Sighting record / 1971

Swiss Air Force Mirage III Sightings over Interlaken and Winterthur

February 23, 1971 · Interlaken and Winterthur, with a third sighting near Lake Biel, Switzerland, Switzerland

21Thinly documented UAP Other 11 sources 2 videos

February 1971. A Swiss Air Force Mirage III is on a night flight over Interlaken. The two officers aboard see a bright point of light racing through the dark. It moves in a wave. Like a snake. Then it is gone. That same night, another pilot over Winterthur reports the same object and sketches its movements. Days later, a third pilot sees a white light he takes for an oncoming aircraft. It is standing still. The debrief reports survive only as anonymised copies. The originals cannot be found.

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Key facts

When	February 23, 1971
Time of day	night, about 7:15 pm (per NZZ summary)
Where	Interlaken and Winterthur, with a third sighting near Lake Biel, Switzerland,Switzerland
Duration	several tens of minutes (Winterthur sighting)
Witnesses	4
Witness roles	military,pilot
Found
Evidence	none confirmed
Investigations	none recorded
Status	undisputed

The object

A very bright point of light moving fast with an undulating, snake-like motion, then disappearing, possibly trailing a bright illuminated trail. A second pilot was blinded by a bright white glowing object moving away at great speed. A third saw a stationary white light trailing a cone opening at about 90 degrees, drifting slowly west and swinging irregularly.

Colour	white
Surface	glowing
Lights	1 light, single light, white
Motion	high speed, erratic, hovered, slow drift
Duration	30 minutes

The Manises UFO Incident (related)

Context

In 1954 the intelligence service of the Swiss Air Force told its pilots how to report UFOs. The directive sits in Federal Archives file E5465B, with standard forms in three languages asking for position, direction, elevation, size compared with the Moon's disc, apparent propulsion or smoke, shape and speed. About ten former pilots later said the forms were used until the 1990s. Most were destroyed, but three reports from early 1971 were not. They reached the public in October 2024, through an RTS investigation by journalist François Ruchti, first broadcast on 27 October 2024, and a separate article in the NZZ am Sonntag followed the same files.

Sources (11, most influential first)

Quand les soucoupes volantes s'invitent dans les dossiers militaires suisses · RTS· 2024-10-28 · Press, book, documentary · news
Report reveals Swiss military's interest in alleged UFO sightings · swissinfo· 2024-10-30 · Press, book, documentary · news
Schweizer Luftwaffe: Als die fliegenden Teller in Militärakten Einzug hielten · SRF News· 2024-10-28 · Press, book, documentary · news
Die Ufo-Akten der Schweizer Armee: Was leuchtet da über dem Bielersee? · NZZ am Sonntag · Academic / paper of record · news
Als die fliegenden Teller in Militärakten Einzug hielten · swissinfo· 2024-10-30 · Press, book, documentary · news