAF, FDTRC THIS IS A TRUE COPY <signature> JOHN K. ORR, Major, A.C. Ince #1 9 [page 49] Pela (6 Unidentifiable Objects. D 333.5 ID (16 Jul 47) 1st Ind. HQ AIR DEFENSE COMMAND, Mitchel Field, New York, 21 July 1947. - TO: Commanding General, Army Air Forces, Washington 25, D. C. ATTN: AC/AS-2. 1. Forwarded for your information and utilization. FOR THE COMMANDING GENERAL: Info cy: CG, AMC, Wright Fid, Dayton, O. 2 Incls: n/c <signature> R. H. SMITH Colonel, GSC for Asst Chief of Staff-Intell. see 130 CONFIDENTIAL F177 40 [page 50] CONFIDENTIAL Unidentifiable Objects. B 333.5 ID (16 Jul 47) 1st Ind. HQ AIR DEFENSE COMMAND, Mitchell Field, New York, 21 July 1947. - TO: Commanding General, Army Air Forces, Washington 25, D. C. ATTN: AC/AS-2. 1. Forwarded for your information and utilization. FOR THE COMMANDING GENERAL: Info cy CG, AMC, Wright Fid, Dayton, O. 2 Incls: n/c R. H. SMITH Colonel, GSC Asst Chief of Staff-Intell. 40170 * MB ra IPS L JM 3TM RAA, ZATOOK CONFIDENTIAL [page 51] 1 CONFIDENTIAL า ## HEADQUARTERS TENTH AIR FORCE BROOKS FIELD, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, A-2 [page 52] To: CG, AAF (ATTN: AC/A5-2) FROM: DIR. OF INTEL. DATE 5 AUG 47 MAJ FISHER/74738 2636 Magnolia Ave. Los Angeles 7, Calif. August 1 1947 Director of Military Intellegence, War Departmant, Washington 25, D.C. Dear Sir: On Sunday afternoon, July the Sixth, I observed something very strange; it is related --- at least in my own mind--- with the phenomena of the "Fabulous Flying Saucers and I cannot report on this second phenomena, without speaking of the first. # TWIN FALLS, IDAHO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947 (cont.) ## IN REPLY REFER TO: (cont.) As I do not wish to be considered the victim of mass psychology, a crack-pot or visionary, it is rather hard for me to make this report. I am doing it because I consider it my duty. A newspaper article spoke of the Bureau of Standards as "Having a finger in the pie " in many experiments so not knowing where to write or who to write to wrote to the Bureau, and Mr. Hugh L. Dryd- en has suggested that you were the one to report to. I had been amused at accounts of the " flying saucers ". Everyone was talking, laughing and joking about themand I did not believe in them. The Hollywood Tarzana Bus was parked at the Tarzana end of the line and the driver was busy making out his reports preparatory to making the return trip. I was the only one in the bus and I sat in the middle of the side next to Ventura, so the bus was parked north and southe As I looked to my right, a "Saucer appeared out of nowhere:appar- ently out of nowhere and it was followed by several others; they were of uniform size and spaced at regular intervals and it seemed as if they turned a corner from the West and they rolled along at great speedto the Northward and parallel toVentura Boulevard. [page 53] 2 about the color of the semi-precious stone Cornelian: these fragments were sharp and irregular and shing. They were flying about as if flying to a magnet. This was momentary and I looked to see if the "Saucers" were still there. I saw one or two but the same thing happened again and I saw the second phenomena for a second. By this time the "Saucers were out of sight. [page 54] HQOCAMA FORM NO. 5-506 $1 MAY 1945 APN/KDS/eb # OKLAHOMA CITY AIR MATERIEL AREA # TINKER FIELD OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA IN REPLY REFER TO #3724-I 30 July 1947 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECURITY OFFICER, OCAMA # TINKER FIELD (cont.) Subject: DAN NELSON, Attorney-at-Law, 926 Perrine Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Re: Flying Saucer Mystery Solved. On 30 July 1947 DAN NELSON was interviewed at his office, 926 Perrine Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, relative to his alleged solving of the Flying Saucer Mystery. Subject, whose age is 53, is at present engaged in practicing law and is the agent for the Dual Parking Meter Company. Subject advised he is married and has two sons, ages seven and ten, residing at 2613 N.W. 14th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Nelson stated he was a sergeant in World War I, being wounded in action while serving with Company L, 58th Infantry, and that before entering the service he had an eighth grade education. After leaving the service he finished his education and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1929. He advised that since 1929 he has practiced general law in both Norman and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. # TINKER FIELD (cont.) Subject stated he notified the War Department by letter on 19 July 1947, advising them of his discoveries concerning the Flying Saucer Mystery. He received an answer dated 23 July 1947 advising him his letter had been referred to the Air Forces. NELSON stated he heard no more from the War Department as of 29 July 1947, at which time he released his statement to the "Daily Oklahoman," Oklahoma City local newspaper. Subject advised the basis for his theory concerning the Flying Saucer Mystery was obtained from simple experiments which he conducted while driving his automobile. NELSON stated he believed that many people had seen lights or shining objects cast onto their windshields and side ventilator windows of their automobile and reflected as a saucer or disc shaped object. He stated that the movement of the automobile, plus the fact that the glass was not a perfect mirror and passing objects could be seen in relation to the objects gave them an appearance of great speed. # TINKER FIELD (cont.) Subject advised that the vibration of the car gave the objects an appearance of rotating and that the reflections caused them to appear flat or saucer shaped. NELSON stated that any number of objects might be seen according to the direction that the car is traveling and the number of bright objects being reflected onto the window. He further stated that these objects might be seen in an ordinary window in a house according to the lighting Anel #1 45 [page 55] conditions, and that the objects might be either vertical or horizonal. The subject related that any change in speed of the car resulted in a change in speed of the object, and that changes of direction resulted in a change in the angle of travel of the object. NELSON stated he has not talked to any persons that had actually seen flying saucers or discs but he believed that these reflections plus the excitement and hysteria caused by other reports has been the basis for most flying saucer reports. Subject also stated that this same theory could be true in relation to flying saucers seen from aircraft. Attached hereto is a detailed statement by NELSON covering his findings and explaining his solution to the so-called Flying Saucer Mystery. <signature> KALMAN D. SIMON C.I., U.S. Army 2 [page 56] # FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY SOLVED July 12, 1947. # FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY SOLVED (cont.) The most impressive reports of the so-called flying saucers or discs were those from aviators who claim they saw disc-shaped objects flying through the air in various formations at high altitudes and at a high rate of speed. The first report was from an aviator who stated that these so-called flying discs had a somewhat shiny appearance and would fly in formation and change their position from time to time. Most reports stated that they appeared in the late afternoon or about dusk. Most all reports were to the effect that these objects had the appearance of an inverted disc or saucer, and some of them reported that they appeared to be rotating in their flight. The mystery of the flying saucers or discs may be sol- ved by the use of a little applied science along with a few simple experiments. [page 57] These shiny objects may have various forms and there may be more than one, depending on the number of reflections. They may appear to be in the sky when the driver looks through the ventilation wing glass. Their position in the sky depends upon the angle at which the object is reflected in the ven- tilation wing and the position of the observer. They may have various forms but very frequently they are of a saucer shape or a flat shape when they appear to be in the sky. # FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY SOLVED (cont.) If the ventilation wing window were a perfect mirror the objects causing the reflections would appear therein, as well as all other objects within range, but the ventilation wing being a sort of a semi-mirror, does not reflect the object but only the bright spot, which leaves the impression that the observer is actually looking through the glass and that the object act- ually appears to be in the sky, or at times a long distance away. These results are best obtained in the late afternoon, or after sun down. The aviators who reported seeing flying discs or saucers, undoubtedly were seeing the reflection of bright objects in or on their own plane. They saw them as reflected in their canopy or wind shield, but failed to recognize them as reflections. Otherwise they were reflections from other air craft. [page 59] are reflected from some bright object in or on the car or plane, the up and down motion of the car or plane causes the flying discs to appear to be going through a dipping and rising motion, or, if the reflecting object is stationary and the car moving, the results will be the same. # FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY SOLVED (cont.) The statement that the discs appeared to be rotating as they sailed through the atmosphere is due to the vibration of the automobile or plane. Vibrations make them appear to be rotating at a very high rate of speed. Vibration is what gives them a flat or disc-like shape also. If you wish to see some flying discs, make a drive at about dusk or at night, open your ventilation wing window at about a 45° angle from the drivers seat and watch the reflections of the stationary electric lights that appear on your left, if you are driving, after you pass them, and see how many discs you can observe flying through the air. If there are not too many lights to your rear, you may have a perfect formation of beaufiful flying discs which may be red, green or silver according to the color of the electric lights which you have passed. They appear most realistic when traveling about forty-five or fifty miles per hour. If you do not get satisfactory results from your first experiments, try again. After you have learned when and where to look for them, your observations become more pleasing and interesting. [page 60] These appear best when the approaching car is some distance away, perhaps a quarter or half a mile. The results at night may not be as impressive as those in the late afternoon because at night your ventilation wing window makes a more perfect mirror and the passing landscape is not as pronounced, therefore, the reflections therein are more easily detected as reflections. In the late afternoon, however, you have a feeling that you are actually looking through the glass and the reflected objects appear more real. The sun shining on a bright ring on your fin- ger with your hand resting on the steering wheel may cast disc- like reflections in your wind shield. The form of the reflect- ion will depend upon the ornamental decorations on your ring. # FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY SOLVED (cont.) you may see as many as three flying discs from one electric light bulb, which may have more or less of a bell shape. These discs many times appear as inverted saucers, and if you will change your position slowly you will see that they change their position also. These are best observed in the late afternoon or between sun down and dusk, when it appears to you that you are merely looking through the window pane at the discs sus- pended in the distance. As darkness comes on, the window pane becomes a more perfect mirror and your discs appear as reflect- ions in a mirror. To watch the discs, through your ventilation wing, sail along with you as you drive through the country, becomes very fascinating, especially if you use a little imagination. It may absorb your thoughts completely, therefore, I would admon- ish automobile drivers watching the flying discs, to be cautious and not run off the road or into some other car. # FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY SOLVED (cont.) Some of the reports on flying saucers, heretofore not ex- plained in this article, such as those reported seeing bright flashes in the sky, were no doubt reflected sun-light