The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 17-Aug-54-Montluçon.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The Paris newspaper L'Aurore for August 19, 1954, reported that Mr. Claude Coché, an industrial designer living in the city of Vincennes, said that in the afternoon of August 17, 1954, he saw what the newspaper called a "flying saucer" in the sky above Montluçon, in the department of Allier.
He described what he saw as a disc-like, bright, shining white object that was visible for several seconds before it was hidden by a cloud.
Subsequently, Aimé Michel gave a wrong date of August 18, 1954, and no detail, then ufology catalogs gave abstracts having lost the precise date which became August 1954.
[Ref. aue1:] NEWSPAPER "L'AURORE:
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MONTLUÇON. -- An industrial designer living at 36, Avenue Franklin-Roosevelt in Vincennes, Mr. Claude Coché, declared yesterday that he saw a "flying saucer" above Montluçon on Tuesday afternoon.
- I was waiting for the Paris train on a station platform, he said, when suddenly I saw a luminous object, dazzlingly white, moving across the sky. The phenomenon lasted only a few seconds, for a cloud soon hid from my view this sort of disc.
[Ref. cia1:] CIA:
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|
CLASSIFICATION [Blackened out]
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROACASTS
| REPORT NO. | 00-W-30339 | |||
| CO NO.: | .. | |||
| COUNTRY: | Non-Orbit | DATE OF INFORMATION: | 1954 | |
| SUBJET: | Military - Unidentified flying objects | |||
| HOW PUBLISHED: | Daily newspaper | DATE DIST.: | 25 Oct 1954 | |
| WHERE PUBLISHED: | As indicated | NO. OF PAGES: | 3 | |
| DATE PUBLISHED: | 5 Jul - 2 Sep 1954 | |||
| LANGUAGE: | Various | SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT NO.: | ||
| [Blackened out] | [Blackened out] | THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION | ||
| SOURCE: | As indicated |
SIGHTINGS OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
[... (Reports from other countries and France) ...]
SEES "FLYING SAUCER" IN CENTRAL FRANCE -- Paris, L'Aurore, 19 Aug 54
Claude Coche, an industrial designer residing in the town of Vincennes, declared that in the afternoon of 17 August 1954, he had seen a "flying saucer" in the sky over Montluçon, Allier Department. He described what he saw as a luminous, brilliant white, disk-like object. The phenomenon was visible for several seconds before it was hidden by a cloud.
[... (Next reports)]
[Ref. bbk1:] PROJECT BLUE BOOK - ATIC:
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FOREIGN UFO SIGHTINGS
The information presented below are reports of UFO sightings in foreign countries. The information was extracted from various intelligence reports and are in the ATIC Repository under the index listed.
| 5. 17 Aug 54 | Central France | 19371 | - Poss balloon |
| 6. 22 Aug 54 | Northern France | 19371 | - Unknown |
| 7. 31 Aug 54 | Lyon | 19371 | - Poss a/c [= possible aircraft] |
The above information was extracted from ATIC Rpt No. 199371 (CIA-00-W-30904, dtd 25 Oct 54) which is on file at the ATIC Repository. The report contained numerous UFO sightings with some very radical descriptions. Insufficient data on most of the observations prevents accurate analysis in many cases. AWB 23 November 54
Project Blue Book was the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) of the U.S. Air Force UFO sighting reports study - and debunking - project. The above document is from the Blue Book archive, and is a summary made from intelligence reports by the CIA containing supposed UFO sightings in countries outside the USA. The CIA collected these reports in the local press. I kept only the French reports in this extract.
[Ref. aml4:] AIME MICHEL:
On the 18th [of August 1954], a report from Montluçon.
[Ref. aml2:] AIME MICHEL:
On August 18 [,1954] a report of a flying saucer observation came from Montlucon.
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
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August - no date (doc. Graziana) Montluçon, on the platform of the station.
Mr. Claude Coche, draftsman at Vincennes, sees a luminous object of brilliant whiteness moving in the sky.
[Ref. ioi1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "INFO-OVNI":
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020 08/../54 ..h. Montluçon
Shining white luminous object
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012 08/../1954 Montluçon - Witness Mr. Coche
The witness, then on the platform of the station, observed a lum. object of a brilliant whiteness. (Document Graziana)
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 17 August 1954 in Vincennes, France, "An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One white disc was observed."
The source is indicated as Hall, Richard H., UFO Reports from the Files of the CIA, Fund for UFO Research, Washington".
[Ref. uda2:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 17 August 1954 at 15:00 in "Montlucon", France, "An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object was observed."
The source is indicated as "Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073)".
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19540817 | 17.08.1954 | Montlucon | France | 15.00 |
|
Possible meteor, or possible plane.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Montluçon, Allier, Claude Coché, Claude Coche, day, flying saucer, object, disc, white, luminous, duration
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | January 22, 2005 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | December 29, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | March 20, 2010 | Additions [uda1], [uda2]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | November 3, 2016 | Addition [aml4]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | November 20, 2016 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | June 26, 2019 | Additions [ldl1], [ioi1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | July 15, 2022 | Addition [aml2]. |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | September 14, 2025 | Addition [aue1]. |
| 1.7 | Patrick Gross | October 11, 2025 | Addition [bbk1]. |
