The 1954 French flap:

The Courier of the Somme

Again and again the saucers

Flying saucers are still on the agenda. They continue to excite public opinion and to be the subject of all conversations.

Every day, new mysterious craft are seen. This is how the day before yesterday, around 6:30 p.m., a resident of Hornoy, who wishes to remain anonymous, working in the fields on the road to Thieulloy, saw in the sky a very bright craft whose exterior seemed to contain facets which gave it the look like a lark mirror. The craft was moving very high and at a very high speed in the east-west direction.

The lady who saw the saucer was hitherto incredulous: she kept of this an emotion which was still showing when, yesterday afternoon, she informed Mr. Godard, our devoted correspondent of Hornoy.

Monday, around 9 p.m., Mr. Biencourt, teacher at the boys' school in the Faubourg Saint-Pierre, in Amiens, who lives near the Citadel, was returning to his home when, in the sky, he saw a globe of fire descending vertically and at very high speed. It lasted a few seconds, then various colors appeared to Mr. Biencourt's eyes to suddenly go out.

Also, the young apprentice typographer of our newspaper, Henri Duchêne, who will be 15 next month, said yesterday only that on Saturday, around 7 p.m. while returning to Dury by bicycle, he saw in the fields, between the Saint-Dominique farm and the Dury cemetery, a large object posed on the ground some 50 meters from the road.

The craft was in the shape of an elongated egg and could be ten meters in diameter and three meters high. At the back was a sort of tail through which blue smoke escaped.

The machine made no noise.

After having made his discovery, the young man had only one haste: to move away as quickly as possible; which he did with all the speed being possible to his machine...

***

In addition, we are informed that in Hesdin, in the Pas-de-Calais, that is to say near the Crécy region, where "saucers" were already seen on Monday 18 at 8:45 p.m., Mr. Jean Gambier, sworn police officer, was on rue Farré, on his way to the Familla movie theater, when his attention was drawn to a blaze of the sky, northerly, above the forest. The craft, which had an elongated shape, seemed, according to the witnesses, to descend from the sky. Its upper part was bright red, its center was bright white, and the lower part left behind a shower of stars and light trails.

The phenomenon lasted about twenty seconds. The whole sky was lit up. The craft then resumed vertical height and disappeared at a dizzying speed, leaving behind it a trail similar, the witness told us, to a spate of fireworks going up vertically.

Several residents of Huby-St-Leu also witnessed this phenomenon, and if this information had not been reported to us by a sworn official, we would have hesitated to insert it. But the fact is here and for now, like all the others of the same genre, it is inexplicable at least for us.

FLYING
SAUCERS
(CONTINUED)
IN HESDIN

In Hesdin, Mr. Jean Gambier, sworn police officer, was going to his duty, when his attention was drawn to a conflagration from the sky above the forest. The object, which had an elongated shape, seemed to come down from the starry sky.

Its upper part was bright red, its center was bright white and the lower part left behind a shower of stars and a luminous trail.

The craft then picked up height again, vertically, and disappeared at a dizzying speed, leaving behind it a trail similar, the witness claims, to a gigantic fireworks rocket.

This phenomenon was also seen at the same time by a hundred people from Auby-Saint-Leu [sic].

IN AIRE-SUR-LA-LYS

Near Aire-sur-la-Lys, a steelworks worker from Isbergues saw a luminous craft of round shape, descend slowly.

When it touched the ground, the witness continued, almost three kilometers from me, a lightning bolt lit up the sky.

Many residents confirmed that they saw not the fire ball, but the sky lit up. As for the object which would have fallen, no trace of it was found.

(To be continued)

The latest flying saucer trend is in the shape of a 4 CV.

The most disturbing thing about the mystery of the flying saucers is that they show themselves to the eyes of people that higher primary education and the gravity of their functions protect from vulgar superstitions and the dreams of old women.

How to doubt the word of Mr. Jean Gambier, sworn police officer in Hesdin (Pas-de-Calais) and Mrs. Michèle Vitkosusky, notary clerk in Normandy! Mr. Jean Gambier going to his service saw, above the forest an elongated apparatus whose upper part was bright red. The center of a bright white and whose lower part left behind a trail of stars. The craft quickly took to the vertical and disappeared at a dizzying pace.

Other observers have seen the saucer of Mrs the notary clerk. It was near Saint-Valery-en-Caux. Several unidentified objects - saucers, dammit! - have maneuvered for two hours. One of them, violently lit, landed in a field. Two others, seen not far from the cliff of Mers-les-Bains, seemed to correspond with the first group. Alas when the gendarmes arrived, to fine them, gosh! The saucers were gone: they must not have been in good legal standing.

