Documents / Official release

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.

  • p. 2 …SPRINGER of A-2, Hamilton Field, California. Even thoug)l Col. SPRINGER feels that Mr. JOHNSON…
  • p. 5 …SPRINGER of A-2, Hamilton Field, California, dated August 27, 1947, with attachment s reporting the…
  • p. 8 HEADQOARTERS FOURTH AIR FORCE Office of the Aa•iatant Chier of Statf, A-2 Intelligenoe Hamilton…
  • p. 33 …According to them Arnold called in ar:ny intelligence officers from Hamilton Field, California and one…
  • p. 36 …the morning of August 1, 1947 to return to Hamilton Field, California for Air For ce…
  • p. 39 …25 was carrying disc fragments returning to Hamilton Field, California and furnishing the inference that the…
  • p. 40 …with Ar-my A~2 Intelligence at Hamilton Field and that the fragments were top secret…
  • p. 43 …On the same date called Lieutenant BRO~'N at 5800 Hamilton Field, Cali fornia, collect • .ARNOW…
  • p. 45 …Shortly afterward, Colonel GRF.GG called him from McCrord Field stating that Hamilton Field had requested…
  • p. 53 …Arnold had made a telephone call to Hamilton ?ield to contact a Captain Davidson and a…
  • p. 54 …Davidson wero going baok to Hamilton Field and that he would get in tQuoh with me…
  • p. 60 …M>RINGER, A-2, Fourth _Air Foroe, Hamilton Field, California, involving reported aightings ot flying ~ disoe…
  • p. 87 …Colonel DONALD SPRINGER, A-2, Fourth Air Force, Hamilton Field, California, advised that the Area Intelligence…
  • p. 92 …Captain DAVI~SON , Army intelligence officers at Hamilton Fiel d, and had asked them to come…
  • p. 149 …The article further reported that the plane crashed near Hamilton Field, California, and it w·as…
  • p. 159 …Springer, A-2, Ar-my Air Foroes, Hamilton Field, California, a copy of which is attached…
  • p. 181 …SPRINGER, A-2, Army Air Forces, Hamilton Field, California~ which letter is designated to certain Commanding…
STATE OF ASHlNG'l'ON )
~ ss
COUNTY OF JU?G
J.E. SMITH, being firs~ duly sworn, on oath, deposes
aiid says:
Thi·s ls a narrative statement as to what took place 1A
Tacoma i'rom Thursday, July 31 until Sunday, August J .
Thursday I received a telephone call trom Tacoma trom a
Ke.nn.eth Arnold. The gist ot this conversation was that he thought
it wou1d be a good idea tor me to come to Tacom14 and listen to the
story of t.wo 11e.n. whose names were Fred Crismon and Harold Dahl .
This Ke.nneth Arnold I had met two times previous - o~oe on Juiy 5
a t the ottlc e ot the P . I . in Seattl.e tor a very brief time and the
second time in Boise, Idaho Y&en I was passing through on one ot
my trips.
In this conversation with Arnold on tb.e phone , I made the
s t atement that it v1ould be impossible tor me to go over to Tacoma
due to 11J3 going out to Salt Lake City the next morning. He said
that he would tly over trom Tacoma and pick me up at Boeing Field.
I agreed to this proposition trom Arnold. At 4 o•olock I met
Arnold at the Boei.ng Field and we tlew back and landed at Barry•s
Airport. e were picked up at the airport by lrred Crismon, who
drove the two ot us into the inthrop Hotel . e went up to Room
502 -- Crismon,. Arnold and myself' .
!'red Crismon put a telepbo_ne call into Harold Dah.l and
asked him would be come up to the room. A half hour later Harold
Dahl made his appearanoe. At tb.is t .ime there were tour men in the
room - Crismon, Dahl, Arnold, and myselt. Ur. Arnold asked Mr.
Dahl to relate his story as to hat took place on June 24. Ur.
Dahl was very hesitant about telling the story to me. Arnold and
llr. Crismon were already aware ot the statements that Dahl had made
previous. Mr. Dahl made the statement to me tha t it any statements
he ~ould make rela tive to h1.s story. it I oold keep it confident1a1
for two weeks, that he felt definitely that I ~ould want to forget
the whole thl.ng. I made the statement to Mr. Dahl that as tar as I
was concerned. I woold keep any statements he made to me oonfldential
tor at least two weeks.
Here is Dahl ' s story: On June 24 (this date to be checked
later) he was ln a boat owned by Fred Crismon, who owns the Harbor
Patrol in Tacoma . They - - Ltr. Dahl, a Kr. Knight, and Hr. Dahl's
son age 16, were cruising around Maury Island looking for logs that
had broken away trom booms. They were tairly close to shore of
Maury Island when they saw four or five obj ects 1n the sky a t an
altitude ot approximately 1500 feet . He said tb.ese objects were

Cases discussed

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.