Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency information report, distributed on 11 February 1952, is unevaluated and supplements an earlier report through a second interrogation of the same informant. The informant describes light phenomena seen almost every night from May to September 1947 from a POW camp about 50 km southwest of Tashkent in the Uzbek SSR. Each phenomenon was a dark red ball of fire that rose on a long trajectory, changed color, and made no noise. A field comment advises treating the trajectory estimates with reserve.
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REPORT NO. 80 57499x COUNTRY USSR (Uzbek SSR) DATE DISTR. 11 Feb. 1952 SUBJECT Light Phenomena East of Tashkent NO. OF PAGES 1 NO. OF ENCLS. 1 (LISTED BELOW) DATE OF INFO. Kay - September 19 DO NOT CIRCULATE SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT NO. 80-49249x THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION second interrogation. ** 1. During the period from May to September 1947 three light phenomena happening at intervals of about 15 minutes were seen almost every night between 9 and 10 p.m. local time. The phenomena were watched from the P.J camp in Palkta Aral, about 50 km southwest of Tashkent (41°18'N/69°15'E), Uzbek S.S.R., in an east-southeasterly direction. 2. A darkred ball of fire was seen first; after about six seconds it reached the apex of a long-drawn out trajectory. During this time the ball had developed a trail of fire. Its color, which was bright red at the apex point, changed in color from pale green to white. Smoke trails, noises, or detonations were not noticed. 3. The distance of the trajectory from the point of observation was estimated at 60 to 80 km. The trajectory ran approximately from southwest to northeast; its length to the apex, which was from 5,000 to 12,000 meters high, as estimated at about 80 km. At the apex the ball of fire seemed about one-fifth the diameter of the full moon. * Field Comment. The measurements stated with respect to the trajectory must be received with reserve. It must be considered that neither the discharge nor the noise developed by the projectile were heard. For trajectory of phenomena, see annex. ** Washington Comment: This is a reinterrogation of the informant of SO-49149x. 1 Annex: One skotch showing trajectory.
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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. 2 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.