1940s: declassified UAP incidents — timeline.
13 UAP cases
The 1940s account for 13 UAP cases in this archive — 13 documents — released by Department of Energy, Department of War, and FBI under the PURSUE program. Reported locations from the decade include New Mexico, Virginia, and Catalina Island, California, among others; some incidents carry no usable location and are excluded from the map. Every year below links to the cases reported in it, and years with enough declassified material get their own dedicated timeline page, linked from the heading. Use the interactive map to see where these incidents cluster, or the knowledge graph to follow a witness, mission or aircraft type across the rest of the archive.
1949 — 4 UAP cases
UFO letter to Kenneth Arnold: Catalina Island, 1949
This short file concerns a sighting on the night of 28 April 1949 at Avalon, Catalina Island, California. It contains a Project 10073 record card, an Air Materiel Command routing form dated May 1949, and the handwritten letter that started
Los Alamos conference on UFOs and aerial phenomena, 1949
This document is a declassified transcript of a March 1949 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission memorandum forwarding minutes of a conference on "Aerial Phenomena" held 16 February 1949 at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Convened amid a wave of
Air Force study of UFO incidents in the US, 1949
This is Air Intelligence Report No. 100-203-79 / Air Intelligence Division Study No. 203, titled "Analysis of Flying Object Incidents in the U.S.," dated 10 December 1948 and jointly issued by the Directorate of Intelligence, Headquarters U
Rev. Barnes' UFO report to FBI's Hoover, Cascades, 1949
FBI-UAP-D011 is a four-page FBI file from 1949 (serial 109, with FOIPA copy stamps and a declassification stamp citing the FBI Automatic Declassification Guide issued May 24, 2007). Page 2 is a letter dated January 31, 1949, to FBI Director
1948 — 5 UAP cases
Air Force study of UFO incidents in the US, 1948 (Study 203)
Study No. 203, "Analysis of Flying Object Incidents in the United States," dated 10 December 1948, was prepared by the Air Intelligence Division (DI/USAF-ONI) and later declassified. It examines reported "flying saucer" sightings to judge w
Project Sign progress report on 100 UFO sightings, 1948
This is the initial report on Project SIGN, sent on 23 April 1948 by Headquarters Air Materiel Command (Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) to the USAF Chief of Staff, attention Director of Intelligence, over the signature of Colonel H. M. McC
UFO green fireballs at Sandia and Los Alamos, 1948-1950
This is a substantial (116-page) collection of official 1948-1950 U.S. Air Force correspondence and reports concerning the famous 'green fireball' phenomena observed in the New Mexico area near Los Alamos, Sandia Base, and Kirtland Air Forc
Project Sign UFO file: Flying Discs, 1948
This 28-page file collects Air Force "Flying Discs" correspondence from February to June 1948, with a few earlier items, and several index forms name it "Project SIGN". A disposition form dated 27 February 1948 states that it is Air Force p
UFO and flying saucer USAF intelligence file, 1948
This 7-page file is a Top Secret bundle from the Directorate of Intelligence, Headquarters USAF (T.S. Control Nos. 2-5300 to 2-5399, November 1948). A cover sheet dated 8 Nov 1948 from AFOIR-CO sends extracts from a USAFE teletype (TT 1524,
1947 — 3 UAP cases
Ghost rockets over Sweden: UFO intelligence review, 1947
An 8-page Secret intelligence review, "Ghost Rockets over Scandinavia," dated 9 January 1947 (Intelligence Review Number 47) by the Intelligence Division, War Department General Staff, Washington, D.C. (Copy No. 597), as part of a periodic
Project Sign UFO files: Air Materiel Command, 1947-48
A 245-page dossier of Air Materiel Command / Directorate of Intelligence correspondence on the Air Force's 1947-1948 "flying disc" investigation (later Project SIGN); 237 pages are legible and the rest are blank or redacted scans. Most of t
UFO Flying Discs file: Twining letter, 1947
This 28-page file collects Army Air Forces and Air Materiel Command (AMC) correspondence on "Flying Discs" from August to December 1947. Its core is the 23 September 1947 letter from Lt. Gen. Nathan F. Twining, commanding AMC, to Army Air F
1945 — 1 UAP case
Foo fighters UFO file: SHAEF reports, 1945
This 17-page file of SHAEF Air Staff correspondence from January to March 1945 concerns "night phenomena" that Allied aircrews called "foofighters". On 16 January 1945 XII Tactical Air Command forwarded a report from the 415th Night Fighter