341_110448_Records_Relating_to_the_Collection_and_Dissemination_of_Intelligence_1948-1955-TS_CONT_No.2_2-5300-2-5399
- Date
- 4 Nov 1948
- Place
- Off west coast of Holland (unidentified aircraft); Neubiberg Air Base, Germany; a lake in Sweden
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
A short Top Secret USAFE (US Air Forces in Europe) intelligence item dated 4 November 1948, forwarding three reports: an unidentified jet-like aircraft with rocket-assisted acceleration sighted by three 307th Bomb Group crews off Holland on 5 September 1948; a flying saucer that reportedly hovered over Neubiberg Air Base for about thirty minutes; and a secondhand Swedish claim that a saucer crashed or landed in a lake, with a Swedish naval salvage team allegedly finding a previously uncharted crater on the lakebed. The item explicitly floats an extraterrestrial-technology hypothesis attributed to Swedish intelligence sources.
What officials concluded
No conclusion stated
No Air Force conclusion is offered in this short item; the author states the recurring saucer reports 'cannot be disregarded and must be explained on some basis which is perhaps slightly beyond the scope of our present intelligence…
- Agency
- Department of War
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating All three items are single-sensor (visual only) or secondhand accounts with no radar or physical corroboration in this file; the most striking claim (the lake crater) is explicitly unconfirmed even by its own author ('no further information is available').
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- Three bomber crews, 307th Bomb Group (unnamed); unnamed observers at Neubiberg; a named 'Swedish technical expert' (unidentified in this file) near a lake
- Sensors
- Visual
- Motion
- Jet-like cruising speed then sudden acceleration and climb with smoke/condensation trails, 'tremendous reserve power'
- Duration
- Neubiberg object hovered approximately 30 minutes
- Altitude or range
- 30,000 feet (Holland sighting)
- Effects
- None stated
Pentagon files
341_110448_Records_Relating_to_the_Collection_and_Dissemination_of_Intelligence_1948-1955-TS_CONT_No.2_2-5300-2-5399
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
Three bomber crews of the 307th Bomb Group sighted a single unidentified jet-propelled aircraft off the west coast of Holland on 5 September 1948 at 30,000 feet, which accelerated with more reserve power than 1947-era jets and left the area without engaging or being identified.
- Unverified
A flying saucer reportedly hovered over Neubiberg Air Base for about thirty minutes during the week preceding this 4 November 1948 report.
- Unverified
Swedish Air Intelligence Service personnel told USAFE officers they believed some observed phenomena originated from an unknown or unidentified technology possibly outside Earth, and cited a lake-floor crater found by a Swedish naval salvage team as supporting evidence.