Reddish luminous disc over Senlis seen from Crépy-en-Valois in 1954

Summary

In October 1954, a family in Crépy-en-Valois watched for 40 minutes a reddish luminous object roughly half the apparent size of a full Moon. They described it as a disc with a gondola-like structure that flickered and changed intensity while drifting slowly westward toward Senlis. GEIPAN investigators found the hypothesis of a scientific balloon plausible, as the sun still illuminated objects at high altitude at that hour. The description and viewing direction supported this possibility. Classified B — probable but not definitive explanation.