from planes. These light beams chanced to cross the line of vision of the observer. They frequently appear very brilliant and may more or less blind the observer for an instant. If the plane is very high it may not be seen by the observer, which may be due to impaired vision or the great height at which the plane is flying. We very often get these same blinding flashes from automobile wind-shields, Many of the reports around July 4th. were incited by various forms of fire works. (6) 52 [page 62] Some reports stemmed from pure imagination or hysteria, while others were deliberate hoaxes. Any other reports can be ex- plained if all the surrounding facts are known. Most all of the reports and descriptions of the flying saucers coincide so clearly with the findings herein, that there could be no doubt but that we have the correct solution. The foregoing statement may not be coached in precise scientific terms, and may not be scientifically exact, how- ever, we believe it is so worded that the average layman can understand it and that it is sufficiently correct to prove the proposition. Personally, I do not believe that the so-called flying saucers or the solution thereof, are of any military value, unless the Government wished to retain this information for the psychological effect upon any potential enemy nation, such as Germany did in regard to their so-called secret weapons during the war. <signature> Oklahoma City 53 [page 63] BI 8 Code 110A NRL 7 August 1947 MEMORANDUM SUBJECT: "Flying Saucers" TO: Asst Chief of Air Staff-2 Collection Branch, AA Washington 25, D. C. 1. The inclosure is an excerpt from a letter to Dr. E. Tousey, Micron Waves Section Head, Naval Research Labora- tory, from Mr. John F. Cole, pertaining to some unidentified objects which Mr. Cole reports to have seen some time prior to the first reports of "flying saucers" in the New England area. 2. Dr. Tousey states that Mr. Cole is a well-known astronomer and a reliable observer as a result of his training. 3. The inclosure is in addition to information contained in previous letters to your office taken from interviews at the request of Lt. Col. G. D. Garrett, AAF A-2. 1 Incl. Excerpt fm ltr to Dr. Tousey 2 <signature> WILLIAM P. MELLEN Major, Air Corps AMC Liaison Officer Naval Research Laboratory DC [page 64] Excerpt from letter to Dr. R. Tousey from Mr. John F. Cole COPY South Brooksville, Me. July 28, 1947. # FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY SOLVED (cont.) Having in mind the ridicule which has been heaped on those innocent or perhaps gullible individuals who have reported disks, I would be a little cautious in interpreting. But it is safe to say truthfully, that something unusual attracted my attention, and I was in a perfectly sober, condition, barring the mild stimulation, afforded by cool spring water filtering through North Haven greenstone cracks. It should be easy to determine if the "disks" were a new type jet plane, or bomber, or rocket. The fact that it was July 3, about 2:30 P.M. (summer time) or Greenwich Civil time 1830 might suggest that they were engaged in some naval demonstration from Eastport, Bar Harbor or Belfast. The group appeared to be at an altitude of about 50° -- I suffer from a mild cervical arthritis--but my eyes are well corrected for astigma- tism and hypermetropia, and I doubt if my cerebral cortical Lesions are suffic- iently advanced to affect my balance. What first made me look up was the un- usually loud roar and I was surprised not to see a well defined group of planes quite near. Instead I had to look rather sharply to see the bunch of very light colored objects, in a general northerly direction and travelling roughly in a NW (true) direction. This was reasonably correct, as I was on Cox's hill, and looked over towards Backwood's Mount, that is the conspicuous flat top planated hill at Harborside. The group could hardly have covered more than 1 angular diameter in the sky, and bunched rather closely with no regular formation. There might have been 10, I couldn't say and with 90' of arc spread, would easily be within the limit of visibility for discreet ob- jects. As a group they were going so as to cover 30° of arc, estimated of course, in perhaps 10 or 15 seconds. If one of them, say, subtended 1/10°, with a possible wing spread of 100 feet, it would put it at a distance of over 10 miles, and quite invisible for a light object. Besides, with 30° arc of travel at a 10 mi. distance would be roughly 5 miles in 15 seconds or 20 mi. per minute or 1200 mi. per hour!!--rather fast for a bomber--hi. A 50 ft. object, at 5 miles dist. would be about 600 mi. per hr.--also fast going. The only concrete evidence of form appeared on the left tangent of the group--two dark shaped forms: which may have been tail wings. Doesn't the Douglass bomber have these? And since they were in no regular formation, but seemed among themselves to be moving irregularly like a swarm of bees, why shouldn't all of them have shown wings? The loud roar suggests they may have been much closer, and, rather small. The sky background was hazy blue, and the sun behind me. One plane towing a lot of balloons, I believe, would have been easily recognized. Havy any meteorites been re- ported? At that time of day, has there been any abrupt change of radio field strength? or ionization? [page 65] OFFICE OF THE AIR INSPECTOR 25 JULY 1947 ## MEMORANDUM TO: AC/AS-2, Counter Intelligence Branch 1. Information contained herein and opinions expressed are based upon conversation with and request by Mr. Butler of your office. All pertain to certain phenonema connected with recent widespread talk of "flying saucers". 2. Approximately three weeks ago, on or about 7 July 1947, I prepared to go to bed around 2230 or 2300 EDT. I was living at 2807 North Glebe Road, Arlington, Virginia, with my wife. Illustration No. 1 shows the general layout of the room we occupied at that time. See Illustration No. 1. This is a hand-drawn floor plan of a room. Key elements shown are: * **North arrow** indicating orientation. * **Sofa** * **Radio** and **Desk** * **Bed** * **"ME"** (presumably the observer's position) * **Small table** * **Casement windows** [page 66] 3. I had just turned off the light by my bedside, but sat down on the side of the bed to listed to the end of a radio program before reclining. In the meantime, my wife and I were having some conversa- tion about the selection of certain furniture for a home we had just purchased. At the time of these events, as I sat facing the windows, a light appeared at the right-hand edge of the extreme end window and moved rapidly along to disappear below the trees or horizon, or to be extinguished in some fashion at some place in a general southerly direction. This is illustrated on the following page by a very tenta- tive sketch. See Illustration No. 2.. @ Light appeared in this disation d. 34 mili CIB Est 34 mile appant korection of fight dimprend in this divation Illustrative 37 # FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY SOLVED (cont.) ## MEMORANDUM TO: AC/AS-2, Counter Intelligence Branch (cont.) 4. At the time, since my attention was divided and absorbed among the subjects mentioned, my reaction was simply that "a light passed by," and I gave no further thought to the matter until some moment's later, when the thought came to me that I had never seen such an object before, and that although the first explanation would have been that a meteor had fallen toward earth in that direction, it did not have the appearance of any meteor or "shooting star" I had ever seen. Thinking of the then- prevalent talk of flying disks, I reflected that probably some such thing as I had just seen was the source of a large amount of newspaper and radio publicity on the subject. The next morning I jestingly announced in the office that I saw a flying saucer the night before and thought that it was enroute to Alexandria, where some of our officers live. I then went on to say that I supposed it was a shooting star, but that it did look somewhat peculiar. After we had discussed the general topic for some time, I dropped the subject, not wishing to add to the supposed rumors, which I envisioned as a source of serious panic over the country. # FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY SOLVED (cont.) ## MEMORANDUM TO: AC/AS-2, Counter Intelligence Branch (cont.) 5. A description of the light, or object is almost impossible, since observation of it was so limited. As shown in Illustration No. 2, the object appeared to pass in closest proximity to me at the time it came into view. All of my mental calculations were based upon some impression or conception of its distance at the closest point, (AC). I had no way of judging this, except in the form of very crude depth- perception. If this by any chance were correct, and instead of a dis- tant meteor some object had passed near-by, I would assume for purposes of description that the distance AC on the sketch was some three quarters of a mile. One factor which I could judge quite reliably was the angular elevation. This must have been approximately 3 or 4 degrees; at any rate, the light was intermittently behind the tallest trees forward of my position as it passed, and these trees are of a normal height, perhaps sixty or eighty feet at a distance several blocks. Based upon a mild assumption as to distance, and a reasonable assumption as to angular elevation, the object would be at a low altitude, considerably below 500 feet, and of a size approximating a small airplane, say 30 feet across. The shape may have been round, oval, discal, or irregular; at the speed with which it travelled, I could only perceive it as a "blob." I do not consider the distance mentioned to be less than 3/4 mile, because had it been, I feel sure that, late in the evening and with all my windows open, I would have heard some sound, which I definitely did not in this case. It might be well to point out here the relative similarity in size, altitude and airspeed of a firefly at a distance of 30 feet, an airplane at about 3/4 mile, and a meteor at several hundred miles. Most of us are familiar with this illusion. [page 68] 6. Although I could not accurately judge the time, I seem to recall the object or light was visible for a couple of seconds. Taking this figure literally and applying it to the sketch, No. 2, one could roughly compute the speed of the object at 1350 mph; however, I did not sense that it was moving with such great speed as this. It rather appeared to move with the speed of a jet-powered airplane. It did not deviate from a straight course while I observed it, and did not perceptibly lose altitude. 7. In color, the subject had the appearance of a reflected white light, a cool, bright white light with no red in it, like the moon on a clear night. There was no train visible to me, in the form of fire, smoke, or sparks. The weather at the assumed time and date was checked through records of the Bolling Field weather office, and consisted of scattered to broken clouds with visibilities of 10-12 miles. The cloud condition is further indication that the object was not necessarily a meteor, since it might have been impossible to see a meteor. I do not personally remember the weather condition, except that I am sure it was not raining. [page 69] ADDRESS REPLY TO DIRECTOR, NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY WASHINGTON 20, D. C. AND REFER TO: Code 110 # ARMY LIAISON OFFICE NAVY DEPARTMENT NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY Bex-a WASHINGTON 20, D. C. 28 July 1947 # ARMY LIAISON OFFICE NAVY DEPARTMENT NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY (cont.) SUBJECT: Flying Saucers TO: Asst Chief of Air Staff-2 Collection Branch, AAF Washington 25, D. C. Supplemental to that contained in a letter to your office, dated 18 July 1947, re interview with Mr. C. H. Zohn who purports to have seen an unidentified flying object, the following additional information was obtained on 21 July from C. C. Rockwood, who was mentioned in that letter as having also seen the object. C. C. Rockwood reports the object to have been either a silvery sphere or disc, which he would have taken to be a meteorological balloon except for the fact that it was travelling at a much higher velocity than the automobile and approximately in the same direction. The auto- mobile was moving about 60 mph. There was little, if any, surface wind. When first seen at an elevation of about 45° it appeared about of the same size as the sun. He could hear nothing above the noise of the car. 2 saw no smoke or