ACUFO:

ACUFO is my comprehensive catalog of cases of encounters between aircraft and UFOs, whether they are “explained” or “unexplained”.

The ACUFO catalog is made of case files with a case number, summary, quantitative information (date, location, number of witnesses...), classifications, all sources mentioning the case with their references, a discussion of the case in order to evaluate its causes, and a history of the changes made to the file.

< Previous case Next case >

France, on August 11, 1944:

Case number:

ACUFO-1944-08-11-FRANCE-1

Summary:

Gary Heseltine, a Former Royal Air Force Police officer, ufologist, producer, editor of UFO Truth Magazine, published in the 2000's, on the Fortean Times magazine website, a list of summaries of his "Top Ten" UFO cases.

One of these cases was:

"On 11 August 1944, whilst over France, a Lancaster bomber crew of eight saw what they described as a huge disc-shaped object with a row of lights that dwarfed their aircraft many times over. Upon landing, the crew officially reported what they had seen and were told not to talk to anyone about it and not to record the information in their log books. In a time before the era of 'flying saucers and UFOs' and at a time of war, this case stands as a landmark sighting."

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	August 11, 1944
Time:	Probable night.
Duration:	?
First known report date:	The 2000's.
Reporting delay:	6 decades.

Geographical data:

Country:	France
State/Department:
City or place:

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	Numerous.
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	0

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Ufologist Gary Heseltine.
Visibility conditions:	Probable night.
UFO observed:	Yes.
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	?
UFO action:	?
Witnesses action:	?
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Sensors:	[X] Visual: Numerous. [ ] Airborne radar: [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages:
Hynek:	?
Armed / unarmed:	Armed, 8 7.62 mm machine guns.
Reliability 1-3:	2
Strangeness 1-3:	3
ACUFO:	Insufficient information.

Sources:

[Ref. ghe1:] GARY HESELTINE:

On 11 August 1944, whilst over France, a Lancaster bomber crew of eight saw what they described as a huge disc-shaped object with a row of lights that dwarfed their aircraft many times over. Upon landing, the crew officially reported what they had seen and were told not to talk to anyone about it and not to record the information in their log books. In a time before the era of 'flying saucers and UFOs' and at a time of war, this case stands as a landmark sighting.

Aircraft information:

The Avro 683 Lancaster was a four-engine night bomber built in more than 7,000 units and it became, with the Handley Page Halifax, the main bomber of the Royal Air Force from 1942 on.

Its defense against German fighter planes was 8 7.62 mm machine guns.

Discussion:

Unfortunately, the information is very meager for such an event, and no contemporary source is indicated.

Because Gary Heseltine was a Royal Air Force member at some time, he may have personall heard this from a former airman of the RAF.

Evaluation:

Insufficient information.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

[ghe1] * "Gary Heseltine's UFO Top Ten", list of cases on the Website of the Fortean Times magazine, U-K., in the 2000's, was at http://www.forteantimes.com/strangedays/ufofiles/518/gary_heseltines_ufo_top_ten.html

File history:

Authoring:

Main author:	Patrick Gross
Contributors:	None
Reviewers:	None
Editor:	Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	April 24, 2024	Creation, [ghe1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	April 24, 2024	First published.

This page was last updated on April 24, 2024.