Documents / Official release

65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 Serial 130

Federal Bureau of Investigation · 126 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This FBI file serial collects 1947 Army Air Forces reports on flying disc sightings. It includes Air Defense Command interviews from September 1947 with Pan American pilot Alpheus Powell and navigator Walter White about orange objects seen near Boston on 4 August 1947. It also holds a Birmingham, Alabama report with a photograph, newspaper clippings and a sergeant's sworn statement, Newfoundland and Alaska sighting reports, notes on an instrument found in Illinois, and a Weather Bureau memo on a metallic disk.

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. 1 IN REPLY REFER TO: HEADQUARTERS AIR DEFENSE COMMAND MITCHEL FIELD, NEW YORK 12 September 1947 SUBJECT…
  • p. 2 IN REPLY REFER TO: HEADQUARTERS AIR DEFENSE COMMAND MITCHEL FIELD, NEW YORK 15 September 1947 SUBJECT…
  • p. 5 …Forwarded for information of your Headquarters. 2. This Headquarters has made no investigation of "Flying Disc…
  • p. 7 HEADQUARTERS BIRMINGHAM AIR RESERVE TRAINING DETACHMENT BIRMINGHAM ARMY AIR FIELD Birmingham, Alabama 8 July 1947 SUBJECT…
  • p. 10 …Birmingham police headquarters was flooded with calls, too, last night. So was the Weather Bureau the…
  • p. 12 …They seemed to go over the mountain." At police headquarters, Officer E. E. McNeal said reports…
  • p. 15 …Chief of Staff Forwarded in accordance with instructions outlined in TNX CM-95, your Headquarters. 1…
  • p. 17 …Reference TWX - EN 18469, this headquarters, dated 121730Z July 1947, regarding sightings of "flying saucers" by…
  • p. 25 # INTELLIGENCE OFFICE # HEADQUARTERS 1388TH AAF BASE UNIT NEWFOUNILAND BASE COMMAND, ATLD-ATG APO 864, c/o…
  • p. 27 ## INTELLIGENCE OFFICE HEADQUARTERS 1356TH AAF BASE UNIT NEWFOUNDLAND BASE COMMAND, ATLB-ATG APO 864, e/o…
  • p. 37 …1947 SUBJECT: Investigation of Flying Disc. TO: Headquarters, Army Air Forces, Washington 25, D. C. ATTENTION…
  • p. 46 …Armstrong has been interviewed by your Headquarters, request that a copy of the MOIC be furnished…
  • p. 51 …Inclosed herewith for your information is investigation relative to Unidentifiable Objects which was initiated at Headquarters…
  • p. 80 …The following information was related to Counter Intelligence Corps Personnel at Headquarters Fifteenth Air Force, Colorado…
  • p. 84 …Attached statements and MOICs forwarded to your office per request TMX from Headquarters Air Defense Command…
  • p. 104 …Assistant Chief of Staff, A-2 Headquarters Tactical Air Command Langley Field, Virginia Received AFB1R-60…
  • p. 115 …ARMY AIR FORCES WISCONSIN WING HEADQUARTERS 161 W. WISCONSIN AVENUE # 161 W. WISCONSIN AVENUE MILWAUKEE 3…
  • p. 120 …FOR SEVERAL MINUTES BY MAJOR GRAHM THIS HEADQUARTERS SEVERAL OFFICERS FROM ALASKAN DEPARTMENT SUBSTANTIATED HIS STORY…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

# HEADQUARTERS TACTICAL AIR COMMAND

LANGLEY FIELD. VIRGINIA

7 July 1947

IN REPLY REFER TO:

SUBJECT: Report of Unusual Celestial Phenomena

TO: Assistant Chief of Staff, A-2 Headquarters Tactical Air Command Langley Field, Virginia

Received AFB1R-60 11 July 47

1. The following report is submitted concerning an unusual occurrence observed by the following AAF Personnel at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Ala. on the night of 28 June 1947:

CAPT. WILSON H. KAYKO, 0-33841, Hq, TAC CAPT. JOHN H. CANTRELL, 0-255404, Hq, TAC 1ST LT. THEODORE DENEY, 0-2094172, Hq, TAC CAPT. REDMAN, Randolph Field, Texas

2. At approximately 2120 Central time, a light, with a brilliance slightly greater than a star, appeared from the West. It was first noted above the horizon of a clear moon-light night, traveling in an easterly direction at a high rate of speed. There was no audible sound and it was impossible to determine the altitude, except that it appeared to be at great height. It traveled in a zig zag course with frequent bursts of speed, much like a water bug as it spurts and stops across the surface of water. It continued until it was directly overhead and changed course 900 into the south. After traveling in the above manner for approximately five (5) minutes, it turned southwest and was lost in the brilliancy of the moon. at 2145 Central it was no longer possible to observe it.

3. A call was placed to Maxwell Field operations reference this phenomena and inquiry made if any experimental aircraft were scheduled for a flight in the vicinity. The reply was negative.

4. No plausible explanation is offered for the unusual action of this source of light, which acted contrary to any common aerodynamical laws. This report is submitted upon request, in view of the many recent reports reference unusual aerial objects observed throughout the U. S.

5. Two of the above noted observers are rated pilots and the other two are air intelligence officers. All observers were cold sober.

6. Attached herewith a sketch showing approximate course of light

Captain, Air Corps GENERAL. TACTICAL AIR COMMAND

Cases discussed

About this file

Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 126 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.