contrails. Its motion was apparently all horizontal. Its aspect did not change so far as could be observed during the time of observation. He thought it disappeared by simply becoming too small to see. <signature> WILLIAM P. MELLEN Major, Air Corps AMC Liaison Officer HAA 200 [page 73] This is an unparaphrased code (cypher) message. Text must be paraphrased if essential to retransmit it in another system or to communicate its con tents to persons outside British or U.S. Government Services. One-time pad ressages are excepted from this rule. [page 74] CONFIDENTIAL # 62-83894-130 # FLYING DISCS (cont.) | Report<br />Number | Date | #Hour | |-|-|-| | | 19 May | 1215 | | | 22 May | | | | 22 June | 1130 | | | 24 June | | | | 28 June | 2120 | | 123456789 | 29 June | 1330 | | | 1 July | | | | 4 July | 2015 | | | 6 July | 1345 | | 10 | 6 July | | | 11 | 7 July | 1145 | | 12 | 7 July | 1430 | | 13 | 8 July | 1550 | | 14 | 9 July | 2330 | | 15 | 10 July | 1600 | | 16 | 12 July | 1830 | | 17 | | | | 18 | | | # FLYING DISCS (cont.) ## Report Number | Number | Observer's Name | |-|-| | 1 | D. A. Houser | | | F. J. Smith | | | L. D. Jamis on | | | Byron Savage | | 2345 | E. L. DeRose | | | Kenneth Arnold | | | Wilson H. Kayko | | | John H. Cantrell | | | Redman | | | Theodore Dewey | | 9 | C. H. Zohn | | | J. R. Kauke | | | C. C. Rockwood | | | Nancy Rockwood | | | Richard Rankin | | 8 | E. J. Smith | | | Ralph Stevens | | | A. B. Browning | | 10 | Jas. H. Burniston | | 11 | Not Stated<br />" 1 | | 12 | Not Stated<br />" | | 13 | Alvin E. Moorman | | 14 | Iric Kearsey | | 15 | Mr. Mehrman | | | Mr. Woodruff | | 16 | Grahm | | | and several other officers | ## Occupation # FLYING DISCS (cont.) ## Observed From (cont.) | Report<br />Number | Deviation from<br />Straight light | Color | Size | |-|-|-|-| | 1 | Climbed, dove, hovered overhead, re-<br />sumed original course | Silver | Apparently small | | 2<br />3 | None reported | Silver, very<br />bright | Small | | 4 | | | | | 5 | Zig zag course "much like a water-<br />bug" | Brilliance<br />slightly great-<br />er than a star | Not stated | | 6 | None reported | Some solar spec-<br />ular reflection | Not stated | | 7<br />8 | None reported | Almost dusk;<br />I could not dis-<br />tinguish | Impossible to<br />determine | | 9 | None reported. | Very bright and<br />silvery colored | 30-50' in diameter | | 10 | None reported | Reflection from<br />sun | Comparable to a<br />C-54 at 10,000' | | 11 | Descended edgewise, stopped at 4,000'<br />and assumed horizontal position. Pro-<br />ceeded in horizontal flight for 15<br />seconds, stopped again, then disapp-<br />eared | Not stated | Not stated | | 12 | None reported | Not stated | Not stated | | 22 13 | None reported | Of light-reflec-<br />ting nature | Apparent depth of<br />a P-51 | | 14 | None reported | Phosphorous<br />color | Not stated | | 15 | None reported | Silvery | Same span as a<br />C-54 at 10,000' | | 16 | Followed contours of mountains five<br />miles away from observers | Resembled a<br />grayish balloon | Approx. 10' in<br />diameter | # FLYING DISCS (cont.) ## Observed From (cont.) | Report<br />Number | Shape | Sound | Trail | Weather | |-|-|-|-|-| | 1.<br /><br />2 | No definite shape could be<br />determined | None | None | CAVU | | 3 | Irregular; round, Dis not<br />appear particularly disc-<br />shaped | None | None | Not stated | | | None stated; seemed like<br />a bright light | None | None | Clear moonlight | | 6 | No details other than that<br />shape was uniform with no<br />protuberances | None | Possible vapor<br />trails | CAVU | | 78 | None definite, but seemed<br />flat on base with the top<br />slightly rough in contour | None | None | CAVU | | 9 | Round, disc-shaped | None | None | CAVU | | 10 | No shape could be disting-<br />uished | None | None | Sunny | | 11 | Not stated, but report re-<br />fers to "saucer" several<br />times | None | None | CAVU | | 22 12 | Same as Report No. 11 | None | None | CAVU | | 13 | Flat object, of light-re-<br />flecting nature which appear-<br />ed to be without vertical<br />fin or any visible wings | None | None | Not stated | | 14 | Egg-shaped, or like barrel<br />head | None | None | CAVU | | 15 | Circular in shape, like<br />wagon wheel | None | Bluish black<br />trail approx.<br />15 mi. long | Clear with scat-<br />tered cumulus<br />at 8 to 10,000' | | 16 16 | Resembled balloon | None | None | Not stated | ## Report Number Manner of Disappearance # FLYING DISCS (cont.) ## Report Number (cont.) | 1 | Climbed very fast and out of sight | |-|-| | | | | 23 | Obscured by a cloud bank | | 45 | Lost in brilliancy of the moon | | 6 | Cannot explain, except that reflec-<br />tion angle may have changed abruptly | | 7 | | | 8 | Don't know whether they put on a tre-<br />menduous burst of speed, or disinteg-<br />rated. However, they did disappear into<br />sunset | | 9 | Unexplained | | 10 10 | Disappeared at an angle of about 30°<br />above the earth's surface | | 11 | Unexplained | | CRE 12 | Unexplained | | 13 | Pilot (at 300MPH) attempted to keep<br />object in sight, but unable to do so | | 14 | Unexplained | | 15 CF | Unexplained | | 16 16 | Not stated | # FLYING DISCS (cont.) ## Remarks No definite shape could be determi and even with the aid of 4 to 6 pc er binoculars object could not be brought into focus From letter this observer wrote, i is obvious he is a well-educat ed person. Seeks no publicity. Observers (2 rated, 2 air intell.) phoned Field Ops to ascertain no scheduled experimental a/c were in vicinity. Sky chart attached to re Observer is Admin. Asst. in the Roc et Sonde Sect. of NRL. Two other "scientists", and wife of one, wee in party and made same observation Observers were Pilot, Co-Pilot, of scheduled UAL DC-3. Stewardess als saw objects. Suggest reading of ve detailed statements. When first sighting object near ho izon, observer looked at chart in his lap to check position. When he looked out window again, object wa off his left wing at 11 o'clock Rolled from side to side 3 times i its path across the sky. Sun refle ed from top side, but never from u erside, even when turning None None Observer contacted bases in area w reported no a/c in air at time First 4 discs flying line-a-trail Seemed to cut clouds open as it passed thru. Trail was like beam seen after a high-powered landing light is switched off. Object was observed paralleling th course of a C-47 then landing. 7 [page 80] # HEADQUARTERS FIFTEENTH AIR FORCE Colorado Springs, Colorado 2. July 1947 # SUBJECT: Supersonic Platters. ## SUMMARY OF INFORMATION: The following information was related to Counter Intelligence Corps Personnel at Headquarters Fifteenth Air Force, Colorado Springs, Colorado on 27 June 1947 by Mr D. A. Hauser, 24 North Chesnut Street, Colorado Springs Colorado, Mr. F. J. Smith, 24 Fairview, Manitou Springs, Colorado and Mr. L. D. Jamison, 2415 West Kiowa, Colorado Springs, Colorado. All three of the men are empolyees of the Pikes Peak Railway, Manitou Springs, Colorado. # SUBJECT: Supersonic Platters. (cont.) ## SUMMARY OF INFORMATION: (cont.) "On or about 19 May 1947 during their lunch period (1215-1315) a mem- ber of a train crew called attention to a silver object in the sky approaching from the North East. It appeared to be travelling at a great speed. All three men stated that the altitude of the object was very difficult to deter- mine because of its apparent smallness. They further stated that because of this it was difficult to view the object as being large and having high altitude or small and being at a relatively low altitude. They did say though that it appeared to be higher than the top of Manitou Mountain which is over 1000 feet higher than the shops which are situated at its base. No definate sape of the object could be determined and even with the aid of binoculars it still could not be brought into focus. The binoculars used were of about 4 to 6 power. The men stated that they were certain that the object did not have any of the physical characteristics of modern conventional aircraft. The day was discribed as being clear and sunny with not a cloud in the sky and no ground wind. [page 81] HQOCAMA FORM NO. 5-506 31 MAY 1945 # OKLAHOMA CITY AIR MATERIEL AREA TINKER FIELD # OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA # IN REPLY REFER TOI #3724-I OCAPN/KDS:cp 24 July 1947 MEMORANDUM TO THE SECURITY OFFICER, OCAMA, TINKER FIELD. # IN REPLY REFER TOI (cont.) SUBJECT: BYRON B. SAVAGE, Field Engineer, Radio Corporation of America, Dallas, Texas. (Residence: 416 N. W. 29th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.) RE: Flying Disc. On 23 July 1947, BYRON B. SAVAGE was interviewed at his residence, 416 N. W. 29th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, relating to his alleged viewing of a flying disc over the vicinity of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. # IN REPLY REFER TOI (cont.) Subject, whose age is 38, advised he is married and has one child, and is presently the holder of a Private Pilot's License, No. 39101, (Single Engine, Land). Subject averred he has extensively studied electron- ics, sound engineering and aeronautics, and his present occupation, which is Field Engineer for Radio Corporation of America, offices of which are located in Dallas, Texas, is that of installing theater sound equipment. SAVAGE stated that between the days 17 May to 21 May 1947, just after dusk, he observed an object which he believed to be a small aircraft in the south. SAVAGE advised that the sun had just gone down and the moon had not arisen on the horizon. SAVAGE related that he and his wife had just departed their residence and had started to enter their car in the driveway at 416 N. W. 29th Street, Oklahoma City. He judged the time to be between 8:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., and the lights from the city of Oklahoma City appeared to be shining on this object when he first saw it. He judged the object to be about 160° in the south when he first saw it, and as it moved toward him he remarked to his wife that "a big white plane was coming over." # IN REPLY REFER TOI (cont.) Memo to the Security Officer, OCAMA, Tinker Field, dtd 7/24/47, File 3724-1. SAVAGE stated that there were no protrusions on this object and as it went by he listened for a sound of noise, and at one time thought he dis- tinguished a swishing sound like the rushing of air. This swishing sound occurred a few seconds after this object had passed him. SAVAGE averred this sound was not very loud and did not last very long, and it is very possible that the sound could have been his imagination or expectation, as he was not sure of the sound. SAVAGE related that he called his wife to see this object but it had disappeared before she could focus her eyes on it. Subject stated that the object appeared to diminish in size and speed as it moved away, and it was moving in a direction of 3500 to the north. Subject further stated that the object appeared to be frosty white in color at all times. SAVAGE advised that he has held a pilot's certificate since 1934 and has been flying since 1929. He advised that he would be glad to answer any further inquiries and will cooperate in every way possible. SAVAGE stated he was sure this object was not a meteor and in his opinion it must be radically built and powered, probably atomic. [page 83] RESTRICTED 181 Meridian Street Greenfield, Massachusetts July 10, 1947 Commanding Officer Westover Field Chicopee, Massachusetts Dear Sirs After having read several accounts of eye-witnesses who claim they had seen the so-called "flying disos", it brought to mind a strange exper- ience I had some two weeks ago. The reason I write to you is that radio and news paper reporte state that the air forces have been alerted to investigate these mysterious objects. Assuming that you are interested, I am making the following report in the belief that it might possibly be of help to you. I do not desire to have any kind of publicity whatsoever in this connection. # IN REPLY REFER TOI (cont.) About 11:30 AM, Sunday, June 22nd, I was working outdoors on a step- ladder, looking up, and suddenly there appeared across my line of vision a speeding, brilliant, small, round-shaped, silvery-white object at an altitude I would judge to be about 1,000 ft. or more. It was moving very fast in a straight, northwesterly direction -- I would say as fast or possibly faster than a speeding plane. It was so unusual and strange a sight that it arrest- ed my attention for about 8 or 10 seconds until it was obscured by a cloud- bank. Naturally my curiosity