GovernmentDec 1947
Project Sign begins
The Air Force's first formal study of flying-saucer reports, run by Air Materiel Command at Wright Field. It ran until early 1949, when Project Grudge replaced it.
Photo: US Air Force, Public domain
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Government
Official programs, reports, laws and hearings, from Project Blue Book to AARO and the National Archives. 366 events, newest first.
1940s
Government23 Sep 1947
Twining memo calls flying discs 'something real'
Lt. Gen. Nathan Twining, head of Air Materiel Command at Wright Field, wrote to Army Air Forces headquarters that the disc reports described something real, not imagined, and urged a classified, prioritized study. That study began months later as Project Sign.
Photo: U.S. Air Force, Public domain
Government30 Jul 1947
FBI agrees to help investigate flying-disc reports
At the request of Army Air Forces intelligence, FBI headquarters told its field offices to check each flying-disc sighting brought to them and judge whether it was genuine, imagined or a prank. By July 1950 the FBI said the Air Force had taken over and it no longer investigated such reports.
Photo: FBI, Public domain
Government30 Jul 1947
FBI agrees to help the Army Air Forces investigate flying discs
At the request of Army Air Forces intelligence, the FBI told its field offices to check each flying disc sighting brought to them. Director J. Edgar Hoover wanted agents able to examine any discs recovered. The FBI handed the work back to the Air Force in July 1950.
Photo: FBI.gov, Public domain
Government11 Jul 1947
Twin Falls, Idaho 'flying disc' found and exposed as a teen hoax
A 30-inch metal disc with a plastic dome turned up in a Twin Falls yard during the 1947 saucer wave. An FBI agent alerted his office and Army officers flew in to take it, but police then said four local teenagers had confessed to building it from radio and phonograph parts as a prank.
Photo: Albert William Stevens, Public domain
Government8 Jul 1947
FBI Dallas teletype describes the Roswell object as a balloon
An FBI Dallas teletype relayed what Eighth Air Force headquarters told agents about the object recovered near Roswell: a hexagonal object hung from a balloon that resembled a high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector, being flown to Wright Field for examination.
Photo: Roswell Daily Record, Public domain