In those years, the Vilnius Observatory remained the only scientific institution in which they continued to collect and study reports about UFOs without ridiculing citizens and not inventing strained "natural" explanations for what they saw. In 1978, when large-scale research under the Setka-AN program began in the USSR, its director Vytautas Striizis handed over the collected evidence to Moscow scientists.
Contrary to popular misconceptions, UFOs in those years came across not only casual eyewitnesses, but also people familiar with the sky. In January 1974, a student-astrophysicist V. Shlapkauskas observed a UFO over Vilnius:
“Around 21-22 pm I watched the sky, it was quite clear. Suddenly I noticed that a yellow star of the first magnitude was floating in the sky from south to northeast at an altitude of about 30 degrees above the horizon. Its speed was less than that of the satellite. I sent a reflector with a magnification of 50 times to the star 12 cm. It turned out that an oblong and dark object was visible, and two yellow "lamps" at both ends were shining. The object was darker than the background of the night sky. It was observed for several minutes and, without changing either the speed or direction of movement, disappeared into the horizon."
On August 20, 1974, another object over Vilnius was observed by amateur astronomers K. Chernis, R. Klimovich and J. Klimovich.
“The object was seen at 20.24 Moscow time in the western part of the sky,” says their description. - Altitude 6 degrees, azimuth 119 degrees from South at dusk after sunset as a very bright white star (-6). From 20.30 the object was observed with a binocular with a 74 mm objective lens and 40 x magnification in the form of a triangle with a diameter of 4 arc minutes. It was seen as a brightly luminous body of a pale color, triangular in shape with sharp outlines. The object changed shape and color, over time it changed shape to a quadrangle and a rhombus. The intensity of the color changed over time, the brilliance fell, but not very smoothly, but in jumps. On the body, one could observe a periodically appearing star-shaped detail.
At 21.09, the entire object sharply weakened within a few seconds and was visible through the telescope (-4 magnitude), but soon became bright again. B-21.13 the object flushed sharply and remained red until the end of the observation. At times, the clouds near the body scattered, and then the stellar condensed body was as bright as possible. At 21.25 clouds entered the area, and the object was observed in the breaks of the clouds for another 6 minutes, until the clouds completely covered it. By this time, he again assumed a triangular shape."
The same UFO was seen by the teacher of the 1st secondary school P. P. Lazdauskas, his son L. Lazdauskas, students of the school V. Shlyazas, V. Krasauskas, A. Belčiauskas, an employee of the military enlistment office A. Stalmokas and many other residents of Raseiniai. With the naked eye, it looked like a very bright white star, but a triangle with three edges was clearly visible through binoculars. The angle at the lower apex changed over time, due to which the shape of the triangle changed somewhat. The brightness of the triangle in different places was not the same; in some places it seemed to be transparent. The teacher P. P. Lazdauskas noted the slow rotation of the object around the axis. Due to the high altitude above the horizon, it was very difficult to observe. Very slow movement from north to north-east was noticed, about 5 degrees in 2-3 hours. In the evening, small stars lit up in the corners of the triangle, which then disappeared. Some claimed that by the evening three small dots separated from it, which moved away from the object and disappeared.
After dusk, the UFO became a "very bright star", comparable in brightness to Vega. The object was observed until about 22 hours and, finally, "lost" among the stars.
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Comparing UFO sightings from Vilnius, Raseiniai and Radviliskis, Vytautas Striizis calculated that this object was at an altitude of 17-20 km and had a diameter of 140 m. It hung for half a day in almost one place north of the city of Raseiniai and only then flew towards Vilnius.
On June 24, 1975, another huge UFO crossed the territory of Estonia. Ufologists Tunne Kelam, Velpo Leito, Jaak Lõhmus and Juri Lina have compiled a detailed description of its route.
The object appeared in the afternoon, apparently from somewhere in Finland. The border guards announced the alarm. Above Tallinn, this huge object made its first stop, turning into a triangle, into a line, into a ball, etc. It was silvery, with a metallic sheen.
