The index page for the 1954 French flap section of this website is here.
Reference for this case: 14-Oct-54-St-André-les-Alpes.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.
The regional newspaper Le Méridional for October 15, 1954, reported on page 6, that the evening before, many people in Saint-André-les-Alpes had seen for the first time in the sky overlooking the mountain Chalvet, "a round object."
In the observation glasses, it appeared like a disc with green, yellow and red reflections; which seemed to rotate on itself. The phenomenon lasted about 45 minutes.
[Ref. lml1:] NEWSPAPER "LE MERIDIONAL":
SAINT-ANDRE-LES-ALPES (C.P.). -- Yesterday evening, many people saw for the first time in the sky dominating the Chalvet mountain, a round object.
With the observation glasses, a disc showing green, yellow and red reflections, seemed to make rotations on itself. This phenomenon lasted 45 minutes approximately.
Rest of the article about other sightings available here.
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on 14 October 1954 19:00 in St Andre-Les-Alpes, France, "An unidentified object was sighted, but with appearance and behavior that most likely would have a conventional explanation. One object was observed for 45 minutes."
The source is indicated as Vallee, Jacques, Computerized Catalog (N = 3073).
[Ref. ubk1:] "UFO-DATENBANK":
| Case Nr. | New case Nr. | Investigator | Date of observation | Zip | Place of observation | Country of observation | Hour of observation | Classification | Comments | Identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19541014 | 14.10.1954 | St. Andre Alpes | France | 19.00 | NL |
|
The Chalvet is about 1 km, in the west of Saint-André-les-Alpes (43° 58' 03'' North, 6° 30' 32'' East). As the village is quite extensive, and the exact location of the witnesses is not given, the possible direction of observation is between the northwest and west-southwest.
I find in this direction and in the evening, Venus, but a little too low at dusk and under the horizon just after sunset; Arcturus due west at 20° elevation at 06:38 p.m. and seeting down in the evening. I think that Arcturus, very brilliant, may have been the cause of this misinterpretation, but there is obviously not enough data in the report to make it a certainty.
(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)
Saint-André-les-Alpes, Alpes de Haute Provence, Chalvet, object, round, disc, reflections, green, yellow, red, binoculars, multiple, rotation, duration, night
[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.
| Version: | Created/Changed by: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | April 11, 2006 | First published. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 8, 2009 | Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version. Addition [uda1]. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | February 25, 2017 | Addition [ubk1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | July 10, 2019 | Addition of the Summary. Explanations changed, were "Not looked for yet. Probably balloon or astronomical." |
