CIA · CIA-UAP-006
Sighting of an Unconventional Aircraft Near Baku (1955)
This CIA information report records a US tourist's account of an object he and three companions watched from a train south of Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, on the evening of 4 October 1955. From a large airfield by the Caspian coast, a searchlight illuminated a triangular object the size of a US jet fighter, which was then "ejected" from a launch site, made several fast spirals, and climbed very steeply to high altitude, after which an MVD officer aboard the train ordered the window blinds drawn.
Key excerpts
“A huge searchlight, on the field itself, shone on a triangular object on the ground which I would say was probably not more than two miles distant from the railroad. (p. 1)”
“I wish to emphasize that this was no ordinary take-off but a launching procedure more like a missile ejection. (p. 1)”
Alternative hypotheses
A Soviet missile or experimental aircraft test
most probable).
A conventional aircraft on a dramatic but ordinary departure, misread by an untrained observer
A genuinely unidentified craft
least supported by the text).