Portuguese F-84 formation (Lemos Ferreira)
- Date
- 4 Sep 1957
- Place
- Night navigation route Ota (Portugal) to Cordoba and Caceres, observed near Cordoba, Spain
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Unexplained
- Evidence strength
What was reported
On the night of 4 September 1957, four Portuguese Air Force F-84G pilots led by Captain Jose Lemos Ferreira, on a training flight from Ota Air Base, reported a luminous yellowish sphere near Cordoba that grew and shrank, changed colour, turned red and sank below the horizon, after which smaller spheres appeared to move toward the formation; the observation lasted about 35 to 40 minutes. A report was filed through the Air Force and the story was published in the Lisbon newspaper Diario Ilustrado in November 1957, which is why some sources date it to November. Lemos Ferreira, later Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Air Force, repeated the account all his life. No radar or photographic record is public, and claims of simultaneous magnetic disturbances come from secondary accounts.
What officials concluded
No conclusion stated
No official explanation has been given.
Strongest ordinary reading
none established
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- Yes: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Outside sources
- RTP: General Lemos Ferreira recalls the 1957 encounterrtp.pt
- Patrick Gross: Lisbon 1957 case fileufology.patrickgross.org
On the map
37.88° N, 4.78° W, plotted at the centre of the region named in the record
Show on the map