The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 2-Oct-54-Wimereux.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
[Ref. vdn1:] NEWSPAPER "LA VOIX DU NORD":
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It is on October 2, around 4:30 p.m., while he was in the dunes of Pointe aux Oies, halfway between Wimereux and Ambleteuse, that Mr. Emile Turpin, inspector of the S.N.C.F. in Boulogne-sur-Mer, took this photo.
Mr. Turpin, who had come to photograph the cave of the Neolithic man - a place quite known to tourists - readied his camera and managed to take from a distance estimated at about two thousand meters, this document which we reproduce with all the usual reservations.
"A craft - of medium brightness - was passing through the sky at a fairly high speed," said Mr. Turpin. A discerning eye could tell that it was not an airplane, not a helicopter, not an airship and not a flying wing. It was impossible to give a name to this fast and brilliant object running from west to east.
When Mr. Turpin took this photo, the sky was absolutely clear.
The village that you can see at the bottom of the document is that of Ambleteuse.
[Ref. vdn2:] NEWSPAPER "LA VOIX DU NORD":
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The surprise felt by Mr. Emile Turpin, district manager at the S.N.C.F. of Boulogne in the afternoon of October 10, seeing near Ambleteuse, in the sky a silent and fast craft that he managed to photograph was perhaps not much larger than that caused the document published in "La Voix du Nord" on Thursday.
This is indeed the first valid photograph of interest to our region that has been published so far and of which we got to ensure the authenticity the negative prints.
Mr. Turpin who is 34 years old is passionate about natural sciences. It was while waling in the dunes of La Pointe-aux-Oies that this researcher - who was going to photograph a cave where in 1937 were discovered skeletons dating from the Neolithic period - had the good fortune to produce two unique documents.
He used a 24/36 format camera with a diaphragm of 6.3 and he operated at a speed of one hundredth of a second.
Mr. Turpin, who was a student pilot in 1939-1940 and who has totaled two hundred flight hours, is not entirely ignorant of aeronautics.
He could not put any name on the craft he saw. In satisfactory visibility conditions. This was indeed about 10 kilometers, if we are to believe the meteorological observations made in the afternoon of October 2.
[Ref. gne1:] GENDARMERIE NATIONALE:
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NATIONAL GENDARMERIE
REGIONAL COMMAND OF THE GENDARMERIE OF THE 2nd MILITARY REGION
2nd Legion of Gendarmerie
Company of the Pas-de-Calais
Section of []
No 155/4
[], October 18, 1954
REPORT
By Captain [], Commanding the Gendarmerie Section
on a photograph of an undentified craft by Mr. []
REFERENCE: Service Memo # 15/4 Regional Command of the National Gendarmerie of January 11, 1954.
Having learned from the press that Mr. [], a 34-year-old SNCF District Chief, residing [] had seen a machine of unknown forc [sic, "form"] and photographed it, that person was heard and stated the following:
"On October 2, 1954, at about 4 p.m., I was at a place known as "pointe aux Oies", on the commune of Wimereux. I was heading towards a Meolithic [sic, Neolithic] dolmen, I walked towards Ambleteuse, turning my back at Wimereux. I wanted to photograph the dolmen, I had my camera open, hanging on the chest (camera Foca-standart, 35 mm aperture 3.5 - format 24/30.) As I was examining the surroundings, in my field of vision was an elliptical shape moving southwest-northeast, it was very light-colored, and I rapidly armed my camera and took a picture. At this point I checked the focus of my camera ordinarily armed at 1/100 - F 6/3 hyperfocal. I wanted to change the shooting settings to 1/500, 3/5 - Infinity / apparatus loaded with Ferramia film S.2.-32. By the time I did these operations, I lost sight of this machine. I specify that at the time of the shooting of the 2nd picture I had the clear impression that the object initiated a half-barrel motion. These photos were taken under the conditions that follow, very clear weather, sunny with west sun, southwest.
I am a former pilot with about 150 hours of flying time. The craft I saw is not a known flying machine.
I cannot present the negatives of the photos that I give you. They are in possession of the newspaper "RADAR" for expertise by a commission of technicians.
.../...
