The 1954 French flap:

THE RAGE IN FRANCE

'Saucer' buzzes Napoleon tomb

To be anybody at all in France these days you practically have to have seen a flying saucer, preferably one of the iridescent ones that change color like a juke box.

Being able to down gallons of champagne, or owning a slightly rundown château or even attending an opening at a theater hardly counts.

Flying saucers, and now flying cigars, are "sighted" practically daily by witnesses who are upstanding citizens, model of probity and sobriety and pillars of the community.

Latest to report the phenomena was movie star Michèle Morgan who said she sighted a luminous disc hovering over the dome of Les Invalides, where Napoleon is buried.

"An old man near me also saw it," Miss Morgan said. "But he ran away."

Rainbow flying saucers are the rage in central France where draughtsman Jean Besse said he watched one Friday night through powerful binoculars. He said it changed color three times in a few seconds.

At Le Puy, west of here, hotel owner Marcel Maillet said he saw an iridescent saucer changing color like a juke box.

Louis Moll, a railway crossing guard at Oberdorff said he saw a saucer "land" last Sunday.

"It was about 7:15 p.m.," he said. "My eyes were blinded by a great luminous mass which seemed to touch the ground near the village of Tromborn. As it neared the earth, the color changed in what looked to me like Neon tubes. It was the shape of a small bus.

"IT TOUCHED the ground for about 40 seconds ...

Finally it flew off, straight up in the air, lighted by an orange glow which changed to red. I heard nothing."

At Origny - en Tierache, Robert Chovet, his wife and brother-in-law were driving along tuesday night when, he said, they practically ran down a flying saucer.

"It hovered several meters in front of us," he said. "An enormous orange disc at just about tree level. It was immobile for several seconds and then awooshed straight upward with dizzy speed."

More saucers

More saucers to add to an already imposing pile!

It is a doctor from Le Puy who would have observed twice, above his city, a silent, round and shiny object.

In Charron (Charente-Maritime), three fishermen (moon fishermen, no doubt) and a customs officer would have seen a formation of saucers, moving very low, above the shore.

Bayonne residents claimed to have seen three mysterious objects, of light color.

Six flying cigars (note that they were not acrobats) would have crisscrossed the sky of Haute-Fontaine-les-Baroches (Meurthe-and-Moselle).

Mysterious craft were also reported above Epinal and Le Puy.

Certainly, the skies of France are very populated...

The Passer-By spends his time scanning the horizon. He even caught a painful stiff neck.

Fortunately, the English have just developed a flying "cage-bed", which will be of great service to saucer researchers.

A word of advice to those who find themselves in the presence of a "saucer" or a "cigar": be very... "diplomat"!

THE PASSER-BY

Iridescent and oscillating saucers

Tulle (A.F.P.).

Mr. Besse, draughtsman with the E.D.F. [state power co], in Tulle, saw distinctly Friday evening, at approximately 11 p.m., above the city, a flying saucer. Using powerful binoculars, he could follow during a few moments the evolutions of the machine which changed, he says, three times of color within a few moments.

* * *

Le Puy (A.F.P.):

Mr. Mallet, owner of the Hotel of the Cevennes, in Le Puy, saw in the East of this city, a craft changing color and moving slowly without noise animated apparently light oscillation.

"Flying saucers" in Tulle and Le Puy

New "appearances" of "flying saucers" were reported yesterday.

Mr. Besse, draftsman at the E.D.F. [National power co.] in Tulle, saw distinctly Friday night, about 11 p.m., above the city, a flying saucer. Using powerful binoculars, he managed to follow during a few moments the evolutions of the machine that changed color, he said, three times in a few moments.

On the other hand, Mr. Mallet, owner of the Cevennes hotel in Le Puy, saw at the east of this city, a color-changing craft moving slowly and noiselessly, animated, it seemed, of a slight oscillation.

The saucers change color while flying

Tulle, 27. -- Mr. Besse, designer at the E.D.F. in Tulle, saw distinctly, Friday evening, around 11 p.m., above the city, a flying saucer. Using powerful binoculars, he was able to follow for a few moments the moves of the craft which changed, he said, three times in color in a few moments.

Le Puy, 27. -- Mr. Mallet, owner of the Hôtel des Cévennes, in Le Puy, saw, to the east of this town, a craft changing color and moving slowly without noise, animated, it seemed, of a gentle oscillation.

"They" are
iridescent
is oscillating

Tulle. -- Mr. Besse, designer at the E.D.F., in Tulle, saw clearly on Friday evening around 11/00 p.m., above the city, a flying saucer. With the help of powerful binoculars, he was able to follow for a few moments the moves of the craft which changed, he says, three times its color in a few moments.

Le Puy. -- Mr. Mallet, owner of the Hôtel des Cévennes in Le Puy, saw, to the East of this city, a craft changing color and moving slowly without noise, animated it seemed, of a slight oscillation.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27: IRRISED SAUCER... OR ALMOST ... -

Monsieur Besse, draftsman at the EDF in Tulle, saw a flying saucer on Friday evening, around 11 p.m., above the city. With powerful binoculars, he was able to follow, for a few moments, the evolution of the machine which changed, he says, three times of color in a few moments.

The Puy - Monsieur Mallet saw east of this city a machine changing color and moving slowly without noise, animated, it seemed, of a slight oscillation.