Miscellaneous

saw a genuine UFO," says an Air For ce Intelligence report dated October 14,
1955, and classified Top Secre t a t the t i me .
Senator Russell served 38 years in the Senate. He was its s eni or member and
one of the most influential s enators at the time of his death in 1971. He
was chairman of the Armed Services Committee from 1951 to 1969, and
unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1952. The
docwnents detailing his UFO encounter were made available to Phenomena
Research by the Fund for UFO Research and its chairman, U.S. Na vy physici s t
Dr. Bruce Maccabee. The documents were obtain ed by the group through the
Freedom of Info rmation Act. "These long-secret documents are of major
i mportance becaus e they show for the first time t ha t one of the most
powerful U. S. Senators witnessed and reported a UFO," said Dr. Maccabee.
" This cas e i s also unique because t h e CI A took the s ighti ng seriously."
The Air Force Intelligence r eport s ay s Rus sell and his two traveling
companions spotted the UFO s on October 4, 1955, while traveling by rail
a cros s Russia's Trana-Caucasi an region. "One disc ascended almost vertically
at a relatively slow speed, with its outer surfa ce revolving slowly to the
right , t o an altitude of about 6000 f eet where its speed then increased
shar ply as i t headed n orth ," the report states. "The second flying disc was
seen performing t he s ame actions about one minute later. The take-off area
was about 1-2 mile s sou th of the rail line ••• " Russell "saw the first disc
a scend and pass over the train" and went "rushing in to get Mr. Efron
(Ruben Efron, his i nterpreter) and Col. Hathaway (E.U. Hathaway, his aide)
t o see it," t he report s aid. "Col. Hathaway stated that he got only a short
glimpse of the fir st. However, all three saw the second disc and all agreed
t ha t they saw t he s ame round ••• disc-shaped object ••• as the first."
The Air Force r eport wa s written by Lt. Col. Thomas Ryan, who interviewed
Senator Russel l's companions in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on October 13 after
they arrived t here from Russia shortly after the sighting. In his report,
Col. Ryan cal led t he s ightings " an eyewitness account of the ascent and
flight of an unconventional aircraft ••• by three highly reliable United States
observers." He added that Col. Hathaway led off his account of the sightings
by sa-ying: "I doubt if your going to believe this, but we all saw it. Senator
Russell wa s the first to see this flying object ••• we've been told for years
that there isn , t such a thing but all of us saw it ••• " CIA documents show
that the agency l ater interviewed t he t hr ee eyswitne.s ses in the Russell p arty
--and sls o a fourth person, unidentified in the reports, who had seen the
UFOs. An eye-witness--whose name was blacked out on the CIA report prior to
its dec l s. ssit"ication--said one oi' the UFOs "had s slight dome on top." The
edge oi' t h e disc was glowing pinkish-white, be added.
The UFO r o s e "vertically" with the glow moving slowly around the perimeter
in a clockwi se direction, giving the appearance of a pinwheel. Interpreter
Ruben Et'r on t old the CIA tha t vis i bility was excellent. As one UFO
approached the train, he said, "the object gave the impression of gliding.
No noise wa s heard and no exhaust glow or trail was seen by me." After the
enc ounter, Sena tor Russell told the men with him: ''We saw a flying disc. I
wanted you boys to see it so that I would have witnesses," according to the
CIA document s . And an FBI memo dated November 4, 1955, also discusses the
sighting--and admitted Col. Hathaway's testimony "would support existence of
a flying disc ••• " Dr. Maccabee of the Fund For UFO Research believes
Senator Russell and his group never publicly revealed their incredible
sightings " becau se they were no doubt advised not to talk. These documents
provide star tling n ew evidence that UFOs exist."
PILOT SIGHTINGS
10/1 2/86-- 0VER GREENSBORO NORTH CAROLINA-- : 0 PM: The pilot and co-pilot
o an air ner wa che n a.mazemen as a arge e ta-shaped object,
accompanied by s everal small objects, f lew under their plane at a very high
rate of spe ed on the co-pilots side. The distance between the aircraft and
the objects was l e ss than 1500 feet. The objects were not picked up on
r adar.
PM: A bright silver oscillating sphere
.:.w.:..a..;;.s.;...;;;o~s-e..;;r.;.;;v;;.;;e~~'Y~;;;,,;;.;;;.;e;;.p,;;;.;po1-o~;;.;:o:.;w,;;;;:.;a:......,;;e;..;:s;..;:s"'n~a-=-:;.:8 5 flying southbound. The sphere •
est imated to be 16 feet in di ameter, flashed past the plane on the left side
at a distance of 250 feet and a t a speed of about Soo knots. Both object
and aircraft were at an al t itude of 4000 feet.
(4 )