An alleged sighting near West Palm Beach, Florida, on the night of 19 August 1952, in which the principal said he had been fired upon from above, known in PURSUE Release 06 through the Air Force’s Flying Discs File 1952.
The file copies the FBI Laboratory’s report of 3 September 1952, over J. Edgar Hoover’s name, on the cap the principal wore. It found no residue around the three burned holes to show what incendiary material caused them, and singeing on the bill and emblem not at all uniform, as might be expected if the cap had been subjected to a single shot of fire. The heavier scorching of the bill’s front edge suggested the singeing could not have taken place when he was fired upon from almost vertically above him, and the absence of singeing under a fold suggested the cap might not have been worn at the time.
On 5 September a request from the Directorate of Intelligence told the Counter Intelligence Division of the Directorate of Special Investigations that the Air Technical Intelligence Center’s field investigation had reached no conclusive results, but that there were indications of a possible hoax: the laboratory’s findings on the cap and the man’s actions after the alleged sighting. The file also prints the principal’s personal records unredacted; this entry does not name him.
Connections
Flying Discs File 1952 · FBI · Air Technical Intelligence Center · PURSUE · Project Blue Book