Documents / FOIA release

Unidentified Flying Objects Reports

Defense Intelligence Agency · 140 pages · text by OCR

This Defense Intelligence Agency release gathers Army and Air Force intelligence reports on unidentified flying objects from several countries. It contains translated Finnish Border Guard reports of glowing spheres and lights seen near the Soviet border, a Costa Rica sighting near Puntarenas, and Afghan news items from 1959 on bright objects over Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul. Other reports describe objects over Kuldja in Sinkiang, China. A 1969 OSI report from Nakhon Phanom, Thailand concludes that a pilot's ground sighting was probably a religious procession carrying ceremonial drums.

  • p. 3 …The light also flew around, parallel to the north several times, then descended to the ground…
  • p. 9 …was visible for a short time on October 10th at this year near the village of…
  • p. 10 …approximately half the size of the full moon which was shining at that time. When first…
  • p. 11 …Import 400%, 24 Nov 20 (1 day) (AMCHR) Two of the cameras identify the time as…
  • p. 13 …in the at times were identical and even consisted of a single-storeyed brick building with…
  • p. 15 …the natural biology, no such plan nor had been seen before or since that time, at…
  • p. 20 …about five (5) minutes from the rotation to the time of disappearance; object left a trail…
  • p. 21 …It had been about the time of an ordinary star and all a yellowish colour, and…
  • p. 23 …Personnel were debriefed on the afternoon of 18 July 1960. Time of sighting: About 2000 hours…
  • p. 28 mursily parallel to the horizent north of the point of observation ; after 5 minutes appeared behind…
  • p. 30 …in the vicinity of Kulda, the information obtained above is necessarily consistent in date, time of…
  • p. 34 …The two take-offs occurred within a three day interval and both times at approximately 0200…
  • p. 36 …These events were reported prior to the time that any reports appeared in the newspapers. a…
  • p. 37 …At this time it was seen by Chilean, Argentine and British bases in the Anarctic. "The…
  • p. 38 …in the Argentine base directly in front of our location. "This is the second time in…
  • p. 39 …Some credence must be given to the existence or the occurrence of some type of phenomenon…
  • p. 45 …At that time the plane was leaving the Uruguayan coast and was flying over the neighborhood…
  • p. 47 …This document contains information affecting the national defense of the United States within the meaning of…
  • p. 48 …ON TWO ZERO JUNE THE CHILEAN BASE COMMANDER (AGUIRRE CERDA BASE) REPORTED THAT AT ONE SIX…
  • p. 49 …TWO VARIOMETERS WORKING AFFECTED BY MAGNETIC FIELD DISTURBANCE DURING THE TIME OBJECT SIGHTED. Comment: Foregoing messages…
  • p. 50 TIME LOCATION OBSERVATION OBSERVER 1800/10 Jul Southeast of Kuan-hsi, Hsin-chu County A fleeting…
  • p. 52 …The time of discovery was approximately several minutes after 1900 hours O July: The time of…
  • p. 54 …According to reports of the many citizens who viewed the object, it remained in the vicinity…
  • p. 58 …I did note at the time that the larger star was moving more rapidly but without…
  • p. 60 …The time period given for the sightings as August through December 1965 is also earlier than…
  • p. 62 …The object had an impressive volume, four times bigger than that of a star. It was…
  • p. 65 …While in this meeting Cathie made the statement that he could predict the time of the…
  • p. 68 …IT WAS APPARENTLY HOVERING NEAR THE RECEIVING STATION DURING THE TIME THE GARBLED SIGNALS WERE INTERCEPTED…
  • p. 72 …At the time of each explosion, the sun was found to be at a particular distance…
  • p. 75 …I have not a copy of the 1967 Ephomeris, so I can only give approximate times…
  • p. 76 …It appears that whatever catastrophe occurred at the time, disrupted the grid before this block could…
  • p. 79 …The Dominion Sunday Times, Wellington, NZ 16. SUMMARY: (UNCLASSIFIED) (U) Report forwards newspaper clipping on Captain…
  • p. 80 …Captain Cathle told The Sunday Times he had no interest in speculation about title green men…
  • p. 118 …Historically, Thai pilots have been reluctant to fly at night, but the moon in recent days…
  • p. 119 …The message was to CINCPAC with information to 7/13AF and referenced the message quoted above…
  • p. 122 …just arrived home for the first time since I had the talk with you on Tuesday…
  • p. 129 …Another primary aim of TIME, FEBRUARY 2, 1968 the "spook ships"—espionage satellites like Samos and…
  • p. 130 …On the last three occasions when he called the DATT, he went into considerable detail about…
  • p. 131 …to the US Antartic program, and which was in Antartic waters at the time. Capt Cathie…
  • p. 136 …However, this time the correspondent could not get past the General's secretary; was politely but…
  • p. 137 …passed through the general area during the same time period and that the pilgrims garried with…
  • p. 138 …At the time, the pilot was searching for unidentified flying objects pursuant to an earlier Base…
  • p. 139 …or smuggling, there was no evidence at the time to substantiate that possibility. c. During November…
FORCES, officials, or units by air. It is not likely, therefore, that they would riks valuable aircraft and crews to support Thai insurgent, when resupply, infiltration, and movement by other means is cheaper, safer, and less obvious. It is interesting to note that such unknown returns have been reported since 1965 and yet no unidentified aircraft has ever crashed or been physically observed so it could be identified. Friendly suppression forces have never shot down or hit these unknown intruders, whereas U.S. helicopters and aircraft in VIETNAM and LAOS have suffered many hits and losses, and as indicated in Part I, friendly aircraft in area could not observe, even with aid of lights, any other aircraft. In past, when Royal Thai Government offered 200,000 Baht reward for shooting down of unknown aircraft and helicopters, only aircraft ever it were BPP or RTA choppers and USAF aircraft on legitimate missions. As result, Thai Government has since withdrawn reward offer since no hostile aircraft or "unknowns" were ever downed. It is also interesting to note that in 1967 unidentified aircraft activity, purportedly in support of communist insurgents, seemed to preoccupy Thai officials until U.S. resources provided hawk anti-aircraft missiles. Then in speech of acceptance and thanks, General HRAPHAT, Deputy Prime Minister, said helicopter threat from outside THAILAND ended or come under control. Part V. This headquarters is highly interested in such sightings and reports, and will continue to monitor such activity for signs of hostile intent. However, there is no evidence at present time to indicate rash of recent "Bogies" reported near NKP RTAFD involves hostile or unfriendly activity. Unquote.

