The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 14-Oct-54-Dompierre.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In their 1979 book "La Grande Peur Martienne", ("The Great Martian Scare"), the "skeptical" ufologists Gérard Barthel and Jacques Brucker, dated a case October 14, 1954, saying: "Dompierre - Becquincourt - 80 - around 9:30 p.m.: investigation. Luminous phenomenon very high, short duration." they indicated no source either.
Further on in their book, they said that "the few serious investigators" who had admitted that it was a meteor that had generated such observations were the technicians of the Air Force's scientific office.
[Ref. bbr1:] GERARD BARTHEL AND JACQUES BRUCKER:
The two authors note this case of October 14, 1954:
"Dompierre - Becquincourt - 80 - towards 09:30 p.m.: investigation. Luminous phenomenon very high, brief."
Further in their book, they claim that "the few serious investigators" who had admitted the fact that it was a meteor which had generated this type of observations were the technicians of the scientific office of the Air Force.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
4164: 1954/10/16 21:50 5 2:48:00 E 49:54:20 N 3333 WEU FRN SMM 6:7
DOMPIERRE-BECQUINCORT,80,FR:2 OBS:20X2M SCR:ALT=4M/3min:GLOW RADIATES=4M
Ref# 8 VALLEE,Jacques: PASSPORT TO MAGONIA. Case No. 275 : FARMLANDS
[Ref. jbu1:] JEROME BEAU:
Saturday, October 16, 1954
21:45 In Dompierre-Bequincourt (Somme, France), Misters Deschamp and Laclotre see 1 machine approximately 20 m in diameter, 2 m in height, which approach the ground at 4 m of altitude during 3 or 4 mn. It emits a yellowish light and a gleam of approximately 4 m extends around the object itself.
The source is indicated as "Vallée, J.: "Un siècle d'atterrissages", LDLN n° 43" and a comment asks: "The 21:30 bolide?".
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The sources [lhh1] and [jbu1] who indicated the October 16 instead of October 14 as date, mixed up the date and events with the case of October 16, 1954 in Dompierre-les-Eglises, 400 km away.
As for Barthel and Brucker [bbr1], it is quite possible that they made a date mistake. The right date would be October 16, 1954, since it is that day that the big meteor of 9:30 p.m. was observed; actually the Scientific Bureau of the army was not the only one to recognize it as such.
The information they give is anyway insufficient, I can only suggest that the probable explanation would be that of the meteor of October 16, 1954 at 09:30 p.m. seen in this region among other regions.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Dompierre-Becquincourt, Somme, luminous, night, high
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | April 15, 2003 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | December 28, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [jbu1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | November 24, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanation changed, was "Possible meteor." |
