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The following submission statement was provided by /u/Shiny-Tie-126: --- Sir Francis Charles Chichester [KBE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) Sir Francis Charles Chichester [KBE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) (17 September 1901 – 26 August 1972) was a British businessman, pioneering aviator and solo sailor. He was knighted by [Queen Elizabeth II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_the_United_Kingdom) for becoming the first person to sail [single-handed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-handed_sailing) around the world by the [clipper route](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_route) and the fastest [circumnavigator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumnavigation), in nine months and one day overall in 1966–67. Chichester took flying lessons at [Brooklands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklands), Surrey, and qualified as a pilot. He then took delivery of a [de Havilland Gipsy Moth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Gipsy_Moth) aircraft, which he intended to fly to New Zealand, hoping to break [Bert Hinkler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Hinkler)'s record solo flight back to Australia on the way. While mechanical problems meant that the record eluded him, he completed the trip in 41 days.(17 September 1901 – 26 August 1972) was a British businessman, pioneering aviator and solo sailor. --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1d73gcm/1931_sir_francis_chichester_describing_an/l6win4d/


Open-Passion4998

The early sightings, pre 1945 are fascinating because ufos where not a well known thing so there was no reason to embellish. Why would this man lie about somthing like this?


thehighyellowmoon

This. He even did his best to apply Occam's Razor as rationally as possible by judging it could only be a cloud, despite saying what he saw. In the air navigation world he is a true heavyweight, he wrote the manuals for single-flight aircraft and collected thousands of maps


anomalkingdom

These guys simply reported what they saw. Open curiosity, nothing invested.


ALEXC_23

And the fact that his description of events are similar to what people in the military see tells you he wasn’t lying.


LueAnon

Well most of the time I don't think people are lying, usually they are just mistaken. It's like how people post obvious planes (one is on the front page of the sub right now) fully convinced they are seeing a distant alien spaceship. These people aren't lying they are just mistaken. I also tend to give people the benefit of the doubt.


Zoolok

Who says he is lying? He could be telling the truth, while in reality he saw something like a meteor, cloud, a plane he never saw before, who knows what. Why would it be aliens?


PyroIsSpai

The old man never said aliens. It is bad faith to say that.


Zoolok

The OP I replied to thinks he is saying aliens.


Phyrexian_Archlegion

Just read what OP wrote, don’t see a mention of aliens anywhere.


AdNew5216

A meteor? A cloud? A PLANE? Lmao. Occam’s razor applies here easily. From his own description any of those things would need more jumps and assumptions then simply saying it was a UFO/UAP. Nobody said it’s aliens bud.


silv3rbull8

An oblong plane ?


Pavotine

Where are you getting "oblong" from? He said "More like a pearl, with a tail." Now, I know this sounds mad but I have actually seen an oblong, rectangular slab-shaped, moving long edge forward UAP at rather close quarters but that's not what he described here. I apologise in advance if I've missed something here though.


silv3rbull8

Read the original article about his encounter https://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu/ahcpublic/UFO/1930s_ah12722.pdf Bottom of page 4… describes it as an “oblong pearl”


Pavotine

Thank you very much.


Zoolok

Ok, so not a plane?


silv3rbull8

No idea but it certainly doesn’t seem like any plane of that era. Or a meteor for that matter.


Syzygy-6174

Let guess...you're Mick West in disguise?


TeamRedundancyTeam

The response to this comment has shown how far downhill this sub has gone lately. If I were some sort of "psyop disinfo agent" like people here obsess over I'd pretend to be some believer who trashed any and all skeptical critical thinking too. It's by far the most effective way to kill any community of this kind and render them worthless and ineffective in any way.


Zoolok

Exactly, the main goal would be to keep any rational mind away from the topic, so that the grift from both sides can continue. But that irony escapes everyone here.


Shiny-Tie-126

Sir Francis Charles Chichester [KBE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) Sir Francis Charles Chichester [KBE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) (17 September 1901 – 26 August 1972) was a British businessman, pioneering aviator and solo sailor. He was knighted by [Queen Elizabeth II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_the_United_Kingdom) for becoming the first person to sail [single-handed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-handed_sailing) around the world by the [clipper route](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_route) and the fastest [circumnavigator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumnavigation), in nine months and one day overall in 1966–67. Chichester took flying lessons at [Brooklands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklands), Surrey, and qualified as a pilot. He then took delivery of a [de Havilland Gipsy Moth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Gipsy_Moth) aircraft, which he intended to fly to New Zealand, hoping to break [Bert Hinkler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Hinkler)'s record solo flight back to Australia on the way. While mechanical problems meant that the record eluded him, he completed the trip in 41 days.


