The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 28-Oct-54-Calais.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The newspaper Nord Littoral, of Calais, published on page 3 for November 4, 1954, an anonymous or anonymized letter they told came from one of their "fellow citizens", telling that "Thursday", therefore on October 28, 1954, in the "evening, around 1:30", after driving his fiancée to his parents, he had taken the road from Coulogne to Virval - a district of Calais - to return home, when he saw "a shiny object almost by the roadside ". He approached and saw that it was "a mass of metal" that was "not there some 30 minutes earlier."
He explained that, unlike the other flying saucers that had been reported, this one looked "more like a spacecraft": "It was a kind of tubing with portholes and truncated at the top. It had four diametrically opposed tubes. Statoreactors as it seemed to me. The lower part, raised about 1.50 m from the ground, was very wide and provided at its base with cylindrical orifices."
Claiming to be interested in mechanics, he supposed that they were exhaust pipes, and that "this rocket, if I can call it that way, was equipped with four fins about one meter in span: fins for stabilization in flight, probably."
He said that he had approached with caution "so as not to alert the occupants, because the rocket was obviously manned. The possibilities of remote control being ruled out due to its close proximity to an inhabited place."
He said that having made a few meters, a violent movement of air made him fall back, that a blinding glow spurted from the turbines and that the machine rose first slowly then faster and faster.
He explains that in his opinion, "it was an experimental stratospheric rocket having landed as a result of damage or fuel shortage."
He claimed to have been "skeptical" about flying saucers before, swears that his encounter was not the product of "imagination or an excess of drink," that it is not a joke, that he wanted to "simply bring a little light to public belief and calm a little the minds overexcited by these mysterious appearances."
[Ref. nll1:] NEWSPAPER "NORD LITTORAL":
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A new testimony (apparently serious and precise) is to be added to the Calais file of "flying saucers." Here is the letter sent to us by one of our young fellow citizens. We publish it for information:
"I have the honor to inform you that, Thursday evening, around 1:30 a.m., returning from driving my fiancée to her parents, I took the road from Coulogne to the Virval to return home, when my attention was attracted to a shiny object almost at the side of the road. Intrigued, I approached and was amazed to find myself in the presence of a mass of metal not being there some 30 minutes earlier. Skeptical about flying saucers, I had to admit that this thing was one.
But, unlike the objects already seen, this one looked more like a spacecraft. It was a kind of tubing with portholes and truncated at the top. It had four diametrically opposed tubes. Statoreactors as it seemed to me. The lower part, raised approx. 1.50 meters above the ground, was very wide and provided at its base with cylindrical orifices.
Being interested in mechanics, I supposed this to be exhaust nozzles. In addition, this rocket, if I can call it that way, had four fins about a meter wide: fins for stabilization in flight, probably.
I decided to approach. I proceeded with caution so as not to alert the occupants, because the rocket was obviously manned. The possibilities of remote control being ruled out because of its close proximity to an inhabited place. No sooner had I walked a few meters than a violent movement of air made me fall back. A blinding glow came from the turbines and the machine rose, slowly at first, then faster and faster.
And I was alone at the place where, a few moments before, this machine was.
In my opinion, it was an experimental stratospheric rocket having landed as a result of damage or fuel shortage.
I am ready to swear on my honor that what I saw was not the product of my imagination or an excess of drink.
I hope you don't believe some prank of a bad joke. I would just like to shed a little light on public belief and soothe a little bit the spirits excited by these mysterious appearances.
Please accept, gentlemen, my best regards ".
Mr. Claude L....,
rue Den...., Calais.
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Obvious invention.
"Le Virval" is a district of the city of Calais.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Calais, Pas-de-Calais, anonymous, rocket, experimental, secret craft, ramjet, statoreactor, landing, night, take off, gleam, metallic, spacecraft, fins, portholes
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
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| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 8, 2020 | First published. |
