William Rhoads photographs, Phoenix, Arizona
7 July 1947 · Phoenix, Arizona
Summary
William Albert Rhodes, who lived at 4333 N. 14th Street in Phoenix, photographed an object in the sky on 7 July 1947. An Army Air Forces agent at Williams Field, Lynn C. Aldrich, wrote on 14 July that he had obtained two pictures from the managing editor of the Arizona Republic on 8 July. Aldrich recorded that they were taken at sunset with a 620 box camera and that the height was estimated at 1000 feet. The Phoenix FBI office later recorded Rhodes's own account. He said a storm had passed, the clouds stood at about 5000 feet, and at about 5 p.m. he heard a noise like a P-80 and saw an odd shaped ship he put at 20 to 30 feet across. He took two photographs as it circled and then banked into the clouds.
The Air Force check-list for Incident #40 gave the time as 1600, a speed of 400-600 MPH and a size of 20-30 ft. Its remarks said Rhodes first thought the object was the Navy's "Flapjack Plane" but changed his opinion because it seemed to have no landing gear or propellers. The FBI memo said Rhodes did not link the object with the flying disc reports. It also recorded that he compared it to a Mechanics Illustrated cover. The Phoenix report said the light spot in the centre of one photograph was a green house.
On 28 August 1947 the San Francisco FBI office relayed a request from Fourth Air Force intelligence that Rhodes be completely interviewed. Special Agent J. Bailey Brower and George Fugate, Jr., of A-2 interviewed him. Rhodes delivered the negatives on 30 August after being told there was little, if any, chance of getting them back. In 1952 the FBI told Drew Pearson's office that it had not investigated the matter or Rhodes. Air Force offices said they had furnished no photographs to Pearson's office.
Air Force technical work on the film is recorded in Project Sign papers. A 19 February 1948 evaluation concluded that the image was of true photographic nature and estimated the object's diagonal at 44 to 55 feet. The 1948 Air Intelligence study said experts found the photographs were true photographic images. In a March 1952 briefing Captain Edward Ruppelt said there was doubt whether it was purposely faked, but it was never proved. A 1958 FBI memo recorded that Rhodes told the Arizona Republic the FBI had borrowed the negatives and never returned them.
Where the files disagree
Two documents give different accounts of the same detail. Both are quoted as written; we don't say which is right.
Speed of the object
“He described this ship as being possibly 20 to 30 feet in diameter, traveling at an estimated speed of 100 miles per hour.” page 117 →
“When first seen it was at about 5,000 ft and traveling from 400 to 600 MPH.” page 89 →
Number of circles made by the object
“The Subject objects flew at unconceivable speeds, making three circles in the vicinity of Mr. Rhoads' home.” page 172 →
“The tail of the object had two points on the outside area, visible as it made its two left-to-right circles which had an approximate radius of 1/4 to 1/2 miles.” page 89 →
What the files say
“Spiraled down from 5000' to 2000 ft and then ascended at 45° angle”
Page 88 →“The height of the object was estimated at 1000 feet.”
Page 172 →“He described this ship as being possibly 20 to 30 feet in diameter, traveling at an estimated speed of 100 miles per hour.”
Page 117 →“It is concluded that the image is of true photographic nature, and is not due to imperfections in the emulsion, or lack of development in the section in question.”
Page 33 →“there's a little bit of doubt as to the, whether or not this was purposely faked, but we've never been able to prove it.”
Page 6 →
Also discussed in
- FBI UFO case file section, flying disc records (1947-1968)
- FBI UFO case file section 4: flying disc records (1947-1968)
- FBI UFO case file section 5: flying disc records (1947-1968)
- FBI UFO case file section 6: flying disc records (1947-1968)
- FBI UFO case file, section 9 (1947-1968)
- Air Force UFO case compilation for United States sightings
- US UFO sightings analysis, Air Intelligence study (1948)
- US UFO sightings analysis, Air Intelligence report (1949)
- Air Materiel Command UFO investigation files (1947-1948)
Explanations in the record
What the documents themselves say the event was, as recorded. Not our assessment.
- Ruppelt said there was doubt whether the Phoenix photograph was purposely faked, but that this was never proved. — Ruppelt briefing transcript on UFO investigations (1952), page 6
- Rhodes first thought the object was the Navy's new "Flapjack Plane" but dropped this view because it appeared to have no landing gear or propellers. — UFO incident summaries 1-100, Box 7 index, page 89
- Rhodes said the object closely resembled a picture on the May 1947 Mechanics Illustrated cover, except that it seemed to be flying backward. — FBI UFO case file section 2: flying disc records (1947-1968), page 117
- Project Sign's AMC headquarters believed a low aspect ratio aircraft could duplicate the appearance and performance of reported flying discs, and noted similarity to the Incident #40 photographs. — Project Sign UFO progress report, 100 incidents (1948), page 2