UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 07 · OCTOBER 23, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENT · DOW-UAP-D179Air Intelligence Information Report, Catalina Island, 1952
This two-page file holds an Air Intelligence Information Report, number MAFB-1, from the 807th Air Base Group at March Air Force Base, and the record card that sums it up. It was prepared by Lt. Col. E. D. H. Maddox on August 28, 1952, under Air Force Letter 200-5, about a sighting on June 25 — more than two months earlier. The report says it was not sent by wire because the information reached the base so late.
What the Scouts reported
Three Boy Scouts from Camp Fox, a summer camp on Santa Catalina Island, were hiking up one of the island’s mountains at about noon Pacific daylight time when they saw a silver object. They thought it was moving faster than a jet, heard nothing, and saw it make what looked like a climbing turn before it seemed to break apart and vanish. How long they watched was not recorded and its height was uncertain. The sky was clear; they had no instruments and were together as one group.
How the Air Force rated it
The evaluation box reads “None,” and the preparing officer wrote that he could not judge reliability and that the boys’ experience was “probably meager at best.” The index card simply records “Disintegrated,” and a red handwritten note at the top appears to read “Insuff.” The report lists four enclosed letters, including two said to carry rough sketches of what the boys saw, but none of them are in this file. Copies went to Strategic Air Command, the 15th Air Force, the 12th Air Division and the Air Technical Intelligence Center.
With no time in view, no size and no follow-up, there is little here to test. Compare the other Catalina files: 1949, 1953 and 1955.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released October 23, 2026, quoted in full
This file contains 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 June 25, 1952, incident over Catalina Island, California, in which three Boy Scouts attending a summer camp at Camp Fox reported observing silver “flying saucers” moving at an estimated speed faster than that of a conventional jet. The report also describes the object as climbing quickly before apparently disintegrating. A comment by the preparing officer indicated that no attempt was made to establish the reliability of the report and characterized the experience of the observers as “probably meager at best.”
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.