Documents / FOIA release

Sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects Over Spain and Africa, July-October 1952

Central Intelligence Agency · 1952-11-24 · 4 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This Central Intelligence Agency compilation, dated 24 November 1952, gathers translated press reports of unidentified flying objects seen over Spain and Africa from July to October 1952. Sources include Moroccan, Algerian, Spanish and Ivory Coast newspapers. It covers disks over Marrakech, a theodolite sighting by two meteorologists in Durban, and a widely observed object on 21 September 1952 over Casablanca, Tangier, Fes and Rabat, including a close view by a pilot. One Rabat paper suggested that object was a meteor.

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

called to say that he had seen the object going from east to west at 1815 hours (about 2-5 minutes before it flew over Casablanca!). Also, two observers in the Nefifik River valley were able to time the passage of the object with a chronometer; it was then 1817 hours, and the object was coming from the direction of Rabat, traveling from east to west.

Some of the reports gave the following details about the object: luminous, cigar-shaped, and giving off a silvery smoke trail; a luminous, whitish-green globe ending in a long cone and flying about 700 feet up, the same as a plane which flew by at the same time (outside of Casablanca); and a flaming, globeshaped mass trailing white smoke in puffs, as though puff followed an explosion -- the object stopped short a moment and revolved on itself, emitting a shower of sparks about its cone.

About 6,000 spectators at a boxing match in Casablanca saw the object pass over the arena. In Louis Gentil, numerous persons saw it at 1818 hours, flying from east to west. In Marrakech, it made its appearance for 5 seconds at 1830 hours, when it was clearly seen by three persons who described it as a meteor, again traveling from east to west.

REPORT STRANGE OBJECT OVER TANGIER AND FES --- Fes, Le Courrier du Maroc, 22 Sep 52

On 21 September 1952, at 1815 hours, many people at a beach 17 kilometers from Tangier saw tcward the south a luminous disk of a diameter close to that of the setting sun, flying horizontally from east to west. After holding its course for about 12 seconds, the disk, which looked like a brightly illuminated metal object, suddenly emitted two great streaks of flames and disappeared.

At 1820 hours, a strange object was also seen in the sky over Fes, French Morocco, flying at high speed from east to west and leaving behind a luminous white trail.

PILOT GETS CLOSE VIEW OF SAUCER FOR BRIEF INTERVAL -- Casablanca, Maroc-Presse, 23 Sep 52

The pilot of a tourist plane reports that on 21 September 1952, he flew for 10 seconds and about 50 meters in the same direction as the flying saucer so widely observed that day. This former military pilot, whose name is Creze, answered specific questions put to him and gave the following information:

As he was preparing to land at an airfield in Casablanca, at 1825 hours, he noticed the strange object about 30 meters to-the left of his plane (a ground mechanic later verified this, as he saw a luminous object fly between himself and the plane). It was flying horizontally from east to west, along the same line of flight as that maintained by Creze. The latter was doing 220 kilometers an hour at the time, at an altitude of 450 meters, and the object was going about twice as fast. He motioned to his passenger, who saw it too. It looked like a bright blue-green flame and had an oblong cigar-like shape. He heard no noise coming from it. After it passed the plane, it disappeared in the direction of the sea. The pilot did not attempt to pursue it, fearing the same fate as that of the US pilot [Captain Mantell].

That same evening, in Azemmour, French Morocco, a French couple and their farm workers heard a loud explosion as the strange flying object passed by. This is the first report we have of any sound heard from such objects. Other reports were received from Fes, Meknes, and Safi, where in each case the sighting was said to have occurred at 1820 hours.

Cases discussed

About this file

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. 4 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.