The article below was published in the daily newspaper France Soir, Paris, France, pages 1 and 7, on October 15, 1954.
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Flying saucers have become the issue of the day. More and more testimonies are being presented by people who, in good faith, claim to have observed mysterious craft. Still unexplained reality or collective fiction, flying saucers are the great unknown at the close of 1954.
"France-Soir" opens the dossier. We do not claim to offer a definitive answer to the question. We intend to recount 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 after month, leading to the tidal wave that now seems to be sweeping over our country. In the U.S.A., out of 375 officially studied cases, 34 remain unexplained.
It was in America that the first flying saucers appeared - or rather, to stick with the official caution, the first "unidentified flying objects". They soon caused something like a genuine public panic.
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However, their observation over five years has been empirical: they were watched with the naked eye. Trained pilots, sensible and sincere men, have published detailed accounts of what they saw. The average American does not doubt their statements. But these observations lack a scientific framework: even the most ignorant person feels impressed when a technical factor appears in a questionable story. The author of science fiction novels knows this well and peppers his imaginative work with known scientific data.
One must be a well-informed scientist to distinguish, in such novels, between actual technical progress and pure imagination. What makes these works successful is that their premise is plausible, and from this realistic thread, the author's invention begins. The implausible nature of the story is softened in the reader's mind by a simple and familiar technical basis.
When the observation of "unidentified objects" is backed and validated by an ultra-scientific device, the inexplicable becomes not only believable, but somehow certified and authenticated by an instrument equal to it: the mysterious radar.
Radar "intercepted" flying saucers, and from then on, the last doubts vanished.
It happened on the night of July 19 to 20, 1952, in Washington. Specifically, at the air traffic control center of Washington Airport. Just a few hundred meters from the control tower is a heavy, windowless building where, that night, eight men are on duty, watching radar screens.
Only a single aircraft is in the area, its "echo" visible on the frosted screen. Everything is normal, and a routine calm reigns in the control room.
This calm is shattered at 12:40 a.m. by a stunning event: seven dots appear on the screen. Seven precise spots that weren't there just a second earlier. If they are aircraft, they must have approached at a prodigious speed. The guard alerts his superior. The chief controller rushes in, followed by the rest of the crew. They are astonished. The secondary radars confirm the same extraordinary appearance.
They urgently radio the control tower. The tower has already seen them:
- We also have seven blips on the radar.
The man adds, nearly hysterical:
- I see a flying object. I don't know what it is. It's surrounded by an orange glow. I've never seen anything like it!
Defense is alerted, and in front of their screens, the men witness one of the strangest aerial carousels ever seen.
The craft fly over the most fiercely restricted zones - The White House, the Capitol...
At this point, air defense becomes alarmed. They send out interception aircraft. Captain Pierman takes off in a "Capital" aircraft. He is given, by radio, the position of one of the objects. Pierman replies:
- I saw it, but it darted off, it vanished...
On radar, Pierman and the "object" were tracked [sic]. But the object disappeared from the screen, as if erased.
Technicians believe the mysterious craft must have been able to accelerate from 200 to 800 km/h in just a few seconds - which is already astonishing, and something no known aircraft can do. The shock increases when the radar shows a 90° turn. From then on, the observers, eyes glued to their screens, are filled with dread and curiosity.
The craft move at speeds that can no longer be measured: 11,000, 12,000 km/h!
This wild dance lasts two hours, keeping everyone in Washington's air defense network on high alert.
They are seen again at dawn on July 20. This time by a radio engineer, Mr. E.W. Chambers. At 5 a.m., Mr. Chambers sees five discs that appear colossal in size. The discs rise vertically and vanish into the sky...
Newspapers hit the stands with enormous headlines, and Washington falls into hysteria. The U.S. Air Force is bombarded with thousands of urgent questions. Telegrams and phone calls flood the Pentagon.
The authorities remain discreet, offer half-hearted denials, and speak of a technical malfunction with the radar. Reports pile up. The special services of the Air Technical Intelligence Center remain silent, but one person eventually lets something slip:
- These craft, in any case, are not of American origin.
Which, of course, reassures no one...
But there's more - and this time, the radar wasn't in Washington, but aboard an aircraft in flight.
It happened on the night of December 5 to 6, 1952.
A B-29 heavy bomber was returning to its base after a nighttime training exercise. It was flying over Florida at over 5,000 meters altitude. On board: Captain John Harter and Lieutenant Sid Coleman.
At 5:25 a.m., Sid Coleman takes his seat at the radar screen.
Two blips appear. Coleman can't believe his eyes. They correspond to objects moving at 8,700 kilometers per hour!
Coleman is about to speak when a third signal appears - and this time, the object is heading straight for the bomber.
So Coleman calls the pilot, but the signal veers off. There is no collision. Captain John Harter remains skeptical:
- Adjust your radar, he advises his crew.
He barely finishes speaking when the navigator announces he sees them too, on his own screen, and John Harter, eyes wide, declares in turn:
- I see four craft...
The B-29's three radars now confirm each other. The captain radios:
- Unknown object at 3 o'clock to the right.
The B-29 crew rush to the windows.
And the three radars go haywire again. Craft seem to rush toward the plane at 8,000 km/h, then disappear...
This lasts six minutes. When the visions finally end, the men of the B-29, drenched in sweat, look at each other.
The infernal dance resumes. Five "objects" now pursue the bomber from behind. They're about to strike - but veer off. And then comes the most extraordinary sight:
The five "objects" dash toward a massive craft, appear to merge into it - and all vanish...
This time, it's over. When the B-29 lands back at base, the men are questioned separately. Their accounts are identical. They are meticulously recorded. These accounts will now add to the already overflowing dossier of "unidentified flying objects."
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EUROPE ENTERS THE CIRCUIT
