Documents / Official release

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. 176 …Le'f)' !he Pentagon Ohief, Counter Intelligence Washington, D. O. D1Tia1on J'ollowing is the report…
  • p. 180 …the described ~ haTtor could poesibl7 be accounted for in the following IDllDller: 111gb. power, narrow beam…
  • p. 200 …AIR FORCE PENTAGON BLDG WASHDC WITH RESPECT TO THE RECENT HYPERSPACE DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE DISC COMPANY…
J
GLAD B.l?Su.i.CR IlJS'fI!tPB
,,, DiscoTerer
COB'l'BA m.m: R.lYS
X&J . Gea. Joba Saaford.
Beadqllarhre G-2. Air Poree.
Department ot Deten•••
Vaah1nglon 25. D. o.
Dear Sir:-
otfiee ot the Director
6527 SO. Seeley Annue
Chicago 36. 1111.noia
July 29th. 1952
B.egarding the recen\ reporh ot the so called 1'17ing u.ucer• • I am quite
sure that the hoax will be exposed 1>7 telling 7ou that this b nothing more than
the ■ ilTer iodida used in arUfic1&l. rainuldng. '!hb h eepectall7 true if th•
aUTer iodide caae in contact "1th radioaot1Te cloo.ds or so called thunderclorula.
The aolutian of this h0&% 1s quite •~l•• it 7ou vill check your record■
7aa. will find that fi71ng aaucer• were first aeen about the Ume when ailTer
1odid.e caae into usage tor artificial ratmnaktng . Apin. a11Ter 1a a retlecti'H
agenq and. will renect all types or light. which accounts for the nrioue hues
reported bT aq psera. Again. ailTer iodide. if radioacUTe or ionised by an
electrical cloud will be come n•oreacen,. vhlch accounts for fly-ere being nnable
to oTertalce· the eo called fl71ng saucer•• and their habit of disapp.ring.
or: course. ve mu.at el1Jdnate such reports of tl71n.g saucers as were accountable
li1 balloon.a , fo~:tighters. meteorite•• and the pereon who j,lat calla up a newspaper
with the hope o~ cetUng his name in the pap rs. .Aleo to be d1aqtialitted are auch
reports•• to ascertain that they are iuterplana\&17 8})4ce ships. It 1t were at
all poseible for. another planet to send aircraft ot any tn>• ~o our atmosphere.
1t would 8impl7 burn 'Q.1> the aame aa a aeteoriu and such space 8h1p remains would
be found the same aa meteorites. .la far aa I lmw. no such wreckage ha.a ••er been
found.
lle11pecttull7 ;J'OUt'I ,
•I
G. J'rancia B'auheilller •
l>irecta.
COP?

Cases discussed

About this file

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.