Two NATO jet interceptors, described as "the F-16 type," chased a UFO over France's Eure-et-Loire department at 4 p.m. on Monday, October 27, 1997.
Eyewitness Marie Franck reported, "I was at my country home in Sainville, a village 40 kilometers (24 miles) east of Chartres. I was in the garden when I heard a progressive rumbling originating from the north, behind the house. It was then that I saw, to the west of the village, at 45 degrees above the horizon and about 2,000 meters (6,600 feet or just over a mile--J.T.) away a flying tube without wings but with fire coming out of the stern, which moved in horizontal flight from the north-northeast to the south-southwest."
Mme. Franck watched the UFO for "five seconds" before it disappeared "behind a neighboring rooftop."
"Its speed was around 1,400 kilometers per hour," she reported. "I was astonished at not hearing a sonic boom, and I thought I might have been mistaken in my calculations." She estimated that the UFO traveled two kilometers during the five seconds.
"At the same time, I got the idea that it might be a missile (perhaps nuclear?) and that it was going to explode in the distance," she added. "Sudden terror! My sole reflex was to hurl myself to the ground, all the while counting the seconds to estimate the distance from the object."
"I was at 50 seconds when a new rumbling sound made its approach, but it was coming from the southeast. I then observed passing from south to north a military plane of the F-16 type, which made a very tight turn north of the village (Sainville) in order to get on the north-northeasterly trajectory of the object."
A few seconds later, "a new rumbling" was heard, and a second F-16 appeared, flying in the same direction as the first. Mme. Franck gathered her children from the pavilion very quickly and brought them indoors to safety.
Sainville is located on L'Autoroute A.10-E.05, the main highway between Paris and Orleans. The Armee de l'Air, France's air force, has a base at Chateaudrun, 55 kilometers (33 miles) south of Sainville. (Merci beaucoup a Marie Franck et Banque OVNI pour ces nouvelles.)
Original file name: CNI - Jets Chase UFO.final
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