was considerably aroused and I tried to think what this object might have been. I doubted very much that it could have been a weather baloon because it was not at all like any weather baloons I had seen before. The object I saw, although small, reflected the sunlight very strong- ly as though it were of polished aluminum or silver, and I can assure you was very roal. It appeared to have an irregular round shape and while it could have been disc-shaped, it did not particularly impress me as such. [page 85] Incident 4AF 1208 I 16 July 1947 # MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE: # MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE: (cont.) 1. On 12 July 1947, a call was made at the newspaper office of the "Idaho Daily Statesman", Boise, Idaho. The aviation editor of the paper, Mr. David N. Johnson, was interviewed in regard to how well he knew Mr. Kenneth Arnold of Boise, Idaho, and as to the credibility of any statement made by Mr. Arnold. The purpose of this interview was an attempt to verify statements made by Mr. Kenneth Arnold on 26 June 1947, to various national news services to the effect that he, Mr. Amold, had seen 9 objects flying in the air above the Cascade Mountain Range of Washington. These objects were subsequently referred to as flying saucers or flying disks and will here-in-after be referred to as such in this report. Mr. Johnson stated that he had known Mr. Arnold for quite a period of time, having had relations with Mr. Arnold on various occasions, due to the fact that both he, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Arnold were private fliers and frequently got together to talk shop. Mr. Johnson stated that as far as he was concerned anything Mr. Arnold said could be taken very seriously and that he, Mr. Johnson, actually believed that Mr. Arnold had seen the aforementioned flying disks. Mr. Johnson stated that after Mr. Arnold reported having seen the flying disks, that the editor of the paper had assigned him, Mr. Johnson, the assignment of taking the airplane belonging to the newspaper and exhausting all efforts to prove or disprove the probability of flying disks having been seen in the northwest area. The results of this assignment to Mr. Johnson and what he subsequently saw is put forth in a sworn statement signed by Mr. Johnson attached to this report as Exhibit B. [page 86] COPY Statement of David N. Johnson at Boise, Idaho, July 12, 1947 # MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE: (cont.) To Whom It May Concern: On the sixth day of July, 1947, I received from James L. Brown, general manager of the Statesman Newspapers, incorporated in Idaho as The Statesman Printing company, an assignment which was in substance: "Conduct an aerial search of the northwest states in an effort to see and photograph a flying disc. Conduct this patrol for so long a time as you believe reasonable, or until you see a flying disc." In accordance to these instructions, I took the Statesman's airplane, and with Kenneth Arnold as passenger, flew a seven and one-half hour, mission on the seventh day of July, 1947. This mission was without result. It covered an area embracing the confines of the Hanford plant in Washington, and territory between and around Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams, where Arnold first reported seeing objects henceforth described as saucers or discs. On the eighth day of July, 1947, I took an AT-6 of the 190th Fighter squadron, Idaho National Guard, of which I am a member, and flew to northern Idaho, into northwestern Montana briefly, to Spokane, Washington, and back to Boise by way of Walla Walla, Washington, and Pendleton, Oregon. This search also was negative. [page 87] CONFIDENTIAL between Boise and the village of Meridian, west of Boise a few miles. During this search, which lasted approximately two and one-half hours, I flew under and around rapidly forming cumulus clouds over that area known as the Camas Prairie, east of Boise. The clouds were near the village of Fairfield in that valley, and Fairfield is 75 miles airline distance east of Boise. At that time I saw nothing in the vicinity of these clouds. # MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE: (cont.) At the time I reached the point between Boise and Meridian, I was flying at an altitude of 14,000 feet mean sea level, which would be a mean average of 11,000 feet above the earth in this area, not considering errors in the altimeter induced either by barometric changes since my takeoff, or by the temperature at that altitude. I turned the aircraft on an easterly heading, pointing toward Cowen Field, and had flown on that course for perhaps a minute when there suddenly appeared in the left hand portion of my field of vision an object which was black and round. I immediately centered my gaze on the object. At that time, due to its erratic movement, I thought I was seeing a weather balloon. I called the CAA's communication station at Boise, and asked if the weather station had recently released a balloon. The reply from communicator Albertson was that the bureau had not. I do not remember his exact words; I am under the impression he said "not for several hours" or gave me the exact time of the previous release, which was around 08:30 that day. [page 88] CONFIDENTIAL I could not see the object because of minuteness of scope introduced by the optical view finder with which the camera, an f.1.9 Eastman, was equipped. Taking the camera away and once again centering my gaze on the object, I observed it to roll so that its edge was presented to me. At this time it flashed once in the sunlight. It then appeared as a thin black line. It then performed a maneuver which looked as if it had begun a slow roll, or a barrel roll, which instead of being completed, was broken off at about the 180-degree point. The object rolled out of the top of the maneuver at this point, and I lost sight of it. # MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE: (cont.) This entire performance was observed against the background of clouds previously forming over the Camas Prairie. The object appeared to me, relatively, as the size of a twenty-five cent piece. I do not know how far away it was. I do not know, nor can I truthfully estimate, its speed. I can only say it was not an airplane, and if it was at a very great dis- tance from me, its speed was great, taking into consideration that apparent speed is reduced to the viewer if an object is a very great distance away. I forgot to look at my clock to determine the exact time I saw the object. The CAA's log of radio contacts shows my first contact to have been made a12:17 hours. But a few seconds elapsed between the time I first saw the object, and the time I called the CAA's station. I subsequently related over the radio a description of what I saw, and communicator Albertson may remember it. The control tower may have a record- ing of the conversation. I have not checked to determine that. [page 89] The next search, begun within half an hour after landing from the first one, consumed another two hours, but was negative. I explored thorough- ly the region where I saw the object. Immediately after sighting the object, I asked if there were other aircraft in the area. There was a P-51 of the 190th squadron practicing. maneuvers in the vicinity of Kuna, but that was behind me. A C-82 passed over Boise, but I saw that aircraft go beneath me by some 2,000 feet. # MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE: (cont.) The P-51 in the vicinity of Kuna proceeded to the area where I saw the object, at my request, and conducted a search. It was negetive. During the afternoon, flights of P-51s were sent out to cover the area, and some of them flew high altitude missions on oxygen. These searches were negative. I was subsequently informed that personnel on both the United Air Lines side of Gowen field, and on the national guard side, observed a black object maneuvering in front of the same cloud formation, which by now had grown so that the clouds reached a probable height of 19,000 or 20,000 feet from a mean base of 13,500 or 14,000 feet, mean sea level. Three of these men were national guard personnel and I talked to them, asking them to describe what they saw, before telling them my story, in order to avoid suggestion or inference of a leading nature. They saw the object (from the ground) while I was on my second search. They believed the time to have been 14:00 hours. The object performed in the same erratic manner, they said, as I observed. The above is the extent of the story, and information concerning myself is now in order. [page 90] CONFIDENTIAL It does not make my eyesight any sharper except again as to the incidental demands upon the eyes of a pilot. At the time of the experience related above, I had flown fourteen and one-half hours on an assignment to find a disc and if possible, to photograph it. In all frankness, I was tired." I may have been suffering, although slightly, from want of oxygen. Prior to sighting the object, I had concluded there was no point in pressing the search, that I probably would never see the disc-like objects referred to by Arnold and by Captain Smith of United Air Lines. At all times during the search, both on that day and the two preceding days (particularly when I was with Arnold) I had literally talked to myself to keep beating into my head that I would not fall victim to the power of suggestion or self-hypnosis arising from a naturally very intent desire to find a disc and bring success to the assignment given me. [page 91] CONFIDENTIAL # MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE: (cont.) 241 Battery Street, San Francisco, showed no trace of any object. Stohr says that if it was more than a mile distant from me at the size I described, the object would not have registered sufficiently on the film to be shown. He said it probably was too far away to be apparent even through great en- largement of the negative, and enlargement in that case is limited because of the size of the film and the fact I did not have any telescopic equipment on the lens. The exposure was f.16, stop set at infinity, at a speed of 16 frames per second. I have worried over this matter a great deal since seeing it. I "took myself aside" and said, "come now, Johnson, don't be stupid." But I cannot bring myself to the point of thinking I did not see anything. The impression of the moment was too vivid, too realistic, and I knew in the air when I saw that partial slow roll or barrel roll, that I was not a victim of illusion. I trust this matter will be of help to those investigating the flying disc phenomena which have been reported. A chart is attached depicting the movements of the object as I saw it. This statement is made voluntarily and freely, in response to the request of Mr. Brown and Captain Davidson, who called on me this morning. [page 92] CONFIDENTIA Chart to which reference is made on page six, statement of David N. Johnson. | Position | Description | |---|---| | 1 | Initial position of the object. | | 2 | Jerky, rising motion. | | 3 | Jerky, rising motion. | | 4 | Object rolled, presenting its edge. | | 5 | Object rolled over the top of a maneuver and disappeared. | This design portrays the movements of the object to which reference is made in the attached statement. At all times the object appeared as black. Positions (1), (2) and (3) show the jerky, rising motion. Position (4) is where the object rolled, presenting its edge to me. It then followed the dotted line, rolling over the top of the maneuver and disappearing at position (5). CONFIDENTIAL 4495 [page 93] Incident LAF 1208 I 16 July 1947 # MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE 1. On 12 July 1947, Mr. Kenneth Arnold, Box 387, Boise, Idaho, was interviewed in regard to the report by Mr. Arnold that he saw 9 strange objects flying over the Cascade Mountain Range of Washington State on July 25th. Mr. Arnold voluntarily agreed to give the interviewer a written report of exactly what he had seen on the above mentioned date. The written report of Mr. Arnold is attached to this report as Exhibit A. # MEMORANDUM FOR THE OFFICER IN CHARGE (cont.) AGENT'S NOTES: Mr. Arnold is a man of 32 years of age, being married and the father of two children. He is well thought of in the community in which he lives, being very much the family man and from all appearances a very good provider for his family. Mr. Arnold has recently purchased a home on the outskirts of Boise, recently purchased a $5,000 airplane in which to conduct his business to the extent of which