Sighting Of Unconventional Aircraft
- Date
- 4 Oct 1955
- Place
- near Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
A CIA Information Report records a US national's (a 41-year-old corporate publicity/advertising VP with no aviation training) account of a sighting on the night of October 4, 1955, from a train between Baku and Tiflis. He, his Wagon-Lit compartment companion, and two others in an adjoining compartment watched a searchlight-illuminated triangular object with three lights, roughly the size of a US jet fighter, launch from an airfield in spirals then climb steeply at about 45 degrees to high altitude. Shortly after, a train steward drew the compartment blinds on apparent MVD orders.
What officials concluded
No conclusion stated
The file gives no official explanation.
- Agency
- CIA
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- Yes: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- Yes: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating Single visual account (with 3 corroborating co-travelers not separately debriefed here), no instrumentation, no measured performance data; a bright launch and steep climb from a known Soviet airfield area is consistent with a conventional missile or aircraft test, which the source's own 'missile ejection' comparison suggests.
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- 4 US nationals traveling together (1 primary source, 3 others in the same and an adjoining compartment)
- Sensors
- Visual
- Shape
- Triangular/equilateral, comparable in size to a US jet fighter
- Lights and colour
- Three lights, one on each point (two wing lights, one tail light), ground searchlight also on the object
- Motion
- 3-7 fast spirals on launch, then climbed at ~45 degrees very fast
- Duration
- Launch and climb observed over roughly a minute or less, train continued past
- Altitude or range
- Climbed to high altitude, train ~50-65 miles south of Baku at time of sighting
Pentagon files
CIA-UAP-006, Sighting Of Unconventional Aircraft
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
The source described the object as launched like a missile ejection, not an ordinary aircraft takeoff.
- Unverified
A train steward drew the compartment blinds after an MVD official boarded, appearing to prevent further observation.
On the map
40.41° N, 49.87° E, plotted at the town or city
Show on the map