18_6369445_General_1948_Vol_1

[PAGE 2-3] 21 May 1948 letter, Eleventh Air Force (Harrisburg, PA) to Chief of Staff, USAF: reports a sighting forwarded via FBI Special Agent D.K. Brown, Cleveland, of an object at Hobson, Ohio, night of 8 May 1948. Details per standard reporting format: witnesses were New York Central Railroad employees/inspectors and a patrolman; object shape round, appeared ~9 inches in diameter from ground level, phosphorescent color, great speed, heading 90 degrees, altitude 6-8 miles, sound unknown, with a phosphorescent trail in the sky. Enclosures: FBI letter and three New York Central System letters. [PAGE 4-6] 4 June 1948 AMC indorsement retaining the T-2 report 'German Flying Wings Designed by Horten Brothers' for continued reference; earlier correspondence forwards a drawing titled 'Loedding Flying Disc' (LD-2, patent-sensitive) and a Royal Aircraft Establishment technical note (AERO 1703) on Horten brothers aircraft, with specific page citations (Horten VIII, IX, and the 'Parabola' design) framed as relevant to 'the alleged Flying Saucer case,' plus a June 1947 Moscow military attache report on Soviet aircraft based on the Horten VIII design. [PAGE 8] 28 April 1948 routing form: 'Clippings Service for Project "SIGN"' — confirms the project's formal name by this date. [PAGE 9-11] April 1948 correspondence chain (Tyndall AFB -> Air University, Maxwell AFB -> HQ USAF -> AMC) forwarding a 'Report of Information on Flying Disc' dated 12 April 1948, filed per a 6 February 1948 USAF letter titled 'Reporting of Information on "Flying Discs".' [PAGE 12] The 27 February 1948 foundational Comment No. 1 memo (AFOIR, signed by Maj. Gen. C.P. Cabell, Chief, Air Intelligence Requirements Division, Directorate of Intelligence): restates Air Force policy 'not to ignore reports of sightings and phenomena in the atmosphere,' formally designates Air Materiel Command as the collecting/collating/evaluating agency, instructs all Air Force installations within and outside the Zone of Interior and Alaska to report sightings directly to AMC (Attn: MCI), authorizes AMC direct contact with any installation as needed, and requests Army installations also report directly to AMC. Specifies the required reporting fields: location/time of sighting, weather, witness names/occupations/addresses, photographs if available, and object characteristics (number, shape, size, color, speed, heading, maneuverability, altitude, sound, exhaust trail), plus general remarks. [PAGE 14] 25 March 1948 memo, Director of Intelligence, General Staff U.S. Army (GSUSA), Comment No. 2: requests AMC be directed to send the Army an information copy of every 'flying disc'-related communication sent to or received from Army-subordinate commands. [PAGE 16] 11 March 1948, Fourth Air Force (Hamilton Field, CA) 'Investigation of Flying Disc': reports a 9 March 1948 call from Sheriff's Office, Bakersfield, CA (Sgt. A.M. Larsen) describing two separate observations of objects falling to earth with smoke/debris trails near Bakersfield on March 5 and March 8, 1948 (witnesses Les Buchner and a Pacific General Electric Company employee named Denio); search parties, aircraft, and rescue units were unable to locate the objects despite numerous attempts; investigation initiated, report to follow. Distribution to ADC Mitchel Field NY, FBI San Francisco, G-2 Sixth Army, and DIO San Francisco (12th Naval District). [PAGE 17] 17 March 1948 memo rejecting Col. McCoy's proposal that fighter aircraft be maintained on continuous alert status within the Zone of Interior to gather flying-disc information, on the grounds the aircraft/personnel outlay would be too great relative to results, proper interception is not possible without complete radar coverage (which the Air Force lacked), and fighters likely could not usefully follow up reports originating mostly from civilian sources. Signed by Maj. Gen. George C. McDonald, Director of Intelligence. [PAGE 18-19] 12 February and 3 March 1948 Routing and Record Sheets on the same alert-fighter proposal: the original 30 December 1947 directive instructed AMC to 'set up a project' to collect/collate/evaluate/distribute atmospheric sighting information of national-security concern; AMC (per Brig. Gen. C.P. Cabell) proposed requiring every U.S. and Alaska installation maintain at least one fighter/interceptor on continuous alert, equipped with gun cameras, to photograph reported 'flying disc' phenomena — a proposal the Director of Plans and Operations (Maj. Gen. S.E. Anderson) rejected for cost/feasibility reasons, recommending instead that AMC's role be confined to establishing direct information-receiving channels, with other major commands directed to cooperate and funnel information to AMC. [PAGE 20-21] March 1948 correspondence forwarding a Tenth Air Force (Brooks Field, San Antonio, TX) report dated 7 January 1948, in turn forwarding a summary of information from the Tenth Air Force resident agent in Houston, Texas, covering an FBI-received report of 'Flying Disks,' plus a related 19 December 1947 report from the 175th AFBU, Arlington Field. [PAGE 22] 2 March 1948 memo closing out a military air incident reported by 'Johnson and [Sturgin?]' near Canada, referencing a Canadian [RCAF liaison] letter dated 2 February 1948. [PAGE 23] 16-24 February 1948 memo forwarding 'Collection Memorandum Number 7' to field collection agencies, noting the Directorate had been advised that contact was made with the Horten Brothers and that the Assistant Chief of Staff, A-2, of European Command had been instructed by Telecon to use this memorandum as the basis for interrogating them; results of the interrogation to be forwarded to Headquarters upon receipt. [PAGE 24-26] Additional February 1948 Headquarters USAF Correspondence Reference Forms explicitly labeled 'Project "SIGN", "Flying Discs"' routing AMC/Air Intelligence Requirements Division correspondence. [PAGE 27-28] January-February 1948 Fourth Air Force (Hamilton Field) forwarding of a 'Report of Flying Disc' for information, and a 6 February 1948 Correspondence Reference Form titled 'Flying Discs. Ltr,' filed under 312.3 Channels.