The article below was published in the daily newspaper France Soir, Paris, France, page 7, on October 17, 1954.
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An investigation by André FONTAIN and Jacques Bergéal
A few days later, the Mont-de-Marsan radar goes "crazy"
Flying saucers have become the topic of the day. More and more testimonies are being produced by people who, in good faith, claim to have observed mysterious craft. Still unexplained reality or collective fiction, flying saucers remain the unknown of this late 1954.
"France-Soir" opens the file. We do not claim to provide a definitive answer to the question. We aim to tell you how these mysterious craft appeared in our world, how, starting from the astonishment of an American pilot more than seven years ago, the number of testimonies has increased month by month up to this groundswell that today seems to be flooding our country. In the U.S.A., out of 375 officially studied cases, 34 remain unexplained. From 1952 onward, flying saucers began appearing in the skies of Europe—first in England, then in the Nordic countries, and finally in France.
France has thus entered the zone of interest for flying saucers. And not through the back door, but across its entire sky. Gone are the convoluted stories from foreign witnesses. At last, sensible, skeptical, and rational people will see mysterious craft with their own eyes.
Craft from right here. Saucers, cigars, barrels, and even friendly Martians, or even attractive Martian women. Witnesses are producing decisive sketches.
We will talk about the overwhelming amount of mail we are receiving on the subject. But first, we want to continue our story and recount the most sensational sightings—or observations—in the skies of France.
The first notable story is a Marseille one—or almost. It takes place in Provence, on Monday, October 6, 1952: two years ago.
The witnesses are two serious men, Air France pilots: Mr. Francis Cavasse, 32 years old, and Michel Clément, 31 years old. They are piloting a D.C.4 on the London-Orly-Nice route.
Here is how Francis Cavasse recounted his extraordinary encounter to us:
- At 7:28 p.m., we were flying over Draguignan when my co-pilot Clément drew my attention to the movement of a luminous object of an extremely strange shape; we immediately likened its shape to that of an elongated egg. The object’s trajectory was absolutely straight and horizontal. Its speed was lightning-fast and steady. The "egg" was entirely lit, but with a non-blinding white light, reminiscent of neon. We were able to follow its course for 30 seconds without taking our eyes off it. When we lost sight of it, it was still moving in a straight, horizontal line.
"The object [most likely a meteor] left behind a trail about twenty to twenty-five times its own length. The smoke it emitted looked like a dotted line. It was white, with a slight bluish hue.
We estimated the object’s astounding speed at two or three times that of a jet plane flying at full throttle. We note that this estimate is not based on any mechanical calculation. It is simply human judgment. In our impression, the flying egg was traveling at 2,000 to 3,000 kilometers per hour. As soon as it appeared, we had the sense it was in front of us and above, about three kilometers away. It appeared much larger than a normal transport aircraft."
The observation by Cavasse and Clément is confirmed by an employee of the Nice-Californie airport, who also saw the object, and even by an American traveler, who also saw it. At the Nice observatory, scientists dismissed the meteor hypothesis, and in Montpellier, observers at the meteorological station declared:
"At 6:24 PM, a luminous object, disc- or sphere-shaped, was seen. It was followed by a luminous trail. (Note: this is the same time, the meteorologists in Montpellier using 'universal time').
Oloron, a few days later, witnesses another strange phenomenon.
It was October 17, around 1 p.m.. Witness: Mr. Yves Prigent, head supervisor at the boys’ school, his wife, and several teachers.
He sees, in a cloudless sky, a craft shaped like a cigar "moving forward while leaving behind thousands of multicolored discs." The cigar is also preceded by about thirty discs. The whole formation is moving at an altitude of 3,000 meters.
But now comes the materialization of the immaterial. Mysterious threads fall from these craft. They look like "Virgin's threads." They fall in skeins, in clumps, sticking to trees, rooftops, and lightning rods.
The teachers collect a quantity of them and set them on fire: the threads burn like cellophane. More are collected. These threads are finally to be subjected to the rigors of science. Alas! The clump deteriorates into a gelatinous mass, dissolves, disintegrates. It’s over—nothing remains.
But less than 100 kilometers away, the radar at Mont-de-Marsan has picked up the unknown craft. The radar is installed at the base where jet pilots train. The device malfunctions:
- Our radar went crazy, the technicians report. It was impossible to make any readings. We’ve never seen anything like it!
One of the observers then steps out of the cabin. He sees a strange cloud moving from east to west at around 2,000 meters altitude. The cloud spins rapidly on itself. It soon disappears, leaving no visible trail.
And then, during the night of October 26–27, 1952, a climactic account—this time again, from Marseille.
The story takes place at the Marignane airfield, and its sole, unfortunately, witness is a highly respectable man: the honest customs officer Gabriel Gachignard. Mr. Gachignard has been a well-rated civil servant for seven years. He is 32 years old and a family man.
Around 2 AM that night, Gachignard is on duty. He steps outside his post for a quick bite. The Nice–Paris flight has just taken off. It's a quiet hour...
He sees something resembling a shooting star pass in front of him. But this thing approaches the airfield and... lands on a runway. The customs officer is astonished. He gets up and walks toward the object. He discovers an unknown craft shaped like a rugby ball, with four glowing portholes.
Mr. Gachignard is fifty meters from the craft when, from its tip, a shower of sparks bursts out. The craft rises at a prodigious speed and disappears in the direction of the Étang de Berre...
When the customs officer recounts his strange sighting, he is not believed. But burn marks are found on the ground at the landing spot.
We will skip the many other observations made in France by private individuals. It’s hard to know who wins the interregional competition. But we must give special mention to the sightings at the Parisian airport of Le Bourget, as they perhaps constitute the most credible French account.
On June 12, 1952, the control tower at Le Bourget sent this very brief bulletin to the director of Orly airport:
"Today at 1 AM, while the sky was overcast, a fireball the size of a star crossed the sky to the southwest of the airfield after a long period of immobility. This phenomenon was reported by the F-BEFM aircraft, which notified the control tower itself. The ball disappeared on the horizon, twinkling and accelerating rapidly.
"It should be noted that on the 12th, at 1:45 PM, a person called us twice from Montmartre to report to the control tower the presence of a silver disc north of Paris.
The person who had called was a merchant from Boulevard Haussmann, Mr. Jean-Paul Nahon.
Mr. Nahon was having lunch at home, in upper Montmartre, when he spotted a bright, motionless spot in the sky. He observed it with binoculars and distinguished "a silver-reflecting object, resembling a huge rectangular zinc sheet with trimmed corners." It soon began to move in long jerks to the right, then left, up, then down. It was not a propulsion following the normal laws of acceleration, but proceeding by "bursts."
As for the Le Bourget control tower, it saw "something unusual" only during the following night.
It was a red ball, motionless, three times the size of the evening star.
At that moment, the postal plane F.B.E.F.M., coming from Nice via Lyon, announced itself. The pilot radioed the control tower:
- Have you seen that red ball on the horizon?
When the plane landed, the ball moved westward. It disappeared after ten minutes.
No one ever determined what the red ball was. The hypothesis was floated that it might have been a lighted balloon; however, the mysterious ball was moving AGAINST THE WIND.
To end our story, and before giving the floor to the scientists, we must talk about the most recent appearances of bizarre craft and mysterious beings. We will do that tomorrow, trying to select from a huge volume of mail what seems most characteristic—or, if it exists, the most... bizarre.
Next article:
Appearance of the "Martians"
