Archive case record

CIA-UAP-006, Sighting Of Unconventional Aircraft

Date of account: 1955
Location: Baku, Azerbaijan
Source: uap_archive
Record updated: 2026-10-10

Record summary

This CIA information report from November 1955 describes a US national's eyewitness account of triangular aircraft with wing lights launch at a steep angle from an airfield near Baku, Azerbaijan on October 4, 1955. A redacted version of this report has been available on CIA's public website.

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source page 1

Source text · mention only

App roved for Relea se 2026 - ! ' i ' .._P_R_E_P_A_R_E_D_A_N_D_D_IS_S_E_M_I_N_A_T_E_D_B_Y_ CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY COU NTR Y USSR SUB JECT Sighting ot Unconventional Aircraft PLACE ACQUI RED /Br aource J Azerbaijan SSR1---- - - - --~------------------ 1DATE ACQUI RED /Br •ourceJ OAT£ OF I NFORMATION (Dal e Of dales, on or .belwee n w hich, eveaa oz condili om de.sc,i.bed la report exialedJ 4 Oct 55 4 Oct 55 THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION souRcE US national, 41 years old, publicity and advertising vice president o:f' large US corporation. His Mjor education was in the field ot political sci~nce l. 2. (Phi B~ta Kappa), and he has lectured extensively on current affairs . He has had no technical training or experience in aviation matters . He recently visited the USSR as a tourist at the invitation of a senior Soviet official. At 1630, 4 Oct 55, I boarded a train at Baku for Tiflis in the company ot three other US nationals, one of whom shared a Wagon-Lit compartment with . me; the other two occupied the ad.Joining compartment . The train ran very slowly, making evffY stop; I vould estimate its overall speed. at 20 Jll.l)h. Exactly tvo hours and forty minutes out of Baku, one ot our group in the compartment next door entered my compartment and said, "Did you see that out theret I just saw a ny1ng saucer o " I and my compartment companion vere about to laugh it off wen the man from next door pointed out ot the window again, and then we all saw the following sight . On the letthand side ot the traill, between the train and the Caspian Sea coast, was a large air field o The evening we.a dark but clear o A huge 1earc:h lir,ht 1 on the tield itselt, shar,e on a triangular obJect on the ground wich :i: would say was probably not more than tvo miles distant from the railroad . [collector ' s commenti Source first estimated that the air field was about five miles away but, on further reflection, chansed the distance to the obJect to two mi.l.es;J i'b.e eize ot the object was comparable to that ot a US Jet tighter, vith a squat shape and in the form of an equilateral tmngle . There were three lights on the obJect, one on each point of the triazigle, presumably two wing lights and a tail light. As we watched, it was eJected from its launching site, mak1ng not less than three anti not :more than seven fast spirals in the air, a:tter which it cl.im'bed extremely tut at about a 45 degree angle o We watched ·- it climb and saw it reach a high altitude; the •earch light followed it all the way . I wish to ~haaize that this was no ordinary take-of'f but a launching procedure more like a m.ssile eJection. OUr companion from next door reported that this was the second launchil:Jg in rapid succession. ----- · SEE BOTTOM OF PAc;i ·roR ADDITIONAL SPECIAL CONTROLS, lF ANY S-E•e-B B 4' Thia mcii~~~·'-1otaatlon aHec:lhig th• ~ a tional Defense ol theUnited StalH ,irithln Ille meanill g ol lhe Espionage Laws, Tille 18, U.S. C . _ _ ___ _______ , Secs . 793 a nd 794, the transmis sion or ren lat1oa of which ID any mann er to an unauthorized pe r• aon la prohiblled by law. INFO~MATION REPORT REPORT NO. 00- 13 - ')02.20 DATE DISTRIBUTED NO. OF PAGES NU. UI- ENCLS. SUPPLE M Eh T TO REPORT 11 RESPO NSIVE TO 4. I believe that the train at the time of the ai&}lting vu 'betveen 50 and 65 miles south ot Baku . The t!Cupian Sea vu still visible. While the fo~ _..Q:C. ua were still watching the obJect asceruJ1ns, _!he steward ~ ----i -rn and pulled d~e bllnO:s o When I bepn to protest, the •tetard ---Jio"fii~etr""toward the rear ot the car and shook his head, 1D41c:ating to me that the MVD man who had boarded the train at the moaent ot departure had ordered the blinds drawn o : i l ! . ..,., ' NOFOBN ffO DlSSEM ABROAD<._ . UMITED: Dinemfnat ion limited to f ull•lime employees o/ CIA , AEC and FBI; and, "'"hln Slate and Defe nse, lo t he intelligence compo nents, other offic:.s producin g NIS elem e nts. and .higher echelons with t heir Immediate s upporting 1s. Not to be disse mina ted to cons ultant s, externa l pro/ects or reser-re personnel oa short term a ctive duty (excep ting indi viduals who ar e normuuy tull -Ume employees ol CIA . AEC. FBI, Sta le or Defense) unlu .s the wrUlen permission o f I.he odqinatinq olllce has been obtained through the A.ssislan l Directo r for Collecllo n a nd Dl.s:semlna lfon, CIA , DISTRIBUTION STATE AR MY NAVY FBI

Source page 2

Source text · mention only

..... 5. our party ha4 wished to make this part of the Journey by air, but we were intormed by DTOURIST in Baku that there were no flights between Baku and Tiflis . In Tiflis the Ill'l'OURIST people were surprised that our party had not tlo"Wll and said that there were several flights a clay. - end - ! ,

Investigate related details with Anomaly Graph’s account-based search, or read how matching and provenance work.