At about 5 pm he was noticed over Kehra by 27-year-old teacher Mati Vaktramäe, alumnus Alar Viirman, 17-year-old Kaale Mäekalli and hundreds of other people. The weather was warm, the sky was clear, the wind was blowing moderately (at least at an altitude of 16 km) to the southwest. By evening, the wind with a force of 5-6 points turned south. The item moved slowly eastward and finally stopped. At the same time they followed him from Aegviidu and Rapla. Witnesses from Kehra described the object as a triangular pyramid that flipped over from time to time and seemed to sway constantly. The older inhabitants of Kehra mistook him for a weather balloon. The Tallinn Meteorological Station replied to inquiries from researchers that they did not have such instruments. In addition, no weather balloons were launched in these parts.
In Aegviidu, many people watched the object, including Eda and Erna Karsanov. According to witnesses, there were only thin cirrus clouds and this T-shaped object in the sky. In its lower part there was a kind of "funnel", and in the upper part - a triangular ledge. The UFO material appeared transparent. Technicians from the Aegviidus television tower determined the altitude of its flight at 18 km. Since it appeared to be the size of an airplane at normal altitude, the object must have been huge. Local military units were in an alarming state, because they were always warned in advance about all flying objects, and they did not know anything about this one. At about 19:00 a fighter plane appeared. Another fighter jet was spotted near Tallinn pursuing a UFO.
At about 21:00, the inhabitants of Kehra saw the object worse: the sky began to be covered with clouds. At about 22:00 the UFO headed for Kiwili. From the Rakvere fire tower, we watched his flight. Engineer Uno Külviste followed this object together with neighbors between 22-23 hours from Rakvere. He also noted in his message that the UFO changed its appearance and the strength of the glow. Through 2.5x binoculars, it was seen that at about 22 hours the UFO was a cylinder, at about 22.30 it was a triangle, the two sides of which were shining with orange light. By 23 o'clock the glow became weaker, and the UFO flew east.
During sunset, the object was observed from the Kohtla-Järve area. Erwin Vaher from Ulva wrote to the Noorte Haal newspaper that he was returning home from haymaking when he noticed a matte white ball the size of a tennis ball floating out from behind the clouds. It was in the northwestern sky at about 40 degrees above the horizon. It seemed that he was standing in one place. Looking closely, Erwin noticed that it was not perfectly round, but elongated in a vertical plane. From time to time, the UFO hid behind the clouds. After about two hours, the balloon began to move northeast, towards Narva. The height above the horizon remained the same. In the dusk after sunset, the UFO suddenly shone brightly. The witness got the impression that spotlights were lit on him. Soon this light disappeared. The UFO movement was very slow. It seemedthat the object is at a great height. At midnight, the UFO descended below began to disappear against the pale northeastern sky.
The Baltic countries and UFOs of usual forms - in the form of disks, cigaroids and balls - did not pass by.
“The first time I saw such an object was in 1974, in the month of March,” the Estonian H. Kareva wrote to the Commission on the AY. - I don't remember the exact number, but the clock showed 17.35, I looked. I went by bus from Tallinn to Rakvere. He flew about 300-400 m above the ground. The object was yellow-red in color and flew slowly, approximately 140-170 km / h, like a fighter landing. The exact location is 5 kilometers from the Kuusalu village (from Tallinn along the Leningradskoe highway it will be 39 km). I paid attention to this object because planes never fly in that direction. He flew from south to north, towards the sea. The color was the same throughout the object, but there were dark circles like portholes (Fig. 25, 26).
The next evening on Finnish television in Novosti I saw and heard people talking about this object, its route and time coincided with mine. They showed a map showing the route over Estonia, the Gulf of Finland and Finland. In early October 1974, Vambola Vaarmets, Mati Kruuskand, Mati Tutk and Ago Pärn walked from the bus stop to Alatskivi after midnight, on the right there was a wide field, on the left - low bushes.
