DISCLOSURE / FILE

Expediente, Avistamiento múltiple Barcelona–Huesca–Lérida–Mar Cantábrico (23 February 1971)

Spanish Air Force (Ejército del Aire) declassified expediente 710223 documenting a 23 February 1971 multi-witness sighting wave across Barcelona, Huesca, Lérida and the Cantabrian Sea, ultimately attributed to the atmospheric re-entry of a French ONERA 'Tibère' rocket launched from Biscarrosse.

Brief

The file compiles 17 annexes and 44 declarations from soldiers and recruits at CIR No. 10, plus reports from Iberia flights IB-841 and IB-867, Aviaco flight AO-204, a Caravelle commander, the Abbot of Montserrat, a Guardia Civil officer at Monistrol, and the patron of a fishing vessel 25 nautical miles north of San Sebastián who reported a 'large silver jet' falling burning into the sea around 19:00 local on 23 February 1971. The Tte. Coronel Informador concluded that the phenomenon was real, occurred shortly after sunset at high altitude, and covered an area from the Mediterranean between Mahón and Barcelona to San Sebastián. The 23 September 1993 Oficial de Inteligencia del MOA review at Torrejón identified the event as the re-entry of a 'Tibère' rocket launched from the Centre d'Essais de Biscarrosse in Landes under ONERA's 'Electre' programme, with sketches from the Société d'Astronomie Populaire de Toulouse matching Spanish witness drawings, and proposed declassification.

Metadata

Agency: Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa
Release: 1971-02-23
Type: PDF • .pdf
Length: 71 pages
Classification: DESCLASIFICADO
Programs: Electre, Tibère, ONERA, VFON, Smithsonian Moonwatch
Tags: luminous point, fan-shaped trail, rocket re-entry, Spain, 1971, multi-witness wave, Tibère, Electre programme, ONERA, Biscarrosse

Key points

Expediente 710223 covers a wave of sightings on 23 February 1971 across Barcelona, Huesca, Lérida and the Mar Cantábrico, declassified at Torrejón on 23 September 1993.p.4
At approximately 19:00 local, the patron of a fishing vessel 25 nautical miles north of San Sebastián reported a large silver jet aircraft falling burning into the sea about 200 metres from his boat, leaving a ring of fire that quickly vanished with no debris recovered.p.2
At 18:15Z, Iberia flight IB-841 (Barcelona-Madrid) queried Barcelona ACC about perpendicular traffic at 20 nautical miles; at 18:20Z, IB-867 (Barcelona-Murcia) confirmed seeing a large trail slightly north of Lérida.p.2
A passenger and the commander of Aviaco flight AO-204 from Mahón to Barcelona observed a luminous object travelling north at speed greater than 2,000 km/h, more than 1,000 metres above the Caravelle's altitude.p.11
The Abbot of the Monasterio de Montserrat observed at 19:15 local a spectacular fan of white smoke forming an approximate 60-degree angle, moving toward the ground at an estimated distance of about 100 km.p.2
The expediente compiles 44 declarations from soldiers and recruits at CIR No. 10 plus one from a Captain of Artillery, all describing a luminous point dropping in an S-pattern with a 60-degree fan-shaped trail before disappearing.p.3
The Tte. Coronel Informador concluded the phenomenon was real, occurred a few minutes after sunset (Mahón 18:29, Barcelona 18:36, Zaragoza 18:46, San Sebastián 18:48 local), and could have been a fragmenting meteorite or satellite/rocket re-entry.p.8
The 1993 MOA intelligence review identified the cause as the re-entry of a 'Tibère' rocket launched from the Centre d'Essais de Biscarrosse in Landes under ONERA's 'Electre' programme, with French sketches from the Société d'Astronomie Populaire de Toulouse matching Spanish witness drawings.