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I have nothing to add to what I have just said."
As a result of this statement Mr. [] presented two positive photographs which are attached to the first expedition of this report, the negatives being currently held by the "Radar" newspaper, it was not possible to obtain other prints.
Mr [] has every guarantee of seriousness.
Given the small format of the film wich is difficult to fake especially with regard to the first photograph it seems this testimony must be taken into consideration.
Mr [] gave no publicity to these photographs; which explains the delay in the knowledge of these photographs.
Signed: unreadable
RECIPIENTS
- 2nd Air Force Regional Commander (1 copy)
- Colonel, 2nd Gendarmerie Legion Commandant (1 copy)
- Company Commander 2° R.M. (2 copies)
- Military Security 2nd R.A. (1 copy)
[Ref. sen1:] "LA SEMAINE DU NORD" MAGAZINE:
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A Boulogne railwayman, Mr. TURPIN (our document opposite) was able to photograph the passage, in the sky of AMBLETEUSE, of a mysterious craft which could be a flying saucer. We publish these sensational documents in this issue.
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(SEE OUR REPORT IN THE NEXT PAGES)
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BECAUSE he is interested in the enigma of the tomb of the Neolithic Man, is Mr. Emile Turpin today one of the few humans who can boast of adding decisive documents to the most disturbing problem of the XXth century: that of the flying saucers...
Mr. Emile Turpin is a passionate man. Every day, once he has put down his pen and closed his S.N.C.F. file, his attention is called upon by multiple occupations which are in a way the pleasures of his existence. When he attended the Mariette college in Boulogne, he accompanied his natural sciences professor who brought his students in the Ambleteuse dunes. There, with sieves and shovels, they began to methodically sort the sand in order to extract the arrowheads and ax shards that remain from a stone age weapon workshop. And the most fascinating research was oriented around the tomb of the Neolithic man where the most ardent sometimes discovered a tooth or a bone.
Mr. Turpin, at the age of thirty-two, continues this patient research. This is what, on Saturday October 2, around four o'clock in the afternoon, brought him to the dunes, in front of Ambleteuse, where he intended to carry out some photographic surveys around the stones of the tomb. For just as he ignores very little of the contrast between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods seen through cut stone and polished stone, Mr. Turpin is an enthusiast of photography. He almost always walks with his 24/36 format camera. In his kitchen, himself, he develops his films and puts them on paper.
So Mr. Emile Turpin had taken three or four photos of the tomb when, climbing on a dune to find a better angle of view, he saw a strange apparition in the sky. Mr. Turpin has a few notions of aeronautics and astronautics. He was a student pilot in 1939-1940 and he totaled two hundred hours of flight.
- What was this craft?... It was not a plane. Nor a helicopter. Nor a weather balloon. Nor a flying wing. Nor an airship. Nor a simple luminous phenomenon... I had the camera in my hand. Instinctively I photographed.
Mr. Turpin therefore put his eye on the viewfinder, pressed the shutter button, rearmed, took a second picture, rearmed a second time...
- But already, he explains, the craft had flipped over on itself and at an invaluable speed, but certainly enormous, it had disappeared.
What did Mr. Turpin do? Very quietly, he finished taking the various photos which had motivated his coming to this place then he regained the road where he had left his motorcycle and returned home.
What he had in his camera, he did not know... He did not develop the same evening, but during the following day. The film didn't reveal much at first glance. During the following week in the evening, he did not have time to reinstall his tanks and the enlarger in his kitchen. His wife was ill. Mr. Turpin had other concerns in mind. His workmates, quite skeptical, but interested in the adventure of a man who, it is said, does not have the reputation of a joker, examined the negative and agreed on the presence of an unusual object in the sky. The following Sunday, Mr. Turpin put the two photos on paper in an enlarged format. The result was undoubtedly disturbing.
- My camera's diaphragm was 6.3, I was operating at a speed of one hundredth of a second. Alas! I didn't have the time, nor the reflex to focus on infinity...
As it was delivered to them, Mr. Turpin's film attracted the attention of a commission of scientific experts and technicians who met last Saturday in Paris to examine the documents and testimonies collected on the problem of the Flying Saucers. Mr. Turpin's good faith does not appear to be in doubt. As for identifying the craft that was photographed...
