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. 165 …Ltr ~ OM '-'td ~ er- 53 !WILLIAM W. WILCOX ~ ·:·••,'7w/cc ltr to en Mike ~ Monrone7 rr…
  • p. 217 …1 •1 Incl l ~.{IlLIP.M W, WILCOX Ltr ~r rm. A. llerr1d&e / ~olonol, USAF…
  • p. 220 …w/attached sight.ing rpt WILLIAM W. WILCOX -~ Cu::.onel, US.AF - ...,_ . Chiet, Policy and Management…
  • p. 222 …C~'.i: J! 1\'i!LLIAJK W. WILCOX Color.el, US.AP G~ief, Poli cy…
  • p. 246 …orig DF only) S/ .1. lrLIAM W. WILCOX 1 . L::.r fr .·r A.G. 'anke…
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Major Gennal. John Sanford Juq 31, 1952
Page 2
Again, I asked him why he didn't do something about it and he said
it was impossible. I also, asked him why he didn't pa.tent this machine and
he gave me amny reasons, taat each and every pa.rt about the machine had already
been invented and it would take a millionaire to procure the patent rights
to this invention. I also asked him wasn't he afraid that someone would
steal it f'ran him and he told me that the public was funny that they couldn't
see no further than the nose on their face and that if' you had a secret that
you wanted to keep to tell everybcxiy and nobody would believe you.
About three months later I received a let~er from this man telling me
that he was ready to make a test, a few days later was the first time I
heard about the f'~ saucers. Since that tJmne I have received many letters
from this man Jones. About three weeks ago I received a letter from him again
telling me that over Baltimore, Washington, Alexander Virginia, etc., that
he was going to let the whole world know that his invention was possible.
Then I went to the American Broadcastin~ Company, a couple of' newspapers
and tried to tell them this story. They wouldn' t even listen to me and it
has happened again. If this man Jones is not the inventor of the flying
saucer how is it that he knows two or three weeks ahead of time when they are
going to fly? I think that if you will .find this man Jones, I know you will
get this .fantastic story straightened out. His address I do not lmow but he
writes me to :my box in Detroit, Michigan and I receive a fetter maybe two
or three weeks later. When I saw the plane or whatever you want to call it,
in the air, it would go so :fast you would hardly see it. It was round like
a saucer, had a tail like a plane, and when it would sway (as I would say)
in the air sometimes it would look like a pencil., sometimes like a egg, and
again it would look like a balloon so you take it from here. Use your pm
judgment, you have my permission to do anything you want with this letter.
My name is H. D. Springer, I have no permammti address but I live in Detroit,
I am going back east tonight at 9 o'clock P.R.
Sincere~ yours~
H. D. SPRINGER

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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.