DOW-UAP-D155, Air Intelligence Information Report, Saudi Arabia, 1957
WAR.gov / Department of War PURSUE Release 07
A U.S. Air Force Air Intelligence Information Report from January 1957 on an unidentified radar return that the crew of a B-52 from Castle AFB, California, picked up over Saudi Arabia on January 18, 1957, during a Strategic Air Command mission.
Document Highlights
Note: Highlights are derived from OCR-recognized document passages and file metadata. Please verify important claims against the original scan.
Short overview
A U.S. Air Force Air Intelligence Information Report from January 1957 on an unidentified radar return that the crew of a B-52 from Castle AFB, California, picked up over Saudi Arabia on January 18, 1957, during a Strategic Air Command mission.
Why this is interesting
Shortly before a planned rendezvous with a tanker aircraft, the B-52 picked up an unidentified aircraft on its A-3A gunnery scope, the tail-gun radar display, at roughly 27 north, 47 east, at 39,000 feet and at night. According to the report, the return held at the 6,000-yard marker for about five to seven minutes; when the B-52 banked left, it vanished off the scope to the left. The authors concede that the disappearance may have been caused by the bomber’s change of direction, but note that the object seemed to vanish toward the Baghdad Flight Identification Region. The return was smaller than that of a second B-52 flying at the 5,000-yard marker, and the report’s stated significance is that it appeared where no aircraft were expected. Two hand-drawn sketches of the scope presentation are attached.
Background
This document is an Air Intelligence Information Report (AIIR), a standardized U.S. Air Force reporting form used to record raw information of potential intelligence value for later analysis. The form served as a primary vehicle for U.S. Air Force field intelligence collection throughout the early Cold War, until defense-wide reporting standards were established in the early 1960s. This AIIR records a January 18, 1957, incident over Saudi Arabia in which the crew of a U.S. Air Force B-52 aircraft reported detecting an unidentified return on the aircraft’s gunnery scope for approximately five to seven minutes. The report characterizes the unidentified return as smaller than one produced by another B-52 operating in the area. All descriptive and estimative language contained in this report reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event. Such characterizations should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication of the presence or absence of any intrinsic object features or performance characteristics.