The Lormes-Nevers coach driver and his passengers, also saw a saucer. Mr. Lucien Fiesch, from Issenheim in Alsace, also, who seized with fear is still running. And also Mr. Pierre Ackermann, from Guebwiller. And again Miss Fleck, from Soulzmatt (Bas-Rhin). Without forgetting the Pyreneans of Vic-Bigorre, the postman of Saint-Pierre-la-Cour station, Mr. Roumy, Houard and Fressard, at Cheverron [sic]; and the students of the Saint-Cyr Institute, in Clevers.

Flying pumpkin

The most extraordinary case was noted by an Algerian motorist, Mr. Gaston Blanquère who, near the village of Jean-Mermoz saw a saucer in the shape of a 4 CV Renault. It consisted of an upper dome from which a yellow glow came out, let out a bluish luminous spray at its lower part and finally swept the plain of very powerful headlights.

Impossible to confuse this saucer with the humble pumpkin emptied and lit by a candle that the villagers of Momy (Basses-Pyrénées) chased yesterday armed with pitchforks, picks and rifles.

Saucers or not saucers...

but nevertheless weird phenomenon
in the Hesdin sky

Monday, October 18, at 8:45 p.m., Mr. Jean Gambier, police officer (sworn) in Hesdin, was on rue Farré, when his attention was drawn to a blaze of the sky, northern direction, above the Hesdin forest. The luminous craft, which had an elongated shape seemed - according to the witnesses who came to join Mr. Gambier - to descend from the sky; its upper part was bright red, its center was bright white, and the lower part left behind a shower of stars and luminous streaks. The phenomenon lasted about half a minute and the whole sky was illuminated. The craft then took height again, vertically, and disappeared at a dizzying speed, leaving behind a trail of fire, similar, Mr. Gambier told us, to a firework rocket...?

Several residents of Huby-St-Leu also witnessed this phenomenon, and, if this information had not been communicated to us by a sworn official, we would have hesitated to insert it.

But the fact is there... just like other facts of the same kind... inexplicable... at least for us.

But let's not anticipate.

R. B.

***

We learn that this luminous phenomenon was seen in Etaples, at exactly the same hour and by several people.

Interplanetary chronicle???

IN THE FLANDERS A ROUND MACHINE...

In Audruicq (P.-de-C.), MM. Maurice Ramette and Léon Gégnier saw, high in the sky, an object of round shape and white in color which was moving towards them. Suddenly, the craft tilted and disappeared at breakneck speed.

AN UNKNOWN CRAFT...

In Hesdin (P.-de-C.), Mr. Jean Gambier, a police officer, was on his way to his duty when his attention was attracted to a blaze in the sky. Above the forest, a red object seemed to descend from the starry sky. The lower part of the craft left behind a luminous trail.

Many residents of Huby-Saint-Leu, a village near Hesdin, also witnessed this phenomenon.

IN THE ROUSSILLON THE FEAR OF THE MARTIANS...

A resident of the village of Prades (Pyrénées-Orientales), to whom two motorcyclists wanted to request information, fled, the other day, shouting: "The Martians are coming". Caught by the bikers, who, to reassure him, had removed their helmets, the farmer admitted that if he had had a gun in his hands he would have killed them.

IN LORRAINE A SAUCER...

A saucer was seen by the supervisor of a penitentiary center in Ecrouves, Mr. Roger Thiriet, residing in Blénod-les-Toul (Meurthe-et-Moselle). The jailer's saucer is not exactly fresh since it would have appeared on October 10. But Mr. Thiriet remained silent for a long time "fearing to be the laughing stock of his colleagues". However, his secret seemed to him too burdensome, and here is the account given to the gendarmes by this balanced man:

- I returned to the center by motorbike, when around 6:30 a.m., near the railway bridge, near Charmes-la-Côte, my headlight lighted an aluminum-colored saucer appearing from the fog, posed on the ground. The craft was 2 meters in diameter and 1.40 meters high. It was surmounted by a dome pierced by two portholes.

"I stopped my engine immediately; but as I approached, the saucer rose without noise."

It turns out that, this same October 10, a machine identical to [Continued on page 3]

IN ITALY DISC IN ROME AND PANIC IN LIVORNO!...

A very bright flying disc was seen by a group of workers over a street in Rome. It is one of the innumerable appearances of the "flying saucers" which visit Italy at the moment. Their arrival provokes a strong emotion. In Livorno, a young man, Bruno Senesi, was sent urgently to the mad house. He had presented himself, very agitated, at the city hospital, shouting: "They come to take me... I saw them land in a field... Discs big like that, all in light and in smoke, full of Martians, small and red."