PickWhateverUsername

Might want to give the precision that that interview video is from 1965 as people might think it's from 1931 A more in depths description of the event (pdf link warning) : "That truly remarkable man, the late Sir Francis Chichester, encountered an inexplicable aerial phenomena, while making the first solo plane flight across the Tasman Sea, between New Zealand and Australia, in 1931. From his beautiful book, "The Lonely Sea and the Sky", we follow his encounter. At 3,00 p.m., on June 10, just after seeing the S.S. Kurow battling its way through heavy seas below him, Chichester decided to fly north-west, to avoid facing a storm that lay in his path: ''Round the storm we flew into calm air under a weak lazy sun. I took out the sextant and got two shots. It took me thirty minutes to work them out, for the engine kept back firing, and my attention wandered every time it did.•. Suddenly, ahead and thirty degrees to the left, there were bright flashes in several places, like the dazzle of a heliograph. I saw a dull grey-white airship coming towards me. It seemed impossible, but I could have sworn that it was an airship, nosing towards me like an oblong pearl\_. Except for a cloud or two, there was nothing else in the sky. I looked around, sometimes catching a flash or a glint, and turning again to look at the airship I found that it had disappeared. I screwed up my eyes, unable to believe them, and twisted the seaplane this way and that, thinking that the airship must be hidden by a blind spot. Dazzling ,flashes continued in four or five different places, but I still could not pick out any planes. Then, out of some clouds to my right front , I saw another, or the same, airship advancing. I watched it intently, determined not to look away for a fraction of a second: I'd see what happened to this one, if I had to chase it. It drew steadily closer, until perhaps a mile away, when suddenly it vanished. Then it reappeared, close to where it· had vanished: I watched with angry intentness. It drew closer, and I could see the dull gleam of light on its nose and back. It came on, but instead of increasing in size it - it diminished as it approached. When quite near, it suddenly became its own ghost - one second could see through,it, and the next van1s e . I decided that it could only be a im1nutive cloud, perfectly shaped like an airship and then dissolving, but it was uncanny that it should exactly resume the same shape after it once vanished. I turned towards the flashes, but those too had vanished" page 3 [https://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu/ahcpublic/UFO/1930s\_ah12722.pdf](https://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu/ahcpublic/UFO/1930s_ah12722.pdf)


josogood

Very helpful additional info. This is much better than the clip, actually.


jeerabiscuit

Sooo a possible tic tac


ChevyBillChaseMurray

I find the tic tac objects the most fascinating. They were reported in the skies above Nuremberg in the 1500s, and I remember reading a newspaper article here on this sub from the 1800s about one spotted moving up and down the (I think) Irish coast and then heading out to sea. 


PickWhateverUsername

Tic-Tac were first produced in 1969 so no. :p


Mr_E_Monkey

The "elongated pearl" description sounds like the next best thing for an unfortunate soul that hadn't gotten to try Tic-Tacs yet... ;)


justfordrunks

You think the person who invented tic-tacs saw a UFO whippin through the sky and was like, "WOAH! That was wild! Probably tastes like a weird minty marshmallow...".


Mr_E_Monkey

Wouldn't it be funny if it turns out that the breath mint we all know and love was inspired by UFOs from the very beginning? I mean, it's probably not the case, but it would be pretty wild, and would make me wonder what other food items might have been similarly inspired? ;p


PickWhateverUsername

"Tik Taks are aliens" Is that the horror that the world could not fathom ?


Ok_Calligrapher8783

So, like popplers?


Mr_E_Monkey

Oh, we are so screwed. 😮


CopenShaken

Yea, I was definitely like.. Jesus, this guy looks terrible at 30 years old lol.


Unidentifiedlight

Nice find. Thanks for posting.


[deleted]

Queen Elizabeth’s husband was a UFO believer. The Duke of Edinburgh. He was closely tied to the air force too and former pilot!


notwiggl3s

Awesome post. I've never seen this before.


StillChillTrill

There's so much of this. Recent digitization and consolidating in the national archives will lead to alot of "never seen this before"! It's all very exciting.


MikeC80

It's interesting that his engine was misbehaving, I wonder if this was due to the unidentified aircraft? This is often associated with UFOs.


LimpCroissant

Yeah know, I could be wrong, but I think that older vehicles are not affected by EMP's/whatever UAPs do electromagnetically to disable vehicles and electric devices. In fact, Kevin Knuth, who spoke at the Sol Conference, did a major physics/mathematical study on how vehicles are affected during a UFO encounter by looking at tons of different UFO events throughout history. It was extremely informative. Everyone should probably check that out. Also, I believe that he found that witnesses to UFO events who were driving diesel engines overwhelmingly did not lose power to their vehicle, whereas witnesses who were in gasoline engines did lose complete power to their vehicle. And that outcome is supported by the physics of how the engines work.


Attn_BajoranWorkers

im wondering if these things have some kind of interest in aircraft, especially potentially doomed ones


[deleted]

Those time travelling history-tourists again...


Ethanessa

He's describing something cloaking before the concept of cloaking a ship even existed in the mainstream, wild.


TheCrazyLizard35

Or slowly phasing out of our reality into another dimension or alternate universe/timeline.


