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.
“Socorro, New Mexico”1 page
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Mr. Ce ............
Mr, Gtartu ......... .
Mr. Ladd....... . ...
Mr. Nichol,......... .
Mr. Rosou ......••••
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Mr. PenuiDJton .....
Mr. Qiunn Tiurun •••
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FLYING DISK, LONNIE EDWAR✓NOACK , COMPLAINANT . !3/J-~~j,.<,(
TELETYPES FROM HOUSTON AND LA TWENTYEI GHTH INSTANT , 1!F7W ~ (
THREE PARTS OF SUBJECT DESCRIBED BY r:,cK SECURED FROM NATHAN j
;&ITH, LA AND EXHIBITED TO HENRY 0 r cE, OHLSON AND RICE
MANUFACTURING COMPANY , THREE THREE FOUR ZERO EMERY STREETi,~
LA . RICE POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED THESE PARTS AS COMI NG FROM ,A\.
MODEL TOW TARGET CONSTRUCTED BY CLAUDE L. WOLFORD, FIVE FOUR
FIVE FOUR CHESLEY AVE . , LA. ONE PART BEING STAMPED WOLFORD
& WW PLASTICS MOLDING CO. j LA. TOW TARGET WAS TESTED BY
RICE AND WOLFORD USING RI CE, s AIRPLANE OVER NATHAN SMITH,s
AIRFIELD NEAR HELENDALE , CALIF. THE TEST WAS A FAILURE, THE
TARGET CRASHED AND WAS ABANDONED AT THE AIRFIELD. NO FURTHER
INVESTIGATION BEING CONDUCTED AND THE THREE ITEMS SECURED FROM
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SMITH WILL BE RETURNED TO HIM UNLESS BUREAU ADVISES TO
-...W CONTRARY , REPORT WI LL BE SUB!.ITTED , ff:IJ,.-----'
HOOD RECORDED. 42 I t.d.=: ',( J§_,9I~ -/ ~
IN D. 4" F " ,.
CINCINNATI _!,_AND HOUSTON AJ)V • w. 1.. JAN 3 1949
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lfr, Neue. .. .... .. . . , 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.