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Newly declassified FBI records released under the Trump administration’s PURSUE initiative reveal a September 1947 memo directing field agents to interview a witness in Portland, Oregon, regarding a “flying disc” sighting, according to documents posted on the U.S. Department of War’s archive.
The FBI document, titled “65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Section_3” and released on May 8, 2026, includes a memorandum dated September 4, 1947, from the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the San Francisco Field Office to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. The memo, marked “AIRMAIL SPECIAL DELIVERY” and classified as “CONFIDENTIAL,” concerns “REPORTS OF FLYING DISCS.” It encloses a copy of a letter dated August 25, 1947, with an attachment from Lt. Col. Donald L. Springer of A-2, Hamilton Field, California.
According to the FBI record, Lt. Col. Springer believes that Mr. F. M. Johnson “should be interviewed in this matter,” even though Springer “feels that Mr. JOHNSON may have read some of his claims in a newspaper.” The memo directs the Portland field office to “exhaustively interview Mr. F. M. JOHNSON, 106 N.W. First Ave., Portland, Oregon, regarding his alleged sighting of a ‘flying disc’ on June 24, 1947.” The document instructs that copies of the interview results be furnished to the San Francisco Field Office for distribution to the 6th Army Intelligence.
The official description of the broader case file, provided by the Department of War, states that the FBI’s 62-HQ-83894 case file includes “investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968.” The description notes that the records include “high-profile incident accounts, photographic evidence from sites like Oak Ridge, TN, and technical proposals regarding potential propulsion systems.” Additional topics covered in the file include “convention programs, researcher accounts, and extensive media coverage from the period.”
The Department of War’s archive notes that this file was previously “partially posted on FBI vault with more redactions and some pages missing.” The newly released version is described as “the complete case file with several newly declassified pages and only minor redactions.” The document itself bears a handwritten notation referencing “Bureau Bulletin No. 42, dated July 30, 1947,” which appears to have established the investigative protocol for such reports.
Context of the PURSUE Release
Per a Wikipedia summary of the United States UFO files, the records are part of a collection of declassified United States government records concerning UFOs, also called unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs). The Wikipedia entry states that these files were “released by the administration of Donald Trump beginning on May 8, 2026, and announced to continue as repeated, ongoing, expanding releases of UFO materials.” The records are hosted on the U.S. Department of War’s PURSUE archive at war.gov.
The September 1947 memo predates the formal establishment of the U.S. Air Force’s Project Sign (later Project Grudge and Project Blue Book), which was initiated later in 1947 to investigate UFO reports. The reference to the 6th Army Intelligence indicates that military intelligence was actively coordinating with the FBI on such sightings during the early post-World War II period.
The document’s reference to a sighting on June 24, 1947, is notable as that date is widely associated with pilot Kenneth Arnold’s reported sighting of nine objects near Mount Rainier, Washington, which is often credited with sparking the modern UFO phenomenon. The FBI memo does not specify whether Johnson’s alleged sighting is related to Arnold’s, though Lt. Col. Springer’s concern that Johnson “may have read some of his claims in a newspaper” suggests an awareness of media coverage of such reports at the time.
What Remains Unanswered
The released document does not include the results of the requested interview with Mr. F. M. Johnson. It remains unclear whether the Portland field office conducted the interview, what Johnson reported, or whether the information was forwarded to the 6th Army Intelligence as directed. The official summary of the case file notes that it includes “eyewitness testimonies,” but the specific outcome of this investigation is not detailed in the excerpt provided.
Additionally, the document’s text contains several redactions and handwritten notations that are not fully legible in the released version. The Department of War’s description states that the file includes “only minor redactions,” but some portions of the memo remain obscured. The document also references a “Transfer” notation dated “MAR 1 1918,” which predates the memo’s 1947 date and may indicate a file routing or archival processing note.
Readers should watch for future PURSUE releases, which the Wikipedia entry indicates will be “repeated, ongoing, expanding releases of UFO materials.” Subsequent installments may include the full interview report from the Portland field office, additional correspondence from Lt. Col. Springer, or other records from the 62-HQ-83894 case file that could shed light on the nature of Johnson’s alleged sighting and the FBI’s investigative methods during this early period of UFO reporting.