If we are to believe the meteorological observations made on Saturday, October 2 in the afternoon, the visibility was good since its range could be estimated at 10 kilometers. However, to this day, no new testimony has come to confirm Mr. Turpin's photographs. Only one inhabitant of Wimereux, of an already advanced age, complained that on the night of October 2 to 3, a Martian had woken him out of his sleep by climbing up his balcony and shaking his shutters. "He had eyes all around his head. He was tiny, he wore two red lights that seemed to send out rays of light from his chest...
REPORT MARC HELDER - YVES CONTI
[Photo captions:]
1st photo: both sides are visible.
2nd phoo: a face lit by the sun.
Mr. Turpin returned to the place where, on October 2, he photographed the craft in the sky of Ambleteuse.
Mr. Turpin does not have the reputation of a prankster. His favorite hobbies: archeology, chess and photography.
[Ref. sen2:] "LA SEMAINE DU NORD" MAGAZINE:
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Above the reproduction of our cover page representing the Boulonnais railwayman, Mr. Turpin, who photographed, in Ambleteuse, a mysterious craft, with a FOCA camera, the only high-precision French camera.
[Ref. usa1:] U.S. AIR FORCE - PROJECT BLUE BOOK:
The archive of the US Air Focr "Project Blue Book" effort to investigate UFO reports contains an unreadable newspaper xerox without references, and a comment by Alex Mebane, a ufologist who then used to send Press articles to the US Air Force.
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Right: this mysterious brilliant disc, snapped at Ambleteuse (Pas-de-Calais) has given food for thought to many imaginative persons. (Seems to ne somewhat touched up to sharpen it - AIM [Alesander Mebane, translator].)
[Ref. gqy1:] GUY QUINCY:
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October 2 [, 1954]
[... Other cases...]
04:30 p.m.: Ambleteuse (Pas-de-Calais
[... Other cases...]
[Ref. jbe1:] JEAN-MARIE BIGORNE:
On October 24, 1954, at about 5 P.M., Emile Turpin, aged 34, inspector with the SNCF, France's national railway service, had gone to the location of La Pointe aux Oies, by the sea, within 7 kilometers of Boulogne-sur-Mer, close to Ambleteuse, to photograph a tomb dating from the Neolithic era.
He had prepared his camera to photograph the tomb when he saw a machine in the shape of disc in the sky. He thus was ready to shoot pictures of it, although the camera was set to take pictures of the tomb a few meters off. He reported:
"It is when taking a photograph of this tomb that I saw the machine. Without modifying settings, which were to be on 5 or 7 meters, I took a photograph, I rearmed and I took a second photograph. For the third one, I wanted to change my settings, but I was unable to find the object."
"The machine had the shape of a disc, with a bulge on the central part. It was of bright metal color, which one may describe as close to a reflection on bronzes."
"It passed in front of me on a quite closed parabola. One may have approximately locate it at an angular height of 50 degrees. It came from my left, going down under an angle of 30 degrees, then carried out what one could call an inversion and went up under an angle close to the vertical while moving away from me."
"It did not have an intrinsec movement on its trajectory. Its apparent diameter was that of the Moon. I did not perceive any noise, although the sea could have prevented it. As for speed, it was close to the speed of a jet airplane."
The duration of the passing of the object was very short. If Mr. Turpin had delayed the use of his camera of of three or four seconds, it would have been too late.
The gendarmes carried out an investogation at the time of the observation. The gendarmerie sought any flight plan of planes, balloons, in France, in England and Belgium, and sought the existence of what they thought may have been some new English or French prototype. Nothing was found and the case remained "without explanation."
The camera was a standard Foca 24*36 with 5.6 or 6.3 aperture and 1/100th of a second exposure. The camera had an Oplarf objective, 3.5 of 35 mm and the film was Tri-X.
It was established by timing the duration of rearmament of the camera that between two to three seconds had run out between the first and the second photography.
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The first picture. |
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The second picture. |
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
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The observation was made at a place called "La Pointe aux Oies" located 7 km away from Boulogne-sur-Mer with a view of Ambleteuse to the north (Michelin map 51, fold 1). This region has several E-W and WNW-ESE oriented faults.