IN INDONESIA A PLATE...

The people of Bondowoso, in east Java, were terrified when they saw a white and green disc, which passed at high speed over the city and disappeared in half a minute. Witnesses described the object as a "large plate" with a rotating movement.

IN THE RHONE VALLEY AVIATORS HAVE AN EXPERIENCE

A "Stratojet" plane which flies daily over the Rhône valley, at an altitude of about 10,000 meters, was mistaken the other day, by several inhabitants of Vienna, for a flying saucer.

Indeed, a strange phenomenon occurred after the passage of the powerful jet plane. Kinds of parachutes were formed in the sky, animated of strange movements, which soon reached the ground.

The witnesses of the phenomenon seized this matter and one of them put a little of the substance in a box and had it photographed immediately. A few hours later, the contents of the box, although waterproof, had evaporated.

It seems that the condensation in the rarefied and cold atmosphere of certain compounds of the "stratojet" fuel can cause white or iridescent formations moving at high speed and thus gives rise to various interpretations.

This observation made above the aerodrome of Vienne, is identical to that already reported in its time, by a resident of Oloron.

Interplanetary chronicle???

(continued from page 1)

IN AUSSAY: A CIGAR...

Aussay, a small town near Dieppe, was overflown by a mysterious craft which emitted a strange whistling sound. It had the shape of a gigantic cigar thay could reach 15 to 18 meters in length; in the center of the craft there was a disc surmounted by a dome.

IN THE AUDE: A SAUCER...

In Villepinte (Aude), Mr. Henri Rouquet, 22, was returning home when he noticed a luminous form that was moving at high altitude. Suddenly, the craft lands not far from the farm where the young man lives. Mr. Bouquet then hastened to warn his family and several neighbors, who were able to observe the saucer distinctly. After a few minutes, the disc rose silently and quickly disappeared.

IN PICARDY THE ENGINES STOP... THE HEADLIGHTS TURN OFF!

In Ham (Somme), three motorcyclists, MM. Marc and Gilles Lemaire, and Jean Ivard, were going to their work when they noticed in the sky a red disc followed by a flaming cone which advanced at the speed of an airplane. At the precise moment when the craft was above the motorcyclists, the engines of their machines stopped suddenly and the headlights went out. Everything returned to normal when the mysterious object moved away.

A SAUCER IMMOBILIZES A CAR

A motorist in the Cherbonnières region was driving with his 3 and a half year old son on the road from Sérifère to Paillé when, around 9:30 p.m., he and the child experienced painful tingling sensations, similar to electric shocks; which increased as they progressed.

The car engine suddenly stopped and the headlights went out. The child started to cry. A bright glow, passing from bright red to orange, dazzled the occupants of the car, who see a motionless craft in space. Then what they recognized as a flying saucer disappeared in the night.

been seen in Longwy, in the north of the department.

- It must be a secret weapon, said Mr. Thiriet (who does not believe in Martians), built by a foreign power. I think the craft would come from Antarctica.

IN AUVERGNE A "BALANCE"

Two motorists from Royan, Mr. Labestière and his wife, saw in the sky "a kind of waddling balance".

- The scourge was dazzling green, witnesses said. One of the plates was red, the other orange. After remaining motionless, the two plates detached and landed in a field. Two little beings came out of it and, after crossing paths, changed their plates. The "flying balance" then disappeared, plates included, in a dazzling flash.

IN ILE DE FRANCE A CIGAR...

In Ollainville, near Arpajon, six residents of the locality noticed an incandescent object which at first looked like a star and was revealed as it approached in the shape of a cigar. Coming from the west, the object disappeared to the east.

... AND A STAR

In Saint-Fiacre, not far from Etampes, several people saw a craft in the shape of a gigantic star spinning above the village for 20 minutes.

IN LIMOUSIN A HALF-SPHERE...

The mayor of Nexon (Haute Vienne) saw a very bright metallic hemisphere hovering at breakneck speed, without noise.

AND A DISC...

A very brilliant disc was even seen in Boulogne-sur-Seine, by a dozen workers from the Régie Renault. The phenomenon had been observed in broad daylight for half an hour.

IN BRITTANY A SAUCER...

In Trevedec (C.-du-N.), several people saw a flying saucer hovering over the sea.

IN AIRE-SUR-LA-LYS A SPHERE...

Near Aire-sur-Lys, a worker at the steel works in Isbergues saw a luminous sphere descend slowly. When it touched the ground, the sky lit up.

