Releases / 5 / DOS-UAP-D002

Diplomatic Cable, Brazil, November 20, 1963

File: DOS-UAP-D002
Type: Document, 2 pages
Agency: Department of State
Date: 11/20/63
Place: Bahia, Brazil
Released: Release 5, August 7, 2026

The government's description

This document is a U.S. Department of State diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to the Office of the Secretary of State in Washington, D.C., on November 20, 1963. This cable relays the findings of the scientific attaché at the American Consulate in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, that a widely reported incident allegedly involving a crashed unidentified object was unsubstantiated, characterizing the reports as a fabrication originating in Rio de Janeiro.

The Consulate cites a lack of contemporary local reporting regarding the alleged incident, as well as contradictory reporting from local newspapers after the fact, as evidence that the published claims are unsubstantiated. The Consulate also cites a statement from the Brazilian Ministry of Aeronautics categorically denying that there was “any “strange object” in Conde [Bahia].” This correspondence follows a previous exchange between the Embassy and the Department of State, included in this collection under the title “DOS-UAP-D001.”

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The Bahia crash that wasn't · page 1

Full text

Text taken from the war.gov PDF; 1 of the 2 pages are scans read by OCR software, so expect misread words. Blacked-out parts of the original stay blank, and pages with no readable words, like photos, are left out. Check anything important against the original.

Page 1

ORIGIN/ ACTION
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
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UNCLASSIFIED
A-628
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F O R RM USE ONLY
NO.
: DEPARTMENT OF STATE
: Amconsul SALVADOR
TO
INFO
Department:
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Pass copies
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FROM
:
Amembassy RIO DE JANE:mO
Negative Report on UFO (Unidentified Flying Object)
Reportedly Sighted Near Salvador, Bahia on November 8, 1964.
REF
: Embtel 94 to Amconsul Salvador (to SecState 1054) of
November 14, 1963.
---=---+-~-~~ r
Information copies of the above Embtel were sent to the 7
Department with the request that they be passed to Defense (for
the Air Force) and NASA.
IN T
LAe
TA R
SUBJECT:
Mr. Harold Midkiff, the Consul in Salvador, replied by
telegram No. 157 of November 14 to the above cited Embtel; as
follows:
"Story of strange object descending in region of Conde Bahia
apparently fabricated in Rio no such objects seen by
anyone in the area according to newspaper reporters and
others who rushed there before investigation reports
were received Secretary Public Security speculated object
might be weather balloon but no such sighting verified."
In addition, he forwarded by pouch also on November 14
two newspaper clippings from Salvadoran journalswhich substan
tiate the above message, respectively Diario de Noticias of
November 9, and the Jornal da Bahia of November 11. The first
of these states that the Ministry of Aeronautics categorically
denies that there was any 11 strange object" in Conde. The other
is entitled "The Airship that wasn't there".
According to the Jornal da Bahia reporter, the only news
worthy aspect of the episode is that it produced an astounding
by-product: he sent a telegram to his paper from the federal
telegraphic office in Conde - by an old morse code transmitter L
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FORM
4 • 82 DS-323
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•.JJ ~ UNCLASSIFIED
: SA:ACSimonpietr1/vmd 11-20-63
Cluranccs: AA:RDKalb
in substance
DECLASSIFIED NND 939551
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""FOR DITT USE ONLY
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□ Out

Page 2 · OCR

UNCLASSIFIED
Page 2 of A-628 from Rio
and five minutes later he had a re;
C. Simonpietri
Scientific Attaché