Documents / Document

FBI file 62-HQ-83894, section 5

Department of War · 209 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This section of FBI file 62-HQ-83894 collects Bureau correspondence on flying disks from 1949 and 1950. Most of it concerns a letter to Walter Winchell, passed on by Ernest Cuneo, from Peter Camerlon Jones, who said he saw a top-shaped silver object in the mountains near Los Angeles in August 1947. Los Angeles agents could not find Jones, and Hoover suggested the letter might be a prank. The file also holds a Navy intelligence report on 6 or 7 discs seen over southern Oregon on 27 May 1949, plus letters from members of the public about Chicago and Toronto.

  • p. 77 …in the True Magazine, and one by FRANK SCULLY published in the Variety Magazine in January…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

# Office Memorandum . UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

TO : The Director

DATE: March 28, 1950

FROM : D. M. Ladd

SUBJECT: FLYING SAUCERS

Reference is made to your inquiry on the attached routing slip:

Mr. Tolson

Mr. Clegg

Mr. Glavin

Mr. Ladd

Mr. Nichols

Mr. Rosen

Mr. Tracy

Mr. Egan

Mr. Gurnea

Mr. Harbo

Mr. Mohr

Mr. Pernington

Mr. Quinn Tamm

Tele. Room

Mr. Nease

Miss Holmes

Miss Gandy

"Just what are the facts re 'flying saucers'? A short memo as to whether it is true or just what Air Force etc. think of them."

In response to your inquiry, Special Agent S. W. Reynolds obtained the following information today (3/28/50) from Major Boggs and Lieutenant Colonel J. V. Hearn of Air Force Intelligence. The Air Force discontinued their intelligence project to determine what flying saucers are the latter part of last year. They publicly announced to the press in December, 1949, that the project had been discontinued. They advised that the press release had been concurred in by the Army and Navy. The reason for the discontinuance, according to Major Boggs and Lieutenant Colonel Hearn, was that after two years of investigation over three-fourths of the incidents regarding flying saucers proved to be misidentifications of a wide variety of conventional items such as lighted weather balloons and other air-borne objects.

Colonel Hearn pointed out that the Commanders of the various areas are charged with the security of those areas. Reports concerning flying saucers received at this time will be investigated by the Area Commander and his report submitted to the Air Force Intelligence Division as an intelligence item.

Major Boggs and Lieutenant Colonel Hearn made the observation that many of the reported sightings of flying saucers at this time appear to be an outgrowth of recent magazine articles. They reiterated that the Air Force is conducting no active investigation to determine whether flying saucers exist or what they might happen to be.

You will recall that the investigation of flying saucers was discontinued by the Bureau in October, 1947, in order that the Air Force could take over such investigations. (62-83894-141-160)

Attachment

EHM:jam,sd

RECORDED - 61

62-83894-212

MAR 80 1950

3

About this file

Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 209 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.