What does Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 reveal?

The file is the outgoing and incoming correspondence of the Air Force Directorate of Intelligence's Topical Division (AFOIN-2A2), signed mostly by Colonel William A. Adams and drafted by Major Dewey J. Fournet, routing material to the Air Technical Intelligence Center under the recurring subject line Material for Project Blue Book. Chief Photographer…

Which agency produced Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952?

Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 is a primary-source record from Department of War. Its original classification was Mixed; individual items marked UNCLASSIFIED, RESTRICTED, CONFIDENTIAL and SECRET (Security Information), declassified under authority NND 841508.

When is Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 dated?

Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 is dated September to December 1952 (items dated 15 August 1952 through 19 December 1952, plus a copied OSI report of 6 October 1950). It was disclosed 2026-09-18.

What programs and topics appear in Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952?

Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 references Project Blue Book, FLYOBRPT reporting under Air Force Letter 200-5 (29 April 1952), CIRVIS, disc-shaped objects, formation of 12 to 14 objects and 16mm Kodachrome film.

What does Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 say, in its own words?

"There was a group of about ten or twelve objects - that bore no relation to anything I had seen before - milling about in a rought formation and proceeding in a westerly direction." (source p. 28).

← Files

DISCLOSURE / FILE

Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952

DOW-UAP-D105, U.S. Air Force Flying Discs File, 1952

A 253-page U.S. Air Force Directorate of Intelligence correspondence file for September through December 1952 that shows how Project Blue Book paperwork, films, photographs and citizen mail moved between the Pentagon, ATIC, the Navy, the FBI and the public.

Brief

The file is the working correspondence of the Topical Division (AFOIN-2A2) under Colonel William A. Adams, with Major Dewey J. Fournet as action officer, arranged in reverse order from a 19 December 1952 Coast Guard negative return back to an August 1952 Okinawa memo. Its centerpiece is the handling of two 16mm films: Chief Photographer Delbert C. Newhouse's 2 July 1952 Tremonton, Utah footage of 12 to 14 objects and Nicholas Mariana's 15 August 1950 Great Falls, Montana footage of two discs, both sent to the Director of Naval Intelligence for independent analysis on 24 October and 24 November 1952. Around them sit FBI laboratory results on the West Palm Beach scoutmaster's scorched cap, soil samples from a 16-foot circle in Arlington, Virginia and from the Flatwoods, West Virginia monster site, an Office of Naval Research briefing request, and the 2 September 1952 letters extending AFL 200-5 reporting to the Army and Navy. The pages record analysis being requested far more often than conclusions being reached; the seabird assessment the release blurb attaches to Tremonton does not appear in these pages.

Metadata

Agency: Department of War
Release: 9/18/26
Incident: September - December 1952
Location: Various
Type: PDF • .pdf
Length: 253 pages
Classification: Mixed; individual items marked UNCLASSIFIED, RESTRICTED, CONFIDENTIAL and SECRET (Security Information), declassified under authority NND 841508
Programs: Project Blue Book, FLYOBRPT reporting under Air Force Letter 200-5 (29 April 1952), CIRVIS, Operation Mainbrace
Tags: disc-shaped objects, formation of 12 to 14 objects, 16mm Kodachrome film, Tremonton Utah 2 July 1952, Great Falls Montana 15 August 1950, Flatwoods West Virginia 12 September 1952, Arlington Virginia lawn circle September 1952, West Palm Beach 19 August 1952, Okinawa object in water November 1950, Operation Mainbrace 20 September 1952, San Gorgonio Mountain intercept, photo and film analysis, hoax evaluation, citizen correspondence, Project Blue Book, FLYOBRPT, AFL 200-5, 1952

Key points

The file is the outgoing and incoming correspondence of the Air Force Directorate of Intelligence's Topical Division (AFOIN-2A2), signed mostly by Colonel William A. Adams and drafted by Major Dewey J. Fournet, routing material to the Air Technical Intelligence Center under the recurring subject line Material for Project Blue Book.p.43
Chief Photographer Delbert C. Newhouse, USN, reported filming 10 to 12 objects at 1110 on 2 July 1952 about 7 miles north of Tremonton, Utah, with a handheld Bell and Howell Automaster, 3-inch telephoto lens, 16 frames per second, on Kodachrome; his 11 August 1952 letter says one object reversed course and left the group.p.28
A 10 September 1952 interview by the 28th Air Division at the Newhouse home in Berkeley recorded 12 to 14 identical light-colored objects, the sun about overhead, the camera pointed at an estimated 70 degrees elevation, no sound, no contrails and no filters; the interviewing officer rated Newhouse an expert photographer with over 19 years of naval service, and a follow-up answer confirmed the entire roll was handheld.p.32
On 24 October 1952 the Directorate asked the Director of Naval Intelligence for an independent laboratory interpretation of the Tremonton film after an Air Force photo lab had analyzed it, supplying a list of analysis questions (including whether any bird is bright enough to produce the images) and a Naval Observatory sun position of 64.5 degrees elevation and 131 degrees azimuth; on 24 November 1952 it sent a second film for comparison.p.26
The second film is Nicholas Mariana's Great Falls, Montana footage of 15 August 1950 (11:25 to 11:30 a.m.): two bright, aluminum-colored disc-shaped objects estimated at 10,000 feet, about 50 feet across and 3 feet thick, moving south at roughly 200 mph with a spinning appearance and no sound, exhaust or wings, seen for about 20 seconds by Mariana and about 7 seconds by his secretary.p.22
An FBI Laboratory report dated 3 September 1952 on the West Palm Beach scoutmaster's cap found no residue of any incendiary material around the three burned holes, described the singeing as non-uniform and heaviest on the front edge of the bill, and noted an unsinged fold suggesting the cap may not have been on a head when scorched; the Directorate separately requested an OSI background investigation on the witness.

