Documents / Memo
This Central Intelligence Agency memorandum, dated 1 November 1955 and signed by Herbert Scoville Jr. of the Office of Scientific Intelligence, is filed under a Top Secret cover sheet. The body text is badly degraded, but it describes a sighting of an object by travelers, including a Colonel and a Mr. Ritzen (name only partly legible), who watched its flight. It concludes that most such sightings can probably be explained, and says the evidence does not yet support the conclusion that a radically new type of craft has been seen.
From the source: Release of 2026-07-10 Incident: 1955, Azerbaijan. This memorandum summarizes a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) debriefing of a group of four individuals who reported observing a “flying saucer” or “unconventional aircraft” in 1955. The group, which included U.S. Senator Richard Russell, a U.S. military service member, and two U.S. Government officials, reported observing a luminescent “greenish-yellow” phenomenon, as seen from aboard a train while traveling within the Soviet Union, in present-day Azerbaijan, between Baku and Tiflis (Tbilisi, Georgia). The document concludes by stating that the observation can “probably be explained as steep climbing aircraft or missiles,” and that “the evidence does not appear sufficiently firm to warrant the conclusion that the Soviets have developed […] a radically new type of aircraft.” The document “CIA-UAP-D021” contains a contemporary analysis of the incident.
R/l lfeP SE6RE=t= ,' j / ,"1 A ··~ "'--..;: -- Approved for Release 2026 .'.ti ,_/#' 1 NOV 1955 SIGNATURE RECORD AND COVER SHEET \.,,. \t, DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION SOURCE ~St) /:s-_£ DOC. NO. ooc. DATE COPY NO. ~ (#/~ NUMBER OF PiCGES 2 NUMBER OF ATTACHMENTS 7~ \ ASTJ11~ REGISTRyt '-~j CIA CONTROL NO. / / .s-YrrS' ~-iDATE DOCUMENT RECEIVED J No ISS!'. LOGGED BY ATTENTION: This form will be placed on top of and attached to each Top Secret document received by the Central Intel• ligence Agency or classified Top Secret within the CIA and will remain attached to the document until ShCh time as j t is downgraded, destroyed, or transmitted outside of CIA. Access to Top Secret matter is limited to Top Secret Control, personnel and those individuals whose official duties relate to the matter. Top Secret Control Officers who receive and/or release the attached Top Secret material will sign this form and indicate period of custody in the 1eft•hand columns provided. Each individual who sees right•hand columns. REFERRED TO OFFICE ~5l A RECEIVED SIGNATURE ££.J.iil ?- DA TE TIME Y·~ . ·\ \v,'" l/~..>e) RELEASED DATE TIME SEEN BY SIGNATURE AND OFFICE DA TE ,··/ (~ v·)uv );-,.-< .~, - ~ tiC:11~~ i lt1 /J/ I I .tL!Wu/1t___~ ~ 30lfifv-- -~, - 0-~~aSJ,. "3 ~ <J.1.\.\j ~--\~- . NOTICE OF DETACHMENT: ll'hen this form is detached from Top Secret material it shall be completed in the appropriet• spaces below and transmitted to Central Top Secret Control for record. • • DESTROYEDDOWNGRADED TO BY ( Signature) DATE the Top Secret document will sign and indicate the, date of handling in the BY (Signature) WITNESSED BY (Signature) DATE DISPATCHED (OUTSIDE CIA) TO BY ( Signature) OFFICE DATE FORM NO. 26 USE PREVIOUS EDITIONS, (40) TOP SECRETI APR 55
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Memo, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 3 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.