Mirage IV - UFO encounter, March 7, 1977

Mirage IV - UFO encounter, March 7, 1977: "I had the impression of a shape and an important mass behind us, much larger than my Mirage. When we landed at Luxeuil, we were shaken."Colonel Rene Giraud, French Air Force.

On March 7, 1977, at 08:34 pm, Major Rene Giraud had engaged the autopilot of a Mirage IV supersonic nuclear capable bomber with Captain Jean Paul Abraham as navigator. They were returning from a night navigation exercise to the Air Force base of Luxeuil, and were in the region of Chaumont in the department of Haute Marne, flying at an altitude of 9750 meters and a speed of Mach 0.9, under excellent visibility conditions.

They noticed a brilliant light coming towards their Mirage from their exact right and on a collision course with them, and first thought it may be a jet fighter, but when they radioed to the ground control at Contrexeville for reporting it and getting it identified, they learned that the ground radar showed nothing and that no other aircraft was known to be in that area. The ground controller asked them to check their oxygen, which indicates that he thought the pilots may be hallucinating.

The light appeared bigger and bigger as it approached their aircraft from their rear right. The pilot was flying at Mach 0.98 and made a turn to the right and then to the left to make sure the light was not a reflection of some sort on the cockpit. As he did these maneuvers, both of the crew could distinguish that the light was the front of a dark solid object.

Despite the evasive maneuver, the unidentified object managed to stay exactly behind them for a few seconds, a very dangerous situation if the unknown object were to be hostile. Then the object made a turn to the North-West at an estimated speed of Mach II, and went away to the left of the Mirage IV.

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