is explained in the attached. exhibit. It is the personal opinion of the interviewer that Mr. Arnold actually saw what he stated that he saw. It is difficult to believe that a man of Mr. Arnold's character and apparent integrity would state that he saw objects and write up a report to the extent that he did if he did not see them. To go further, if Mr. Arnold can write a report of the character that he did while not having seen the objects that he claimed he saw, it is the opinion of the interviewer that Mr. Arnold is in the wrong business, that he should be writing Buck Rogers fiction. Mr. Arnold is very outspoken and somewhat bitter in his opinions of the leaders of the U.S. Army Air Forces and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for not having made an investigation of this matter sooner. To put all of the statements made by Mr. Arnold in this report, would make it a voluminous volume. However, after having checked an aeronautical map of the area over which Mr. Arnold claims that he saw the objects it was determined that all statements made by Mr. Arnold in regard to the distances involved, speed of the objects, course of the objects and sise of the objects, could very possibly be facts. The dis tances mentioned by Mr. Arnold in his report are within a short distance of the actual distances on aeronautical charts of this area, although Mr. Arnold has never consulted aeronautical charts of the type the Army uses. Mr. Arnold stated that his business had suffered greatly since his report on July 25 due to the fact that at every stop on his business routes, large crowds of people were waiting to question his as to just what he had seen. Mr. Arnold stated further that if he, at any time in the future, saw anything in the sky, to quote Mr. Arnold directly, "ir I saw a ten story building [page 94] Best Possible Image Incident LAY 1208 flying through the air I would never cay a word about it", due to the fact that he has been ridiculed by the pres to such an extent that he is practically a moron in the eyes of the majority of the population of the United States. 1. Inols Exhibit "A" RECEIVED FRANK M. BROWN, S/A, CIC 8th AP AP 53 18 ON W 16 COURT 83 [page 95] ONFIDENTIAL COPY # SOME LIFE DATA ON KENNETH ARNOLD I was born March 29, 1915 in Subeka, Minnesota. My father's name was Edward Erb Arnold; my mother's maiden name was Bertha E. Barden. I was a resident of Minnesota until I was six years old when my family moved to Scobey, Montana, where they homesteaded. My grandfather, Roland C. Arnold also homesteaded in Scobey, Montana, and became quite prominent in political circles along with Burton K. Wheeler, the famous Montana senator. # SOME LIFE DATA ON KENNETH ARNOLD (cont.) I went to grade school and high school at Minot, North Dakota. I entered scouting at twelve years of age and achieved the rank of Eagle scout before I was fourteen. My former scout executive was H. H. Prescott, now a regional commissioner for the Boy Scouts in Kansas City, Kansas. As a boy, I was interested in athletics and was selected as an all- state end in 1932 and 1933 in the state of North Dakota. I entered the U. S. Olympic trials in fancy diving in 1932; I was a Red Cross Life Saving Examiner during the years of 1932, '33 and 34. I taught swimming and diving at scout camps and the municipal pool in Minot, North Dakota. I went to the Y University of Minnesota, where I swam and did fancy diving under Neils Thorpe, and also played football under Bernie Bierman, but upon entering college I was unable to continue my football career because of an injured knee. My high school football coach was Glenn L. Jarrett, who is now the head football coach of the University of North Dakota. I had little or no finances, and my ambition in furthering my education in college was through my athletics. As a boy in Minot, North Dakota, I did a good deal of dog sled racing, placed first with my dog in 1930 in the Lions Club Dog Derby. [page 96] established my own fire control supply known as the Great Western Fire Control Supply. I have been working as an independent fire control engineer since, and I handle, distribute, sell and install all types of automatic and manual fire fighting equipment in the rural areas over five western, states. # SOME LIFE DATA ON KENNETH ARNOLD (cont.) My flying experience started as a boy in Minot, North Dakota, where I took my first flying lesson from Earl T. Vance, who was originally from Great Falls, Montana. Due to the high cost at that time, I was unable to continue my flying and did not fly of any great consequence until 1943. . I was given my pilot certificate by Ed Leach, a senior CAA inspector of Portland, Oregon, and for the last three years have owned my own airplane covering my entire territory with same and flying from forty to one hundred hours per month since. Due to the fact that I use an airplane entirely in my work, in January of this year I purchased a new Callair airplane, which is an airplane designed for high altitude take-offs and short rough field use. In the type of flying I do, it takes a great deal of practice and judgment to be able to land in most any cow pasture and get out without injuring your airplane; the runways are very limited and the altitude is very high in some of the fields and places I have to go in my work. To date, I have landed in 823 cow pastures in mountain meadows, and in over a thousand hours a flat tire has been my greatest mishap. CONFIDENTIAL Acell 85 [page 97] COPY # BY KENNETH ARNOLD The following story of what I observed over the Cascade mountains, as impossible as it may seem, is positively true. I never asked nor wanted any notoriety for just accidently being in the right spot at the right time to observe what I did. I reported something that I know any pilot would have reported. I don't think that in any way my observation was due to any sensivity of eye sight or judgment than what is considered normal for any pilot. On June 24th, Tuesday, 1947, I had finished my work for the Central Air Service at Chehalis, Washington, and at about two o'clock I took off from Chehalis, Washington, airport with the intention of going to Yakima, Wash. My trip was delayed for an hour to search for a large marine transport that supposedly went down near or around the southwest side of Mt. Rainier in the state of Washington and to date has never been found. # BY KENNETH ARNOLD (cont.) There was a DC-4 to the left and to the rear of me approximately fifteen miles distance, and I should judge, at 14,000 foot elevation. The sky and air was as clear as crystal. I hadn't flown more than two or three minutes on my course when a bright flash reflected on my airplane. It startled me as I thought I was too close to some other air- oraft. I looked every place in the sky and couldn't find where the reflec- tion had come from until I looked to the left and the north of Mt. Rainier where I observed a chain of nine peculiar looking aircraft flying from north to south at approximately 9,500 foot elevation and going, seemingly, in a definite direction of about 170 degrees. They were approaching Mt. Rainier very rapidly, and I merely assumed they were jet planes. Anyhow, I discovered that this was where the reflec- tion had come from, as two or three of them every few seconds would dip or change their course slightly, just enough for the sun to strike them at an angle that reflected brightly on my plane. These objects being quite far away, I was unable for a few seconds to make out their shape or their formation. Very shortly they approached Mt. Rainier, and I observed their outline against the snow quite plainly. [page 99] airplanes flying so close to the mountain tops, flying directly south to southeast down the hog's back of a mountain range. I would estimate their elevation could have varied a thousand feet one way or another up or down, but they were pretty much on the horizon to me which would indicate they were near the same elevation as I was. # BY KENNETH ARNOLD (cont.) They flew like many times I have observed geese to fly in a rather diagonal chain-like line as if they were linked together. They seemed to hold a definite direction but rather swerved in and out of the high mountain peaks. Their speed at the time did not impress me particularly, because I knew that our army and air forces had planes that went very fast. What kept bothering me as I watched them flip and flash in the sun right along their path was the fact that I couldn't make out any tail on them, and I am sure that any pilot would justify more than a second look at such a plane. I observed them quite plainly, and I estimate my distance from them, which was almost at right angles, to be between twenty to twenty-five miles. I knew they must be very large to observe their shape at that distance, even on as clear a day as it was that Tuesday. In fact I compared a zeus fastener or cowling tool I had in my pocket with them holding it up on them and holding it up on the DC-4 that I could observe at quite a distance to my left, and they seemed smaller then the DC-4; but, I should judge their span would have been as wide as the furtherest engines on each side of the fuselage of the DC-4. [page 100] CONFIDENTIA and as, the first one was passing the south crest of this ridge the last object was entering the northern crest of the ridge. As I was flying in the direction of this particular ridge, I measured it and found it to be approximately five miles so I could safely assume that the chain of these saucer like objects were at least five miles long. I could quite accurately determine their pathway due to the fact that there were several high peaks that were a little this side of them as well as higher peaks on the other side of their pathway. As the last unit of this formation passed the southern most high snow- covered crest of Mt. Adams, I looked at my sweep second hand and it showed that they had travelled the distance in one minute and forty-two seconds. Even at the time this timing did not upset me as I felt confident after I would land there would be some explanation of what I saw. # BY KENNETH ARNOLD (cont.) and one-half or three minutes -- although, by the time they reached Mt. Adams they were out of my range of vision as far as determining shape or form. Of course, when the sun reflected from one or two or three of these units, they appeared to be completely round; but, I am making a drawing to the best of my ability, which I am including, as to the shepe I observed these objects to be as they passed the snow covered ridges as well as Mt. Rainier. when these objects were flying approximately straight and level, they wore just a black thin line and when they flipped was the only time I could get a judgment as to their size. These objects wer holding an almost, constant elevation; they did not seem to be going up or to be coming down, such as would be the case of rockets or artillery shells. I am convinced in my own mind that they were some type of airplane, even though they didn't conform with the many aspects of the conventional type of planes that I know. # BY KENNETH ARNOLD (cont.) world, principally Sweden, Bermuda, and California. I would have given almost anything that day to have had a movie camera with a telephoto lens and from now on I will never be without one - - but, to continue further with my story. When I landed at the Yakima, Wash., airport I described what I had seen to my very good friend, Al Baxter, who listened patiently and was very courteous but in a joking way didn't believe me. I did not accurately measure the distance between these two mountains until I landed at Pendleton, Oregon, that same day where I told a number of pilot friends of mine what I had observed and they did not scoff or laugh but suggested they might be guided missiles or something new. In fact several former Army pilots informed me that they had been briefed before oing into combat overseas that they might see objects of similar shape and design as I described and assured me that I wasn't dreaming or going crazy. [page 103] CONFID # BY KENNETH ARNOLD (cont.) FBI as to the authenticity of my story or a mental or a physical examination at to my capabilities, I have received no interest from these two important protective forces of our country; I will go so far as to assume that any report I gave to the United and Associated Press and over the radio on two different occasions which apparently set the nation buzzing, if our Military Intelligence was not aware of what I observed, they would be the very first people that I could expect as visitors. I have received lots