Sighting Of Unconventional Aircraft

This CIA Information Report records the first-person account of one of the four Americans who, on 4 October 1955, said they saw an unusual aircraft rise from a Soviet airfield while traveling by train from Baku toward Tiflis (Tbilisi). The source is described as a 41-year-old advertising and publicity executive with no technical background in aviation, visiting the USSR as a tourist at a senior Soviet official’s invitation.

His account

He says the train left Baku at 1630 and crawled along at about 20 mph. About two hours and forty minutes out, a companion burst in saying he had just seen a flying saucer, and then they all watched. On the left of the train, toward the Caspian coast, a large searchlight on an airfield lit a triangular object on the ground, which he estimated was no more than two miles away (he first said five) and about the size of a U.S. jet fighter, with a light at each corner. It was “ejected,” made between three and seven fast spirals, then climbed very steeply at about 45 degrees to a great height, with the searchlight following it. His companion said it was the second launch in quick succession.

He stresses this looked more like a missile ejection than a takeoff. While they watched, a train steward pulled down the blinds, apparently on orders from a security officer aboard. Later, in Tiflis, Intourist staff were surprised the group had not flown, despite having been told in Baku that there were no flights.

Other accounts

The CIA’s own debriefing and analysis are in CIA-UAP-D020 and CIA-UAP-D021, which judged steep-climbing aircraft or missiles the likelier answer.