Documents / FOIA release
This FBI file section, from 1947, gathers Army Air Forces counterintelligence reports and FBI memoranda about the summer's flying disc reports. It includes a Boise newspaper pilot's sworn statement describing a black object he filmed on 9 July 1947, interviews with a United Air Lines captain and a Hamilton Field soldier, and a Pan American crew's orange object near Boston. Other items cover the Tacoma disk fragment story, which was admitted to be false, the fatal B-25 crash at Kelso, a coded "Radio Ham" message dismissed as a hoax, and an Air Defense Command assessment that "something is really flying around."
“Wilcox”1 page
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Classification (cancelled) [changed to ] , effective on 21 AW 77 under the authority of ACS/I by ACS/I, USAF 12 September 1947 SUBJECT: Unidentified Flying Object 64 SUMMARY OF INFORMATION: The following information was received 12 August 1947 from New Kyde Park, Long Island, relative to the sighting of a possible flying disc 4 August 1947. On 4 August 1947, an American 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. It 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) Pan 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 sighted unidentifiable flying objects. To the best of the following weather conditions existed at that time: Visibility was good; cloud coverage was from 6-5/10ths, 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. who was sitting in the co-pilots seat (the right side of the cockpit) first called attention to a bright orange object, which was on the right side of the plane, and slightly below the level of the aircraft. It was unable to see the object, as he had no visibility to the right and down, from his position. Immediately glanced out his side window and noticed, at a 45° angle to the left, and unidentified flying object. It was about one mile away at an altitude of approximately 7,800 feet. 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 a camera. 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. It 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. Estimated the course of the object to be 200° magnetic, and that the object was travelling at approximately 160 mph. Floated 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.
FOIA release, from the fbi-vault collection. 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. 111 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.