UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 06 · SEPTEMBER 18, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENT · DOW-UAP-D105U.S. Air Force Flying Discs File, 1952
This is a working file, not a study. It gathers what the Air Force’s intelligence directorate received and passed around about “flying discs” between September and December 1952, the months after that summer’s record wave of sightings, from government and private sources alike. Correspondence, memos, report forms, case summaries and routing slips sit side by side, so it shows how reports were handled day to day rather than offering any single conclusion.
The Tremonton pages
Its best-known contents are pages 26 to 36, which deal with the film shot near Tremonton, Utah, in July 1952 by a Navy warrant officer, Delbert C. Newhouse. The release says the Air Force later assessed the objects in the film as likely seabirds. The full case file is DOW-UAP-D102.
Why the routine paperwork matters
For readers interested in how Project Blue Book and the intelligence staff above it worked, the distribution lists and cover sheets are useful in themselves: they show which offices saw which reports and how quickly. For the story of the film, see The Tremonton Film.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released September 18, 2026, quoted in full
This file is an archival collection of U.S. Air Force Director of Intelligence records relating to reported “flying disc” incidents during the period from September through December 1952. Drawn from multiple governmental and non-governmental sources, it compiles a wide range of material associated with reported sightings and official handling of those observations, rather than presenting a single analytical conclusion on the nature or origin of “flying discs.” The contents include correspondence, memoranda, reporting forms, case summaries, distribution and routing material, and other administrative or intelligence-related documentation tied to flying-disc reporting and review during that period. Pages 26-36 of the file refer to an incident reported near Tremonton, Utah, in July 1952, in which a U.S. Navy Warrant Officer recorded film of unidentified objects that the Air Force later assessed were likely seabirds. Overall, the file is a broad documentary collection reflecting how such reports were recorded, circulated, and evaluated in late 1952.