A simple antenna for measuring the vertical electric field in the ''middle atmosphere'' has been flown on a number of rocket-launched parachute-borne payloads. We present here the data from the first nine such flights, launched under a variety of geophysical conditions, along with electrical conductivities measurered simultaneously. The data include indications of layered peaks of several volts per meter in the mesospheric field at high and low latitudes in stiuations of relatively low conductivity. During an auroral ''REP'' event the electric field reversed direction in the lower stratosphere, accompanied by a substantial enhancement in conductivity. The data generally do not confirm speculations based only on the extension of the thunderstorm circuit from below or the mapping of ionospheric and magnetospheric fields from above, but seem to require, in addition, interanl generation processes in the middle atmosphere.