An account in Vaucluse, France

On June 15, 1951 at 11:30 a.m., two pilots took off from the Orange-Caritat air base. One of the pilots was surprised to see a craft of circular or spherical appearance, silver and very bright, in the sky. He informed his patrol leader, who saw it in turn. The craft was stationary and located, according to one of the pilots, in the south of the Pelvoux massif (Ecrins massif) at the same altitude as the Pelvoux peaks and as his aircraft (10,000 feet). The two aircraft pursued this craft, which seemed to them to grow larger. The craft then moved on a slightly rising trajectory, taking on an oblong shape. The simultaneous observation lasted about 6 minutes before the craft disappeared in the form of a point on the horizon. The investigation at the time, conducted by the base commander, confirmed the credibility of the observations. It is noted that certain descriptions in these testimonies suggest a stratospheric balloon observed from a distance. Nevertheless, the fact that one of the pilots reported a rapid moving away of the object when he tried to approach it does not fit this hypothesis. GEIPAN classifies this case as D1: strange unidentified phenomenon.