★Historically significant

This 1955-era CIA report documents Cold War-era UAP/UFO sightings in Soviet-controlled Hungary, forwarded through an intelligence channel, with a hand-drawn formation sketch — representing an early CIA collection effort on anomalous aerial phenomena behind the Iron Curtain.

CIA-UAP-013, Report of Unusual Flying Object Sightings and Attendant Scientific Activity

CIAPDFIncident ReportCONFIDENTIALLight redactionPURSUE Release 3

4/10

niche or mildly interesting

UAP Insight significance score

Location: Budapest, Hungary
Incident date: 1956
Duration: several weeks
Witnesses: Multiple witnesses
Released: June 12, 2026

UAP Characteristics

? Unknown shapeHypersonic speed

Evidence Types

Testimony

Official Conclusion

Unevaluated — no conclusion stated

Official Description

This 1956 CIA Information Report describes flying object sightings reported by a Budapest-based sub-source, including a sketch showing the objects' suspected formation and flight path between Budapest and Moscow. A more redacted version of this report has been available on CIA's public website.

Key Findings

→A letter from Budapest in November 1955 described 'so-called flying saucers (rockets)' keeping the public in a nervous state for several weeks.
→The objects were described as 'very fast speeding flyers,' with a speed of approximately 12,000 km per hour estimated in the press.
→The sightings reportedly kept scientific groups 'very busy,' suggesting official Soviet-bloc attention to the phenomenon.
→A hand-drawn sketch was included with the letter showing the objects' formation and suspected flight path between Budapest and Moscow.
→The CIA source noted this was the first time his niece had mentioned such objects in her correspondence.

UAP Insight Analysis— AI generated, not official

A CIA Information Report dated April 1956, based on a November 1955 letter received from a niece in Budapest, Hungary. The source — a naturalized US citizen of Hungarian extraction — forwarded the letter describing 'flying saucers (rockets)' that caused public nervousness for several weeks, with a hand-drawn sketch showing the formation and suspected course of the objects traveling between Budapest and Moscow. The document is marked CONFIDENTIAL and is classed as unevaluated information.

Analyst Notes

This is explicitly labeled 'unevaluated information' and is entirely second-hand: the CIA source received a letter from a relative in Budapest, who in turn referenced press reports. There is no direct witness testimony, no sensor data, and no official investigation cited. The speed estimate of 12,000 km/hr originates from unspecified newspaper reports. The term 'rockets' appears parenthetically alongside 'flying saucers,' suggesting the objects may have been conventional Soviet rocket or missile tests misidentified by the public. No official conclusion is stated.

Extracted Entities

Agencies & Organizations

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Locations

Budapest, HungaryMoscow

Aircraft & Objects

Flying saucers (rockets) — fast-moving objects in formation, estimated at 12,000 km per hour

Dates

November 195517 April 1956 (date distributed)

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AI analysis by claude-sonnet-4-6 · July 20, 2026