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U.S. Air Force Flying Discs File, 1952

U.S. Department of War · 1952 · 253 pages · text from the file's own layer

This 1952 file of U.S. Air Force intelligence correspondence on flying objects comes from the Directorate of Intelligence at Headquarters USAF. It records the return to the Coast Guard of a negative of objects photographed at Salem Air Station on 16 July 1952, and requests to Naval Intelligence to analyze the Tremonton film by Delbert Newhouse and the Great Falls film by Nicholas Mariana. It also holds Strategic Air Command report transmittals, letters from members of the public, and an Okinawa object said to have fallen into the sea.

From the source:Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: September - December 1952, Various. This file is an archival collection of U.S. Air Force Director of Intelligence records relating to reported “flying disc” incidents during the period from September through December 1952. Drawn from multiple governmental and non-governmental sources, it compiles a wide range of material associated with reported sightings and official handling of those observations, rather than presenting a single analytical conclusion on the nature or origin of “flying discs.” The contents include correspondence, memoranda, reporting forms, case summaries, distribution and routing material, and other administrative or intelligence-related documentation tied to flying-disc reporting and review during that period. Pages 26-36 of the file refer to an incident reported near Tremonton, Utah, in July 1952, in which a U.S. Navy Warrant Officer recorded film of unidentified objects that the Air Force later assessed were likely seabirds. Overall, the file is a broad documentary collection reflecting how such reports were recorded, circulated, and evaluated in late 1952.

DOW-UAP-PR159 · video · 1952-07-02 Historical Film of Reported UFOs, Utah, 1952 This archival footage is a digitization of a 16mm print of Kodachrome color motion-picture film shot on a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera near Tremonton, Utah, on July 2, 1952. U.S. Navy Chief Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse reported observing and filming a group of bright airborne objects and shortly thereafter submitted the footage to the U.S. Air Force. The film later became one of the visual cases reviewed by Project Blue Book, the 1952–1969 U.S. Air Force program that investigated the nature and origin of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The film’s limited detail and lack of fixed reference points prevented a conclusive resolution. From the 55-second mark onward, the film transitions to unrelated footage appearing to show a demonstration of sewing equipment. The presence of unrelated sewing-equipment footage suggests that the surviving footage may be a composite or reused print, though the available record does not establish how or when the materials came to be combined. As documented in records submitted with the film, contained in this collection under the title DOW-UAP-D102, the footage originally was paired with mountain scenery from Idaho, which is not preserved in this digitization. Download (76.1 MB)
  • p. 129 …llMI~ (Unclase1~1ed) Additional Oorre9Pondenee fr0111 Robert Spencer Carr (ref Project Blue Book) Chief, Air '.rech…
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m.scoYerer Ott1ce ot ~ Director
65.2"7 ao. s..1e7 Affnue
COl'?BA. '.BLUB BAYS Chicago 36, llllnoia
v.a.1. c.11. John Sam:rord,
Beadquarura c-a. .LJ.r :Poree.
Department of Def•n•••
Vaehingt;on 25, 1). C.
Dear S1ra-
1t lteprding the recent report■ of the eo called fl71n& aaucen, I am qo.ite
aure that the hoax will be expoaed b7 tellin& 7ou that th1• 1• nothing aore than
\he a11Ter iodide used 1n arUtlct.al ~1mnalr1nc. !hi• i• eapec1all7 t.ra.e it the
■UTer lod1u came in contact. with radioact.1Te clouds or ao called thtmderclouda.
~• ■olution d th1• h011% 1• quite aimj,le, U 7ou will check 7our recorde
7w. will find. that tl7tng aaucera were t1rat •••n about the time when a11Ter
lodid• came into uaac• .tor artificial rai'@aking. A,ain. ail:Hr 1 ■ a ref'.leoU••
ageno., and vil.l refiect all tn,ee of light. vhich accounta tor the various huea
reported bi alq psera. Again, e1lnr iodide, if rad.ioactt•• or ionised b7 an
electrical cloud. will be come flaoreacent., w1ch accounts for tl7en beln& uno.ble
t.o oTertake the ao called f'lt,.ng aaucera, and \heir habit of disappear~.
ot cour••• w mu.at el1Jlt.nate euch re_porta ot f171n& saucer• a.e wre accountable
by balloon.a, foo-t1ptera, meteorttee, e.nd the per•on who Ju•t calla up a n$V8p&per
with the ~o.i:,. ot ~ tUng hi• Dame tn the pap•re. Aleo to be cliaqualitled are such
reports aa to ascertain that thq are interplanalar.7 apace ah1pa. It 1t. were at
all poaeible tor another planet to aend aircraft of a.117 tn,• to our atmosphere,
it wuld ata:q:,'.17 burn u:p the eame u a aeteonte and auch space ahlp remains would
be found the aa:::e ae meteorttea. A• tar aa I bow, .no euch weetage baa ever beeu
tOUlld.
lla9:pectf'ull7 7oura,
•I
G. 1ranc1a llauheimer•
Director.
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 253 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.