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PDF · CIAPURSUE Release 03

Department of War PURSUE File

CIA-UAP-006, Sighting Of Unconventional Aircraft

Baku, Azerbaijan·November, 1955

Declassified

Editorial summary

This CIA Information Report describes a US national's eyewitness account of an unconventional aircraft seen near Baku in the Azerbaijan SSR on October 4, 1955. The source, a 41-year-old corporate executive traveling by train toward Tiflis, said that about two hours and forty minutes out of Baku he and companions watched a triangular object on an airfield. He reported it had three lights, was the size of a US jet fighter, and was ejected from a launch site in fast spirals before climbing steeply at about 45 degrees as a searchlight tracked it. He likened it to a missile ejection. The report is marked unevaluated information.

Editorial summary written by govweird from the declassified document text. The official government description follows below.

Government description

This CIA information report from November 1955 describes a US national's eyewitness account of triangular aircraft with wing lights launch at a steep angle from an airfield near Baku, Azerbaijan on October 4, 1955. A redacted version of this report has been available on CIA's public website.

Caption issued by the U.S. Department of War on war.gov/ufo. Verbatim, unedited.

Originating agency

Central Intelligence Agency

Record type

PDF

Incident date

November, 1955

Incident location

Baku, Azerbaijan

Release tranche

Release 03 (May 8, 2026)

Distribution

Cleared for public release

Original document

PDF hosted by war.gov. If the embedded viewer fails to load, open the file directly.

More from CIA

Source: war.gov/ufo · PURSUE Release 03

PURSUE = Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters. Records released by the U.S. Department of War on May 8, 2026 are unresolved cases for which the government cannot make a definitive determination, and the Department has invited private-sector analysis.