Army Air Forces and Air Force Flying-Disc Files (1946–1955) – PURSUE Files

National Archives copies of early Army Air Forces and Air Force intelligence files on “flying discs,” released in PURSUE Release 01

⚠ Note on validity: These files document how the military collected and routed early saucer reports. They contain many individual sightings, most of which were never resolved one way or the other; they are not evidence of any single extraordinary event.

AAF / USAF flying-disc files
Agencies	Army Air Forces / U.S. Air Force, Air Materiel Command, Air Force intelligence
Dates covered	1946 – 1950
Source	National Archives Record Groups 18, 341 and 342
Released	Release 01 (May 8, 2026)
Files	4 (PDF)
Previously public?	Largely yes — these National Archives series have been open to researchers for decades; this is their first official digital publication
Official releaseHistorical

These four files come from the National Archives and show the U.S. military’s first organized response to the 1947 “flying saucer” wave. Record Group 18 holds Army Air Forces headquarters files; Record Groups 341 and 342 hold Air Force headquarters and field command records. Together they cover correspondence about whether discs were a matter for the Air Materiel Command, reporting forms, a November 1948 intelligence report from the Netherlands, and a 1949 file of incident reports filed under Flight Service Regulation 200-4, many from military and Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) observers.^[1]

The records

18_100754_ General 1946-7_Vol_2

Open 18_100754_ General 1946-7_Vol_2 (PDF) on war.gov →

This file contains memorandums and correspondence related to flying disc/saucer sightings and that those are a matter of concern for the Air Materiel Command.
— Official PURSUE description

18_6369445_General_1948_Vol_1

Open 18_6369445_General_1948_Vol_1 (PDF) on war.gov →

This file contains memorandums, correspondence, and forms related to the reporting of information on flying discs and investigations into sightings.
— Official PURSUE description

341_110448_Records_Relating_to_the_Collection_and_Dissemination_of_Intelligence_1948-1955-TS_CONT_No.2_2-5300-2-5399

Open 341_110448_Records_Relating_to_the_Collection_and_Dissemination_of_Intelligence_1948-1955-TS_CONT_No.2_2-5300-2-5399 (PDF) on war.gov →

An Air Force intelligence report from November 1948 relating to unidentified flying objects and flying saucers.
— Official PURSUE description

342_HS1-416511228_319.1 Flying Discs 1949

Open 342_HS1-416511228_319.1 Flying Discs 1949 (PDF) on war.gov →

This file primarily contains incident reports on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) written in compliance with the 1948 Flight Service Regulation (FSR) 200-4. The incidents were witnessed by military sources, as well as by some Civilian Aviation Authority (CAA) ones. The reports typically include information such as dates, locations, weather, and altitude, plus detailed descriptions of appearance and movement. Some messages from the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) and Army Airways Communications System (AACS) are also included, as well as additional military intelligence reports, several diagrams, and a report from a weather station in Japan.
— Official PURSUE description

Analysis

Context. In September 1947 Lt. Gen. Nathan Twining, head of Air Materiel Command, wrote that “the phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious,” which led to Project Sign in January 1948. These files show the paperwork side of that period: who should receive reports, how they should be written up, and how intelligence officers abroad passed on foreign sightings.^[2]

Known explanations. The individual reports range widely. Air Force analysts at the time attributed many to balloons (including the then-secret Skyhook and Mogul programs), aircraft, meteors and planets; a minority were left unidentified. No single explanation covers the files.

New or previously released? Largely previously available. These National Archives series have been open to researchers for years, and parts have been widely copied by UFO historians. PURSUE makes them available online in one place for the first time.

Released files

PURSUE ID	Title	Type
18_100754_ General 1946-7_Vol_2	18_100754_ General 1946-7_Vol_2	PDF
18_6369445_General_1948_Vol_1	18_6369445_General_1948_Vol_1	PDF
341_110448_Records_Relating_to_the_Collection_and_Dissemination_of_Intelligence_1948-1955-TS_CONT_No.2_2-5300-2-5399	341_110448_Records_Relating_to_the_Collection_and_Dissemination_of_Intelligence_1948-1955-TS_CONT_No.2_2-5300-2-5399	PDF
342_HS1-416511228_319.1 Flying Discs 1949	342_HS1-416511228_319.1 Flying Discs 1949	PDF

References

^ U.S. Department of War (2026). PURSUE Release 01 (May 8, 2026): 18_100754_ General 1946-7_Vol_2, 18_6369445_General_1948_Vol_1, 341_110448_Records_Relating_to_the_Collection_and_Dissemination_of_Intelligence_1948-1955-TS_CONT_No.2_2-5300-2-5399, 342_HS1-416511228_319.1 Flying Discs 1949, with official descriptions. war.gov/ufo.
^ Twining, N. F. (1947). Memorandum, “AMC Opinion Concerning Flying Discs,” September 23, 1947.

Source: U.S. Department of War, PURSUE (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters), war.gov/ufo. Official records are U.S. government works in the public domain; summaries and analysis on this page are by UFO UAP Wiki.