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The 1954 French flap:

The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.

September 21, 1954, Saint-Raphael, Var:

Reference number for this case: 21-Sep-54-Saint-Raphael. Thank you for including this reference number in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Reports:

[Ref. lp1:] "LE PROVENCAL" NEWSPAPER:

A SAUCER
silent and smoking
in the sky of Saint-Raphael

Saint-Raphael (C.P.).

Workman baker at Mr. Justin Rabbia, street Marius-Allongue, Mr. Giraud was yesterday morning at 04:30 at the window of the bakehouse of his owner when he saw, crossing the sky and moving towards the mount of the Estérel a machine of approximately three meters in diameter moving very quickly and leaving itself a trail of smoke and a red gleam. It should be noted that this machine did not make any noise. Before Mr. Giraud did had the time to realize, the saucer had disappeared beyond the mounts.

[Ref. vm1:] "VAR-MATIN REPUBLIQUE" NEWSPAPER:

A flying saucer in the sky of St Raphaël

St Raphaël, September 22. -- Mr. Denis Giraud, working baker, 22 years old, saw, last night, a flying saucer.

Working for Mr. Justin Rabbia, baker on street Marius Allongue, Mr. Giraud was, yesterday morning at 04:30 at the window of the bakehouse of his owner, a window giving on the Garonne and having a sight on the Esterel, when he saw, crossing the sky and moving towards the solid mass of the Esterel, an apparatus of approximately 3 m of circumference, moving very fast and leaving a trail of smoke and a red gleam.

It should be noted that this apparatus did not make any noise.

Before Mr. Giraud did not have time to realize, the saucer had disappeared across the mounts.

[Ref. ps1:] PATRICE SERAY:

In connection with sightings in the department of Var in 1954, Patrice Seray notes an unspectacular appearance seen from St Raphaël in the neighbourhoods of September 20: a 22 year old baker, Mr. Giraud, said he observed at about 04:30 a.m. an object of round form of approximately three meters of circumference moving fast while leaving behind a trail of flames. Seray notes the low of strangeness and especially a quite easy to find explanation.

[Ref. lc1:] LUC CHASTAN:

Luc Chastan indicates that in the Var in St Raphaël on September 21, 1954 at 04:30 hours "The witness is at the window of the bakehouse of his owner, window giving on the Garonne and having a view on the Esterel, when he saw, crossing the sky and moving towards the Esterel, an object of about 3 m of circumference, moving very quickly and leaving a trail of smoke and a red gleam without any noise."

The source is indicated as "Var Matin".

[Ref. ud1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:

The website indicates that on 22 September 1954 at 04:30 in St Raphael, France, "An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object, about 5 feet across, was observed by one witness."

The source is indicated as Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073).

[Ref. ub1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":

Case Nr.	New case Nr.	Investigator	Date of observation	Zip	Place of observation	Country of observation	Hour of observation	Classification	Comments	Identification
19540922			22.09.1954		St. Raphael	France		NL

Explanations:

Not looked for yet. Plane or meteor possible.

Keywords:

(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)

Saint-Raphael, Var, baker, Denis Giraud, night, fast, trail, smoke, luminous, red, silent

Sources:

[---] indicates sources which I have not yet checked.

[lp1] Article in the regional newspaper Le Provençal, France, September 22, 1954.
[vm1] Article in the regional newspaper Var-Matin - République, France, September 23, 1954.
[ps1] "VAGUE 1954 - L'Affaire Toulonnaise ou un Cas Sidérant...", article by Patrice Seray. France, Décember 2004, at cnegu.info/manuals/Vague54.pdf?osCsid=9ff665a6e126dd2945bba2fdef2ad272
[lc1] Base OVNI France, website by Luc Chastan, France, circa 2005, at baseovnifrance.free.fr/listgen.php?typlist=9&page=0&numobs=2910
[ud1] "22 Sep 1954 - St Raphael, France", web page by the UFOdna website, circa 2008, at www.ufodna.com/uf02/uf1/021082.htm
[ub1] Online database UFO-Datenbank, Germany, found in 2016, at ufodatenbank.de

Document history:

Version:	Created/Changed by:	Date:	Change Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	April 4, 2007	First published.
1.0	Patrick Gross	January 14, 2010	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lc1], [ud1].
1.1	Patrick Gross	October 19, 2011	Addition [ps1].
1.2	Patrick Gross	January 31, 2017	Addition [ub1].

This page was last updated on January 31, 2017.