CIA Information Report: Unusual Flying Object Sightings and Attendant Scientific Activity, Budapest, 1956

Source file: CIA-UAP-013-Report_of_Unusual_Flying_Object_Sightings_and_Attendant_Scientific_Activity.pdf Originating agency: Central Intelligence Agency Report number: 00-B-93674 Document type: Information Report Classification: CONFIDENTIAL (Approved for Release 2026) Date of information: November–March 1955 Date distributed: 17 April 1956 Page count: 1 (read in full) VIRIN: 260508-O-D0360-1090 PURSUE Release: 3

Summary

This is a one-page CIA Information Report, number 00-B-93674, concerning reports of unusual flying objects observed over Hungary in late 1955. The source is described as a naturalized US citizen of Hungarian extraction who corresponds regularly with two nieces living in Budapest. In November 1955, the source received a letter from one niece; the report relays a free translation of the relevant passage and includes a hand-drawn sketch of the objects' suspected formation and direction of travel.

The document is explicitly stamped "THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION."

Research Article

The source and the report

The CIA report was prepared and disseminated by the Central Intelligence Agency. The source is identified as "a naturalized US citizen of Hungarian extraction" who "corresponds regularly with two nieces living in Budapest." The source received a letter in November 1955 from a niece in Budapest; the letter contained what the source considered an interesting passage about unusual aerial phenomena, and the source passed it to CIA handlers.

The report notes that the excerpt quoted in the main text is marked in brackets in a copy of the original Hungarian letter held by the CIA Library, along with an English translation. The document carries a distribution date of 17 April 1956 and is marked LIMITED in its dissemination — restricted to full-time employees of CIA, AEC, and FBI and to intelligence components within State and Defense.

Content of the letter

The relevant passage from the niece's letter, given as a free translation in the report, reads:

"The so-called flying saucers (rockets) [sic] for several weeks kept the people in a nervous state. These very fast speeding flyers kept scientific groups very busy. I'm sure you heard already from the papers, 12 thousand km per hour was estimated on these flyers."

The niece's use of the bracketed notation "[sic]" beside "rockets" reflects ambiguity in the original Hungarian terminology — the letter uses "rockets" as a colloquial equivalent of "flying saucers." The estimated speed of 12,000 kilometers per hour would be roughly ten times the speed of sound, far exceeding any known operational aircraft of the mid-1950s.

The sketch

Included with the letter was a hand-drawn sketch by the niece indicating the formation and suspected course of the objects. As rendered in the report, the sketch shows a cluster of circular objects positioned near Budapest, with a flight-path arrow oriented toward Moscow. The objects appear to be drawn in a loose grouping. This is the only visual evidence in the document and it is a layperson's sketch derived from secondhand observation, not a technical rendering.

Context and significance

The report is brief but carries several notable features. It originates from inside the Soviet bloc — Budapest in late 1955, less than a year before the Hungarian Revolution of October 1956 — at a time when any intelligence flowing out of Hungary carried strategic value for the CIA. The niece's letter suggests the objects were discussed publicly in Hungary at the time, receiving press coverage and prompting official scientific activity.

The claim that "scientific groups" were made "very busy" by the objects is consistent with accounts from other Soviet-bloc countries in this period, where anomalous aerial phenomena occasionally triggered state-level investigation. The flight-path sketch, oriented Budapest-to-Moscow, is suggestive but should be read as the niece's speculation rather than observed trajectory data.

The source's note that "this is the first time my niece has mentioned such objects in her letters" adds a degree of credibility: the niece was not in the habit of reporting aerial phenomena, and the sighting was apparently significant enough to warrant including in personal correspondence.

Because the document is unevaluated, no CIA assessment of the objects' nature is provided.

Key People

Locations

Incidents

Notable Quotes

"The so-called flying saucers (rockets) [sic] for several weeks kept the people in a nervous state. These very fast speeding flyers kept scientific groups very busy. I'm sure you heard already from the papers, 12 thousand km per hour was estimated on these flyers." — page 1 (free translation of letter excerpt)

"This is the first time my niece has mentioned such objects in her letters." — page 1