of requests from people who told me to make a lot of wild guesses. I have based what I have written here in this article on positive facts and as far as uessing what it was I observod, it is just as much a mystery to me as it is to the rest of the world. My pilot's license is 333487. I fly a Callair airplane; it is a three- place single engine land ship that is designed and manufactured at Afton, Wyoming as an extremely high performance, high altitude airplane that was made for mountain work. The notional certificate of my plane is 33355. [page 104] [x] apre # HEADQUARTERS TACTICAL AIR COMMAND # LANGLEY FIELD. VIRGINIA 7 July 1947 ## IN REPLY REFER TO: Received AFBIR. CO 11 July 47 SUBJECT: Report of Unusual Celestial Phenomena TO: Assistant Chief of Staff, A-2 Headquarters Tactical Air Command Langley Field, Virginia # LANGLEY FIELD. VIRGINIA (cont.) ## IN REPLY REFER TO: (cont.) 1. The following report is submitted concerning an unusual occur- rence observed by the follow A Personnel at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Ala. on the night of 28 June 1947: CAPTION KAYKO, 0-33841, Hq, TAC CAPT. JOHN H. CANTRELL, 0-255404, Hq, TAC 1ST LT. THEODORE DEWEY, 0-2094172, Hq, TAC CAPT. REDMAN, Randolph Field, Texas 2. At approximately 2120 Central time, a light, with a brilliance slightly greater than a star, appeared from the West. It was first noted above the horizon of a clear moon-light night, traveling in an easterly direction at a high rate of speed. There was no audible sound and it was impossible to determine the altitude, except that it appeared to be at great height. It traveled in a zig zag course with frequent bursts of speed, much like a water bug as it spurts and stops across the surface of water. It continued until it was directly overhead and changed course 300 into the south. After traveling in the above manner for approximately five (5) minutes, it turned southwest and was lost in the brilliancy of the moon. at 2145 Central it was no longer possible to observe it. [page 105] V REORICTED Polar Stu Comme ม flight. x E ليا Oman RESTRICTED 94 [page 106] ADDRESS REPLY TO DIRECTOR, NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATO WASHINGTON 20, D. C. AND REFER TO: Code 110 # ARMY LIAISON OFFICE NAVY DEPARTMENT # NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY BIR # WASHINGTON 20, D. C. 18 July 1947 SUBJECT: Interview of Person Reporting Unidentified Aerial Object | TO: | Asst Chief | of Air | Staff-2 | |-|-|-|-| | | Collection | Branch, | AAF | | | Washington | 25, D. | C. | 1. At the request of Lt. Col. G. D. Garrett, AAF A-2, the undersigned has interviewed this date Mr. C. H. Zohn, Administrative Assistant in the Rocket Sonde Section, NRL, who had previously released information to the press regarding an aerial object which he stated he saw at White Sands, New Mexico, 29 June. # WASHINGTON 20, D. C. (cont.) ## 2. Substance of the interview is as follows: At between 1:00 and 1:30 p. m. Sunday, 29 June 1947, Mr. Zohn, in the company of the following: Mr. J. R. Kauke, NRL Rocket Sonde Section telemetering supervisor; Mr. C. C. Rockwood, NRL Rocket Sonde high altitude spectrograph scientist; and Mrs. Nancy Rockwood, wife of the latter, was proceeding along Highway 17 in a North-Easterly direction from Las Cruces, New Mexico to White Sands V-2 firing grounds in an automobile driven by Mr. Kauke. At some time between those given and about one-third of the distance from Las Cruces Mr. Kauke, who was driving the car, noticed the subject device and called attention to the other occupants. Mr. Zohn opened the window nearest him and observed the object moving at an unknown rapid velocity at an unknown altitude, which he estimated at about 10,000 feet, and which Mr. Kauke, who also observed it through an open window, estimated at between 8,000 and 10,000 feet, although the former puts little credence in the estimates. # WASHINGTON 20, D. C. (cont.) ## 2. Substance of the interview is as follows: (cont.) When first sighted the object was to the right and forward of the automobile at an unstated elevation and was apparently moving horizontally in a Northerly direction such as to cross the highway from right to left. The object was observed by all persons in the automobile. Mr. Zohn stated that he could not observe any details of the object other than that its shape was uniform, with no protuberances such as the wings of an airplane. It was too distant to enable stereoscopic visualization. There was apparently some solar specular reflection which seemed to change in intensity as the object receded until it was lost from sight after an estimated 30 seconds from the time first noticed. He could not explain how it disappeared except perhaps that the reflection angle may have changed abruptly. There were apparently no clouds or visibility obstructions at the time. The sun was to the rear of the automobile. Mr. Kauke thought that at one time he saw vapor trails. # WASHINGTON 20, D. C. (cont.) ## 2. Substance of the interview is as follows: (cont.) Key information extracted from the surrounding text: * **Object sighted:** A uniform, protuberance-free object moving horizontally north, crossing a highway from right to left. * **Observation:** Seen by all persons in an automobile. * **Details:** Too distant for stereoscopic visualization. * **Appearance:** Solar specular reflection, intensity changed as it receded. * **Duration:** Visible for an estimated 30 seconds. * **Disappearance:** Unknown, possibly due to changing reflection angle. * **Conditions:** No clouds or visibility obstructions. Sun was behind the automobile. * **Possible detail:** Vapor trails possibly seen by one observer. [page 107] Ltr, ALO, NRL, 18 July 47 to Asst Chief Air Staff-2, Collection Br., AAF, subj: "Interview of Person Reporting Unidentified Aerial Object" 3. This interview was made in the presence of Dr. H. E. Newell, Acting Rocket Sonde Section Head, who said that Mr. Zohn had recently been in the Navy and is familiar with the appearance of the majority of aircraft types and with meteorological balloons. Mr. Zohn also stated that none of the occupants of the car were intoxicated. <signature> WILLIAM P. MELLEN Major, Air Corps AMC Liaison Officer 2 [page 108] COPY # INTERVIEW REPORT SUBJECT: Interviews with Capt. E. J. SMITH and Ralph Stovens, United Air Lines pilots, who reported seeing flying disks. # INTERVIEW REPORT (cont.) Captain E. J. SMITH was interviewed at 1500, 9 July 1947, concerning the "flying disks", and stated substantially as follows: "We left Boise, Idaho, at 2004 Pacific Standard Time. At approximately 2015, the co-pilot, Ralph STEVENS, called my attention to the first object seen. We were then in the vicinity of Emmet, Idaho, our altitude was app- roximately 6500, and we were climbing to our proposed cruising altitude of 3000 from there to Pendleton, Oregon. The heading of the plane at that time was 300 degrees Magnetic North, and the object (one) was sighted at approx- imately 290 degrees, or ten degrees to our left. Then an additional four objects appeared to the left of the main, or first, object. These four objects appeared slightly smaller than the first object sighted, but all of the objects appeared on the same plane. I estimated the altitude of the objects to be about 8500. They were within our sight for approximately two minutes, then they disappeared. # INTERVIEW REPORT (cont.) "Shortly after the first group disappeared, probably one or two minutes later, the second group appeared about 310 degrees, or to the right of the plane. Their altitude was the same as the first group. Three of the objects appeared to be on the same plane, and one object appeared slightly higher and to the right of the others. The second group stayed within our sight twelve to fifteen minutes, then disappeared. We had levelled off by the time the second group disappeared. # INTERVIEW REPORT (cont.) "The objects were flat on the base, the top slightly rough in contour. The dimensions appeared the same as a DC-3 approximately five miles from us. In other words, it could have been ninety miles away if it would be possible for an object as large as that would have to be to be flying, but since we didn't know what we were looking at or how largo it was, we de- cided that if it were the size of a DC-3 wing span (90 feet), it was about five miles distent. Actually, we have no idea just how large it was since we could not determine its distance from us. When we first sighted the objects, we decided they were either going away from us or coming towards us. After a short while, however, we knew they couldn't be coming towards us, because we never approached them. I don't believe they could have been going a great rate of speed and still stayed in sight for as long as they did. I would judge they might have been travelling about 300 miles per hour. [page 109] COPY "In both instances, the co-pilot sighted the objects first and called my attention to them. The weather was clear and unlimited, with not a cloud in the sky. We checked the wind, and it was 230-10, or out of the Southwest at ten miles per hour. The air speed of the ship was about 135 MPH. The sun was below the horizon and the objects werc silhoueted against the sky, hence we could distinguish no color or reflection." # INTERVIEW REPORT (cont.) Ralph STEVENS, co-pilot of the plane, was interviewed at 2130, 9 July 1947. STEVENS corroborated the remarks made by SMITH concerning the flight of the plane, the time the objects were sighted, direction of the flight of the plane, etc. There were two discrepancios in their statements as to the size of the smaller objects and the altitude at which they were flying. STEVENS stated that there was a big difference in the size of the large objects and the smaller ones, and that it was hard to distinguish the shape of the smaller ones. STEVENS also stated that the objects were at the same altitude as their plane and seemed to be climbing with them. In addition to confirming SMITH'S statements concerning the flight, etc., STEVENS stated substantially as follows: # INTERVIEW REPORT (cont.) "I was flying the plane when I spotted the first object et 2012 on the 4th of July, eight minutes after departure from Boise, Idaho. I thought it was an oncoming aircraft similar to ours (DC-3) about five miles away, so turned on our landing lights, which is the usual signal to another plane to let it know you're in the vicinity. I mentioned this fact to SMITH, and he watched the object also. While we were both watching, four more objects appeared at the same altitude as the first. They seemed to be at the same altitude as our plane, about 6000 feet. They were heading about 290 degrees magnetic North, so I turned to follow them. We watched them for four or five minutes, then they all merged as one and disappeared. I don't know Whether they merged in line of flight or not, nor do I know whether they went beyond our vision or whether they dissipated. [page 110] COPY see nothing, so the objects could have been beyond Ontario, since we had told them that they were between our plane and Ontario. It should also be noted that the personnel at Ontario would be looking at a dark sky and may not be likely to be able to see them anyway. # INTERVIEW REPORT (cont.) "I can't say whether they are man-made disks or not, whether they are radio controlled or not, or anything about them. They did not maneuver much at all, except when the first group merged. All I can say is that they were going our direction and were climbing. I don't think they were clouds, as there hadn't been a cloud in the sky, and it would have been quite a phen- -omenon as it was like nothing I had ever seen before. There was a big dif- ference in the size of the objects. The smaller ones were hard to distinguish as to shape; they were not shiny, nor did the "flip". I couldn't swear on a stand that they were not clouds, but I think it impossible. Had they been clouds, they wouldn't have appeared and disappeared so suddenly, and we would have approached them. # INTERVIEW REPORT (cont.) "As we were taxiing out to take off from Boise, the tower called us and asked us if we had seen any disks lately. As a consequence, we were and had been talking about the flying disks when we sighted them. I don't believe, however, that it was a figment of the imagination, as SMITH and I were seeing the same things, even the object far off to the right in the second group. We also called the stewardess, who had not been in on the conversation, and without mentioning "disks" aksed her what she saw. She stated that she saw the same things we