France, April 1962April 1962

Insufficient Data

Summary

On an April evening in 1962 in France, two people saw an unusual light in the sky. The object appeared as a bright yellow light, scintillating like a star but more brilliant, and moved erratically for about 15 minutes. The witnesses reported that it flickered, changed brightness, and disappeared and reappeared several times during the observation. There was no sound associated with the object.

The witnesses ruled out several conventional explanations. An aircraft did not seem likely, because the object would have had to be a glider or light plane to move so slowly, and the time of day did not support this. A satellite was unlikely because satellites move in straight lines and do not reappear once they vanish. A shooting star also moves in a straight line and does not brighten again. The witnesses considered the possibility of a balloon, but found the evidence inconclusive.

The Air Force investigation noted that the data was insufficient for a firm conclusion. The file remarks that the direction of movement and other factors do not clearly support the balloon hypothesis, and no aircraft or other conventional explanation could be confidently ruled in or ruled out. The evaluating officers acknowledged they did not have enough solid information to determine what the witnesses had observed. The USAF's final assessment was listed as "unknown," meaning the object could not be identified based on available evidence.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 13 pages.

Reported location

France, April 1962

Date of incident

April 1962

State / country

? / XX

Page count

13 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 45

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 13

View transcribed text

» Beat rsa Trea ERR ori CATER RA (0 SE 1 1 i MBE EN TEN Be a . ad a
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|
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PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 5
Cl TT Sars 12. CONCLUSIONS
0 Vas Balloon i |
Ea a Freaee 0 |B Erbil Bdiew |
3. DATE-TIMZ GROUP 4 TYPE OF O3SERVATION sepia
B Tn BRE Ee el ei ahr 1 Ground-Visual G Ground-Rador B Bhs Reds
i. 21/9 4 i i |
GMT 24/21167%7 O Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft |
5. PHOTOS 4. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
} C Yes 0 Probably Astronomical
XTX Ne Civi 1 ey O Possibly Astronomical |
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF O3JECTS | 9. COURSE 3 TR LLL EE  S———
% Insufficient Data for Evaluation |
= : : 0 Unknown |
15 mans ona Easterly (2?) |
10, DRIEP SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
Scintillating obj like a star observefi ECHD visible in area at this
1 w/erratic movement for 15 mins. Obj time. Also direction tends to
appeared as a light brighter that the eliminate this possibility, A/C |
stars. Flickering, changes in brightngss/would not be in the area this |
and disappearing and zeappearing inclfyided/long unless it was a glider o
in observation. Yellow, no sound. Inf: light plane and time of day tenys |
translated from letter in French, to rule this out, Possibly a |
balloon sighting, however the
: datn in the translation is incoh-
clisive, Insufficient data for |
analysis,
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) |
J |
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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28996828