U.S. Air Force Flying Discs File, 1952

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.

0 0 Pt
f9 WI'fERSU'T OJ' VISCO ,SU
College of £ng1neertnc
Nadiaon 6
Department ~
mectrieal gtneerin&
~-t 2 . 1952
M j . Gen. John 4. samtord
Air Yorce 1>1rector ot llltelltg,nce
Washington. D. C.
J)ear Sirs
I a.hould like to preeent to 700. vhat I believe to
be a \enable theo?7 •• to the origin and nature of the
J)hcomena popularl.7 kllow •• •n71nc u.ttcer•".
It ha• 'been ampl7 demonstrated that electro-magnatic
radiation of suttioient pover densit7 1a capable of
ionising 9'• at low preswre. Upon de1on1sat1on, the
oa• alts radiation ot elmJ'acterhttc wave lengths, some
of 'llhich lie 1n the rtaible apeetram. hrther, it 1a
known that radar equipment can detect ionised.••• auch ••
northern lights. or charged wter droplets, auch a• appear
in t.bwlderclowls.
I belteYe that ionisation or diao-lhaped ••~•nta ot
air in the upper ataoaphere 1fJA7 be cauaed )7 beams trom a r
radar tranamitter held in a fixed poeition or 9lowl7 tra.Terted, 1
i111tead ot the usaal aveeping motion .
To Terlt7 the posaib111t71 I propose in .the T•~ near
future to conduct an ezpertment. A gla9e sphere containing
air at atmospher-e preuure will be erposed to .radiation o~ a
known••• length and pover denait7. ~he preuure in the
ephere vill then be reduced until ionisation occura. !he
acraen o~ a aeparate radar tran811l1tter-receiver will also
be o'bsened to note vhether the change in the condiUon ~ .
the air la detectable b7 radar.
- •I
John C. Veliler
Assoc. Pro~. ~ B. s .
200'1 h{rtneerlng
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