Verbatim

There was a group of about ten or twelve objects - that bore no relation to anything I had seen before - milling about in a rought formation and proceeding in a westerly direction.
p.28
ANSWER: NEGATIVE, ENTIRE ROLL OF FILM WAS HANDHELD.
p.34
Captain Ruppelt stated that ATIC was finished with analyzing the photograph and that he would bring it with him for return to the USCG.
p.5
Mr. Mariana almost invariably carries a camera in order that he may make "opportunity pictures" and had previously thought that if he could see such unconventional aircraft in flight, he would take motion pictures of them.
p.23
These aircraft were assigned the 449th Fighter Squadron, Ladd Air Force Base, Alaska.
p.21
Articles like that of Robert S. Allen, dated Sept. 26th are being photostated and circulated privately.
p.49

Most interesting

The release blurb calls Newhouse a Navy Warrant Officer; the documents identify him as Chief Photographer Delbert C. Newhouse, service number 177283, a chief petty officer and 1935 graduate of the Naval Photographic School who claimed over 1,000 hours of aerial photography (pages 28 and 32).
Great Falls AFB base operations records placed two F-94s of the 449th Fighter Squadron, tail numbers 2502 and 2503, landing at 1130 and 1133 MST on 15 August 1950, minutes after Mariana filmed; Mariana said two jets crossed the sky east of him right after he stopped filming (page 21).
The Air Force had to ask Mariana on 15 October 1952 to lend his original 1950 film because its own duplicate copy had been misplaced; four new copies were struck by 14 November 1952 (pages 86 and 43).
The Idaho mountain scenery at the end of the Tremonton roll was cut off and returned to Newhouse; analysts used it to judge that his handheld camera work showed almost no motion (page 26).
The 21 November 1952 memo counts the first film as showing 10 unidentified objects and the second as showing 2 (page 25), while Newhouse's letter says 10 or 12 and his interview says 12 to 14 (pages 28 and 32).
A 1 October 1952 note references a third film, 16mm footage tied to a 29 July 1952 Miami, Florida sighting, already forwarded to ATIC (page 133).
Because the FBI had to mark and cut the West Palm Beach cap for analysis, the Directorate advised offering a replacement rather than returning it (page 175).
An analyst reviewing engineer E. L. Lull's telegram about a prophetic date obtained Lull's book from the Library of Congress, noted it was catalogued under BS (Bible), and wrote that he had marked 4 October down as a red-letter day; the same memo fixes General Samford's press conference to 29 July 1952, the date of the telegram (pages 200 to 202).
A Montana farmer who mailed in aluminum foil strips found on his land was told they were radar window, or chaff, dropped by U.S. aircraft (page 98); a Tennessee correspondent who asked about a reward was told the Air Force pays no remuneration for unsolicited ideas (page 132).
A Detroit man wrote General Samford that an acquaintance named Samuel P. Jones had flown a 17-foot saucer-shaped craft at Havre, Montana in 1947 and predicted the Washington sightings weeks ahead; the Directorate asked OSI to locate Jones (pages 247, 249 and 250).
The Townsend Brown Foundation reached OSI after Major General V. J. Bertrandias saw a flying saucer model there and heard its scientists had worked on the project for 20 to 25 years; OSI's checks were negative and a Dun and Bradstreet credit rating is among the inclosures (page 85).

Cross-references

PDFNewhouse Films Formation Over Tremonton, 1952Department of War
VIDNewhouse's Tremonton UFO Film, 1952Department of War
PDF1953 Film Lab Flags Utah And Montana ObjectsDepartment of War
PDFProject SIGN’s 180-Case ProblemDepartment of War
PDFSenator Sparkman's Alabama Meteorite Referral to ATIC

Cited in

FINDINGAsked about birds, balloons, or aircraft nearby, the Tremonton witness answered none.War.gov September 18, 2026
TAKEAWAYTremonton: Four Readings, One Film, No Rangep.32War.gov September 18, 2026
TAKEAWAYThe Twenty Percent: What Ruppelt Told the Room in 1952p.43War.gov September 18, 2026

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Common questions

What is Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952?: A 253-page U.S. Air Force Directorate of Intelligence correspondence file for September through December 1952 that shows how Project Blue Book paperwork, films, photographs and citizen mail moved between the Pentagon, ATIC, the Navy, the FBI and the public.
What does Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 reveal?: The file is the outgoing and incoming correspondence of the Air Force Directorate of Intelligence's Topical Division (AFOIN-2A2), signed mostly by Colonel William A. Adams and drafted by Major Dewey J. Fournet, routing material to the Air Technical Intelligence Center under the recurring subject line Material for Project Blue Book. Chief Photographer…
Which agency produced Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952?: Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 is a primary-source record from Department of War. Its original classification was Mixed; individual items marked UNCLASSIFIED, RESTRICTED, CONFIDENTIAL and SECRET (Security Information), declassified under authority NND 841508.
When is Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 dated?: Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 is dated September to December 1952 (items dated 15 August 1952 through 19 December 1952, plus a copied OSI report of 6 October 1950). It was disclosed 2026-09-18.
What programs and topics appear in Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952?: Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 references Project Blue Book, FLYOBRPT reporting under Air Force Letter 200-5 (29 April 1952), CIRVIS, disc-shaped objects, formation of 12 to 14 objects and 16mm Kodachrome film.
What does Two UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952 say, in its own words?

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