The 1954 French flap:

Above
the Amiens train station...

During the night, a mysterious craft flew over Amiens and was seen above the station by many employees, who did not believe their eyes, but finally had to face the facts.

Mr. Albert Mignot, deputy head of handling, residing at 236, rue Saint-M[?], left the large hall, at the Petite Vitesse, around [?]:35, when he saw a sort of luminous disc of orange color which passed in the sky, coming from the direction of Montières and heading towards Longueau. The contours of this mass were not well defined.

At first, as a result of this peculiarity, Mr. Mignot thought it was a cloud of smoke, but he soon had to face the facts.

- It was an unknown craft, he told us, perhaps what is called a flying saucer. In any case it was not an illusion.

Mr. Robert Pruvost, main team man, 43, rue Pierre-Corneille, in Longpré, accompanied Mr. Mignot.

- When I was tending to a fish cart, he said, I saw a luminous disc in the sky. It was I who warned Mignot. It was an almost round object, yellow in color, which did not seem very high to me. I didn't realize whether it made any noise.

"We alerted our comrades, but they didn't want to believe us because they were convinced that we were telling them a story.

"But almost at the same time arrived the chief laborer Adrien Wiart, 8 allée des Fleurs, chief of the railwaymen, who made the same declarations as us and whose words convinced the skeptics."

In fact, Mr. Wiart, whom we saw at his home yesterday, told us that having gone to the courtyard of the Petite Vitesse, he had seen a light in the sky which came from the direction of Amiens and headed for Longueau.

It was twenty minutes to one o'clock, he said. I stopped, wondering wether it was a searchlight from the 404th R.A.A. in maneuver. Above, I noticed somewhat detached a kind of small star which seemed to me to be part of the mysterious object which I saw during about fifteen seconds. Due to the darkness, I could not get an idea of the dimensions of this object, nor of the height at which it was. It was orange in color.

The deputy head of G.V., Mr. Petit, telephoned us to ask if we had seen anything, because two of his men had just told them that they had just seen a flying saucer. It is surely the same machine as ours.

Until now, I was skeptical adds Mr. Wiart, but now I realize that there is something wrong. But as for saying that it is a flying saucer I would have to see it in daylight!

Mr. Michel Groué, maneuver brigadier, 5[?]4, chemin de la Folie, saw the famous object.

- It was like a rugby ball, he says, and orange in color, twice as long as it was high. A little above, I noticed a fire such as one sees on the masts of ships. The craft was heading towards Longueau.

"I was with my comrade Dubois and when we told our comrades what we had just seen, they did not want to believe us. Subsequently, in view of the other statements made to them, they ended up believing us.

"In any case, adds Mr. Groué, if this is what is called a flying saucer, well I can tell you that I saw one".

Mr. Raymond Dubois, shunter driver, residing at 12 rue Voltaire, made similar statements to us.

- With my comrade Groué, we had just brought two wagons to unload them, when Groué exclaimed, here, look, a saucer. And indeed, I saw in the sky a kind of orange light which moved in the direction of Longueau. As my engine

was on, I can't tell wether the craft was making noise. When we talked about what we had just seen, no one in the hall wanted to believe us and it took the testimonies of other comrades for the incredulous to realize the obvious."

And in Hangest-sur-Somme

The "flying saucers" offensive continues in our Picardy skies, which certainly never saw so many. Hangest-sur-Somme, after so many other towns, has in turn been in turmoil since yesterday morning. It is, in fact, that two residents of this locality had the privilege - which each of us, in secret, wishes to get one day - of seeing something extraordinary crossing the sky.

During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, around 1 a.m., Mr. Philidor Léraillé, who is 72 years old and no longer works, stood up, as it often happens to him. Suddenly, while he was glancing out the window, he saw, in the darkness of the night, a kind of particularly luminous and brilliant ball which seemed to progress by leaps in the sky. This thing was heading in a southwest-northeast direction, was at an average altitude, but its speed was very high.

Surprised, Mr. Léraillé, who is a trustworthy person and well known in the region, woke up his wife who also saw the ball as it disappeared behind the horizon line, barred by a poplar plantation located in the Somme valley.

The apparition had lasted only about a minute, and although very short, it left the two old old people very perplexed. Was it a flying saucer? After all, why not, we've seen so much of them in the last few days...

ALWAYS
THE SAUCERS

No respite for the saucer researchers who, every evening and even every night, observe mysterious orange appearances in the Picardy sky. Among the people who claim to have seen mysterious craft in the sky we will quote Mr. and Mrs. Legendre, 97, rue Edmond-Rostand, in Amiens; then other people of Boves; Mr. Gilbert Urbain, farmer in Bernaville, is also on the list, as well as Miss Christiane Beaussaux, farm maid.

Apparitions also in the region of Péronne and more especially in Longueval, Roisel, Doing-Flamicourt, Cartigny, Etricourt-Manancourt and Hangest-sur-Somme.

At the Amiens station, during the night, MM. Albert Mignot, deputy head of handling; Robert Pruvost, main team man; Adrien Wiart, chief maneuver; Michel Groue, yard maneuver, and Raymond Dubois, loco-tractor driver, saw a mysterious craft fly over the city from west to east.