Howard McCoy Personnel Record (1954) – PURSUE Files

Howard Monroe McCoy led the intelligence staff of the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field, Ohio, when Army Air Forces investigators began collecting flying-disc reports in 1947–1948. His file, released as DOW-UAP-D180, does not address UFOs. It does confirm his title, his tenure and the people who rated him, which helps date the Air Force’s early intelligence organization. See the Howard McCoy page for his career.^[1]

What the file shows

• McCoy was Deputy Commanding General for Intelligence (T-2) at Air Materiel Command from late 1946 and then Chief of the AMC Intelligence Department from October 15, 1947. General Order 66 of August 8, 1949, names Col. Harold E. Watson to the post “vice” McCoy.
• His efficiency reports describe the department’s mission as providing an Air Technical Intelligence Service for the Air Force “required for the prevention of technological surprise from any source.” The rating officers include Lt. Gen. Nathan F. Twining, then AMC commander, whose 1947 report calls McCoy “smart and intelligent with a good analytical mind” and notes he “does not express himself well.”
• After AMC he attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (1949–50), served as an air technical intelligence officer assigned to the Central Intelligence Agency (1950–51) and directed the Physical Security Equipment Agency (1951–54) before retiring in August 1954.
• In a 1954 statement he says he also ran the AMC Science Survey Office, a laboratory for classified security and investigative equipment, which he says was abolished after he left.

Why it matters

The Air Force’s first UFO project, Project Sign, began in 1948 within Air Materiel Command’s intelligence organization, the chain McCoy headed. That makes him a figure of interest to historians, but the PURSUE release confirms only his position, not any role in the UFO program; any link to Sign comes from outside the file.

The records

DOW-UAP-D180, Final Personnel Record for McCoy, Howard M., U.S. Air Force (1954)

Open DOW-UAP-D180 (PDF, 90.1 MB) → · original on war.gov

This file contains the final personnel record of U.S. Air Force officer Howard M. McCoy, who left service as a Colonel, a senior field-grade officer responsible for significant operational and administrative duties. From December 1946 to August 1949, Colonel McCoy served as Deputy Commanding General for Intelligence (T-2), and later as Chief of the Intelligence Department, Headquarters, Air Materiel Command, at what is now known as Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. During his tenure, the Air Force initiated two significant studies centering on unidentified anomalous phenomena: Project SIGN and Project GRUDGE. He was among the senior Air Force intelligence officers involved in the early design, administration, and execution of those programs.

The PDF is 94 MB and loads slowly.

Released files

See also

• PURSUE Release 07 (Oct. 23, 2026) overview
• Key Disclosure Documents
• Howard McCoy
• Air Materiel Command
• Project Sign
• Project Sign and early military UFO studies (1947–1949)
• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
• PURSUE

References

1. ^ U.S. Department of War (2026). PURSUE Release 07 (Oct. 23, 2026): DOW-UAP-D180, with official descriptions. war.gov/ufo.