did, which seemed to prove to us that it was not our imagination." [page 111] Incident 4AF 1208 I 16 July 1947 [page 112] HEADQUARTERS, ARMY AIR FORES IN REPLY REFER TO # WASHINGTON 16 July 1947 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I, Major Archie B. Browning, AC, do hereby swear, thie date, that the following statements are true to the best of my knowledge: On 6 July 1947, while flying from Ogden, Utah, to Kansas City, Missouri, at 10000 ft in a B-25, I noticed a very bright object low and to my left, approximately 10 miles away. Time was 1:45 P.M., and position approximately 100 miles west of Kansas City. My first impression was that it was the top of a water tank. After checking my position on the map I again looked to my left (elapsed time 5 seconds). A round, disc shaped object, very bright and silvery colored, seemed to be flying one to two miles off my left wing at 11 oclock at 11000 ft. The brightness of the object which I would estimate at 30-50 ft. in diameter, was very great. It seemed to be traveling in same direction at same rate of speed (210 MPH until I started to tum into it, then it completely disappeared. Weather conditions at that time were CAVU.' to. This offices is assigned AC/AS-1, Pentagon Phone 73852 9 (See attacked diagram) <signature> ARCHIE B. BROWNING Major, Air Corps Received AFBIR.CO 16 July 47 ADDRESS REPLY TO COMMANDING GENERAL, ARMY AIR FORCES, WASHINGTON 25, D. C. 101 [page 113] [ ] W SUN [page 114] RESTRICTED After having been advised of my rights and privileges under the 24th Article of War, I, JAMES H. BURNISTON, Captain, Air Corps, 0-567517, Second Air Transport Wing (Provisional), Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base, Fairfield, California, do hereby make this voluntary statement to Captain William J. Frasier, Jr., and Sgt. Tommy Stewart, whom I know to be members of the Intelligence Office. I make the following statement of my own free will, not under duress, promise of reward or immunity: # WASHINGTON (cont.) On Sunday, July the sixth, at Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base, while in the company of my wife, Mrs. James H. Burniston, I saw an object travel- ing from northwest to southeast at an estimated height of 10,000 feet or above at an excessive rate of speed estimated to be faster than any type of aircraft seen by me flown at that approximate altitude. This object was in sight for approximately sixty seconds, during which time it traveled approximately three-quarters the distance of the visible sky. No shape or definite color could be distinguished, the object rolled from side to side three times in its path across the sky. At one time the top of the object could be seen,when the sun reflected strongly from its surface in a flash; and at other times the bottom of the object could be seen, with no reflec- tion from the sun. The estimated size at that height could be compared to that of an aircraft of the type C-54. Between viewing the top of the object and what appeared to be the bottom, there was a period when it was hard to see, or it would almost disappear. [page 115] BROADWAY 4128 # Civil Air Patrol # AUXILIARY OF THE U. S. ARMY AIR FORCES WISCONSIN WING HEADQUARTERS # 161 W. WISCONSIN AVENUE MILWAUKEE 3, WIS. 7 July 1947 Received AFBIR-CO "1 July 47 SUBJECT: Report on Flying Saucers. TO: Commanding General 32d AAF Base Unit Bolling Field Washington, D. C. 1. Following are statistics regarding reports by four witnesses while in 111ght in two airplanes. 2. Weather CAVU. Visibility exceptionally good. Scat- tered altocumulus 6000 feet. 3. First report: time 1145 hours CST. Alt. of observers 800 feet above the ground. Altitude of saucer 4000 febt MSL. Observed period - First sighted over Koshkonong, Wisconsin. Flight was observed from town of Koshkonong to Elkhorn, Wisconsin. This flight covered twenty-five (25) miles in fifteen (15) seconds, which is a speed of six thougand (6000) miles per hour. 4. Second report: Time 1430 hours CST. Altitude of observers thirty-five hundred feet (3500) MSL. Altitude of saucer twenty-five hundred feet (2500). Observation period. Observers at East Troy, Wisconsin, flight observed from Eagle, Wisconsin to Muskego, Wisconsin. This flight covered twenty-two (22) miles in twenty (20 seconds, which is a speed of three thousand nine hudred sixty (3960) miles per hour. # 161 W. WISCONSIN AVENUE MILWAUKEE 3, WIS. (cont.) 5. Flight maneuvers: First observation-saucer descended vertically edgewise through altocumulus clouds, stopped at four thousand (4000) feet and assumed horizontal position and proceeded in horizontal flight from a horizontal position for fifteen (15) seconds covering twenty- five (25) miles and again stopped and disappeared. Second observation: Observed in horizontal flight in a horizontal attitude for e eriod of twenty (20) seconds covering twenty-two (22) miles. By the time the pilot had removed his camera from the love compartment of his plane, the saucer disappeared and again reappeared approximately ten (10) miles farther along its course after six (6) seconds making its final dis- appearance. 6. The first two observers were an instructor and a student, having just taken off from Elkhorn Airport. The second two observers, one Cap't. R. J. Southey, Wing 8 and assenger. John handler for John D. Schindler, J. Maj. Air Corps, AAF-CAP Liaison Officer. 7x4 [page 116] WAR DEPARTMENT ASSIFIED MESSAGE CENTER # INCOMING CLASSIFIED MESSAGE Sharked on шар -CONFIDENTIAL IVI PRIORITY PARAPHRASE NOT REQUIRED HANDLE AS CONFIDENTIAL COR- RESPONDENCE PER PARAS 511 and 60a (4) AR 380-5 From: CG SBAMA San Bernadino Calif To: CG AAF Wash DC attn AC/AS 2, Counter Intelligence Division; CG Sixth Army, Attn: AC/s, G 2; CG sq AMC thru Sacramento AMA, Calif attn Chief Security Section DTG: 102359Z # INCOMING CLASSIFIED MESSAGE (cont.) 10 July 1947 Spot report. n 8 July 47 at approximately 1550 PST Alvin E Moor- man 1st Lieut ACOG 196 Ftr Sq, while flying routine test mission in CP 51 at 20,000 feet indicated, sighted a flat object of light reflecting nature which appeared to be with- out vertical fin or any visible wings with apparent depth of a P 51 airplane at approximately 35,000 feet altitude and approximate location of 34 degrees 5 minutes latitude 117 degrees 30 minutes west longitude Object was in sight for approximately 30 seconds. Object was again sighted at 15505 PST at approximately 50000 feet altitude and over Mount Baldy approximate location of 34 degrees 20 minutes latitude-117 degrees 47 minutes west longitude. Pilot attempted to keep object in sight but was unable to do so, Speed of P 51 approximately 300 mph and climbing. March Field and other bases in area were contacted and reported none of their ships in the air. AAF ACTION: AAF [page 117] Arific B May Morning 7385 A. officer's branch NW of Topeka (Clay Center - Kansas) Flying @ 101' @ 90° B-15@ 200 200 mph Wise @ 10" a little higher when fires sent ought it was a water tower;- atous a away mile. it looked liked a flying wing except it may flying vertically and almost completely round. No srucke, no fire, tross bright it almos buss his ye Then he turned toward it and is dicappeared almoos immediately. He believes it caust have been super sonic because of speed at which it disappeared; His co-pilot was dozing at the the object disappeard. home and by the time he was wakens had Vizual action was to nos Mergnize it, but it came. up 20 fast, then appeared to stop, then disappeared. handed at Kansas City 1400 hrs. central Time. This took place approx 1315 # INCOMING CLASSIFIED MESSAGE (cont.) ENTING FROM: CG ATLD ATC FORT TOTTEN, N. Y. TIME AND DATE FILED: 1423232 JULY 1947 TO: CG ATC ATTN CHIEF OF STAFF MESSAGE FROM NEWFOUNDLAND BASE COMMAND SUBJECT QUOTE FLYING DISCS UNQUOTE GIVES FOLLOWING SUMMARY OF INTERVIEW WITH IRIC KEARSEY CMA NEWFOUNDLAND CONSTABULARY CLN CONSTABLE REPORTED SEEING FOUR EGG SHAPE PHOSPHORUS COLOR DISCS ABOVE GRAND FALLS NEWFOUNDLAND AT TWO THREE THREE ZERO HOURS LOCAL TIME NINE JULY AND A SINGLE DISC ONE ZERO MINUTES LATER PD AT FIRST APPEAR ANCE ACCORDING TO KEARSEY FOUR DISCS WERE CLOSE TOGETHER IN ABLE LINE A TRAIL FORMATION MOVING EAST PARALLEL TO GROUND PD SINGLE DISC LESS CLEAR BUT TRAVELING SAME DIRECTION PD KEARSEY WOULD ROUGHLY ESTIMATE ALTITUDE OF DISCS AT THREE ZERO THOUSAND FEET SEMICLN APPARENTLY MOVING VERY FAST AS THEY DISAPPEARED IN ABLE FEW SECONDS PD KEARSEY SAID SHAPE OF DISC WAS LIKE BARREL HEAD OR EGG SEMICLE BLACK SPOTS ON TAILEND SEMI CLN NO SMOKE TRAIL SEMI CLN AND HERE REPORTED THAT ANOTHER OBSERVER COMPARED SHAPE OF DISCS TO THREE LEAF PD END OF COMMUNICATION FROM NEWFOUNDLAND BASE COMMAND PD ESTAB LI SHED BY INTERVIEWER CMA NONCOM IN CHARGE REPEATER STATION GRAND FALLS CMA THAT CAVU WAS WEATHER AT TIMES INDICATED # INCOMING CLASSIFIED MESSAGE (cont.) ATC CM-IN X0044 CONFIDENTIAL Received AFBIR-CO 15 July 106 [page 119] RESTRICTED 1€ 40 INCOMING CLASSIFIED MESSAGE FROM SERPHENVILLE, NEWFOUNDLAND PRIORITY TIME AND DATE FILED: 1519152 JULY 1947 20s CG HQ ATC WASH 25 DC ATTH AC/S INTELLIGENCE INFO CG ATLD ATC FT TOTTEN LI NY CG NBC FT PEPPERREL APO 862 C/O PM NEW YORK FROM CO 1388TH AAF BU IN REPLY CITE: HFX 0215 FOR INTELLIGENCE PD ONE FLYING DISC, SIGHTED 2000 10 JULY 47, VER HARMON FIELD, NEWFOUNDLAND, AT APPROXIMATELY 10000 FEET, COURSE: NORTH NORTH EAST PD WEATHERS CLEAR WITH SCATTERED CUMULUS AT 8-10000 FEET PD COLOR: SILVERY PD DISC WAS FIRST SIGHTED ABOUT 6 MILES SOUTH SOUTH W WEST FROM HARMON FIBED BY MR MEREMAN, THA REPRESENTATIVE AND MR WOODRUFF, PAA PRESENTATIVE PD DISC APPEARED ABOUT THE SAME SPAN AS C-54 AT 10000 FEET, MAS CIRCULAR IN SHAPE LIKE WAGONS WHEEL, DISC SEEMED TO CUT THE CLOUDS OPEN AS IT PASSED THRU AND LEFT A BLUISH BLACK TRAIL APPRORIMATELY FIFTEEN MILES LONG PD TRAIL WAS SIMILAR TO THE BEAM SEEN AFTER A HIGH POWERED LANDING LIGHT OR SEARCH LIGHT IS SWITCHED OFF PD KODACHROME PICTURES WERE TAKEN AND ARE BEING DEVELOPED STATE SIDE PD PHOTOS WILL BE FORWARDED AS SOON AS THEY ARE RECEIVED BY MR WOODRUFF END May Kimball тал 16/7/47 X-0051 15 RESTRICTED 16 July 47 Received AFBIR-CO 16 July 47 [page 120] # MESSAGEFORM MESSAGE CENTER NO. CR-1 TRANSMITTING MEANS CRYPTOGRAPH OR CLEAR TEXT CALLS: V STA. SER. No.: NR PRECEDENCE: PRIORITY TRANSMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: <empty> ORIGINATOR: <empty> ACTION: INFORMATION EXEMPT: OPERATING SIGNALS DATE-TIME GROUP 122148Z July 47 GROUP COUNT GR # MESSAGEFORM (cont.) SPACE ABOVE FOR SIGNAL CENTER ONLY FROM : (Originator) FINYN 59th AACS Group Elmendorf Alaska ACTION TO: . CONAS ATTN ASST CHIEF STAFF INTELLIGENCE . . INFORMATION TO: SECURITY CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL PRECEDENCE FOR ACTION INFORMATION [ ] ORIGINAL MESSAGE REFERS TO ANOTHER MESSAGE IDENTIFICATION CLASSIFICATION OBJECT RESEMBLING A GRAYYISH BALLOON APPROXIMATELY ONE ZERO FEET IN DIAMETER OBSERVED FROM ELMENDORF FIELD FLYING IN NORTHWEST DIRECTION FOLLOWING CONTOUR OF MOUNTAINS FIVE MILES AWAY PD OBJECT FLYING ALTITUDE ONE FIVE ZERO ZERO FEET ESTIMATING ONE ZERO ZERO MILES PER HOUR IT WAS OBSERVED PARALLELING THE COURSE OF CHARLIE DASH FOUR SEVEN LANDING NORTHWEST INTO TWO ZERO MILE PER HOUR 1 2 0 4 3 0 WIND PD OBJECT WAS OBSERVED ONE TWO ZERO FOUR THREE ZERO ZEBRA FOR SEVERAL MINUTES BY MAJOR GRAHM THIS HEADQUARTERS SEVERAL OFFICERS FROM ALASKAN DEPARTMENT SUBSTANTIATED HIS STORY PD COPY # MESSAGEFORM MESSAGE CENTER NO. CR 97 TRANSMITTING MEANS ROUTINE CRYPTOGRAPH OR CLEAR TEXT CALLS: V STA. SER. No.: NR PRECEDENCE: CONFIDENTIAL TRANSMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: <empty> ORIGINATOR: <empty> ACTION: INFORMATION EXEMPT: OPERATING SIGNALS DATE-TIME GROUP 120047Z July 47 GROUP COUNT GR SPACE ABOVE FOR SIGNAL CENTER ONLY FROM : (Originator) 59th AACS Group FINYN Elmendorf Alaska ACTION TO: . CONAS . ATTN ASSISTANT CHIEF OF STAFF INTELLIGENCE . INFORMATION TO : SECURITY CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL PRECEDENCE FOR ACTION INFORMATION [ ] ORIGINAL MESSAGE REFERS TO ANOTHER MESSAGE IDENTIFICATION CLASSIFICATION OBJECT RESEMBLING AN ALUMINUM COLORED BALLOON ABOUT THREE FEET IN DIAMETER WAS REPORTED SEEN AT AN UNDETERMINED ALTITUDE FLYING AT A GREAT SPEED IN A NORTH TO SOUTH DIRECTION PD OBSERVATION WAS MADE IN VICINITY OF ELMENDORF FIELD AT ONE ONE TWO ONE ZERO ZERO ZEBRA BY COLONEL PERRY AND MAJOR GYYSER THIS HEADQUARTERS PD COPY Received AFBIR.CO 14 July 47 # MESSAGEFORM (cont.) OWARD A PLUMMER 39 E MAIN ST. FROSTBURG, MARYLAND See July 21, 1987. chief of Army sutelligence: 9 Machington 5. d. C. Sir: Our Sunday, July 20th, Tobecoued an air- Confte flight that we sunlike any Schen to date