The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 1-Jan-54-Sombernon.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In 1982, the ufology group ADRUP, from the Côte-d'Or, cataloged an article of the newspaper Le Bien Public of Dijon on January 4, 1954, headlined "Is it a sounding balloon?"
The article reported that in Sombernon, on the afternoon of January 1, 1954, while he was walking in the fields south-west of Sombernon, Mr. Noël Perron noticed an orange object on the ground. He approached it and found that it was a parachute attached to a kind of rubber balloon above which was a small basket.
The set was about 5 meters long, the balloon would have a diameter of more than one meter. A rope that hung below the pod, with its end apparently soiled, was devoid of any object, address or indication to identify the source of this material.
It was assumed that the assembly struck a high-voltage line that was about 800 meters from where it was discovered, and that the high-voltage line would have caused the balloon to burst.
The next day, the competing Dijon newspaper La Bourgogne Républicaine explained that the American weather balloons did not carry indications because the Americans did not bother to recover the debris.
[Ref. bre1:] NEWSPAPER "LA BOURGOGNE REPUBLICAINE":
|
A radiosonde balloon, of American origin (the orange color of the parachute is proof of this) was discovered in recent days in a field near Sombernon.
The balloon probably burst while hooking up the nearby high-voltage power line.
It was probably released from the base of Chaumont, the wind blowing from that direction at high altitude. Other probability of identification: the lack of indication on the balloon; which is typical, the Americans not recovering the material.
[Ref. via1:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "VIMANA 21":
|
MONDAY 4 FEBRUARY: WAS IT A SOUNDING BALLOON? -
Sombernon: on the afternoon of January 1, while walking in the fields southwest of Sombernon, Mr. Noel Perron noticed an orange object that rested on the ground. When he approached, he noticed that it was a parachute attached to a kind of rubber balloon above which was a small basket. This assembly measured about 5m. of height. As for the balloon, its diameter was estimated at more than 1m. The rope which hung below the pod, the end of which appeared unclean, was devoid of any object, address or indication to detect the source of this material. It is assumed that the assembly struck the high voltage line some 800m away approximately from where it was discovered. Which would have probably caused the balloon to burst.
The source is given as the newspaper Le Bien Public.
|
It is obvious that it was a weather balloon, and not an extraterrestrial craft.
It is useful to document events related to balloons; here, one wonders why the newspaper expressed an interrogation in the headline.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Sombernon, Côte-d'Or, balloon, sounding-balloon, weather balloon, crash, Christmas Perron, orange
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 28, 2019 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | January 7, 2021 | Addition [bre1]. In the Summary, addition of the paragraphe "The next day..." |
