ENGINEER CLAIMS "SAUCER" PLANS ARE IN SOVIET HANDS; SIGHTINGS IN AFRICA, IRAN, SYRIA

This Central Intelligence Agency report, dated August 18, 1953, synthesizes various international press reports concerning 'flying saucers.' The document begins by detailing claims made by a German engineer named Georg Klein. Klein asserts that 'flying saucers' were not a postwar development but were in the planning stages in German factories as early as 1941. He claims to have been an engineer in the Ministry of Speer and witnessed the first experimental flight of a 'flying saucer' in Prague on February 14, 1945. According to Klein, these craft reached altitudes of 12,400 meters and speeds of 2,200 kilometers per hour, with plans for future versions to reach 4,000 kilometers per hour. Klein alleges that three experimental models were developed, including a disc-shaped craft and a ring-shaped craft with a pilot's cabin. He states that while engineers in Prague were ordered to destroy their plans before Soviet forces arrived, those at the Mite factories in Breslau were not warned in time, allowing the Soviets to seize both the material and specialized personnel. The report also notes that Klein believes these saucers are currently being constructed in the Soviet Union.

The document further details a sighting in French Equatorial Africa on November 22, 1952. Father Carlos Maria and a companion, Lasimone, observed four silvery discs over Bocaranga. They described the objects as hovering, rotating, and eventually moving in a square formation. Lasimone provided a detailed account, noting that at one point the objects appeared as a single cigar-shaped object before separating again. Additional brief reports are included regarding sightings in Homs, Syria, and Abadan, Iran, in May 1953, where luminous objects were observed in the sky.