The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 23-Jul-54-Talence.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
In a 1956 article in Gray Barker's Saucerian Bulletin, French ufologist Aimé Michel reported that on July 24, 1954, the citizens of Talence had reported seeing two lenticular craft, with an appearance of metal, crossing the sky at a dizzying speed.
Aimé Michel says that the newspapers had given the news only five lines, buried in the last pages and under skeptical titles.
A database of the Web in the 2000s gave the date of an observation in Talence as July 23, 1954.
[Ref. aml1:] AIME MICHEL:
|
And then came the first shock [of the 1954 French flap]. On July 24 the citizens of Talence, a village near Bordeaux, reported two lenticular machines, with a metallic aspect, crossing the sky at a dizzying speed. The newspapers, however, gave the news five lines, buried in the back pages and under skeptical headlines.
[Ref. aml2:] AIME MICHEL:
Then, on July 24, came the first shock. The residents of Talence, a village near Bordeaux, saw two "white" craft, shaped like discs, pass over their town at 10 o'clock. These discs had great speed, were completely silent, and left no wake. Despite the large number of witnesses this information interested only a few newspapers in the country. They published six-line accounts at the corner of the page, accounts written in a doubting tone.
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on July 23, 1954, at 01:00 p.m. in Talence, France, "Unidentified objects were sighted, but with an aspect and a performance that probably would have a conventional explanation. Two objects were observed."
The source is indicated as "Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073)".
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
The sighting was recordd 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19540723 | 23.07.1954 | Talence | France | 13.00 | ||||||
| 19540723 | 23.07.1954 | Talence | France | 13.00 |
|
Probable jet fighter planes.
One source says it was on the 23rd, the other says it was on the 24th. I suspect the sighting was on the 23rd and the Press report on the 24th - but this is not certain for now.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Talence, Gironde, two, craft, fast, shining, multiple, lenticular, metallic
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 23, 2010 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | November 3, 2016 | Addition [aml1]. In the Explanations, additions starting with "Probable jet fighter planes." |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | December 3, 2016 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | November 18, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | April 7, 2022 | Addition [aml2]. |
