Documents / FOIA release
This Federal Bureau of Investigation file release gathers memos, teletypes and letters from 1949 and 1950 on flying saucer reports. Most of it covers a March 1950 claim by a Knoxville radio technician that his surplus APN-7 radar detected an object over Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Navy radar never confirmed the object, and Air Force examiners judged his equipment unreliable. Other items include a cardboard saucer hoax near Elmira, New York, a pilot's 1949 formation sighting in Oregon and a Denver claim of a crashed disc.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
PARAPHRASE NOT REQUIRED From: COMGENARMYTAREE Ft McPherson Ga To: Dept of Army for Dir of Intelligence Nr: AJACI 1-2 2 Mar 50 Telephone call received from Lt Col Tunamaker Tennessee Military District 1130, 2 March. He stated that A. There is a radar station near Knoxville which has been in operation about 3 weeks. This radar station is being operated by station VROL of Knoxville. B. On 1 March at 2135 hours the station picked up an object 340 degrees and 18 miles from Knoxville altitude 40,000 feet. Direction and distance put the object directly over Oak Ridge. AEC Security Division Chief at Oak Ridge checked with Smyrna Air Base Nashville which reported it had no flight plan for any plane being in that vicinity and altitude. C. On 2 March at 1105 station picked up object at 335 degrees and 13 miles from Knoxville altitude 40,000 feet. AEC Security Div Chief checked with Smyrna Air Base with negative results. D. AEC Sec Div Chief is not certain as to operational efficiency of radar unit and requested Smyrna AB to send qualified radar operator. Smyrna has no personnel so qualified. Smyrna commander suggested Third Army send E. Data from radar was limited to: RECORDED - 19 MAR. 22 1950 1. Bearing, distance and altitude on each object. 2. Third Army queried 14th Air Force to determine if 14th AF had training flights over the Knoxville area on 1 and 2 March. Answer was no.
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. 66 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.