UFOs seen by Portugal Air Force
Encyclopedia
On September 4, 1957, four Portugal Air Force pilots claimed to have seen and chased some UFOs (presumably a mother ship and minor flying objects).
. They were under Captain José Lemos Ferreira control. The others pilots were sergeants Alberto Gomes Covas, Salvador Alberto Oliveira e Manuel Neves Marcelino.
It was a routine mission to practise a nocturnal flight at 25.000 feet high between the Ota Air Base, the Spanish
city of Granada
, the Portuguese city of Portalegre and finally the Portuguese city of Coruche. The night was clear and the moon was almost full. The first part of the operation was successful, and so they turned towards the city of Portalegre.
At this point, Captain Ferreira noticed a light above the horizon. After observing it for 3 or 4 minutes, he warned the others about what he had just seen.
The object looked like a very shining star, but much bigger than normal. Its center changed colors constantly, going from green to blue, and also some yellow and red tones.
Suddenly the object increased its size, becoming 5 or 6 times bigger than before. Right after doing so, the object decreased its size until becoming an almost invisible shining point. The UFO kept on increasing and decreasing its size, and was holding position at 40° left. After 7 or 8 minutes, the object started getting smaller, going down at the horizon, now at 90° left.
Little before reaching Portalegre, at 22:30, Captain Ferreira abandoned his mission, and turned 50° left. At this moment the object was red and much deeper than 25000 feet. After several minutes on this route, the pilots noticed a small yellow circle getting out of the craft. Just some seconds later, 3 more circles appeared.
The main object seemed to be 15 times bigger than the smaller ones, and it was probably the mother ship, as the others were flying around it.
When the UFOs were next to Coruche, the big one suddenly descended and then climbed very quickly, intending to cross the pilots way, in a way that they could see the big UFO passing through them, as the smaller ones disappeared.
The bombers landed without any problems, after a forty-minute flight. They all agreed that there wasn't any easy explanation to the objects. Captain Ferreira declared: "We got no conclusions, except after this, do not give us the old routine of Venus, weather balloons, aircraft and the like which has been given as a general panacea for almost every case of UFOs".
Captain Ferreira was interviewed at the Ota Air Base by the magazine Flying Saucer Review in Lisbon
.
Overview
At 19:21, four bombers aircraft took off the Ota Air Base, in PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. They were under Captain José Lemos Ferreira control. The others pilots were sergeants Alberto Gomes Covas, Salvador Alberto Oliveira e Manuel Neves Marcelino.
It was a routine mission to practise a nocturnal flight at 25.000 feet high between the Ota Air Base, the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
city of Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
, the Portuguese city of Portalegre and finally the Portuguese city of Coruche. The night was clear and the moon was almost full. The first part of the operation was successful, and so they turned towards the city of Portalegre.
At this point, Captain Ferreira noticed a light above the horizon. After observing it for 3 or 4 minutes, he warned the others about what he had just seen.
The object looked like a very shining star, but much bigger than normal. Its center changed colors constantly, going from green to blue, and also some yellow and red tones.
Suddenly the object increased its size, becoming 5 or 6 times bigger than before. Right after doing so, the object decreased its size until becoming an almost invisible shining point. The UFO kept on increasing and decreasing its size, and was holding position at 40° left. After 7 or 8 minutes, the object started getting smaller, going down at the horizon, now at 90° left.
Little before reaching Portalegre, at 22:30, Captain Ferreira abandoned his mission, and turned 50° left. At this moment the object was red and much deeper than 25000 feet. After several minutes on this route, the pilots noticed a small yellow circle getting out of the craft. Just some seconds later, 3 more circles appeared.
The main object seemed to be 15 times bigger than the smaller ones, and it was probably the mother ship, as the others were flying around it.
When the UFOs were next to Coruche, the big one suddenly descended and then climbed very quickly, intending to cross the pilots way, in a way that they could see the big UFO passing through them, as the smaller ones disappeared.
The bombers landed without any problems, after a forty-minute flight. They all agreed that there wasn't any easy explanation to the objects. Captain Ferreira declared: "We got no conclusions, except after this, do not give us the old routine of Venus, weather balloons, aircraft and the like which has been given as a general panacea for almost every case of UFOs".
Captain Ferreira was interviewed at the Ota Air Base by the magazine Flying Saucer Review in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
.