Documents / Official release
This Federal Bureau of Investigation file section (62-HQ-83894, Section 4) collects 1947 to 1949 correspondence on flying discs. It includes Portland police officers' accounts of a silvery object over the city on September 11, 1947, an Alaska pilot's July 1947 sighting near Bethel, citizen letters answered by J. Edgar Hoover, and a 1948 Air Defense Command directive on disc investigations. The FBI replied that it was conducting no flying disc investigations. Later items concern William Albert Rhodes's disc photographs and a Los Angeles letter judged a probable prank.
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.
“Jacobs”1 page
• •STANDARD FORM NO. 64 -Office Memorandum • UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT / 'To FROM , ~-F~ 5 P, KEA~ D ATE: May 26, 1949111 Ill'. Tolson ~111'. E.A.~ Ill' . Clegg - Ill'. Glavi-n-- SUBJECT: FLYING DISCS lb", L&Od -- Ill'. Ntchor.-- 11r. Rosen -- Ill'. Tracy-- BACKGROUND: Ill'. E:gan,_-_-_-_-_ Ill'. Gurnea Ill'. Harbo - Ill'. IIOhr.;::---=---_ Mr. PeMln,gton Ill', Quinn Tam Walter Winchell forward~c the Director a Western Union Tele. Room - Mr. Nease - telegram he had received from Rober pley which stated that he, Ripley, U1ss Hoi.mur- U!es Gan<!Y-=== had the only authentic Japanese f ng saucer ever recovered in this country. Mr. Winchell noted on the telegram, •To J. Edgar Hoover - True?• DETAil.3: This matter was discussed by Special Agent Reynolds with the Intelligence Division of the Array, who advised that they had no information concerning any Japanese flying saucer. ever having been recovered in the United states. This matter was discussed rlth Colonel William E. Carpenter, <SI-USAF, who advised on April 27, 1949 that he had interested himself in the flying saucers and related subjects and that in so far as could be determined by him through his sources in the Air Force, which are excellent, there is no authentic information available concerning the phenomenon of the flying saucers. He advised he would check with the authorities at Wright Field to determine if any information is available coocerning the recovery of a Japanese flying saucer. Colonel Carpenter has now advised that there is no information available ll in any arm of the Air Force to the effect that any flying saucers of any kind have been recovered in the United States. Colonel Carpenter stated delq had been encountered in determining this fact inasmuch as inquiries had been directed through individuals known to him and t1-usted by him and not through the usual channels from which he possibly would receive a stock answer. The details of this case were not discussed by either Special Agen"teReynolds or Sanders with the Army or Air Force and they are not aware of the telegram sent by Mr. Ripley to Mr. Winchell. RID:OMMENDATION: The foregoing is for your information and any disposition being desirable• • fo,., ;11 v r ~ ,;73J'f~ - Rt.CO@t.0 • ~l \l't~E.D - 91 ~t/
Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 214 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.