Newly declassified FBI records, released as part of the U.S. Department of War’s PURSUE archive, offer a detailed minute-by-minute timeline of a September 1947 unidentified flying object sighting over Portland, Oregon. The documentation draws from Portland Police Department dispatch logs and sworn officer testimony.
According to an FBI memorandum dated October 9, 1947, from the Special Agent in Charge in Portland to the FBI Director, the first report of unidentified objects in flight over the city occurred on September 11, 1947. Officers in District 18 notified authorities at 5:21 P.M. The document, classified as “SECURITY MATTER – X,” is part of the FBI’s 62-HQ-83894 case file, which contains investigative records, eyewitness accounts, and public reports regarding Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968. The FBI memo cites records from the Portland Police Department’s Radio Dispatcher.
The log indicates that at 5:23 P.M., dispatch requested District 14, located further south, to attempt to locate and identify the objects. One minute later, at 5:24 P.M., a report came from the car occupied by Police Chief Jenkins, confirming that they had sighted some objects.
However, at 5:27 P.M., District 14 reported seeing nothing unusual in the sky. The document includes a detailed statement from Officer Robert D. Adair, who resided at 4325 S.E.
Madison Avenue in Portland. Adair stated that he was one of two officers on duty in District 18 on September 11.
The patrol car was in the vicinity of N.E. 25th Avenue and Saratoga Court when Adair and his partner noticed a number of people looking upward and pointing. Upon looking at the sky, Adair observed a very bright reflection of the sun on an object that appeared to be made of silvery metal. Per the FBI record, the object was coming from the east and made a wide turn over the city before disappearing to the south.
Officer Adair estimated its speed at approximately 150 miles per hour and its altitude at about 5,000 feet. He watched it for roughly two minutes, during which time it gradually disappeared in such a manner that it appeared the angle was slowly changing, so that the sun was no longer reflecting into his eyes.
Adair stated that the shape appeared round, but the glare was so bright that it could have hidden the true outline of the object. The report notes there was no oscillation visible, only steady flight. Officer Adair expressed his belief that the object was an ordinary metal airplane reflecting the light of the afternoon sun.
The FBI document presents this as his personal opinion rather than a definitive conclusion by the Bureau. The document does not identify the object or resolve the discrepancy between the multiple police units that reported sightings and District 14, which saw nothing unusual.
The Portland sighting document is part of a broader release of declassified U.S. government records. According to a Wikipedia summary of the United States UFO files, these records are a collection of declassified government documents concerning UFOs, also called unidentified anomalous phenomena. The files were released by the administration of Donald Trump beginning on May 8, 2026, and were announced to continue as repeated, ongoing, expanding releases of UFO materials.
The official description of the FBI’s 62-HQ-83894 case file indicates it includes high-profile incident accounts, photographic evidence from sites such as Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and technical proposals regarding potential propulsion systems. Additional topics include convention programs, researcher accounts, and extensive media coverage from the period.
The file is partially posted on the FBI vault with more redactions and some pages missing. The version included in the PURSUE archive is described as the complete case file with several newly declassified pages and only minor redactions. Readers should watch for future PURSUE releases, which per the Wikipedia summary are expected to continue as ongoing, expanding releases of UFO materials.
The full scope of the 62-HQ-83894 case file, which spans over two decades of reports, may yield additional records that provide further context for the 1947 Portland sighting and other incidents documented in the archive.
