Documents / FOIA release
This Federal Bureau of Investigation file section collects 1947 to 1949 correspondence, memoranda and newspaper clippings about flying disc reports. It includes Hoover's replies to citizens, a Maine woman's account of a drifting object judged probably a weather balloon, a Richmond memo on a cigar-shaped object seen over Radford, Virginia on May 12, 1949, clippings on the Chiles and Whitted sighting near Montgomery, a Flyin' Saucer toy promotion, and agent interviews with witnesses in Vermont and a pilot near Bethel, Alaska.
“Jacobs”1 page
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
This object when first sighted, was moving very slowly in a west or northwesterly direction. I would estimate that I had it in my range of vision for 35 seconds, after having heard it about ten seconds before locating it. It passed on beyond the house and maneuvered through an arc of turn to the left of about ninety degrees. The clicking sound was continuous throughout this turn, however, it became louder as it returned on its new heading of south or southwest. On its return the clicking sound became louder, but I was unable to see it at this time. The clicking stopped when it was at its greatest intensity and appeared to come from a position directly over head. I was unable to see the object after the sound stopped. dull surfacted, light colored metal. The only ground lights of intensity were a row of street lights behind me one half block which leads me to believe the under surface of this object to be curved in shape. "This olicking sound, retained the same pitch and speed throughout the entire course observed, but intensity varied. There was not whistle or roar, but only the clicking noise which might be compared to beaters of a home mixer that were not properly meshed. No lights or flame were observed during the entire course with exception of the previous described reflections twice. No exhaust trail was distinguishable. "My dog was with me and directed her attention in the general direction of this object's flight throughout its course. She had been romping with me on coming out of the house but without spoken word stopped and directed her attention on to the previously described area. The clicking sound might not have been unusual to the dog, but there is a possibility of sounds on wave lengths discernable only to the dog, being emitted." It is to be noted that Mr. Browning is a member of the Active U.SAF Reserve with rank of Major. He attained rating of pilot in August 1941 and has approximately 2200 hours flying time. During his active duty period in WW2 he stated that he had considerable night flying experience in connection with his military assignment. The Intelligence Officer in the above mentioned letter made the following statement, "An attempt to locate other witnesses in the area or through the local newspaper proved unsuccessful". advised that he is planning to clear with his head- 67c quarters office and will probably conduct an investigation. The above is being furnished for the information of the Bureau.
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. 129 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.