Case File · USAF · First Saucer Wave (1947-1952) Declassified May 8, 2026 · PURSUE Release 01

1947 UAP Sighting — USAF Files (D17P27)

UFO Visual Sighting

The Army Air Forces requested an FBI investigation into the backgrounds of individuals reporting sightings of "flying discs." This memo indicates a desire to gather information on these witnesses, suggesting potential concern or interest in their credibility. The request originat

August 5, 1947
Unknown location
Source document: PURSUE doc 17
Source document: PURSUE doc 17 · Source: declassified document

Background

A UFO/UAP incident extracted from page 27 of 18_100754_ General 1946-7_Vol_2, a declassified FBI vault file released by the Department of War on May 8, 2026 as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The incident is dated August 5, 1947 and located in Unknown location.

What the file records

The Army Air Forces requested an FBI investigation into the backgrounds of individuals reporting sightings of “flying discs.” This memo indicates a desire to gather information on these witnesses, suggesting potential concern or interest in their credibility. The request originated from the Air Intelligence Requirements Division.

Witnesses on file: witnesses to ‘Flying Discs’.

Status of the case

The page-level assessment recorded in the file is: no agency assessment. All records released under the PURSUE program are designated unresolved by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office unless otherwise stated, meaning the federal government has not concluded the events were anomalous, has not concluded they were conventional, and has not ruled out either possibility. Conventional candidates for sightings of this period include experimental aircraft, weather balloons (especially the Project Mogul series), atmospheric optical phenomena, and astronomical objects.

Sources