Documents / Official release
This U.S. Air Attaché report from Prague (IR 193-55), with a cable sent to USAF headquarters on 13 October 1955, records the debriefing of Senator Richard Russell's party after their travel through the USSR. Lt. Col. E.U. Hathaway and Ruben Efron said that on 4 October 1955, near Atjaty in the Trans Caucasus, the party saw two disc-shaped aircraft take off almost vertically from their train. The report also covers the jet aircraft seen at Dnepropetrovsk, a radar site near Moscow and the railway gauge change at Cop.
From the source:Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: 10/14/55, Azerbaijan. NARA Record Group 341, catalogue id 110677. Air Intelligence Information Report, 14 October 1955, Report of eye witness account of the ascent and flight of a unconventional aircraft in the trans-Caucasus region on the USSR.
“Mission Control”1 page
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factory was on the right" which was thought to be producing long, aluminum RR cars. Aluminum RR cars were seen on the siding and the observer believed that these were the plants product. Proceeding through the area on the Czech side of the border after leaving COP, Col. Mathaway observed very large RR marshaling yards with tracks stretching as far as he could see on both sides of his track. Guard towers were manned and located in the huge RR yards. There were 5 tracks at the border branching into many in the yards. As he went through the yards he observed that on his left side were loaded or full freight cars, while on his right were all the empty freight cars, "as far as could be seen." The RR route which the party travelled from COP was through KOSICE- POPRAD- ZELINA. The observer stated that electrification began at a little town shortly after the first little town which was reached ten minutes after COP. From Cop to Kosice, Mathaway believed that there were two tracks and possibly three. From Kosice on Mathaway stated that construction was going on through the mountains, the construction crews using a prefabricated technique. Piled up alongside of the right of way were prefabricated track sections with "rails already hooked to sleepers." Little buildings were spotted along the right of way where this prefabrication was taking place. Cable reels and stacks of metal towers were seen, the towers being rusty. He believed that electrification was nearly completed all the way although his train was being pulled by a steam engine. Just at dark, location enroute unknown, Mathaway passed by an area approximately one mile long with guard towers and a high fence. USAIRA COMMENT: Due to the time available for debriefing and the physical limitations of our office in Prague, no more can be reported from these excellent sources. END J.S. Ryan Local USAF DECLASSIFIED Authority NND 857013 By BF NARA, Date 11-12-93 REPRODUCTION OF THIS DOCUMENT IN WHOLE OR IN PART IS PROHIBITED EXCEPT WITH PERMISSION OF THE ISSUING OFFICE WARNING: This document contains information affecting the national defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title 18, U.S.C., Sections 793 and 794. Its transmission or the revelation of its contents in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law. It may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by other than United States Air Force Agencies, except by permission of the Director of Intelligence, USAF.
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Official release, 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. 10 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.