This article was published in the daily newspaper Var-Matin - République, France, on February 17, 1974.
Mr. H. Mullerke, living in Le Cannet des Maures, discovered in the small valley between Miollan and Garigalli, a weather balloon whose identification sheet carried the date of launching (February 11, 1974).
Mr. Mullerke discovered the balloon and the parts (among those the radar reflector used by the national meteorology services) whereas he took part in the searches for Mr. Barthelemy Chiapello.
Interested by the UFO phenomenon, Mr. Mullerke who recently communicated a very interesting observation to us on the passage of a flotilla of unidentified flying objects (in the evening of January 8th) made the link between this weatherballoon and the object seen Sunday evening in the sky of Draguignan.
It does not seem, however, that the two phenomena are linked. From other elements having been reported to us about the sighting, it appears that the object seen Sunday towards 6 p.m. had a fast climbing speed and left in its wake a kind of very broad and very long luminous trace: a little like a plane which goes straight up at a very high altitude.
Note: See here for explanations.