The weather was clear, the wind from the NE, the temperature around 12 to 14°.
Report of facts
On October 24, 1954, around 5:00 p.m., Mr. Turpin Emile, 34, an inspector at the SNCF, had gone to Pointe aux Oies to photograph a Neolithic man's tomb: "It was by taking a photo of this tomb that I saw the craft" said Mr. Turpin.
"Without changing the settings (which must have been on 5 or 7 m.) I took a photo, I rearmed the camera and took a second photo. For the third I wanted to change my settings, but I was unable to find the object. (By timing the time it takes to rearm, we calculated that two to three seconds separate the two photos).
The craft was shaped like a disc, with a bulge in the middle. It was light metallic in color, which could be compared to a bronze reflection.
It passed in front of me following a fairly closed parabola. It could be located at an angular height of approximately 50°. It came from my left, descending at an angle of 30° then performed what can be called a "reversal" and ascended at an angle close to the vertical while moving away from me.
It didn't make any movement in its path. Its apparent diameter was that of the moon. I didn't hear any noise, although the sea might have covered it; as for the speed, it can be compared to that of a jet fighter.
Details
The two photos were taken with a standard 24 X 36 Foca, at an aperture of 5.6 or 6.3 at 1/100° of a second. The lens was an Oplar f. 3.5 by 35 mm., the film a tri-X.
At the time, investigations were made by the gendarmerie. They focused on sounding balloons, helicopters, new aircraft prototypes and celestial bodies. These surveys have been extended from the North of France to Belgium and England. They were negative.
During this observation, Mr. Turpin had his camera ready, and had what he called a photographer's reflex, taking the photo before he was surprised or wtached it! (3 seconds later there would have been no photos).
May our fellow LDLN readers and investigators remember that a photo is always welcome, and keep their (loaded) camera handy as much as possible.
N.D.L.R. - Thanks to our friends Bigorne for his investigation, Melik-Hovsepian for his contacts with the witness, Mantaux and Nazero for the photo work. This relationship shows once again the importance of the 1954 re-investigations; this one made it possible, thanks to archival research, to find an unprecedented fact: a witness in possession of a rare film. Consider archival research and reinvestigations.
(continued on page 17)
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(Continued from page 16)
BOULOGNE-SUR-MER
10/24/1954
Sun ->
Light room interpretation
of the 1st photo of M. Turpin by F. L. [=Fernand Lagarde]
Top view
View from below
[Ref. cpr1:] CLAUDE POHER, UFO RESEARCH GROUP "GEPA":
In 1968-1969, before the official GEPAN ufology effort started, its future head Dr Claude Poher was a member of the unofficial GEPA ufology group, and gathered a computer coded listing of more than 700 UFO reports on which multiple factors statistical computation could be run. In the file were a number of 1954 French UFO reports, among those this one.
For readability, a decoded interpretation of the data is provided here under the original 80 character encoded string. Decoding was done according to the original indications, the code number and its generic meaning is given. Please not that the generic meaning of each code is a predefined category, not the real specific details of the case. For example, if the main witness' age was 33, the coding would result in a number "3" which corresponds to a category "Adult from 21 to 59 years."
