Dept. of DefenseUnknownAnomalous kinematics
Rear Admiral Fahrney on high-speed objects entering atmosphere — January 1957 (press reference)
~Jan 1957
⟳ Deeper read pending. This record is from the FBI 62-HQ-83894 flying-disc file, whose cursive, clippings and faint scans are under-read by automated OCR. It is flagged for a vision-transcription pass and likely undercounts what the source contains — see the documents collection note.
Analysis — our summary
The Sub-A file includes a reference or clipping quoting Rear Admiral Delmer Fahrney (January 1957) stating that objects were 'coming into our atmosphere at very high speeds' and that 'no agency in this country or Russia is able to duplicate at this time the speeds and accelerations which radar and observers indicate these flying objects are able to achieve.' This statement is presented in the FBI case file context as an authoritative military opinion.
As reported — verbatim from the document
“Rear Adm. Delmer Fahrney (Jan 1957): 'objects coming into our atmosphere at very high speeds'; 'no agency in this country or Russia is able to duplicate at this time the speeds and accelerations which radar and observers indicate these flying objects are able to achieve.'”
Analyst notes — caveats & confidence
Expert military opinion cited in FBI file. Fahrney was a former Chief of the Navy's Guided Missiles program. This is not a primary incident report but a significant expert assessment included by FBI. No incident coordinates. File was only partially readable.
Provenance
Source document65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_SUB_A.pdf
Document typecase file compilation
Reporting agencyDept. of Defense
Source pages124
DeclassifiedFirst public at this release (2026)
Held classified~69 years (≥, to this release)
Extraction confidence ModerateHow cleanly this record could be parsed from the source — driven by legibility & redaction. It is not a measure of how credible or anomalous the sighting is.