CIA-UAP-D020, Memorandum on Unconventional Aircraft Sightings, 1955
WAR.gov / Department of War PURSUE Release 04
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.
Document Highlights
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Short overview
This CIA memorandum summarizes a 1955 debriefing of four people who reported a luminous greenish-yellow phenomenon from a train traveling through the Soviet Union between Baku and Tiflis. The group included Senator Richard Russell, a U.S. military service member, and two U.S. Government officials.
Why this is interesting
The memorandum records both the unusual visual report and the cautious contemporary assessment. Its conclusion favored steep-climbing aircraft or missiles and said the evidence did not support attributing the event to a radically new Soviet aircraft.
Selected passages
- “greenish-yellow”
- “probably be explained as steep climbing aircraft or missiles”
- “the evidence does not appear sufficiently firm”
Background
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.