| Original code: | 0620550210195416001JA1137011005014ZZZZ090000100000000000000000000000000000000010 |
| Location: | Vimereux (Pas de Calais) - France |
| Case number: | 0620 |
| Source code: | 55 |
| Nature of the source: | Reports from official French sources: Police, Gendarmerie, Army, Pilots |
| Day: | 02 |
| Month: | 10 |
| Year: | 54 |
| Hours: | 16 |
| Minutes: | 00 |
| Type of Time: | 1 = local time |
| Number of witnesses: | 1 = 1 |
| Main witness named: | 1 = name(s) indicated |
| Main witness age: | 3 = Adult from 21 to 59 years |
| Main witness occupation: | 7 = civil, military or private pilots |
| Official investigation: | 1 = an official investigation was made |
| Weather: | 1 = beautiful weather, clear sky, no clouds |
| Duration: | 0 = no indication |
| Minimal distance witness - phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Method of observation: | 5 = photography or film |
| Number of "objects" observed simultaneously: | 01 = 1 |
| Shape of the "object" (terminology of witness(es)): | 4 = oval, egg, ovoïd, "like a rugby ball" |
| Dimensions of the phenomenon: | ZZZZ = no indication |
| Color of the observed phenomenon: | 09 = white |
| Luminosity of the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Lights or projectors on the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Moving speed of the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Acceleration of the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Trajectory of the phenomenon: | 1 = straignt line or very wide curve |
| Sounds perceived during observation: | 0 = no indication |
| Maximum angular height of observation (horizon = 0°): | 0 = no indication |
| Nature of the landing place: | 0 = no indication |
| Number of contact points with ground: | 0 = no indication |
| Traces of landing: | 0 = no indication |
| Observation of "occupants" | 0 = no indication |
| Height of the occupants observed: | 00 = no indication |
| Garment of the occupants: | 00 = no indication |
| Garment: | 0 = no indication |
| General behavior of "occupants": | 0 = no indication |
| Interaction of "occupants" with witness: | 0 = no indication |
| Head, hair: | 0 = no indication |
| Voice, breathing, chin: | 0 = no indication |
| Skin: | 0 = no indication |
| Eyes: | 0 = no indication |
| Mouth: | 0 = no indication |
| Various details: | 0 = no indication |
| Thermal effects: | 0 = no indication |
| Luminous effects: | 0 = no indication |
| Magnetic effect (or electromagnetic): | 0 = no indication |
| Odor perceived by witness: | 0 = no indication |
| Physiological effects on the witness(es): | 0 = no indication |
| Psychological effect on the witness(es): | 0 = no indication |
| Effects on animals: | 0 = no indication |
| Other effects reported: | 0 = no indication |
| Nebulosity: | 0 = no indication |
| Oscillations, emission of matter: | 0 = no indication |
| Spin, formation flight: | 0 = no indication |
| Immediate disappearance: | 0 = no indication |
| Halo surrounding the phenomenon: | 0 = no indication |
| Interaction witness / phenomenon (complement to the other rubrics): | 0 = no indication |
| Drawing or photo: | 1 = a drawing or a photograph is added to the original report. |
| Structural details observed: | 0 = no indication |
[Ref. gni1:] GNEOVNI:
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10/2/1954 - AMBLETEUSE - WIMEREUX 62 type 3
Around 4:30 p.m. Mr Turpin took a photograph of an object at a distance estimated at two thousand meters. The object of a medium brightness, passed in the sky at a rather high speed from west to East.
(GNEOVNI Archive)
[Ref. ufo1:] "UFO REGISTER":
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0092b: 1954: October 24th. Time: 5.00pm.
Near Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, FRANCE.
A discoidal object.
Photographer: Turpin Emile. (Two photographs taken)
Ref: LDLN, no:129 pp.16-17.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH - "*U* COMPUTER DATABASE":
4262: 1954/10/24 17:00 1 1:38:00 E 50:47:00 N 3333 WEU FRN PDC 6:6
POINTE-aux-OIES,FR:RR INSPECTOR takes 2 FOTOS/SCR:PARABOLIC ARC ^+^/20sec
Ref#194 LUMIERES dans la NUIT.(LDLN France) Issue No. 129 : COASTLANDS
[Ref. jpn1:] JEAN-PHILIPPE DAIN:
Ref. UFOTO : 0381
24 OCT 1954 17:00
Location : Boulogne sur Mer (FRA) / Author : TURPIN Émile
[Ref. jdt1:] JEAN-PIERRE D'HONDT:
Cet ufologue indique que le 24 octobre 1954, aux environs de Boulogne sur Mer, dans le Pas-de-Calais a eu lieu le cas suivant:
TYPE : 4 / D / DD
REF : LDLN 129 November 1973 page 16
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE OBSERVATION:
The observation was made at the locality "La Pointe aux Oies", located at 7 km of Boulogne-sur-Mer with sight on Ambleteuse in the north (Michelin map 51, fold 1).
The weather was clear, the wind from NE, the temperature from 12 to 14°C approximately.
