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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ALGERIAN WEATHER BUREAU CHIEF DISCOUNTS SAUCER REPORTS -- Dakar, Paris-Dakar, 7 Aug 52 The director of the Algerian weather bureau stated recently that the "flying saucers" seen recently over Algiers were only weather balloons which are sent up each evening between 2000 and 2030 hours from the weather stations at Maison Blanche, Blida, and Boufarik. He said that in their underbellies, the balloons carry a luminous device which, together with the motion of the balloons as they are buffeted by the wind, must have made them seem like "flying saucers" to the spectators. LUMINOUS OBJECT SIGHTED OVER CORSICA -- Algiers, L'Echo d'Alger, 4 Oct 52 On 2 October 1952, at about 2000 hours, several people in Corsica observed a spindle-shaped, luminous object traveling noiselessly in the sky. They said that it was headed from southwest to northeast and was visible for about one minute. DESCRIBE UNUSUAL OBJECT FLYING ALONG ALGERIAN COASTLINE Algiers, L'Echo d'Alger, 7 Oct 52 On 6 October 1952, at 1830 hours, a luminous object was seen flying for several seconds along the western coastline of Algeria, above Sidi Ferruch and Saint Eugene. Numerous witnesses described it as cigar-shaped and enveloped in orange flames. MANY WITNESS "FLYING SAUCER" FORMATION IN TARN, FRANCE --- Casablanca, Maroc- Presse, 29 Oct 52 About 100 inhabitants of Gaillac (Department of Tarn, France) reported witnessing a "flying saucer" formation at about 1600 hours on 27 October 1952. The objects were said to have been 16 in number, ranged in twos, and disk-shaped, except for a swelling in the center. According to the report, they revolved giving off a bluish light at the sides. The spectators said that they also saw a kind of elongated cylinder, a flying cigar," traveling in the center of the saucer formation. All the objects were said to have discharged shining whitish particles, which looked like glass wool and accumulated on tree branches and telegraph wires. Many persons said that they had been able to gather clusters of such particles, but that these had quickly disintegrated, making it impossible to have them analyzed later in a laboratory. The weather conditions were reported as ideal for observation. The mysterious objects, which had come from the southeast, reportedly remained in the area about 10 minutes and then continued on their way in a straight line. INVENTOR IN WEST GERMANY PERPECTS "FLYING SAUCER" -- Conakry, La Guinee Francaise, 20 Nov 52 The first patent for a "flying saucer" was recently applied for in West Germany by Rudolf Schriever, a former pilot, who claimed to have perfected an "ellip-
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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.