UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 07 · OCTOBER 23, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · DOCUMENT · DOW-UAP-D159Air Intelligence Information Report, Germany, 1953
This two-page Air Intelligence Information Report from the 7350th Base Complement Squadron in Berlin is dated 11 August 1953, prepared by Capt. Fred L. Allen, and gives its source as an air traffic controller. Unusually, the evaluation box reads “None.” The report is nothing more than extracts from the Tempelhof air traffic control logs, sent to USAFE intelligence, the Twelfth Air Force and an OSI district office.
The log entries
At 1936Z on 10 August a British European Airways DC-3 inbound to Tempelhof through the Center Corridor reported what looked like red rockets being fired about a mile ahead of it. At 2245Z another BEA DC-3, relayed through a second control center, reported a stationary red light about 20 nautical miles to the west of Genthin, at roughly 5,000 feet and not above 5,500. At 2315Z the British Berlin Air Safety Center passed on word that Soviet authorities had looked into the light and had no explanation for it.
At 0235Z on 11 August a Pan American pilot crossing the same spot saw nothing, but told the tower that on the night of Friday, 7 August, he had watched ground-to-air firing there that stopped as he approached; he could not tell what was being fired. A short second page notes the office had not been able to reach him again.
Reading it
The file is framed less as a saucer report than as a note on unexplained firing and lights beside the Berlin air corridors in Soviet-controlled East Germany, a sensitive area in 1953. It offers no analysis, follow-up or conclusion.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released October 23, 2026, quoted in full
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 series of entries extracted from Tempelhof Airport air traffic control logs dated 10–11 August 1953 concerning aerial reports in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany. The report states that a British European Airways DC-3 aircraft reported observing what the pilot described as red-colored rockets being fired approximately one mile in front of the aircraft while inbound to Tempelhof via the Center Corridor. It further states that the pilot of a second British European Airways DC-3 later reported a stationary, red-colored light approximately 20 nautical miles west of Genthin at an altitude of approximately 5,000 feet. The report also notes that British Berlin Air Safety Center stated that Soviet authorities had investigated the reported red light and could not account for it. A later Pan American pilot reported no corresponding light or activity when passing through the same 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.