Stationary metallic object over Mailly-le-Camp (1954)

Summary

In October 1954, shortly after sunset, an officer and a companion spotted a bright object over Mailly-le-Camp in the Aube department. Hovering at roughly 45 degrees elevation, it appeared as a tilted metallic segment about a fraction of the Moon's diameter in size and remained motionless for several seconds before vanishing abruptly. The witness himself suggested it might have been an aircraft catching the last sunlight — a hypothesis GEIPAN found plausible, classifying the sighting accordingly.