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Memorandum on Unconventional Aircraft Sightings, 1955

Central Intelligence Agency · 1955 · 3 pages · text by GLM-OCR

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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.

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MERCHANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence

SUBJECT : Sightings of Flying Sensors or Unconventional Aircraft

1. All four participants in the observation of the flying saucers or unconventional aircraft have now been debriefed and the following is a summary of their observations.

2. The party was travelling by train from Baku to Tiflis at the specific request of Senator Russell who tried to use rail transportation whenever it was at all feasible. The sightings were noted about ten minutes beyond Alyaty at 1910 hours when it was already dark. Senator Russell was resting alone in his compartment with the lights out when he noted a small greenish-yellow glowing ball rising quite rapidly. He informed the other members of the party who were occupying the other compartment and a few minutes later they too observed another object.

3. Senator Russell never saw the form of the object only the luminescent ball. Mr. Efron saw only two lights resembling eyes. Colonel Hathaway saw a shadowy object with a single light in the middle at the top and a rotating light or lights similar to exhausts at the base. Senator Russell had the impression that the object could have been as small as a rocket although there were no objects available to produce a satisfactory scale and no trail was left by the rising ball. Mr. Gros and Colonel Hathaway considered the size of the object to be comparable to that of a U.S. jet fighter. However, Colonel Hathaway believes that the object did not resemble any aircraft, rocket or missile that he had ever seen. All observers agree on the impression that the object was rotating or whirling during its rise along its initial steep trajectory. Neither Senator Russell nor Mr. Gros noted any change in this trajectory, but Colonel Hathaway and Mr. Efron stated that the object altered its pattern to horizontal flight quite sharply. Neither Senator Russell, Colonel Hathaway nor Mr. Efron saw any objects on the ground with the exception of the search light, but Mr. Gros reported the presence of a triangular object with three lights which appeared to be ejected from a launching site.

4. Based on the interviews so far, the only testimony which would support the existence of flying saucers or radically unconventional aircraft is that of Colonial Nathamny. All other

T. S. 115485

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Memo, from the pursue 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. 3 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.