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.
“The Unexplained Files”2 pages
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# Office Memorandum • UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT TO : Director, FBI DATE: April 4, 1949 FROM : SAC. San Antonio AIR KAIL SPECIAL DELIVERY SUBJECT: PROTECTION OF VITAL INSTALLATIONS (Bureau file 65-48300) Reference is made to San Antonio letter to the Bureau dated March 22, 1949 which submitted information related by military authorities concerning unconventional aircraft. The Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, 4th Army, has advised that at 11:50 P.M. March 31, 1949 a lighted object about the size of a basketball, reddish white in color, followed by a fire trail, was observed southwest of Lilleen Base, adjacent to Camp Hood, Texas. The observation was made by 1st Lt. PRELERICK W. DAVIS, who was in charge of a platoon, Company C, 12th Armored Infantry Battalion, which is assigned as a part of an alert force (called force Abel) from Camp Hood, whose function is to protect the installation at Killeen Base. DEP Lt. DAVIS advised that the object was at an altitude estimated at 6,000 ft., was traveling parallel to the ground and passed directly over him at a rapid rate of speed. It was in view 10 to 15 seconds and suddenly disappeared high in the sky without having descended. No sound or odor was detected. The night was clear and visibility good. The object passed almost directly over the air strip at Killeen Base. When Lt. DAVIS attempted to advise his headquarters by telephone immediately after the sighting, he heard static or electrical interference on the telephone line which he stated might be possible radio interference. G-2 has advised that other lights of unknown origin were observed on March 6, 7, 8 and 17, 1949, by military personnel of the alert force stationed approximately 1000 yards east of the fences which surround Killeen Base. The object sighted on March 31, 1949 was reported as being of a different nature from the lights seen earlier in the month. It is noted that Mr. KALTER WINCHELL, on his Sunday evening broadcast, April 3, 1949, stated that "flying discs" seen in this country definitely emanated from Russia. On April 4, 1949, G-2, 4th Army, contacted his office, inquiring as to whether we had any information that would substantiate or discredit the statements made by WALTER WINCHELL. 2 00 - El Paso (100-4562) JLJ:HD 100-7545 5 - 3 ÷ 111
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.