An account in Eure, France

On Sunday, April 23, 1978 between 8:35 PM UT and 8:51 PM UT, following a telephone call, an operations duty officer at Air Base 105 in Évreux (27) observed a luminous point of red color at an elevation between 10° and 15°: its position was estimated at bearing 300 from the base at Évreux. The lookout personnel also observed the phenomenon, whose luminous intensity decreased. The officer requested radar assistance, which at 8:44 PM UT picked up an echo at bearing 300 from the station at a distance of 18 nautical miles and a movement toward bearing 330 at an estimated speed of 30 to 40 knots. 8:51 PM UT marked the end of the visual observations and the stopping of the radar. The officer wrote his report the next day, April 24, 1978. The radar observation report gives the date of the 24th as the observation date, but this error seems due to a typing mistake, which a priori allows validating the simultaneity of the visual observation and the radar track, of which we unfortunately do not have the recording and whose very weak intensity (1/5) must be noted, but with a long duration (7 minutes). Only one testimony was collected. The GEPAN investigation rejected the helicopter and balloon hypotheses. It is surprising that the planet Venus, very visible that evening in a nearby position (azimuth 296° to 299° and elevation 4° to 1.5°), was not mentioned by the officer. Nevertheless, since the position of the UAP is notably different (azimuth 300° to 330° and elevation 10° to 15°), confusion with Venus seems extremely unlikely. The radar measurement of weak intensity and not confirmed by the other radar at Cinq-Mars-La-Pile must be considered with caution. A false echo (for example, secondary reflection) cannot be ruled out. GEIPAN classifies this case as D1: the phenomenon is moderately strange, distant, but the testimony is of good consistency.