RELEASE 04 / CIA-UAP-D020
CIA-UAP-D020, Memorandum on Unconventional Aircraft Sightings, 1955
- File ID
- CIA-UAP-D020
- Agency
- CIA
- Release
- Release 04, 10 Jul 2026
- Event date
- 1955 (read as 1955; precision: year)
- Location
- Azerbaijan
- Type
- Redactions
- None flagged
- Paired files
- CIA-UAP-D021
The official record
Official copy at war.gov
Official summary, as published
This memorandum summarizes a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) debriefing of a group of four individuals who reported observing a “flying saucer” or “unconventional aircraft” in 1955. The group, which included U.S. Senator Richard Russell, a U.S. military service member, and two U.S. Government officials, reported observing a luminescent “greenish-yellow” phenomenon, as seen from aboard a train while traveling within the Soviet Union, in present-day Azerbaijan, between Baku and Tiflis (Tbilisi, Georgia). The document concludes by stating that the observation can “probably be explained as steep climbing aircraft or missiles,” and that “the evidence does not appear sufficiently firm to warrant the conclusion that the Soviets have developed […] a radically new type of aircraft.” The document “CIA-UAP-D021” contains a contemporary analysis of the incident.
Named in this file
1 namePeople, programs and institutions from The Legacy Program research board whose names appear in this file, found by exact spelling against a hand-checked list. A match says only that the file names them, not what part they play. People and programs lists every file that names each one.
- Tier A Central Intelligence Agency institution
Named in the title, the official summary and page 1.
Independent civilian foreign intelligence service; convener of the Robertson Panel
Our reading
READ FIRSTA Top Secret memo of 31 October 1955 from Herbert Scoville Jr. to the Director of Central Intelligence, summarizing debriefs of all four people who saw objects rise near the line beyond Alyaty from Senator Richard Russell's train between Baku and Tiflis. The accounts diverge: Russell saw only a greenish-yellow ball, Efron two lights, Colonel Hathaway a shadowy object with lights at top and base, Gros a triangular object with three lights. Scoville finds only Hathaway's testimony supports an unconventional aircraft. Read with CIA-UAP-D021.
Three separate measures, each with its reason. They are never added into a score.
E Evidence 2 of 3
Debriefs of all four witnesses, including a sitting senator and an Army colonel, with differing descriptions set side by side.
N Novelty 1 of 3
The Russell train sighting has been public for decades; this 31 October 1955 summary of all four debriefs, including Gros's account, was not in the earlier publications opened.
L Linkage 2 of 3
A CIA Office of Scientific Intelligence memo to the Director of Central Intelligence.
Flags
- Paired. Read together with CIA-UAP-D021.
- The file explains itself. Words in the file that bear on what it shows (recorded, not a verdict):
- observations can probably be explained as steep climbing aircraft or missiles (page 3)
- Previously public.
- https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/declassified-top-secret-cia-memo-reveals-senators-saucer-like-craft-sighting-in-1955/: The Black Vault (2023): a different Scoville memo on the 27 October 1955 Russell interview, released redacted in 1978 and in full after a 2020 review.
- https://ufologie.patrickgross.org/htm/ussr1955.htm: Case page quoting the 14 October 1955 Air Force report and CIA interview material; no 31 October memo or Gros account.
People and programs
Reading published 31 Oct 2026.
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