Verbatim

vio un avion reactor grande, color plata, que ·incendiado cayo al mar a unos doscientos metros del pesquero. Se acerco, vio un cerco de fuego que desaparecio pronto, no encontrando objeto alguno.
p.2
hacia las 22:10A, este oficial notifica que un radar de la Defensa Aerea tiene noticias de que un objeto ha pasado por el Norte de Huesca
p.2
observa un espectacular abanico, formando un angulo aproximado de 602, de humo al parecer blanco que se movia hacia el suelo pero a una distancia dificilmente precisable (habla de unos 100 Km . ).
p.2
El suceso observado en la zona norte de Espana fue identico al visto en la zona centro y sur de Francia y al norte de Italia; coincide con el lanzamiento desde el Centre d'Essais de Biscarrosse, en Landes, de un cohete "Tibere", dentro de experimentos en la operaci6n "Electre"
p.3
No se aprecian aspectos que hagan aconsejable mantener la condici6n de "MATERIA CLASIFICADA". PROPUESTA DE CLASIFICACION: DESCLASIFICADO
p.4
El objeto que nos ocupa pudo ser un meteorito, que se fragmen- to e incendio al entrar en la atmosfera. Cada fragmento origino su fenomeno propio, visible en una zona mis reducida, incluso lle gando a la superficie terrestre como el navion en llamas" caido - junto al pesquero de San Sebastian.

Most interesting

The fisherman's account of a 'large silver jet' burning into the sea 200 metres from his vessel, with a vanishing ring of fire and no debris, was filed as a verbal declaration to the Comandancia Militar de Marina de San Sebastián and never written down by the witness himself.
The Air Force's 1993 reassessment cross-referenced sketches drawn by Spanish witnesses against sketches produced by the Société d'Astronomie Populaire de Toulouse for the same event and found them to match exactly.
The official cause, a French ONERA 'Tibère' rocket re-entry from the Biscarrosse test centre under the 'Electre' programme, was a radio-propagation experiment studying disturbances to radio communications during atmospheric re-entry of rockets.
One of the cockpit reports was filed on a 'VFON Flight Crew Member Report Form' from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Re-Entry and Recovery Program in Denver, indicating Spanish crews routinely submitted re-entry sightings to the Smithsonian Moonwatch Team.
The expediente notes a discrepancy in the index of documents: 44 declarations from CIR No. 10 soldiers were cited but only 43 appear, because the Captain's separate declaration was counted twice.

Cross-references

PDFExpediente, Avistamiento en Canarias (22 June 1976)Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa
PDFExpediente, Avistamiento en Canarias (24 November 1974)Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa
PDFExpediente, Avistamiento en Bardenas Reales, Navarra (2 January 1975)Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa
PDFExpediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968)Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa

Common questions

What is Expediente, Avistamiento múltiple Barcelona–Huesca–Lérida–Mar Cantábrico (23 February 1971)?: Spanish Air Force (Ejército del Aire) declassified expediente 710223 documenting a 23 February 1971 multi-witness sighting wave across Barcelona, Huesca, Lérida and the Cantabrian Sea, ultimately attributed to the atmospheric re-entry of a French ONERA 'Tibère' rocket launched from Biscarrosse.
What does Expediente, Avistamiento múltiple Barcelona–Huesca–Lérida–Mar Cantábrico (23 February 1971) reveal?: Expediente 710223 covers a wave of sightings on 23 February 1971 across Barcelona, Huesca, Lérida and the Mar Cantábrico, declassified at Torrejón on 23 September 1993. At approximately 19:00 local, the patron of a fishing vessel 25 nautical miles north of San Sebastián reported a large silver jet aircraft falling burning into the sea about 200 metres from…
Which agency produced Expediente, Avistamiento múltiple Barcelona–Huesca–Lérida–Mar Cantábrico (23 February 1971)?: Expediente, Avistamiento múltiple Barcelona–Huesca–Lérida–Mar Cantábrico (23 February 1971) is a primary-source record from Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa. Its original classification was DESCLASIFICADO.
When is Expediente, Avistamiento múltiple Barcelona–Huesca–Lérida–Mar Cantábrico (23 February 1971) dated?: Expediente, Avistamiento múltiple Barcelona–Huesca–Lérida–Mar Cantábrico (23 February 1971) is dated 1971-02-23. It was declassified 1993-09-23.
What programs and topics appear in Expediente, Avistamiento múltiple Barcelona–Huesca–Lérida–Mar Cantábrico (23 February 1971)?: Expediente, Avistamiento múltiple Barcelona–Huesca–Lérida–Mar Cantábrico (23 February 1971) references Tibère, ONERA, VFON, Smithsonian Moonwatch, luminous point and fan-shaped trail.

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