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
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
SUBJECT: Unidentified Flying Objects Classification (cancelled) (changed to ), effective on 21/07/ under the authority of ACS/I by ACS/I USBF SURCARY OF INFORMATION: The following information relative to the sighting of a possible flying diec 4 August 1947, was received 10 September 1947 from Jeckson Heights, New York. On 4 August 1947, Pan American Airways Inc., was the navigator of a Constellation type aircraft on a flight from Gander, Newfoundland to La Guardia Field, New York. At 1600, at a position approximately 10 miles W of Boston, Mass., sighted a flying object which he was unable to identify. At this time, he was sitting in the copilot's seat, and looking out the right side for other aircraft that might be in the vicinity. He 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. He believes that he studied the object for almost 30 seconds before he called the pilot's attention to it. He described the object as being a deep gold in color, and that its surface reflected light. It appeared to be about 13 feet in length, and from 2-3 feet in depth; elliptical in shape and blunted at the ends. He estimated the speed of the object as being 175 miles per hour, and that it was travelling in an east-early direction, on a course of approximately 110° magnetic. He then told the aircraft commander that there was an unidentified object to the right and again glided out to observe the object, catching a mountain glipse of it before the pilot backed the plane to the left. Then the aircraft banked slightly off the object. At this point, the aircraft Captain, exclaimed that he was able to see a similar object on his side. He was unable to see the object on the side. He stated that he does not believe that it was the same object that he had viewed in much 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 Constellation. He stated that the pilot then righted the plane. The entire incident transpired in less than a minute and one-half. about 8/10th scattered cumulus, with tops at 10,000 feet; vis wind at flight level. West at about 15 mph. The flight level at this time was 8,000 feet. This 270, and the magnetic course AQPHTS NOTFS; for the past. has been employed by Pan American Air as a Navigator, and during the war worked with
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.