On October 24, 1954 towards 05:00 p.m., Mr. Turpin Emile, 34-year-old, inspector with the SNCF with the SNCF, had gone to la Pointe de l'Oie to photograph a tomb of a man of the Neolithic era; "It is when taking a photograph of this tomb that I saw the craft" Mr. Turpin says.
"Without changing the settings (which were to be on 5 or 7 m.) I took a photograph, I rearmed the camera and I took a second photograph. For the third I wanted to change my settings, but I was unable to find the object. (By timing the time necessary to rearmament, one calculated that two to three seconds separate the two photographs).
The machine had the shape of a disc, with a bulge on the central part. It was of light metallic color, which one could bring closer to a reflection on bronze.
It passed in front of me by describing a quite closed parabola. One could approximately locate it at an angular height of 50°. It came from my left i.e. from west to east, downward under an angle of 30° then carried out what one can call an inversion and went up under an angle close to the vertical while moving away from me.
It did not do a movement on its trajectory. Its apparent diameter was that of the moon. I did not perceive any noise, although the sea could have obstructed, as for speed one can say it was close to that of a jet fighter.
The two photographs were taken with a standard Foca 24X36 with 5,6 or 6,3 aperture at 1/100th of a second. The objective was an Oplar F 3,5 or F 35 mm, the film tri-X.
At the time, investigations were made by the gendarmerie. They looked for weather balloons, helicopters, new planes prototypes and celestial bodies. These investigations were extended from the North of France to Belgium and England. They were negative.
At the time of this observation Mr. Turpin had his camera ready, and had what he called a photographer's reflex, by taking the photograph before being astonished or watching it! (3 seconds later there no would have been photographs)
Editors note. - Thanks to our friends Bigorne for his investigation, Melik Hovsepian for his contacts with the witness, Mantaux and Nazero for photographs work. This report shows once again the importance of re-investigating cases of 1954; this one allowed, thanks to file research, to discover a new fact: a witness in possession of a rare film.
[Ref. jbs1:] VICENTE-JUAN BALLESTER-OLMOS, "FOTOCAT 1954":
(66)
DATE: 24 October 1954
LOCATION: Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas de Calais (France)
FORMAT: Picture
PHOTOGRAPHER: Emile Turpin
EXPLANATION: Not available
REFERENCES: Lumières Dans La Nuit, 129, November 1973, pages 16-17.
REMARKS: Several sources have misplaced or misdated this case. For instance, the Larry Robinson database has it as Ambleterre, October 10, 1954. I believe it is the same case. While the Stevens and Roberts 1986 book has it as both Ambleteuse October 1st, Ambleterre October 2, and also as Boulogne Mer October 2.
[Ref. lcn1:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates in his database that in the Pas-de-Calais in Wimereux on October 2, 1954 at 16:00 hours, "a pilot witness observed by beautiful weather a white ovoid object which moved in straight line. A photograph was taken by the witness, it was attached to the gendarmerie report."
La source est indiquée comme "Les Universons par Poher Claude ** http://www.premiumwanadoo.com/universons/"
[Ref. lcn2:] LUC CHASTAN:
Luc Chastan indicates that in the Pas-de-Calais with Ambleteuse on October 24, 1954 at 17:00 hours, "the witness had gone to the location called La Pointe de l'Oie, at the edge of sea, to photograph a tomb dating from the Neolithic era. He prepared to photograph it when he saw a craft in the shape of disc in the sky. He thus had his apparatus very ready to photograph, although set to photograph the tomb at a few meters. He says: "It is by taking a photograph of this tomb that I saw the machine. Without modifying the settings, which were to be on 5 or 7 m, I took a photograph, I rearmed and I took a second photograph. For the third, I wanted to change my settings, but I was unable to find the object. The machine had the shape of a disc, with a bulge on the central part. It was of clear metal color, you would say it was similar to a bronze reflections. It passed in front of me following a quite closed parabola. One could approximately locate it at an angular height of 50 degrees. It came from my left, going down at an angle of 30 degrees, then carried out what one could call an inversion and went up under an angle close to the vertical while moving away from me. It did move otherwise on its trajectory. Its apparent diameter was that of the Moon. I did not perceive any noise, although the sea could obstruct it. As for speed, it was in the order of that of a jet fighter." The duration of the passage of the object was very short. If the witness had delayed of three or four seconds to use his camera, it would have been too late. The gendarmes carried out an investigation at the time of the observation. The gendarmerie sought any flight plan of planes, balloons, France in England to Belgium, and sought the existence of what they thought could be some new English or French prototype. Nothing was found and the affair remained "without explanation." The camera was a standard Foca 24*36 with 5.6 or 6.3 aperture at 1/100th of second. The apparatus had a Oplarf lens. 3.5 of 35 mm and the film was Tri-X. It was established by timing the delay of rearmament of the camera that from two to three seconds had run out between the first and the second photographic shot."
