The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 22-Feb-54-Aix-en-Provence.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In his late 1954 book on flying saucers, science fiction writer and pioneer of ufology in France Jimmy Guieu evoked an observation in Aix-en-Provence, on February 22, 1954:
His mother had phoned to tell him that she had seen in the sky, around 7 p.m., a strange object. Guieu explains he did not inform the press because he did not want to "give skeptics the opportunity to suspect 'complicity!'"
The thing was reportedly a "craft" of elongated spindle shape, metallic, aluminum color, not luminous by itself, "two or three times longer than a plane flying at low altitude", which would have been "probably at a thousand meters maximum".
It would have had a series of portholes along its fuselage, many of them seeming to be illuminated from the inside by a bright light. Its "nose" projected a powerful yellow-orange light beam as long as its fuselage, in the direction of its movement.
It flew over Aix-en-Provence, much more slowly than a "classic airplane", came from the North-North-East, and was seen from the fourth floor of a building, moving South-South-West at about 35° to 40° above the horizon.
"A minute later," it had, according to Guieu, stopped over Fuveau, thirteen kilometers in straight line in the south-southeast of Aix-en-Provence, where it was seen by several people, and then resumed its slow and silent flight.
The next day, Guieu called the radio to obtain additional testimonies, without specifying the hour, and he said he had received several, "all concordant and absolutely confirming my mother's own testimony that I no longer hesitated then to make public."
Guieu explained that it could neither be a balloon, because of the portholes, nor a meteor, in view of the slowness and sometimes immobility.
[Ref. jgu1:] JIMMY GUIEU:
Science-Fiction writer Jimmy Guieu mentions an observation in Aix-en-Provence on February 22, 1954: his mother phoned him for him to say that she had just seen in the sky, around 7 p.m., a strange object, that he took good note of that but did not communicate it to the press "not to give the skeptics the opportunity to suspect a "complicity"!"
The next day, he made a call for witnesses on the radio, without specifying the hour, and he received various testimonies, "all concordant and absolutely confirming the very testimony of my mother whom I then did not hesitate anymore to make public."
The author indicates that it was an apparatus of lengthened form, two or three times longer than a plane, flying at low altitude, probably at a thousand meters maximum, which flew over Aix-en-Provence, which was metallic, of non-luminous aluminum color.
The apparatus was "in the shape of a spindle" and had a series of port-holes along its fuselage, several of them seeming to be enlightened from inside by a rather sharp light. It flew much more slowly than a "traditional plane", came from North-North-East, and seen from the fourth floor of a building, it moved slowly towards the South-South-West at approximately 35 to 40° above the horizon.
The "nose of this spacecraft" projected in the direction of the travel a powerful yellow-orange beam of light as long as its fuselage.
"One minute later", it was immobilized above Fuveau, 13 kilometers in straight line from the South-South-East of Aix-en-Provence, where it was seen by several people, then it resumed its slow and silent flight.
The author indicates that it could be neither be a weather balloon, because of the portholes, nor a meteorite because it was too slow and even motionless at times.
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
|
February 22 [1954]
07:00 p.m.: Aix-en-Provence (B.du RH): (id.) [="fuselage with portholes"]
[Ref. gep1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "GEPO":
| 02 22 54 (19) | Aix en Provence NE SE | M X | 302V24 | T |
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Bouches du Rhône in Aix en Provence on February 22, 1954 at 19:00 hours "a craft of lengthened form, two or three times longer than a plane, and seeming to fly at low altitude flew over the city. Of metal color similar to aluminum, but non-luminous by itself. It was equipped with a series of illuminated from the inside port-holes by a rather sharp gleam. It moved more slowly than a plane. Its direction was north-north-east, southern western south at approximately 35 to 40 ° above the horizon. The front projected a powerful orange yellow beam of a length equal to the object itself."
The source is indicated as "Black-out sur les Soucoupes volantes by Guieu Jimmy ** Fleuve Noir 1956 omnium 1977".
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 22 February 1954 around 19:00 in Aix, Fuveau, France, "An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object was observed by several female witnesses (Guieu)."
The sources are indicated as "Guieu, Jimmy, Flying Saucers Come from Another World, Citadel, New York, 1956".
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This same case is recorded twice in this database:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19540222 | 22.02.1954 | Aix | France | 19.00 | NL | |||||
| 19540222 | 22.02.1954 | Aix | France | 19.00 | NL |
|
Jimmy Guieu was born in 1926 in Aix-en-Provence.
From the 1970s on, Guieu began to tell tall stories about UFOs and aliens, supporting despite all the evidence hoaxes like that of Franck Fontaine. If, for the cases of 1954, I found no proven examples of inventions on his part (in 1954, there was little need for a ufologist to invent flying saucers reports, there were enough of them), I do not know whether to give full credit to the report he gives, or to his strangest details.
It is also obvious that the supposed "spaceship" could have been a helicopter, given the shape, portholes, lights, beam at the front. And indeed, curiously, Guieu forgot to inform us about a noise or an absence of noise from the craft.
There was then, near the town of Les Milles, southeast and near Aix-en-Provence, the "General-Andrier" military air base. Guieu had ruled out the balloon and the meteor, but obviously did not even think of a helicopter - he was not the only one to commit this kind of forgetfulness at the time.
From the center of Fuveau to the center of Aix-en-Provence, there are 15 kilometers; the case of Fuveau and that of Aix the same day to the same and from the same source was perhaps one and the same phenomenon.
Note:
Jimmy Guieu was born in the city of Aix-en-Provence.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, object, cigar, aluminum, portholes, lighting, projector, multiple, slow, low
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | April 14, 2004 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | December 28, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [lcn1], [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | November 2, 2016 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | February 2, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Addition of paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 in the Explanations. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | February 18, 2021 | Addition [gqy1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | April 14, 2022 | Addition [gep1]. |
