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

1947 UAP Sighting — FBI Files (D3P17)

UFO Visual Sighting

Capt. Smith and Mr. Arnold departed an area after attempting to contact someone regarding an incident. The report does not detail the initial incident itself, only the failed attempt to gather more information.

August 3, 1947
Unknown location
Source document: PURSUE doc 3
Source document: PURSUE doc 3 · Source: declassified document

Background

A UFO/UAP incident extracted from page 17 of 65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Section_3, 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 3, 1947 and located in Unknown location.

What the file records

Capt. Smith and Mr. Arnold departed an area after attempting to contact someone regarding an incident. The report does not detail the initial incident itself, only the failed attempt to gather more information.

Witnesses on file: Capt Smith, Mr. Arnold.

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