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The 1954 French flap:

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August 31, 1954, Lyon, Rhône:

Reference for this case: 31-Aug-54-Lyon.
Please cite this reference in any correspondence with me regarding this case.

Summary:

In a routine CIA report of October 25, 1954, about the sightings of unidentified flying objects, it appeared that according to the Senegalese newspaper Paris-Dakar for September 2, 1954, it was reported that at 08:15 p.m. on August 31, 1954, Henri Tardy saw a flying object in the shape of a short, sturdy cigar flying from east to west over Lyon.

The object was bluish-green in color and emitted sparks from its tail. It disappeared in a few seconds towards the broadcasting antenna of Mont Verdon.

Reports:

[Ref. cia1:] CIA:

CLASSIFICATION [Blackened out]

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROACASTS

		CO NO.:	..
COUNTRY:	Non-Orbit	DATE OF INFORMATION:	1954
SUBJET:	Military - Unidentified flying objects
HOW PUBLISHED:	Daily newspapers	DATE DIST.:	25 oct 1954
WHERE PUBLISHED:	As indicated	NO. OF PAGES:	3
DATE PUBLISHED:	5 Jul - 2 Sep 1954
LANGUAGES:	Various	SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT NO.:
[Blackened out]	[Blackened out]	THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
SOURCE:	As indicated

SIGHTINGS OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS

[... (Previous reports)]

UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT OVER LYON -- Dakar, Paris-Dakar, 2 Sep 54

At 2015 hours on 31 August 1954, Henri Tardy is reported to have seen a flying object in the shape of a short, fat cigar flying from east to west over Lyon. The object was bluish-green in color and emitted sparks from its tail. It disappeared in a few seconds towards the radio beacon of Mount Verdon.

[... (Next reports)]

[Ref. aml2:] AIME MICHEL:

The number of saucer sightings continued to acce1erate. Each day several were reported. By the end of August [1954], at the moment when Wilbert Smith, who had predicted the phenomenon, closed his observatory at Shirley's Bay near Ottawa because nothing special was happening in Canada, the skies over Lyon, Angers, and over the entire Paris region were swarming with saucers.

[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:

Swarms of UFOs.

By the last days of August Europe was swarming with UFOs if we can believe reports from Villacoublay, Brittany, Anger, Amiens, Lyon, and the Paris region of France; Munich and Berlin in Germany; Innsbruck in Austria; Trieste in Italy; and Stone and Stafford in England; to name a few. The visitation at Villacoublay on the 29th was seen and reported by military and technical personnel stationed at the French air base located in the vicinity. 214.

214. Michel, Aime. "Flying Saucers In Europe - Saucers or Delusions" Fate January 1, 1958. p.32.

Explanations:

Obvious description of a meteor.

Keywords:

(These keywords are only to help queries and are not implying anything.)

Lyon, Rhône, Henri Tardy, blue, green, cigar, elongated, fat, sparks, tail, trail, meteor

Sources:

[----] indicates sources that are not yet available to me.

[----] Article in the newspaper Paris-Dakar, Dakkar, Senegal, September 2, 1954.
[cia1] "Information from foreign documents or Radio Broadcast - Sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects, 31 July - 20 September 1954", rapport de la CIA (Central Intelligence Agency, USA), Report, pages 1,2, October 25, 1954.
[aml2] "Flying Saucers in Europe - The Crisis of Autumn 1954", article by Aimé Michel in Fate magazine, USA, page 28, August 1957.
[lgs1] "UFOs: A History - 1954 June-August", monography by Loren Gross, USA, page 96, 1990.

Document history:

Version:	Created/Changed by:	Date:	Change Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	January 22, 2005	First published.
1.0	Patrick Gross	March 4, 2010	Conversion from HTML to XHTML Strict. First formal version.
1.1	Patrick Gross	November 25, 2016	Addition [lgs1].
1.2	Patrick Gross	July 4, 2019	Addition of the Summary.
1.2	Patrick Gross	July 7, 2022	Addition [aml2].

This page was last updated on July 7, 2022.