Shortly before 05:50 p.m., Constable W. of the brigade of Eupen and a colleague were driving in the area of Battice on the E40, returning from a mission in Brussels.
They noticed a very bright spot in the sky, in the direction of Verviers, stationary, but seeming to move from time to time. It eventually moved continuously towards the east, like the officer did.
They thought it could be a helicopter, but were puzzled by the abnormal intensity of the headlights.
Because their destination was Moresnet, they left the E40 motorway at Chaineux, and took the N3 road, called the Charlemagne road.
The bright object seemed to accompany them, and at 6 p.m., when they were near the Moresnet viaduct, it passed almost at the vertical of them.
Seen from the side, it had two headlights at the front and a third at the back, almost on the same horizontal line, white and very powerful. Just above the lights, they discerned an elongated shadowy form, not very high.
When the thing flew abovehead, they saw a flashing red light below the object. As the three white lights lit and extinguished too, the officers told themselves that it could not be the lights of an airplane.
The object slowly went away in the direction of Vaals.
Office W. will be the witness of other sightings later.
Source:
Localizations.
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Initially, the police are on the E-40 motorway in the Battice area, see the green dot to the left. They notice that the object is then in the direction of Verviers, see the beginning of the red line, note that this starting point is nothing certain as the distance between the officers and the object is not known.
The second green dot is at Chaineux where the officers left highway E-40 to join the route Charlemagne. The path of the officers is the blue line.
The third green spot, at the right, is near the Moresnet viaduct, the place where the object flew nearly above them.
The object goes on in the Vaals direction.
The red line, path of the object, is hypothetical. The certainties are that when first seen from the green dot on the left, it starts in the direction of Verviers, it goes through the third green dot at the right and it continues in the direction of Vaals. This could have been a completely straight line, for example if the object was further South at the start in the direction of Verviers.
A summary can be found for this observation, published on the web by Belgian ufologist Godelieve Van Overmeire in her now-gone catalog published about 1999. It was much copied on numerous ufology websites and forums. This is that summary:
1989, November 29
BELGIUM, Battice
A little before 17:50 two gendarmes from the Eupen Squad, Constable W. and a colleague drive on the E-40. They return from a mission in Brussels and noticed a very bright spot in the sky in the direction of Verviers. It is stationary but seems to move occasionally. Finally it moves continuously to the east. At Chaîneux they leave the highway to take the No.3 Road called Charlemagne road. The bright object seems to accompany them and at 6 p.m. when they are near the Moresnet viaduct it passes virtually at their vertical. Laterally it looks to have two headlights at the front and a third at the rear, almost on the same horizontal line. Just above the intense white light, they discern a dark elongated low form. At the time when it passed abovehead, the officers see a flashing red light below the object? The three white lights turn on and off also. The object is moving slowly towards Vaals. (continues same day 07:15 p.m., Eupen) (VOB 1 - SOBEPS 1991, p. 29)
Source example:
There is also a German translation of the SOBEPS text on a German-speaking UFO web forum:
Kurz vor 17.50 Uhr ist der Gendarm W. von der Eupener Brigade zusammen mit einem Kollegen mit dem Auto im Raum Battice auf der E40 unterwegs. Sie kehren von einem dienstlichen Auftrag in Bruessel zurueck. Ploetzlich bemerken sie in Richtung Verviers einen extrem hellen Punkt am Himmel. Er verharrt zwar insgesamt auf der Stelle, scheint sich aber von Zeit zu Zeit zu bewegen und fliegt schliesslich gleichmaessig nach Osten davon, in die auch von den Gendarmen eingeschlagene Richtung. Sie denken an einen Hubschrauber, wundern sich aber ueber die ungewoehnliche Helligkeit der Scheinwerfer. Da ihre Fahrt nach Moresnet fuehrt, verlassen sie die E40 bei Chaineux und nehmen die N3, die sogenannte Route de Charlemagne.
Das Leuchtobjekt scheint sie zu begleiten, und gegen 18 Uhr, als sie sich in der Naehe des Moresnet-Viadukts befinden, fliegt es fast genau ueber sie hinweg. In der Seitenansicht verfuegt das Objekt - nahezu auf derselben Horizontallinie - ueber zwei Scheinwerfer vorne und einen dritten hinten. Dicht ueber den weissen, sehr hellen Lichtern erkennen sie eine dunkle, laengliche Form von geringer Hoehe. Als sie ueberflogen werden, sehen die Gendarmen unterhalb des Objekts ein rotes Blinklicht. Da die drei weissen Lichter gleichzeitig an- und ausgehen, sagen sie sich: ''Das sind nicht die Lichter eines Flugzeugs.'' Das Objekt entfernt sich langsam Richtung Vaals. Weitere Beobachtungen des Gendarmen W. spaeter.
In English:
Shortly before 5:50 p.m. the policeman of the Eupen squad W. is in a car with a colleague in the vicinity of Battice on the E40 road. They return from an official mission in Brussels. Suddenly they notice in the direction of Verviers an extremely bright spot in the sky. Although it generally remains stationary, it seems to move from time to time and finally flies uniformly in the same direction as that of the police. They think of a helicopter, but wonder about the unusual brightness of the headlights. As their journey takes them to Moresnet, they leave the E40 in Chaineux and take the N3 road called Charlemagne road.
The luminous object seems to accompany them, and at about 6 p.m., as they are near the Moresnet Viaduct, it flies almost exactly above them. Seen from the side the object - almost on the same horizontal line - has two headlights and a third at the rear. In the bright white lights they see a dark, elongated form of a low height. When they are flown over, the police see a red flashing light. As the three white lights come on and off at the same time, they tell to themselves, "These are not the lights of a plane." The object moves slowly in the direction of Vaals. The police officers will have further sightings later.
Source:
"Skeptical" ufologist Renaud Leclet wrote in an article intending to show that the events of the "Belgian UFO flap" had many sightings of helicopters:
Several craft were seen going up to Battice at 04:40 p.m., 5:50 p.m. 5:20 p.m. and 05:50 p.m. Between 06:30 p.m. and 06:45 p.m., the observations in Jalhay and Baelen can also be explained by a helicopter with its headlights on.
Source:
Finally, French ufologist Alain Delmon indicates this:
November 29, 1989 at 06:00 p.m., gendarme Robert Willems and Adjutant Joseph Schmitz leave the motorway at Moresnet which is 8 km north of Eupen, when the object passes over them. They see at this time two big white front headlights, a third at the rear and a smaller red light at the center. All these lights flash simultaneously. So it can not be, the witnesses think, an airplane.
He indicates the source as "VOB1,29".
Source:
| Version: | Created/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 4, 2013 | Creation. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | September 4, 2013 | First publication. |