The source is indicated as being my website at http://ufologie.net.
[Ref. unmd1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 1 October 1954 at 19:00 in Ambleteuse, France, an "object was observed and photographed. One object, about 10 feet across, was observed by one witness."
The sources are indicated as Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073); Vallee, Jacques, Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1966.
[Ref. uda2:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 2 October 1954 at 16:00 in Wimereux, France, "an object was observed and photographed. One object was observed by one witness (Turpin)."
The sources are indicated as "Poher, Claude, Etudes Statistiques Portant sur 1000 Temoignag, Author, undated; Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073)".
[Ref. nmd1:] SITE WEB "DAILY NORD":
DailyNord Which are the UFOS that impressed you the most in the Nord – Pas-de-Calais?
Ufolog62: The case of the dunes of Slack in 1954 with photos taken by someone who had no advantage in crossing one day this kind of experience (see the details below).
[...]
Dunes of Slack (Ambleteuse, towards Boulogne-sur-Mer), a disc-shaped craftfalls from the sky: this happens in 1954. A man wishes to make photos of a neolotic tomb in the dunes. All of a sudden, he sees a disc fall from the sky, with a bump in the middle part. Light metallic color. The weird craft then perfeorms a reverse and goes back up vertically before disappearing at the speed of a jet fighter. We even have the images.
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Date: October 24 1954
Location: Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France
Time:
Summary:
Source:
[This was hardly the most dedailed version of this case!]
[Ref. gei1:] "GROUPE D'ETUDES ET D'INFORMATIONS SUR LES PHENOMENES AEROSPATIAUX NON IDENTIFIES":
| WIMEREUX (62) 02.10.1954 | |
| Observed on: | 02-10-1954 |
| Region: | Nord-Pas-de-Calais |
| Department: | Pas-de-Calais |
| Class: | C |
| Summary: |
Rapid observation of the SW-NE displacement of a very clear elliptic object in the sky: lack of information |
| Description: |
On October 2, 1954, a witness prepares to photograph a dolmen at about 4 p.m. in sunny weather when he sees a light-colored elliptical-shaped object moving SW-NE. He takes two photos and sends the negatives to the newspaper "Radar". The gendarmerie learned of the event by the Press and met the witness only on October 15. Prints were attached only to the first shipment of the report (no photos attached to the copies of the report available at GEIPAN). A brief investigation of this case was conducted by GEPAN in the late 1970s. It concluded that the photographs would not have been published in "Radar" magazine and that the research of the witness (aged about 58 years at the time) have remained unsuccessful. The observation lasts only a few seconds, the time to take two photos one after the other. The phenomenon disappears before the witness has time to change the setting of his camera. The description too succinct and the absence of photos do not allow to analyze this observation; the GEIPAN classifies this case in C. |
| Report: | None. |
| Details of the testimony | |
| Witness | |
| Date of the observation | 10/02/1954 |
| Document number | |
| Age | Adult (more than 18) |
| Profession | Top and Middle Executives |
| Sex | Male |
| Reaction | Active Curiosity |
| Credibility | Normal Credibility |
| Conditions | |
| Environment | Country |
| Weather Conditions | Clear Sky |
| Hour of the observation | Numbered: 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. |
| Rererence frame | Sky or Clouds |
| Distance between phenomenon and witness | Not-Specified |
| Start of the observation | Start of observation by témoin |
| End of the observation | End of observation by phenomenon |
| Localization | |
| Angle of the site | Not-Specified;Not-Specified |
| Direction of observation | North |
| Heading | South-West |
| Trajectory | Not-Specified;Not-Specified |
| Nature of the observation | Object;Craft |
| Characteristic of the observation | Single |
| Global shape | Other shape (comparison) |