At a distance of 300 meters, they suddenly noticed a sphere about a meter in diameter on the field, which glowed like the moon. He moved towards the main road at a height of about a meter from the ground. As we approached the road, the speed of the fireball increased. He suddenly disappeared by the road, leaving no trace. The route of its movement, observed by them, was about 200 m. The glow during the observation time, about 30 seconds, was uniform.
Two months later, on November 24, 1974, the Estonian ufologist Juri Lina saw the spherical object himself.
“On Sunday evening I felt very cheerful,” he said already in exile. - An irresistible impulse to find a secluded place in the forest made me call two friends, and we drove to our old observation platform. When we arrived at the site, we noticed a strange red light above the trees. Not harsh light, but diffused heat. We went to a place known to us and immediately felt what we would see. After a short time, the area around us lit up in a strange way, and our bodies became extraordinary to the touch.
It was dark, but it was getting brighter and brighter around us. This increased the temperature. It was about half past eleven at night. We heard a noise similar to the striking of a match, but much louder. A green glowing ball appeared from the east and hovered 2 m above our heads. It was about 1.5 m in diameter. We burst out exclamations: “This is a UFO!” The ball flew past and disappeared somewhere in 100 m.
We felt very happy. It was a wonderful feeling. All three of us felt a sense of complete security, that no one can do anything bad to us …”.
In the early morning of August 7, 1975, at about half past four, in the Estonian village of Aniyya (6 km from Kehra), several people saw a cigar-shaped UFO.
“We came back in the evening in Kehra,” Leeter Soots told the ufologists. - It was a calm summer night.
When we arrived at Anya, we stopped in our yard to talk. Suddenly there was a flash, we turned around and noticed a bright cigar-shaped object in the western part of the sky. It was slightly tilted and pointed upward. Soon the object became brighter and illuminated the entire sky like lightning, then assumed a constant brightness. A little later, the "cigar" disappeared. The duration of the phenomenon was 15-20 seconds. There was no sound. The object did not change its color. It was always white."
The legalization of the research of "plates" in Estonia, however, was not helped by mass sightings of UFOs, but by good old nature. On February 11, 1976, over the entire northwest of the USSR, including Estonia, people saw the flight of a grand fireball. Unaccustomed to heavenly spectacles, people thought that it was something unusual.
A. Tooma that evening was near the Tallinn-Nõmme station:
“The object flew approximately between Nõmme and Rahumäe stations from the side of TPI buildings. The flight altitude can be considered equal to 1-1.5 km. Time of day 18.55 plus or minus 2 minutes. I did not see the wings, as it was dusk, but the body looked like an airplane or an airship. Behind, from two tailpipes in the tail, a fiery pulsating stream came out … Ahead of the streams of flame began a row of illuminated windows, I took them for the windows of a passenger plane. The light in the windows did not pulsate, and if so, very little, reflecting the bundles of beams from the exhaust pipes. In front of the body, about 0.25 of its entire length, there was a dark conical part, in which there were no windows …"
In Nõmme, H. Halliste watched the grandiose phenomenon:
“On February 11, 1976, in the evening, just before 7 pm, when I was skiing, I noticed a body slowly flying from about the northeast and moving southwest (Fig. 27, 28).
The body was in my field of vision for about 3-4 minutes. The attention was drawn by an unusual glow around the end of the body. The correct row of light sources on the side of this body was striking. Looking more closely, I noticed that the glow came from thin sheaves of parallel rays of light (about 20 in number) stretching backward, which, crushing in clouds of gas or vapor or fog around the body, seemed like bright blue sparks. The sources of the sheaves of light were not visible. The same pattern, but to a much weaker degree, was observed around the front of the body. The light from the row of lights on the side of the body was yellowish - the sources themselves were square. The body of the flying body had a bronze-brown tone.
The body of the body was very dimly lit, therefore it differed from the background of the sky in the tone of light. The gases around the back of the body swirled in slow, twisting curves. When I got behind the traverse of the body, I saw a circular blue light source that was (presumably) above the body outline …
Since the body had a cigar-like shape, I could not find the supporting planes, I decided that I was dealing with an airship. This was confirmed by the low speed of the body. I was surprised only by the small size of the body in comparison with the size of the lamps taken for the windows. In my opinion, this phenomenon cannot be mistaken for a car - there are too many signs of the technical origin of the body …”.
