The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 5-Oct-54-Derval.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The Ouest-France regional newspaper for October 14, 1954, reported on page 9 that the gendarmes of Derval recorded statements from two people who, on October 5, 1954, in the late afternoon, had seen a mysterious craft in Derval.
The witnesses were a farmer returning from the fields, and a child returning from school.
The first said that at approximately 6 p.m. he saw a cigar-shaped craft of gray color, moving first vertically, then back and forth, about three hundred meters high, to disappear behind a bunch of fir trees.
The boy would said he saw a craft of gray color but dotted with yellow and orange hues, at about the same hour, precisely on the other side of the fir wood, but this time on the ground on a meadow. Frightened, he fled.
The newspaper reported that the statements of both witnesses were concordant, and that neither witness had "seen a human being."
[Ref. ofe1:] NEWSPAPER "OUEST-FRANCE":
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The result of the investigation by the police of Derval who collected the statements of two persons who, on October 5, late afternoon, would have seen, Derval, a mysterious machine, are now known.
It was a farmer who came back from the field, and a child who came home from school.
The first claims to have seen, some three hundred meters high, a cigar-shaped craft, first moving vertically, then coming down, then disappearing behind a clump of pine trees. The kid, meanwhile, reportedly saw this thing at about the same jour, around 6 p.m., just from the other side of the pine woods, but this time on the ground, on a meadow. Frightened, he ran away.
The statements of the two witnesses are quite consistent, declaring, for the first, that the object was of a gray color, and the for second, gray but dotted with yellow and orange hues. Neither one nor the other saw a human being.
[Ref. jsr1:] JEAN SIDER:
Ufologist and author Jean Sider learned by an article from the newspaper Ouest-France, of Rennes, on page 9 for October 14, 1954, that on October 5, at approximately 06:00 p.m. in Derval in the department of the Loire-Atlantique, the gendarmerie officers of this community noted the statements of two people who, on October 5, 1954 at the end of the afternoon, had seen a mysterious machine.
The first witness was a farmer who stated that while returning from the fields, he saw at some three hundred meters of altitude, an apparatus in the shape of cigar which initially moved vertically, then back and forth, and then disappeared behind a group of fir trees.
The second witness is a small boy who said to have seen this machine at the same time of 06:00 p.m., precisely on the other side of the group of fir trees, but this time on the ground on the meadow. Afraid, he fled.
The two witnesses have both described the machine as of gray color, the small boy having also seen yellow and orange areas. Neither one nor the other saw human beings.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
3984: 1954/10/05 18:00 3 1:40:00 W 47:40:00 N 3333 WEU FRN LRA 7:7
DERVAL,FR:2/SEP.FARMS:GRY CGR >ALLO/300M alt:LANDS BHND TREES:/LDLN #319
Ref#197 WEINSTEIN, D: French Newsclips 1954 Page No. 80 : FARMLANDS
[Ref. edr1:] EMMANUEL DEHLINGER:
| Place | Approximate coordinates | Date 1954 | Civilan hour | Duration | Sky | Distance and movement of the ufo | Altitude of the ufo | B angle of the sun on the horizon | Azimut of the sun | B angle of the moon on the horizon | Azimut of the moon | EL | State of the night | Case | Comment | LDLN ref. |
| Derval (Loire-Atlantique) | Oct 5 | :00C p.m. | day | 300 m then on the ground | 5° 51’ | 257° | 55%+ | J5 | Grey cigar with yellow and orange area. Relief in descent in the direction of the sun (IGN 1221). | #319 p. 12 |
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Loire Atlantique in Derval on October 5, 1954 at 18:00 hours a first witness observed at three hundred meters height an apparatus in the shape of a cigar moving initially vertically, then to and fro before disappearing behind a group of fir trees. A second witness (a child) saw from the other side of the thicket of fir tree and at the same hour an object on the ground, he is frightened and flees. The object is described by the two witnesses as being of gray color, the second specified that it areas of yellow and orange.
Luc Chastan indicates that the source is "Lumières dans la Nuit".
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 5 October 1954 at 18:00 in Derval, Pays-de-la-Loire, France, there was a UFO sighting.
The source is indicated as Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002.
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Possible helicopter.
The Ouest-France newspaprmen obviously forgot to enquire whether the craft was noisy or silent...
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Derval, Loire-Atlantique, Police, Gendarmes, multiple, independant, investigation, cigar, craft, object, manoeuvers, landing, grey, yellow, orange
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | November 5, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 5, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1], [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | September 23, 2014 | Additions [ofe1], [edr1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | November 15, 2019 | Additions [lhh1], Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet." |
