The article below was published in the daily newspaper Le Midi Libre, France, on September 22, 1954.
According to Some Technicians, It Could Be an Unknown Type of Aircraft
Clermont-Ferrand, September 21. -- Five people spotted a mysterious cigar-shaped craft flying at low altitude over the region.
While on an excursion near the Pass of the Béal, on the road to Brugeron, Miss Declaire and the sisters Marie-Christine and Madeleine Gauthier claim to have seen it moving through the sky. It was gray in color. At first, they mistook it for a plane, but it made no noise. Two motorcyclists also saw it swaying for about thirty seconds before slowly taking off, then accelerating and disappearing into the sky in the direction of Clermont-Ferrand. When it passed above them, they noticed it had a flattened round shape and was about twenty meters in diameter. A resident of Moulins also saw, in Rongères, a "flying cigar," and a few seconds later, an object shaped like a globe. This very bright globe flew in a circle in fifteen seconds before quickly heading southeast.
Could this be the same flying cigar that was seen in broad daylight last Friday by several hundred people as it crossed the sky over Rome? Radar technicians at the Pratica di Mare military aviation base detected the mysterious craft at 6:49 PM. Its positions were recorded over Fiumicino, a small port at the mouth of the Tiber, and a large area east of Ostia. Radar technicians were able to observe an antenna positioned at the center of the craft's widest end.
According to competent observers, this may be an aircraft of an unknown type. The craft has a cigar shape, widening and bulging in the middle. It traveled over Rome at an altitude of 10,000 meters before descending much lower. It left behind a trail of white smoke, which was emitted from its narrowest end. At one point during its flight over Rome, the craft suddenly descended by about 400 meters. Apparently attempting to regain altitude, it shifted from a horizontal to a vertical position, then easily resumed its horizontal flight. It then accelerated and quickly disappeared over the horizon.