The Tyravera Observatory addressed the eyewitnesses of such a colorful phenomenon on radio, television and through popular newspapers in Russian and Estonian, including a program of local television. Astronomers have collected hundreds of letters, which later helped to recreate the true picture of what was happening.
"Baltic bolide", as astronomers called it, saw over Leningrad. Two days later, a note by journalist V. Savin appeared in Komsomolskaya Pravda:
“At about 19:00 on February 11, thousands of Leningraders witnessed a rare sight: a large meteoroid floated slowly across the darkened sky of the city in a direction from northwest to southeast. Enveloped in flames and accompanied by a light cloud, for a short time it lit up the evening sky. During the flight, numerous sheaves of sparks were clearly visible, and a hissing sound was heard. 10-12 seconds, and the heavenly alien disappeared from sight ….
As in Estonia, there were also people who "saw" technical details in the flight of the car, but … it turned out to be not a UFO! Mihkel Jõeveer and Teofilus Tinnisson from Tiravera Observatory carried out a detailed analysis of the phenomenon:
“Already the geography of the letters - the fireball was seen in all regions of Estonia - suggests that we are dealing with a body moving high above the Earth. Even though the “burning plane” seemed to the residents of Tallinn, Tartu, Hiiumaa and others only a few kilometers away, it never flew through our republic at all, since all observers in Estonia saw it flying past them from the north-east … From Leningrad, a fireball was visible in the south-west … Hence we conclude that at the zenith the body moved somewhere between Leningrad and Narva, but closer to Narva. A glance at the map shows that the path of the fireball passed about 200 km northeast of the Tallinn line. Tartu … According to the Geophysics Committee under the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences,the fireball flew from north-west to south-east through Staraya Russa and Marevo of the Novgorod region at an azimuth of 146 degrees. The fireball went out south of Selizharov in the Kalinin region, where the remains of the flying body could reach the Earth.
This message did not fall into the hands of astronomers, but it perfectly shows that the falling body ended its flight exactly here:
“On February 11, 1976, after 7 pm, at an altitude below the flying supersonic aircraft, a huge fiery red triangle suddenly flared up, and there were many smoke and fiery parts in it,” wrote A. Belova from the village of Selishche, Selizharovsky district, Kalinin region. - The base of the triangle seemed to be 4 m long. The triangle flew to the west, between the villages of Sosnovatka and Mosolovo, which is near Lake Volgo. The triangle disappeared very quickly. After 10 minutes (maybe seconds? - MG) after disappearing, I heard muffled explosions and even felt tremors under my feet, which I had never experienced before."
According to astronomers' calculations, the object's speed was 6.7-13.3 km / s, or 24,000-46,000 km / h. Averaging, we can assume that the speed of the fireball was about 10 km / s. For a satellite burning in the sky, the speed is too high. There remains only one assumption - it was a bright fireball flying along a gentle trajectory (Fig. 29).
A. Simonenko, PhD in Physics and Mathematics, confirmed the calculations of his colleagues from Estonia. According to him, the car was moving in the atmosphere, deviating from the north-south direction by 34 degrees to the east. The bolide passed west of Leningrad, over Staraya Russa and over Marevo, Novgorod region. It moved along a very high and very flat trajectory, which is why it was so unusually long - about 500 km, not only within the Soviet Union, but also in Finland. At the shores of the Baltic Sea, its height was more than 100 km, and at the end of the trajectory - in the southern part of the Kalinin region - more than 30-40 km. The car was huge, about 100 m.
This ufological incident led to unexpected results: people have memorized the addresses where they can report the mysterious phenomena they saw in the sky. Dozens and hundreds of letters about real UFOs over the Baltic States began to arrive at the Tyravera Observatory and other scientific institutions. All of them in 1978 were included in the dossier of the Setka-AN program (Fig. 30).
Mikhail Gershtein