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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.

Open the PDF at page 31 Original source ↗
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)
Copy TWX CAFIN 65202
R 121650Z ZNJ
FM CG 28TH AD HAFB CAUF
TO CHIEF ATIC lJRIGHT- PATTERSON AFB OHIO
INFO CG AOO ENT Affi COI.O SPRINGS coro
USAF WASHING'roN 25 00
CG WADF HAFB CALI F
RESTRICTED/9171. A'ITN DIR OF INTEL. IN REPLY TO AFOIN- 2A2 AND WADF MSG
WDOID 29149 FOL INFO ~ BY HQ USAF HAS BEEN OBTAINED BY INTERVIEW WITH
CPO DELBERT C. NEWHOUSE. 177Z'/3, AVN SUP DEP, NAVAL SUP CEN, OAKUND., CALIF
REGARDING UNIDENTIFIED BLY OBJS AND MOVIE Fill! ON SI GHI'ING 2 JUL 52 NEAR
TREMONTON., UTAH. CPO NEmIOUSE, HIS WIFE, SON AND DAUGHI'ER WERE ALL INTER
VIEWED AT THE NEWHOUSE HOME IN BERKELEY, CALI F ON 10 SEP 52 BY DIRIDTOR OF
INTELLIGENCE, 28TH Am DIV ( DEF). FOL ANSWERS TO QUFSTIONS 1 THRU 13
IN USAF ~UEST ARE SUBMI'ITED:
1. NO SOUND HEARD DURING OBSERVATI ON. 2 . NO EXHAUST TRAILS OR CONTRAILS
OBSERVED. 3. NO AIRCRAFT, BIRDS, BALLOONS ., OR OTHER IDENTI FIABLE OBJECTS
SEEN IN AIR IWEDIATELY BEFORE, DURING, OR IMMEDIATELY AFTER OBSERVATI ON.
4. SINGLE OBJIDT lJHICH DETACHED ITSELF FROl.t GROUP DID HEAD IN DIR11£TION
OPPOSITE ORIGI NAL COUBSE AND DISAPPEARED FROM VI EW TIHI IE STI LL TRAVELING
IN 'IRI S DIR&:TION. 5. CAMERA POINTED AT ESTIMATED 70 DF.GREE.S ELEVATION
AND DESCRIBED AND ABC FROM APPROX DUE EAST TO DUE 1iEST THm FROM DUE WEST
TO APPROX W D:EGREES FROMNORTH IN PHOTOGRAPHING DEI'ACHED OBJ HEADING IN
o~p
DIRiroTION 0000.SITE ORIGINAL COURSE. 6. SUN WAS APPROX OVERHEAD OF OBSERVER.
OBJBJTS WERE AT APPROX 70 DEGREFS ABOVE TRRAIN ON A COURSE SEVERAL MIIES
FROM OBSERVER. 7. WEATHER CONDITI ONS: BRIGHI' SUNLIGHI'., CLEAR, APPROX 80
DEGREES TmPERATURE, SU GHl' BREEZE FRCU EAST NORl'H EAST APPROX 3 TO 5 MPH.
8. NO llEI'EORO:WGICAL AC~ ;;{ NmtEDcooAfho· THAT DAY. 9. OPINI ON REGARDnm
FOLLOWING cm A. UGHT FROM OBJIDTS CAUSED BY REFLEtTI ON: B. OBJ&:TS

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.