Documents / Report
This 10 December 1948 intelligence analysis, marked declassified, examines about 210 reported flying object incidents in the United States. It sorts the reports into disk-shaped objects, cigar-shaped objects and balls of fire, and weighs domestic misidentification against a possible Soviet origin, with particular attention to German flying-wing designs. It concludes that some type of flying object has been observed but that its identification and origin cannot be determined. Appendices plot the sightings, give selected incident reports and describe flying-wing aircraft.
From the source: Release of 2026-07-10 Incident: 12/10/48, Virginia. This file contains a U.S. Air Force (USAF) Air Intelligence Division study, “Analysis of Flying Object Incidents in the United States,” Study No. 203, dated 12/10/1948. The analysis includes an assessment of various reported unidentified flying object (UFO) incidents and theories to account for their nature and origin. Overall, the study assesses that “it appears that some object has been seen; however, the identification of that object cannot be readily accomplished.” The study offers that two “reasonable” origins might account for the phenomena: technologies of a domestic or foreign origin. It also suggests that, if foreign, it is prudent for the United States to assume that UFO observations are attributable to scientific, military, or intelligence activities of the Soviet Union, and, in that case, to take seriously the threat such objects may pose. The file also contains contemporary UFO reports and examples of experimental “flying wing” type aircraft planforms that might account for certain commonly reported UFO characteristics. AARO Comment: This file appears to be an earlier draft version of the file contained in DOW-UAP-D094, whose content is substantively similar.
reportod flying objecto, particularly those described ae disk~ and
rough oi~r _aha~a. (Seo Append1eea "C11 and nn11 .) Among those which
Jiave been operational in recent yeara are the XF5U-l ("Flying Flapjack")
.
developed by Obance-Vaugb:tt, tM Northrup B-35, and the turbo-jet powered
Northrup YB-49• Tb& ~osent exiatence of any privately developed fiying
wing type aircraft baa not been determined but one ouch aircraft, the
.I
Aru.p taille$8 monoplane, was operational at south Bend, lndiana, prior
to 1935. {2) Objects are fore:i."1, snd it ao, it would aeem most logi
cal to consider that they are from a Soviet eouree. The Sovieto posoese
• l, ' ' "
intormtion on a number of Oenian ni,.ng-1iringt1P9 aircraft such aa the
G>tha P60A, Junkers EF 1~ long-range, high-speed j~t bomber and the
Horten 229 twin-jet fighter, -whioh p-:irticularly reaablea ooe ot the
descr1pt1ona of unidentified flying objects (See Appendix 110 11). As
early aa 1924 Tncheran01rt1k7 devoloped a "Parabola" airorart, an all
wing de&ilJl, which wno the outcoms of oonm.darabls Soviet experimentation
with gliderD or the oame general. form. SOYiet aircraft baf!led on ouch
deaigna m.1.ght bave speeds approaching trnnsonio •peeda attributsd to aome
flying object ■ or greater overall performance assuming the succ&as.ful
developxnent at eome unueual propulaion d~ce aaeh aa atomic energy
engine.
9. That tb9 Soviet■ have a current interest 1n flyinc•'Wing type
•iroraft 1• auggeated by their utilization of nr. OuS1ther BOolc who, at
the end ot world rrar n, •• 1n charge ot the nyJ.ng-wtng progru in
Germany' (see Appendix ttA", ~•graph 3, page 4). Aobievementa aat1•
taotory to tbs u.s.s.R. are indirectly indicated by the pereooal recog
nition h• 1• report.ed to be NoetTing in the u.s.s.n. Recently it ha11
been repoi-ted tt»t the u.s.s.R. 1• planning to build a n ..t of 1,800
- Horten flying-Wing aircraft. Informati(m of low evaluation baa baon
reoeind etatintr t!nt a regl.lns.nt ot jet m.ght .tishtere, Hod•l Ilorten
XIII, 11 at Kumm:f kha, an air base two miles t1outl'Pfea\ of Iiokutak. Report, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 67 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.