CIA-UAP-D021, Analysis of Unconventional Aircraft Sightings, 1955
WAR.gov / Department of War PURSUE Release 04
Sections 1 and 2 of this memorandum document a 1955 analysis of reports of “flying saucers” or “unconventional aircraft,” referencing the incident described in observer debriefings contained within CIA-UAP-D020.
Document Highlights
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Short overview
This 1955 CIA analysis revisits the sighting described in CIA-UAP-D020: two lights rose vertically and then passed above the observers. It also discusses earlier expert conclusions and contemporary research into saucer-like aircraft under Project Y.
Why this is interesting
The document shows how an observation was evaluated against competing explanations rather than treated as proof of an unconventional aircraft. It records the cited Robertson Panel view that almost all sightings represented no threat to the United States and connects the case to U.S.-Canadian aerospace research.
Selected passages
- “two lights rising vertically”
- “did not indicate the presence of an ‘unconventional aircraft’”
- “almost all the sightings […] represented no threat to the U.S.”
- “Project ‘Y’”
Background
Sections 1 and 2 of this memorandum document a 1955 analysis of reports of “flying saucers” or “unconventional aircraft,” referencing the incident described in observer debriefings contained within CIA-UAP-D020. The memo summarizes the incident as consisting of two lights rising vertically, then passing above the observers. The memo contains caveating language that suggests the author concluded that the reports, as described, did not indicate the presence of an “unconventional aircraft.” Section 3 cites a previous finding by Dr. [Howard] Robertson (of the 1953 Robertson Panel) that “almost all the sightings […] represented no threat to the U.S.” Section 4 discusses the state of then-current research into “saucer-like aircraft” under Project “Y,” a contemporary joint U.S.-Canadian aerospace development program.