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65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 Section 003

Federal Bureau of Investigation · 190 pages · text from the file's own layer

This section of the FBI's 1947 flying disc file (62-HQ-83894) collects correspondence between FBI field offices and Army Air Forces intelligence. It includes a Portland prospector's claim to have seen disc objects near Mount Adams on June 24, 1947, an Air Force report on the August 1 crash near Kelso, Washington that killed investigators Davidson and Brown, and the Maury Island claims of Dahl and Crisman. Other items are an MIT analysis of cast iron fragments from New Hampshire, the A. C. Urie Twin Falls sighting, and the Bureau's decision to stop its disc investigations.

From the source:Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: N/A, N/A. The FBI's 62-HQ-83894 case file includes investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968. The records include high-profile incident accounts, photographic evidence from sites like Oak Ridge, TN, and technical proposals regarding potential propulsion systems. Additional topics include convention programs, researcher accounts, and extensive media coverage from the period. This file is partially posted on FBI vault with more redactions and some pages missing. Included here is the complete case file with several newly declassified pages and only minor redactions.

August 19, 1947
August 3. A record of t~'t)hone calls made from room 502 during this period
was made by Hiss S~JGBERG. This record reveals that KENNEI'H ARNOID on
July 31 called PA~ at AN- 5200, Evanston, I l linois, coll ect. On the same
date called Lieutenant BRO~'N at 5800 Hamilton Field, Cali fornia, collect •
.ARNOW also called 0109- J in Boise, I daho on July 31. On August 1 ARNOID called
LON- 4936, Portland; PALMER at Dearborn 5200, Chicago; and SJITH called RODDY
at Dearborn 2323 at Chicago. Both Chicago call~ were collect . The remainder
of the calls appear to be personal calls and are not being set out . A record
of the phone calls made are being retained as an exhibit i n the Seattle Office .
The following information was obtained by Special Agent
PIERRE H. LEVEC in interview on August 12, 1947 with Captain FlrIL J . SMITH,
3027 Hest Laurehurst Drive, United Airlines pilot : It should be noted that
Captain SMITH has pr eviously received publicity for having supposedly seen
flying discs or similar objects on July 4, last while on a routine United Air
lines flight out of Boise, Idaho in company with his co- pilot &'.I.Pf'rjSTEV?J1S,
concerning this incident. Captain a'.:ITH states that they took off from Boise,
Idaho at 8 :12 P. M. and headed Northwest at 300 deg~ees and while still climbing
at 8, 000 feet , co- pilot STEVEMS called his attention to some objects in the
sky ahead of them about ten degrees left which neither one could identify.
&ITH states that he called a CAA radio operator at Ontario, Oregon and reques- 1
ted him to step outside his radio shack and see if he could see any of these
objects overhead. The CAA radio operator replied in the negative.
Captain ~.!ITH states that he first met K'E!mETH ARNOLD on
July 5 in the offices of the Seattle Post Intelligencer where both were being
interviewed concerning their sighting of flying discs . S::I'IH states that he
next met AFJTOLD about three weeks ago in Boise, Idaho at which time he, .TiITH,
was on another flight through Boise, Idaho and had a ten mip~t,e lay-over there.
On this occasion _!:1:!'1~ was in company of Captain 1
·1:LLI~r ~-D.\VIDSON and
Lieutenant FRANK ~~o.m, Army Intelligence officers, and a reporter JOHNSON
of the Boise Statesman. S:~ITH 1 s next contact with ARNOLD was on Thursday,
July 31, last when he received a telephone call from APJ-TOLD calling from Tacoma
in the early afternoon at which time he asked S.:ITH to come over to Tacoma and
join him as he ,,as investigating a flying disc story for 11 someone back East"
and some fragments v,ere involved which SHITH might be interestec1 in seeing.
After some discussion :1.:IT:-I agreed to join ARNOLD in Tacoma and AR!JOLD told
SMITH he would fly over and pick him up at Boeing Airport at 4 :00 P. !-1. SHITH
met ·.RNOLD at Boeing Field at about 4:00 P. !.l:. and they flew to Berry ' s .tdrport
at Tacoma, fashington where they were met by FRED C~IStf,.AN . The three of tha~
proceeded in CRIS'~ 1 s car to the /inthrop Hotel where ARNOID was occupying
room 502. AhNOLD ordered something to eat and during this time either ARNOID
or CRIS:.'..'\N called a HAROID D.1\HL and invited him up to the room. By this time
S:~ITH states he had learned from ARUOLD that CRISMAN and DAHL were the parti
cipants in the latest flying disc story and SHITH states that he had no previous
acquaintance with either of these men before meeting them in Tacoma on this date .
,fuile in the Hotel Room .'Rt:OLD sbov,ed S:ITTH a letter which he had received from
RAYMOND L.ViER of the Venture Press of Chicago requesting that ARNOID investigate
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About this file

Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 190 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.