Oct. 4, 1955. Across Transcaucasus region, SW of Baku, USSR (BBU)
7:10 p.m. Was Top Secret. Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr. (D-GA),­ then chairman of the Armed Services Committee­, was on a Soviet train when he spotted a disc-shaped craft taking off near the tracks. Senator Russell "saw the first flying disc ascend and pass over the train,” and went “rushing in to get Mr Efron (Ruben Efron, his interpreter) and Col. Hathaway (Col. E. U. Hathaway, his aide) to see it,” the report said.  “Col. Hathaway stated that he got to the window with the Senator in time to see the first (UFO), while Mr. Efron said that he got only a short glimpse of the first.  However, all three saw the second disc and all agreed that they saw the same round, disc-shaped craft…as the first.” A fourth witness was unidentified. The Air Force Intelligence report says Russell and his two traveling companions spotted the UFO’s on October 4, 1955 while traveling by rail across Russia’s Transcaucasus region.  “One disc ascended almost vertically, at a relatively slow speed, with its outer surface revolving slowly to the right, to an altitude of about 6000 feet, where its speed then increased sharply as it headed north,” the report states.  “The second flying disc was seen performing the same actions about one minute later.  The take-off area was about 1-2 miles south of the rail line…” The Air Force report was written by Lieut. Col. Thomas Ryan, who interviewed Senator Russell’s companions in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on October 13, after they arrived there from Russia shortly after the sighting. (Maccabee, FOIA files, Swords)