Documents / FOIA release
This CIA-held translation reproduces a Soviet press article, "Are Flying Saucers a Myth?", by APN science commentator V. Lyustiberg. It first ran in Pravda Ukraine on 17 February 1968. The article describes eyewitness UFO accounts and concludes that UFOs are a myth. It argues that photographs are unreliable, that credible images probably show ball lightning, and that flares on clouds come from welding, aircraft signals or distant lightning. It says a 1957 "saucer" over Sofia was a NATO balloon and calls saucer stories Western distractions.
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AUTHOR: Lyustiberg, V. (Science commentator for APX) TITLE: Are flying saucers a myth? SOURCE: Pravda Ukraine, no. 40, 17 Feb 68, p. 4, cols. 2-7 TOPIC TAG: apocalypse phenomenon, unidentified flying object, atmospheric optic phenomenon ABSTRACT: Various eyewitness accounts of UFO's are described. It is concluded that UFO's are a myth. The single and chance appearance of UFO's complicates or completely excludes the possibility of investigation. Stereoscopic photography is not reliable: it is impossible simultaneously to follow from two points the accurate outlines of a solid flying object. All pictures made by one-objective cameras have room for doubt. It is true that there are pictures which do not raise doubts. They always show objects of round or oval shape with diffused outline, probably ball lighting. The nature of ball lightning is unknown because of the utter lack of information about the time and place of its formation. It cannot be described as being of outerspace origin. Even during superficial analysis, it is found that the mysterious flares on clouds are reflections of electric welding, signals from aircraft near airports, or remote summer lightning. The November "saucer" of 1957 above Sofia "succer" of 1957 above Sofin turned out to be a scouting balloon of NATO. When (b) (3) the Western public has to have its attention distracted from politics or economics, there appear flying saucers, Loch Ness monsters, or Snowmen. (b)(3) (b)(3) 7. (6) (3)
Not linked to a story yet.
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. 1 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.