and onery shed some. light on the Playing Loneer Mystery. arved fier years – 1942 to 1946 - with the Army Air Forces grade of Sient. Signal Crese assigned to the Third, Fouth and thirteenth air Tovar respectively. During this time I hid the opportunity to beerve all types of aircraft and under all Tapper of conditions, but I never vow nice like this reuse at 9:45 AM (OST) Sunday July 20th. Sobserved an airborne object that appeased to be circuits or posibly round, light - alme, et whites in colors, with a duck area, at re near its center, flying a Northe Met by must directions these need by Comme-cid Birlinnen dituneen Washingtons de and Pittsburg, ba. The print of observation, approvim, bely. 22 miles cost of of Cumberland, and from the Worth bank of the Potomace Riner. The shay are about there for He (44) over- cast with three cand legen 6000 and socus fuit allitude. Planes had been praeriz. overhend allenomming to which I pri slettle stut attention, but with the apponating of the crift questine. was a refl thing 1989 18 VOR 109 [page 123] sound that grew stendily incortance contil it renched the propérations of a londerver when the croft was over herd. This uit. life that of a jet propelled planes except the terrific solumme lly loud.. Due to the svar east condition of the oby Serie uuble to the possed over hand and going enrich from was. alessaria when it was deadly visible. for a period. of about twenty (20) scents. The aircraft. on above the top most layer of clouds where. the vicinity of 12000 P altitude. at 09:47 AM. am D.CH aircraft. (057) peased overgring. in the some directions and. on the come course at about 5000ft altitudes. The pecuber differevan. The croft den endeler er precbly wund in shape ste domet a siber whites, ieder with w dack area at its center, c. There There woes. trail of suite such vis the the jet. dsté sté speed. about 3 to 4 trinus gröster then thesative mentioned De 4. ste size, sich comhörners id favorably with a benchell held 30ft from the eye. The cely arnalumo schneuchten the metter 112 110 [page 124] a – This is are entirely entirely. teppes of air Город crest or. s. It is a high powered jet propelled armit with a print job designed to hike the tail assembly and wing tips, since neither in evidence. a check. of air craft in this area at the trimme vucified should determines and possibly Answer this mistery. If possible, whould like very much to know the answer. <signature> AYETTE 97988 RECEIVED # MESSAGEFORM (cont.) Package received from Sheriff Merle T. Wilmoth, Watseka, Ill. His letter states the instrument in the package was found by a farmer at Danforth, Ill. It landed in the middle of a section of his farm land and burned weeds 2 feet tall to fine ash an area of 1 feet in diam. around where the object dropped. The instrument consists of: (a) Plaster of paris body having an oval cavity thru it. (b) A power microphone which screws over one end of the oval cavity. The power microphone carried the name, "Nathaniel Baldwin Inc." Jalt Lake City, Utah. Pat May 10 1910 & Sept 14, 1916. Pat Nos 957403 (second number not readable) (c) A small "Polymat" filter condenser. (d) Two bakelite cylinders to which is attached a net work of fine copper wire. These were obviously coils and the impact has torn the wire from the core. (Our radio section definitely states that this is old stuff, or the coils were used quite some time ago, since having been replaced by smaller more efficient coils) (e) A piece of metal having magnetic properties obviously broken off the power microphone as a result of the impact. The plaster of paris body was broken up by the impact but some of the pieces were held together by wire reinforcement inside the plaster of paris. [page 126] STANDARD FORM NO. 64 DEF OMMERCE A. BURIAL # Office Memorandum UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT • 1947 JUL 22 AM 11 44. TO Mr. Moxom, Regional Office No. 1, N.Y, DATE: 7/15/47 FROM Mr. Wright, WBAS, Richmond, Va. Restricted SUBJECT: "Flying Disks". We hesitate to make this report concerning our pilot balloon observations in regards to a flying disk because of the considerable national skepticism regarding the subject at present. However, local newspapers inform us that the U. S. Government admits no authority for such a ship or object and for its flights. Then we must assume this strange object to be foreign. Therefore, we submit this report for your information. If sighted again, we wonder if it would be a good idea to drop the balloon and instead make observations on this disk. # Office Memorandum UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT • (cont.) Mr. Minczewski has observed this strange metallic disk on three occasions through the theodolite while making his pibal observation during the last six months. Miss Baron has reported observing it on one occasion. Miss Baron's report agrees with Mr. Minczewski's observations except as to the color-which she reported as a dull metallic luster. Mr. Minczewski last observed thi's disk in April 1947 at the 1100E Pibal Observation when the balloon was at 15 thousand feet. the disk was followed for 15 seconds, apparently moving on level flight from east to west to the far north of the station. The object was a metallic like Chrome -shaped something like an ellipse with a flat level bottom and a dome like-round top. The disk appeared below the balloon, was much larger in size in the instrument, and shined like silver. It was impossible to estimate the height or speed of the disk except that it appeared to be moving rather rapidly. Miss Baron observed the disk when her balloon was at about 27 thousand feet. All days observed were either clear or with very few clouds and good visibility. # Office Memorandum UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT • (cont.) | | ACTION | INFO | |-|-|-| | R. D. | | | | EXEC. ASST. | | | | PERS | | | | OPERATIONS | | | | TECH ASST | | | | ADM, ASS | | | | HYDRO | | | | FISCAL | | | | MATERIEL | | | | SECRETARY | | | | FILE | | | Very truly yours, George A. Wright BEGELASES
Image notes
36 visual notes
Page 9
It is a dark, grainy photograph with a thin white border. A white outline of an arrow points towards the upper left of the image. Two small, bright, blurry spots are visible near the tip of the arrow.
Page 44
The image contains the title of a newspaper: "Times-New".
Page 70
The image is not a chart. It is a photograph of a document with handwritten annotations. Key information: - Text: "FLIGHT PATH" with an arrow pointing left. - Text on the left side: "Are 130" - Bottom right corner: Faint text, possibly "COPYRIGHTED" or similar.
Page 84
The image is not a chart. It displays the word "CONFIDENTIAL" with two black ink blots obscuring parts of it. The text above the image indicates this is from the Headquarters Fourth Air Force, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, A-2, Intelligence, Hamilton Field, California.
Page 86
The image contains the word "CONFIDENTIAL" stamped in large letters across the center. This indicates the document or information is restricted.
Page 89
The image contains the text "CONFIDENTIAL" watermarked in the background. In the foreground, there is a black line connecting two black circles on the left to two black circles on the right. This image is not a chart.
Page 96
The image contains the word "CONFIDENTIAL" with a black line drawn through it and two black circles obscuring parts of the word. This indicates that the information is intended to be kept secret.
Page 97
The image contains the word "CONFIDENTIAL" stamped across it, with a black circle covering the beginning of the word and a line drawn through the middle of the text.
Page 98
The image contains the word "CONFIDENTIAL" written across it, with a horizontal line and four black circles, two on each side of the line. The surrounding text mentions a DC-4 aircraft at 15 miles distance and 14,000 feet elevation.
Page 99
The image contains the word "CONFIDENTIAL" overlayed with a horizontal line. There are four black circles, two on the left and two on the right, positioned vertically above and below the ends of the line.
Page 0
The image displays the word "CONFIDENTIAL" with a line drawn through it, and four black dots placed to the left and right of the word. This is not a chart.
Page 104
The image contains text that appears to be "DESTORYD" followed by two solid black circles. It is not a chart.
Page 0
It contains two circled numbers, "11" and "12," and some handwritten text that appears to be a code or identifier: "7-311/7". The surrounding text discusses flight maneuvers of a "saucer" and observations by pilots.
Page 0
The image contains a handwritten number "14" inside a circle. The surrounding text indicates "ATC CM-IN X0044" and "CONFIDENTIAL".
Page 0
The image contains a handwritten number "16" inside a circle. Below it, partially visible, is the word "Pa." This is likely an annotation or a label from a document.
Page 0
[page 9] The image displays the word "News" in a gothic font. Above "News" is handwritten text that appears to be a date or identifier: "62-73894-130".
Page 0
[page 34] The image displays a coat of arms. It features a shield with a cross, flanked by two figures. Above the shield is a crest with an animal, possibly a ram or sheep. Below the shield is a banner with text, though the text is illegible. The overall impression is heraldic and formal.
Page 0
This image is an artist's conception of a flying disc.
Page 0
[page 71] This image is a photograph.
Page 0
Key information: - A contrail, likely from an aircraft, is visible diagonally across a cloudy sky. - The lower right portion of the image shows a body of water with a shoreline and possibly some debris.
Page 0
[page 72] The image is a black and white photograph depicting a cloudy sky with a visible contrail. In the foreground, there are silhouettes of trees, telephone poles, and power lines. The overall impression is of a vast, overcast sky with signs of human infrastructure.
Page 0
[page 79] This image contains all the information on the document.
Page 0
The image is a hand-drawn symbol that appears to be a spiral within a circle.
Page 8
[page 9] The image displays the word "News" in a gothic font. Above "News" is handwritten text that appears to be a date or identifier: "62-73894-130".
Page 8
The image displays the word "News" in a gothic font. Above "News" is handwritten text that appears to be a date or identifier: "62-73894-130".
Page 33
[page 34] The image displays a coat of arms. It features a shield with a cross, flanked by two figures. Above the shield is a crest with an animal, possibly a ram or sheep. Below the shield is a banner with text, though the text is illegible. The overall impression is heraldic and formal.
Page 33
The image displays a coat of arms. It features a shield with a cross, flanked by two figures. Above the shield is a crest with an animal, possibly a ram or sheep. Below the shield is a banner with text, though the text is illegible. The overall impression is heraldic and formal.
Page 70
[page 71] This image is a photograph.
Page 70
Key information: - A contrail, likely from an aircraft, is visible diagonally across a cloudy sky. - The lower right portion of the image shows a body of water with a shoreline and possibly some debris.
Page 70
[page 72] The image is a black and white photograph depicting a cloudy sky with a visible contrail. In the foreground, there are silhouettes of trees, telephone poles, and power lines. The overall impression is of a vast, overcast sky with signs of human infrastructure.
Page 70
This image is a photograph.
Page 70
The image is a black and white photograph depicting a cloudy sky with a visible contrail. In the foreground, there are silhouettes of trees, telephone poles, and power lines. The overall impression is of a vast, overcast sky with signs of human infrastructure.
Page 79
[page 79] This image contains all the information on the document.
Page 79
This image contains all the information on the document.
Page 81
The image displays a handwritten diagram with a circle containing a vertical line. To the right of the diagram, the text "of source E" is present. This likely represents a visual key or symbol related to a source labeled "E".
Page 104
- The image depicts a sketch labeled "Top" inside an irregular oval shape. - Arrows indicate movement: one pointing to the right and labeled "traveling this way," and another pointing towards the oval from the right. - The surrounding text mentions Kenneth Arnold, Boise, Idaho, and describes objects as "longer than wide, their thickness was about 1/20th of their width."