The following is quoted from a COMUSMACTHAI message dated 17 December 1968. The message was to CINCPAC with information to 7/13AF and referenced the message quoted above. Quote. "This headquarters considers the message and excellent assessment of unidentified helicopter reports in THAILAND. This valuation parallels our own assessments." Unquote.

The most recent reported sightings occurred in South LAOS. On the nights of 14, 16 and 18 December 1968, an unidentified high wing single engine aircraft was observed over Ban Thateng (1526N-10622E), LAOS. On two occasions it as reported circling at low altitude (400 feet). On the third occasion, it as observed at 6000 feet heading west. Estimated speed 100 knots. It has not been determined if the aircraft was an unreported friendly or enemy.

OMMENTS: AIRA concurs with the comments and assessments made and with the conclusion which are drawn. It seems highly unlikely the enemy would take the risks involved to infiltrate personnel or supplies when, as is pointed out, other methods are cheaper, safer and less obvious. Some of the "unknowns" have been reported far enough into THAILAND that large helicopters would have to be used or refuelings made by small helicopters. In order to reach some of these locations, long flights would have to be made over friendly territory, both in LAOS and THAILAND. Again this seems rather unlikely and has not been confirmed by any sightings. There are no known enemy hold staging areas or bases in LAOS from which such flights could operate within reasonable range, safety and security and yet remain such a well kept secret for such a long period of time. If any of these flights are, in fact, occurring it appears much more reasonable that they might be unreported friendly activities.

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About this file

FOIA release, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 140 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.