The October 18 "Saucer"

In our last issue, we reported the passage of a saucer on Monday, October 18, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. in the evening first east of Doullens, then on Frévent and St-Pol, from where the phenomenon (or craft?) took the direction of the sea. Its route from Hem-Hardinval to Frévent is now established. It went to Montigny-les-Jongleurs, then to Beauvoir-Rivière (Somme) at the limit of the Ternoise. It seems that it took a break of half an hour to three quarters of an hour in this last town, either on the ground or at very low altitude. It allowed, in any case very instructive observations, which seem to invalidate certain hypotheses and tend to confirm others, on the nature and the means of maneuvering of these mysterious machines.

A farmer from Beauvoir-Rivière, a man already of some age, and very serious, had lingered in the fields to cover a beets silo. He suddenly saw the saucer coming towards him, at a very low altitude four or five meters and flying very slowly. "Its speed was probably not exceeding, he told us, 10 kms per hour. I had the impression that it was trying to land. It was shaped like a bell with a red light below. It seemed to me to be remarkably piloted: a small grove being in its path, it rounded it slowly, although its height would have allowed it to pass over it.

"Then an extremely curious fact happened. The saucer kept coming at me. Between it and me was a pasture closed with burl wire and iron stakes. In the falling evening this fence was practically invisible. It was necessary to know its existence. Now, on arriving there, the saucer made a right [turn] at a right angle to go alongside it, and then, arriving at the corner stake, one to the left to follow its other face, thus resuming the general north-south direction it followed before.

"Note that it could have easily flown over these fences, without risk given its height.

A curtain or crest was then to its left, it moved along it for a moment. Then pressing on this side, it took a little more height to cross it. It then flew over it, in a northwesterly direction, upward sloping fields, increasing its height accordingly, so that it continued to stay at the same distance from the ground.

"It then crossed a second ridge, similar to the first. This then hid it from my sight. I assumed it then landed in the plain above.

"This supposition seemed to me to be confirmed when, returning home three quarters of an hour later, my wife said that on returning from milking, shortly before my return, she had seen a bright red glow in the direction where the saucer was gone for me.

The cultivator only made these statements to us under the express promise not to name him. He does not want to pass for a "saucer voyeur". And that had prompted him to be silent for eight days, without telling anyone about his adventure.

We asked him the following additional questions, which we found of interest.

- Were the contours of the saucer sharp?

- No, blurry.

- Yet a metallic object standing out against the twilight sky must give sharp edges.

- It was not.

- Did the lower edge stand out more clearly on the red light?

- Neither.

- What was the appearance of this fire? That of a light? Of a lantern? Of an exhaust fire? Was it sharp? Or blurred?

- Blurred; a kind of brightness rather.

- Did you observe the appearance of the walls?

Impossible in the twilight for the whole mass, which was dark. I could only see [sic] gray canvas from the top not at all fit the silhouette of a metallic aircraft, or other material, even in the twilight. On the other hand, this blur would fit very well with a gaseous nebula formation.

We are thinking here of the theory according to which saucers "could be" vortices of grouped electrons, and taking the shape of a saucer, around a "condensing nucleus" provided either by a cosmic particle or by a radioactive particle among the millions that are thrown into the upper atmosphere by nuclear explosions.

Note that this theory would fit in with the episode of the burl wires, the vortices of electrons being known to be repelled by the metal.

As for the diffuse red light, it is accepted that such electron eddies can create phosphorescent luminosities, on contact with the neon gas floating in the lower layers of the atmosphere in the same way as the electric current, does it in a neon light tube. The experiments show that this coloring varies according to the intensity of the radio electric agent which causes them: red for the low frequencies and voltage intensities for the electric current then orange, brown, purple, even tending to green, when they increase.

Regarding this question of luminosity, let us note again that at Beauvoir-Rivière, where it was going very slowly, the saucer only showed red luminosity in its lower part, while the ten Saint-Pol residents who saw the saucer a little later (indisputably the same) noticed a dazzling tail. The light emission therefore takes on an increasing intensity with speed, the tail being explained by the very movement of the object in the air. Peremptory reversal of Lieutenant Plantier's theory, according to which the saucers would be surrounded by a belt of air moving with it: in this case there could indeed be no luminous trail, forming a tail.

Let us add that the craft was seen the same day and almost at the same time in Hesdin, Montreuil and Etaples.

October 18, [1954]

? [= unknown hour]: Hesdin (Pas-de-Calais) (meteor?)

4294: 1954/10/27 19:00 1 2:00:00 E 50:23:40 N 3332 WEU FRN PDC 6:A

HESDIN FOREST,PDC,FR:NMRS OBS:LUM ORB FLIES W>>E OVR WOODS:NFD

Ref# 49 MICHEL,Aime: FS & STRAIGHT LINE TH: Page No. 204 : FOREST