The 1954 French flap:

A parliamentarian asks
the Government
to give explanations on the
"saucers" problem

Following numerous appearances of flying machines of unknown type, currently reported in all regions of France, Mr. René Dejean, deputy of the Ariège (Socialist), sent to the President of the Council a written question, asking him in particular:

"Whether or not a service has been set up to collect the existing documentation on this matter and to study the nature and origin of the said craft.

"Whether the information currently collected and gathered makes it possible to absolutely exclude the hypothesis of craft piloted or controlled by living beings of unknown species and origin.

"Whether, on the contrary, the government has enough information to attribute the production of these craft to the industry of a foreign state.

"Wether in the latter case, the international agreements signed by France have already allowed consultations relating to the use of such craft in a possible conflict."

The Vienne police prefect
collects all information
on the flying saucers

M. Holaubeck, Prefect of the Vienna Police, ordered the officers under his command to prepare reports on all the stories of flying saucers and on all the statements of "witnesses" who saw "visitors from another world" landing.

The Prefect insists in his circular that an untrained eye can easily confuse a sounding balloon with a flying saucer.

Indeed, in recent weeks, numerous stories of flying saucers have been circulating in Austria.

The last comes from Gmuend, on the Austro-Czechoslovak border, where witnesses say they saw around thirty flying cigars.

A red disc moves
at very high altitude
above Verlinghem

Sunday evening, a Lille motorist, P.T.T. employee, who had been forced by a car failure to travel on foot from Verlinghem to Wambrechies saw in the sky a red disc moving at very high altitude. The craft advanced in a jerky manner, marking long pauses.

The trustworthy witness observed this phenomenon which occurred at nightfall for several minutes.

...and in Viesly

Four young men from Viesly, working in Caudry, said they saw on Saturday around 9:30 p.m., a luminous red disc surmounted by a dome of white appearance, which moved silently, in the sky, at a very high speed.

This testimony is also confirmed by a female resident of Briastre who, too, witnessed an identical celestial phenomenon at a few kilometers away.

These various characters appear trustworthy; therefore their testimony cannot be doubted.