Gigantic Silver cigar shape craft passed in silence over our home.

When I was 6 years old, my family lived on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee in the country.   We had a paved driveway that was next to the house.  One afternoon, I was outside playing on the driveway with my Hot Wheels matchbox cars.
 At some point, I recall seeing what looked like a floating aluminum pie plate (bottom facing forward) coming toward the house (at the time I said it looked like the bottom of a Jiffy Pop Popcorn pan).  It looked as though it was slowly rotating and moved silently but quickly toward the house.
 At first, I wondered if it was going to crash as it was flying so low and was so large, but it continued on its trajectory and silently floated overhead.   As the front approached me, I realized that it was actually a very long cigar-shaped, silver-colored cylinder.  As it passed overhead it appeared to be so low that I got excited and jumped to see if I could touch the bottom of it.   When I couldn't touch it, I realized that my perception was clouded and I couldn't tell how close it was.  As it passed overhead, the body of the craft was wider than our entire house, such that the area where I stood became darkened from the shadow it cast.   There were some square dark gray hatches in places on the hull and as the craft was passing overhead, I remember clearly noting that the craft was higher than the roof of the house (perhaps 20 feet over the rooftop).
 I have no visual or auditory evidence to support it, but at some point, I felt that the craft was occupied and the occupants were aware of my presence.  This scared me, and as a result, I ran inside the kitchen and told my mother that there was a big silver thing flying over the house.  She was washing dishes from lunch.  I remember being annoyed that it was taking her so long to come outside, but when I ran back out, she quickly joined me.
 By this time, the object had passed and my mother and I both saw what appeared as a small aluminum pie plate the size of a golf ball rotating off into the distance.   My mother saw the craft as it departed.   To me, she didn't appear to be impressed by the sighting, but it is clear that she accounted the event to my father.
 I recall the next day, we were watching a football game and my father pointed out the GoodYear blimp.  He asked me if that was what I had seen.   I told him it was not, because what I saw was shaped like a giant silver pencil and had no writing on it.  He also pointed out the undercarriage and the propellers to me.  I told him that it had no carriage underneath and there was no motor and no propellers and that it was slowly turning and made no noise.  At the end of my account, my father sternly told me to say that I saw a blimp.
 Over 50 years later, I have always remembered this, and my life experiences have not explained away the sighting as a blimp.
We have corresponded with the witness, and he seems to us to be a quite sincere, and eloquent, individual.  He has worked in a position of considerable responsibility as a public employee, and we suspect he is an excellent witness.  PD