View original document (4.5 MB) PDF viewer unavailable in this browser. Download the PDF to view. A newly released Department of War document from the “PURSUE” archive provides a detailed, official account of a 1948 “flying disc” sighting, including descriptions of a phosphorescent object traveling at high speed over Hobson, Ohio. The document, titled “18_6369445_General_1948_Vol_1,” was released by the U.S. Department of War on May 8, 2026, and is now available for public review.
According to the Department of War records, the incident is dated June 15, 1948. The document is a memorandum from the Eleventh Air Force in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, addressed to the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force in Washington, D.C. The memo states that the information was received at the headquarters on May 21, 1948, from Special Agent D.
K. Brown of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Cleveland, Ohio. The report describes the sighting location as Hobson, Ohio, occurring on the night of May 8, 1948.
The weather at the time is listed as unknown by the headquarters. The document identifies witnesses by their occupations and affiliations but withholds their full addresses.
The names provided include a “Carl Inspector” for the New York Central System (described as unknown), Carl Roush, Bob White (a yard clerk), and A.C. White (a patrolman). The official description of the object is specific.
The document notes that the number of objects sighted was not known to the headquarters. The shape was reported as “round,” and the size was estimated to “appear to be nine inches in diameter from ground level.” The color is listed as “phosphorescent,” and the object was reported to have a “great amount of speed.” Its heading was recorded as 90 degrees, and its altitude was estimated to be between six and eight miles.
The document also notes a “phosphorescent trail in the sky.” The memo states that no photographs or sketches of the object were available to the headquarters. The report was forwarded to the Air Materiel Command and the Air Defense Command, as directed by a prior directive.
The document indicates that the headquarters was not initiating its own investigation but would forward any additional information received.
Context from the Era of the “Flying Saucer”
The term “flying saucer” was coined in 1947, just one year before the Hobson sighting. Per a Wikipedia summary of the topic, the term originated from a 1947 sighting by pilot Kenneth Arnold near Mount Rainier, Washington. Newspapers reported Arnold’s story, and it preceded a wave of hundreds of sightings across the United States.
The Wikipedia entry notes that a National Guard pilot died in pursuit of a flying saucer in 1948, the same year as the Hobson incident. The entry also states that early reports speculated about secret military technology, but the term “flying saucer” became synonymous with aliens by 1950.
The more general military terms “unidentified flying object” (UFO) and “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP) have gradually replaced the term over time. The Department of War document uses the term “flying discs,” a direct reference to the contemporary phenomenon. The document’s official summary offers limited detail beyond the sighting report itself, noting it contains “memorandums, correspondence, and forms related to the reporting of information on flying discs and investigations into sightings.”
What Remains Unanswered
The newly released document raises several questions. The report does not provide a definitive explanation for the object. The weather conditions at the time of the sighting are listed as unknown, and the full identities of the witnesses are partially redacted or withheld.
The document does not state whether the FBI or any other agency conducted a follow-up investigation. Readers should watch for future PURSUE archive releases, which may contain additional correspondence, follow-up reports, or analyses from the Air Materiel Command or other agencies mentioned in the document.
The release of this file provides a rare, unvarnished look at the official handling of a specific “flying disc” report from the height of the early Cold War era.
