Documents / FOIA release
This is part five of the FBI's UFO file, a set of Bureau memoranda and reports from 1947 to 1949. Most of it covers the FBI's inquiry into the Maury Island flying disc story in Tacoma, which concluded that the disc fragments were ordinary rock formations and that the story was a hoax. It also examines the fatal crash of a B-25 at Kelso and finds no sign of sabotage. The file includes other items: the Rhodes disc photographs, a proposed flying saucer convention in Alexandria, Louisiana, and ash from a fire near Scranton that someone suggested came from a flying saucer.
“Hamilton”19 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
Office Memoum · UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT SUBJECT: METAL FRAGMENTS OBSERVED AT WEST RINDGE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, JULY 7, 1947 SECURITY MATTER (X) Reference is made to Boston teletype to the Bureau dated July 18, 1947. Dean the original informant, has advised that a spectrographic examination has been completed of the metal particles referred to. They were determined to be of ordinary cast iron which had been subjected to a very high degree of heat. The heat caused scales to be formed on the cast iron which were originally thought to be of some metallic alloy. The scientist examining the particles concluded that if they had come through the air from any great altitude in as small pieces as they were found then most of the heat would have been taken from them by the time they reached the ground and fires would not have resulted. It is noted they landed approximately 700 feet from a railroad track and inquiries were conducted by MIT to determine whether or not the particles could have been originally a part of a liner in a smoke stack or some other part of the steam engine. These inquiries resulted in positive information that the particles did not come from a train or locomotive. Measurements of the four pieces examined revealed that they had most likely been originally all part of one hollow cylinder, eight inches in diameter and three sixteenths of an inch in thickness. It was felt that one piece falling from a great height would have still retained a good part of its heat and probably would have smashed when it hit the ground. A scientist, whom did not identify by name, recalled that cast iron cylinders of similar measurements had been used in New Mexico on research work on a guided missile project. However, this unidentified scientist did not so conclude to the exclusion of all other possibilities. It is interesting to note that the examination at MIT was actually conducted by who furnished the Boston Office with an informal report similar in all major details to that supplied above. The men at MIT are gathering through friends all additional pieces of the original cylinder available. These will be turned over to the Boston Office. No further examination is being conducted by MIT and no effort is being made to reconstruct the original cylinder. Unless advised to the contrary by August 15, 1947 the Boston Office will destroy these specimens. In the interim they will be transmitted to the Bureau on specific Bureau instructions. COPIE DESPROYED 270 NOV 18 1964 CX-64
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. 74 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.