| Color | White (light) |
| Apparent size | Not-Specified |
| Apparent speed | Not-Specified |
| Noise | Not-Specified |
| Effect on the environment | Recordings (video, photos, radar, radio) |
| Number: | 1 |
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
This database recorded this case 6 times:
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541001 | 01.10.1954 | Ambleteuse | France | |||||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Boulogne Mer | France | 16.00 | DD | |||||
| 19540926 | 26.09.1954 | Wimereux | France | 19.00 | NL | |||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Wimereux | France | 16.00 | DD | |||||
| 19541024 | 24.10.1954 | Boulogne-sur-Mer | France | |||||||
| 19541002 | 02.10.1954 | Arbleterre [sic] | France | Daytime | DD |
[Ref. pnq1:] "RARANORMAL QC" BLOG:
- October 24 [1954]: 7 km from Boulogne-sur-Mer, near Ambleteuse, Emile Turpin, inspector at the SNCF, sees a disc in the sky. The UFO was of light metallic color and had a bulge on the central part. Turpin took two photos of the UFO.
[Ref. jbo2:] JUAN-VICENTE BALLESTER OLMOS:
| Date | Approx | UFO | Nation | Photo Film | Media | Duration | Blue Book | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-24-1954 | 17.00 | Fake | OK | Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais (France) | FRA | 62 | PHOTO | Emile Turpin | Donald Menzel and Lyle Boyle, The World of Flying Saucers, Doubleday, 196, p 123 and plate IV (b). Lumières Dans La Nuit, 129, November 1973, pp 16-17. Stéphane Bernard, Top Secret (special issue #5), July-September 2008, p. 20. Archive Michel Monnerie. | October 24, 1954 |
[Ref. wia1:] "WIKIPEDIA FR" WEBSITE:
|
In their web page about the 1954 French flap in France, Wikipedia FR mentions 21 sightings of the "flap", including:
[... other cases...]
October 24 [1954]: at 7 km from Boulogne-sur-Mer, near Ambleteuse, Émile Turpin, SNCF inspector, sees a disc in the sky. The ufo is of light metallic color and has a bulge on its central part. Turpin takes two pictues of the ufo3.
The source "3" is described as "Catalogue régional observation OVNI Nord [archive]." A broken link brought to a Web page of the GERU defunct Website.
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Detail, no modifications, of the object on the first photograph. |
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Detail, no modification, of the object on the second photograph. |
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Object on the second photograph, blur filter to cancel the grain of the photograph, slight contrast and luminosity enhancement. |
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Object on the second photograph, I surimposed an interpretation drawing by ufologist François Lagarde with the object. |
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Not looked for yet.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Boulognes-sur-Mer, Ambleteuse, La Pointe aux Oies, Pas-de-Calais, Emile Turpin, object, craft, disc, reflection, fast, saucer, gendarmes, Wimereux
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | August 10, 2004 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 2, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Additions [jdt1], [lcn1], [lcn2], [uda2]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | January 17, 2010 | Addition [jpn1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | 10 octobre 2014 | Addition [tai1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | October 10, 2014 | Addition [tai1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | January 24, 2017 | Additions [gne1], [gei1], [ubk1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | December 24, 2018 | Addition [lhh1]. |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | January 19, 2020 | Additions [usa1], [gni1], [ufo1], [pnq1]. |
| 1.7 | Patrick Gross | June 8, 2020 | Addition [vdn1]. |
| 1.8 | Patrick Gross | December 30, 2020 | Additions [sen1], [sen2]. |
| 1.9 | Patrick Gross | October 22, 2021 | Addition [vdn2]. |
| 2.0 | Patrick Gross | March 12, 2022 | Additions [gqy1], [jbo2]. |
| 2.1 | Patrick Gross | May 16, 2022 | Additions [ldl1], [wia1]. |
