Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency information report (No. 00-W-25291), distributed 9 February 1953, compiles unevaluated French-language newspaper items published from July to November 1952. It covers sightings over Dakar, Oran, Algiers, Corsica and the Algerian coast. It also describes a formation of 16 disks seen by about 100 residents of Gaillac, Tarn, who reported falling glass-wool-like particles. The Algerian weather bureau chief attributed the Algiers sightings to weather balloons. The report ends with Rudolf Schriever's West German patent application for a flying saucer.
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DATE PUBLISHED 3 Jul - 20 Nov 1952 LANGUAGE French SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT NO. THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION ## REPORTS OF UNCONVENTIONAL AIRCRAFT IN FRENCH AFRICA, CORSICA; AND WESTERN EUROPE STRANGE OBJECT SIGHTED OVER DAKAR -- Dakar, Paris-Dakar, 3 Jul 52 On the morning of 3 July 1952, precisely at 0608 hours, the technical manager of the broadcasting station at Hann Center observed an unusual object following a strange path above Dakar. The object was clearly visible for about 5 seconds against a clear and no longer starry sky. The fiery object was moving at "a dizzy speed," which he estimated to be "two or three times greater than that of the fastest planes." It moved from west to east and disappeared with a swoop upwards, according to the witness, who believes that the object was about 1,500 meters high when he first noticed it, though he admits that it was difficult to judge its approximate altitude. The witness was on Route de Front de Terre, when, looking south toward Dakar and above the Centre de Reception (Reception Center), he spotted a flat but tapered object emitting rather long, reddish streaks of light with a bluish tinge. The following editorial comment by Paris-Dakar followed the above report:7 The staff reporter of Paris-Dakar is of the opinion that the object in question was a meteor and that it disappeared in a downward, not upward, trajectory. UNUSUAL OBJECT SEEN OVER ORAN -- Dakar, Paris-Dakar, 4 Jul 52 On 3 July 1952, at 1900 hours, a mechanic on his way home to a suburb of Oran, Algeria, noticed in the direction of the Senia airport a silvery disk which was maneuvering slowly and apparently revolved rapidly. After 3 minutes, the object disappeared toward the sea, west of Oran. The witness reported that the object was small and that it was not shaped like a balloon or plane. At the local weather station, it was stated that no balloons had been released at the time.
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 6 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.