





According to popmech.ru the photos presented are from the private collection of an old Russian Air Force retiree, who eye witnessed the flying saucers made for the Russian army in the 1950s and even had a chance to make these photos. Their AF squad had a task to compete those machines in order to test their characteristics in air fight at the Russian Air Force base on Spitzbergen or Slalbard island, north of Norway.



Senator Richard Russell served 38 years in the Senate, and was its senior, and one of the most influential, senators at the time of his death in 1971. He was chairman of the Armed Services Committee from 1951 to 1969, and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1952.



A report, classified Top Secret until 1959, when it was downgraded to Secret. and not released until 1985. detailing his UFO encounter was made available by the Fund for UFO Research and its chairman, Dr. Bruce Maccabee. Several key documents were obtained by the group through the Freedom of Information Act..



"The three observers were firmly convinced that they saw a genuine flying disc," says the Air Force Intelligence report, dated 14 October 1955.



It goes on to say Russell and his two traveling companions spotted the UFOs on 4 October 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 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.



Russell "saw the first flying disc ascend and pass over the train," and went "rushing in to get Mr Ruben Efron, his interpreter] and Col. E. U. Hathaway, his aide to see it," the report says. "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".



The Air Force report was written by Lieut. Col. Thomas Ryan, who interviewed Senator Russell's companions in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on 13 October, after they arrived there from Russia shortly after the sighting. In his report, Col. Ryan called the sightings "an eyewitness account of the ascent and flight of an unconventional craft by three highly reliable United States observers. He added that Col. Hathaway led off his account of the sightings by saying: "I doubt if youÃ¯Â¿Â½re going to believe this, but we all saw it. Senator Russell was the first to see this flying disc. We've been told for years that there isn't such a thing, but all of us saw it".



CIA documents show that the agency later interviewed the three eyewitnesses in the Russell party-and also a fourth person, who had seen the UFOs -whose name was blacked out on the CIA report prior to its declassification.



Interpreter Ruben Efron told the CIA that visibility was excellent. As one UFO approached the train, he said, "the object gave the impression of gliding. No noise was heard and no exhaust was heard, and no exhaust glow or trail was seen by me." After the encounter, Senator Russell told the men with him: "We saw a flying disc. I wanted you boys to see it so that I would have witnesses," according to the CIA documents. And an FBI memo, dated 4 November 1955, also discusses the sighting-and admitted Col. Hathaway's testimony "would support existence of a flying disc."





Klaus Habermohl, a BMW engineer who worked as part of the Flugzeug Special Projects Group in Prague, was captured by the Russians in Prague on or about 11 May 1945. He undoubtedly helped the construction of a Soviet disc and I recently came across plans for another Soviet low aspect aircraft that would have used Nuclear propulsion. I do not know whether this worrying development ever got off the drawing board.



What I do know is that Senator Russell and his party saw a flying disc during a trip to the USSR in 1955 and that his most credible sighting was swept under the carpet by the same military intelligence personnel with knowledge both of unconventional US and Soviet aircraft. I very much doubt whether Russell and his party saw the disc by accident. There were many elements to the ongoing struggle between the Soviet and US military and their intelligence machines and this is reflected in several texts including John Ranelagh's definitive book "The Agency" [Sceptre 1988]. Check out the few CIA documents in its popular 'UFO Documents' collection and note the near hysteria about advanced Soviet aircraft and intentions.



Perhaps the most important and hidden aspect of this was the increasing threat of Soviet penetration of US airspace via Alaska. In any case the CIA was most concerned about "non-conventional air vehicles" under development by the Soviets as the 14 June 1954 memorandum entitled 'Intelligence Responsibilities for Non-Conventional Types of Air Vehicles' makes very clear.



-- Tim Matthews

