The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: Beg-Oct-54-Saint-Nazaire.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The ufology magazine Lumières Dans la Nuit (LDLN) #273-274 of March - April 1987 repotred an observation from the account made to an LDLN investigator in December 1978 in Rennes, who had recorded it on a tape recorder.
In the first half of October 1954, around 10:45 a.m., Mr. T. (or M. T.), then 18, student of 1st B class at the Aristide-Briand high school in Saint-Nazaire, had just entered to the courtyard of this high school after a math lesson, with 5 or 6 classmates. They were the first out, there was no one else in the yard at the time. The weather was fine, the sky was cloudless.
Suddenly, one of T.'s classmates gasped, pointing to something in the sky. T. then saw, in the direction of the North, above the roofs of the houses which bordered the school, something very brilliant, which advanced slowly and silently. The "thing" shone so brightly that it was hard to see its shape, which seemed more or less round. It was advancing from northwest to southeast.
T. thought it looked like the glazed cockpit of a helicopter on which the sun would have been reflected, which prevented to distinguish its outlines. The altitude of the "thing" appeared to be that of a low-flying helicopter.
One of T.'s comrades exclaimed: "Is it not a flying saucer, after all!" But T. had the impression that each of his comrades asked himself this question, like himself.
The "thing" was visible for about a minute, then was hidden by a house roof. During the observation, the trajectory did not vary either in direction or in speed.
What impressed T. the most was the total silence of the "thing", despite its proximity.
In December 1979, T. returned to the exact location of the sighting, to the Social Welfare parking lot which had been built on the site of the former post-war Aristide-Briand college. Mr. T. wanted to verify from how far he had seen the 1954 "thing", based on the roofs of the houses. He then estimated this distance between 100 and 150 meters.
Mr. T. remembered this sighting very well, more than 30 years later, and still could not find any explanation for what he saw. The author of the article notes that according to the size and the speed, one could think of a helicopter, but at less than 150 meters, there would have been noise, whereas it had been total silence...
[Ref. ldl1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LUMIERES DANS LA NUIT":
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1st OBSERVATION
Date: 1st half of October 1954
Time: around 10:45 a.m.
Duration: approximately 1 minute
Weather: good weather, clear skies.
Witnesses: Mr. T. and half a dozen high school students
Location: Saint-Nazaire (L.-A.)
That morning, Mr. T. - then 18 years old - was a 1st B student at the Aristide-Briand high school in Saint-Nazaire (44).
He had just gone out in the playground, after a math lesson, with his classmates (5 or 6). It must have been around 10:45 a.m.; it was the inter-course, but they were the first out: there was no one else in the college courtyard.
Suddenly, one of T.'s classmates gasped, pointing to something in the sky. T. then saw, in the direction of the North, above the roofs of the houses which bordered the college, something very brilliant, which advanced slowly and silently. The "thing" shone so brightly that it was hard to see its shape, which seemed more or less round. It was advancing from northwest to southeast.
T. thought it looked like the glazed cockpit of a helicopter on which the sun would have been reflected, which made it impossible to distinguish its outlines. The altitude of the "thing" appeared to be that of a low-flying helicopter.
One of T.'s comrades exclaimed: "Is this a flying saucer, after all!" But T. had the impression that each of his comrades was asking himself this question, like he did.
The "thing" was visible for about a minute, then was hidden by a roof of a house. During the observation, the trajectory did not vary in direction or speed.
What impressed T. the most was the total silence of the "thing", despite its proximity.
NB. In December 1979, T. returned to the exact location of the 1954 sighting, i.e. to the Social Security parking lot (which was built on the site of the former Aristide-Briand college post-war). Mr. T. wanted to verify how far he had seen the 1954 "thing", based on the roofs of the houses. He estimated this distance between 100 and 150 meters.
This observation was reported to an LDLN investigator in December 1978 in Rennes, who recorded it on a tape recorder.
Mr. T. remembers this observation very well, more than 30 years later. He still cannot find any explanation for what he saw (according to the size and the speed, one can think of a helicopter, but at less than 150 m it would have made noise! However, it was total silence...)
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The description may indeed suggest a helicopter illuminated by a reflection of the sun, but the silence, as the witness points out, does not correspond to it.
To be on the safe side, though, I'm marking the case as "unidentified."
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Saint-Nazaire, Loire-Atlantique, Dominique de Tarragon, Dominique de Tarragon, morning, high school, students, middle school, Aristide-Briand high school, courtyard, shiny, slow, silent, round, cockpit, glass, helicopter, reflection, low, flying saucer, duration
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
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| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 20, 2022 | First published. |
