UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 07 · OCTOBER 23, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENT · DOW-UAP-D162Air Intelligence Information Report, Alaska, 1953
Another island report from the 5004th Air Intelligence Service Squadron, this Air Intelligence Information Report (IR 5004-42-53) is dated 8 December 1953, rated C-3, prepared by Capt. John V. Wright and approved by the squadron commander. It runs three pages plus a sketch map, sent to the same Alaskan and Pacific commands as DOW-UAP-D161.
The observer and the light
The source was a 26-year-old Alaska Native resident of Gambell, a sergeant and squad leader in the village’s Alaska National Guard unit and a former Civil Aeronautics Administration employee; two squadron members who had known him eight months called him trustworthy. At about 1110Z on 1 December 1953, standing in front of the Gambell school, he saw a steady light on the horizon to the west. He judged it motionless by lining it up with the school flagpole. It had no beam or reflection, was flashlight-colored, neither bright nor dim, and at 1115Z went out “as though someone had turned it off.” He would not estimate its distance. The night was very dark, with slush ice offshore and a calm sea.
What the officer concluded
A squadron member took a compass bearing of 283° true and canvassed the village; no one else had seen the light. Wright noted that the observer’s two size estimates did not agree, that no land lies on that bearing for a long way, and that no conclusion could be reached, though a ship of unknown identity at sea was possible. The attached map shows St. Lawrence Island with Cape Chaplina on the Siberian side. Like D161, this reads as coastal watch reporting near the Soviet border rather than a UFO case.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released October 23, 2026, quoted in full
This document is an Air Intelligence Information Report (AIIR), a standardized U.S. Air Force reporting form used to record raw information of potential intelligence value for later analysis. The form served as a primary vehicle for U.S. Air Force field intelligence collection throughout the early Cold War, until defense-wide reporting standards were established in the early 1960s.
This AIIR records a December 1, 1953, incident near St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, in which an Alaska National Guard sergeant residing on the island reported observing a stationary light on the horizon west of Gambell for approximately five minutes. The report states that the light was observed at a true heading of 283 degrees, appeared similar in color to a flashlight, and disappeared as though it had been turned off. The preparing officer further noted that an unidentified ship may have been the source of the light, though no definite conclusion could be reached as to its nature or origin.
All descriptive and estimative language contained in this report reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event. Such characterizations should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication of the presence or absence of any intrinsic object features or performance characteristics.