ALSACAT-1955-05-10-BLOTZHEIM-1
Christian Valentin, in his 2012 book on the history of UFO sightings in Alsace, indicated that the regional newspaper L'Alsace for Friday, May 13, 1955, reported these facts:
On Tuesday, May 10, 1955, at 9 p.m., many witnesses in the southern Upper Rhine saw three bright circles appearing and disappearing intermittently in the clouds for about twenty minutes. Some had thought at first that they were flying saucers, but it was quickly interpreted as the reflection of three powerful light beams on clouds.
This first of two similar events, except the place since the other was in Kiffis, took place in the border area with Basel, and was caused by three projectors of the Blotzheim airfield - now Mulhouse-Basel Airport, turned on for the landing of an airliner.
| Date: | May 10, 1955 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 09:00 p.m. |
| Duration: | ~20 minutes. |
| First known report date: | May 13, 1955 |
| Reporting delay: | 2 days. |
| Department: | Haut-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Blotzheim |
| Place: | In the border area near Blotzeim and Basel, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | 47.597 |
| Longitude: | 7.525 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 5 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | Numerous. |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 0 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | ? |
| Witness(es) types: | ? |
| Reporting channel: | The regional Press. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | Near airfiled, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | ? |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | For some, flying saucers. |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Projectors of the Blotzheim airfield. |
[Ref. cvn2:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:
Former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2012 a very interesting book telling the story of UFO sightings, flying saucers sightings, in Alsace, from the beginning to 1980.
In this book, he reports that that on Tuesday, May 10, 1955, in the southern of Alsace, occurred the events reported in the newspaper l'Alsace for Friday, May 13, 1955:
On Tuesday, May 10, at 9 p.m., many witnesses in the southern Upper Rhine, saw three bright circles appearing and disappearing in the clouds intermittently for about twenty minutes. If some thought at first they were seeing a demonstration of flying saucers, the phenomenon was quickly interpreted as the reflection of three powerful light beams on the cloud layer.
And what turns out to be a banal mistake would not deserve to be mentioned except that there might have been two distinct phenomena. Indeed, the press of the time separates two concurrent events, but identical in description and duration.
The first event was located in the border area with Basel and these are the three projectors of the Blotzheim airfield (currently Basel-Mulhouse) turned on for the landing of an airliner; which are at the origin.
The second would be located some twenty miles to the west, above the sector of Ferrette. In the latter case, witnesses residing in Kiffis are convinced that they were projectors of the Swiss army who was conducting at that time maneuvers along the border.
|
Since an ordinary explanation was found at the time, and since no other information is available that would contradict the explanation, I make it mine.
Projectors of the Blotzheim airfield.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editeur: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 23, 2015 | Creation, [cvn2]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | September 23, 2015 | First published. |
