Chaumont: Mirage IV crew sees huge UFO
On March 7, 1977, French Air Force Major Hervé Giraud and Captain Jean-Paul Abraham encountered a large unidentified object while flying a Mirage IV bomber near Chaumont, France. The dark, solid object paced their aircraft before accelerating away at high speed.
Background
Incident
On March 7, 1977 at 20:34, Maj. Hervé Giraud and Capt. Jean-Paul Abraham, pilots of the French air force, observed a large unidentified flying object during a return flight in a Dassault Mirage IV supersonic bomber over Chaumont in the Haute-Marne region. They were flying at Mach 0.98 at 9,750 metres in good visibility.
Encounter
The light appeared behind and to the right and grew as it approached. Giraud carried out evasive manoeuvres — first to the right, then to the left at 6.5 G — to rule out reflections. Both made out a dark, solid object with a light at the front. Despite the manoeuvres it stayed precisely behind them, which would have been dangerous had it been hostile.
Departure and Aftermath
The object turned away to the northwest, reached an estimated Mach 2, and disappeared to the left of the bomber. Ground radar reported nothing; radio recordings exist. Giraud, later a colonel, spoke about it publicly, including on television. No explanation was found.