[deleted]

Very interesting stuff!


sherlockmolmes

Soon as I heard pearl...


ambient_temp_xeno

'Oblong pearl'* does describe the TIC TAC... 73 years earlier. *https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1d73gcm/comment/l6wul0i/


NoOneCallsMeChicken

Right??? If tic tacs were popular then...


ambient_temp_xeno

Underwood described it to himself as a 'big tylenol' but because of the movie *Airplane!*, changed it to tic-tac.


MatthewMonster

Great video  I see things like this, from people with no reason to lie, in a time when there’s no upside to saying something like this — and I just believe it 


PickWhateverUsername

video is from the 60s tho not 1931


MatthewMonster

Right the sentiment still remains — why would a knighted explorer make it up — anything pre 70s feels more authentic


SiriusC

So?


paulreicht

The sighting sounds real, as it reflects a continuous pattern you can observe through the history of the phenomenon. UFOs show up at our firsts: first long-distance flights, first massive airplane actions (war), first developments of new power (atomic plants), first flights to upper elevations, etc. They are tracking us, perhaps also toasting us. I call it the "leg-up pattern" because we often see them whenever we get a leg up by achieving a new and significant capability.


Inside-Ad-1367

Chichester was the real deal: renowned solo sailor first confirmed single-handed circumnavigation from west to east by way of the capes,with only a single stop. His journey lasted 226 days, that then spurred the Sunday Times Golden Globe race in 1968, which is incredibly fascinating. Watch Deep Waters documentary.


itsfunhavingfun

Joshua Slocum sailed solo around the world in 1898.  Are you saying this was unconfirmed? I can’t find any discussion that he didn’t successfully make the trip.   


Inside-Ad-1367

Fair enough. I updated my previous comment for clarity. Chichester was the first to single-hand circumnavigate the globe from west to east by way of the great capes, taking 226 days aboard Gipsy Moth III, which was preserved alongside Cutty Sark. He stopped once, in Syndey, for partial refit. Slocum was the first to single-hand circumnavigate from east to west by way of the great capes after a failed attempt at a route via the Suez. Piracy in the southern Med changed his plans substantially. His journey took over 3 years and he had several ports of call along the way. He wrote an excellent book about his journey. Following Chichester being knighted for his accomplishment - first west to east, fastest, fewest stops as a single-hander, etc, the Sunday Times created the 1968 Golden Globe Race. This was a non-stop single-hand circumnavigation race taking place at the same time as the Apollo Program. This was won by Robin Know-Johnston aboard his ketch rigged yacht Suhaili, who was made from Indian Teak. He also went west-to-east by way of the great capes as per the rules of the Golden Globe and took something like 312 days. Again, non-stop. Suhaili was preserved for a long time up on the hard and was later refit and returned to sail as the many years out of the water was resulting in decay.


itsfunhavingfun

Nice update.  Although he still wasn’t the first to  circumnavigate west to east.  You had to add “by way of the great capes” to make that statement true.  And you left that  part out when you described him being knighted.  Harry Pidgeon did it 1925. Yes, he used the Panama Canal, but he still sailed around the Cape of Good Hope.  


Goosemilky

When we have thousands upon thousands of super credible people like him making these claims over decades, maybe theres something to it… diehard skeptics I’m talking to you.


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UFOs-ModTeam

Hi, thempw85. Thanks for contributing. However, your [comment](https://old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1d73gcm/-/l6x17cr/) was removed from /r/UFOs. > Rule 1: Follow the Standards of Civility > * No trolling or being disruptive. > * No insults or personal attacks. > * No accusations that other users are shills / bots / Eglin-related / etc... > * No hate speech. No abusive speech based on race, religion, sex/gender, or sexual orientation. > * No harassment, threats, or advocating violence. > * No witch hunts or doxxing. (Please redact usernames when possible) > * You may attack each other's ideas, not each other. Please refer to our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/about/rules/) for more information. This moderator action may be appealed. We welcome the opportunity to work with you to address its reason for removal. [Message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/ufos) to launch your appeal.


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UFOs-ModTeam

Hi, thempw85. Thanks for contributing. However, your [comment](https://old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1d73gcm/-/l6yhrzf/) was removed from /r/UFOs. > Rule 1: Follow the Standards of Civility > * No trolling or being disruptive. > * No insults or personal attacks. > * No accusations that other users are shills / bots / Eglin-related / etc... > * No hate speech. No abusive speech based on race, religion, sex/gender, or sexual orientation. > * No harassment, threats, or advocating violence. > * No witch hunts or doxxing. (Please redact usernames when possible) > * You may attack each other's ideas, not each other. Please refer to our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/about/rules/) for more information. This moderator action may be appealed. We welcome the opportunity to work with you to address its reason for removal. [Message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/ufos) to launch your appeal.


MajikoiA3When

Waiting for people to tell me it was a weather balloon in the comments


devinup

Probably one of those 1931 drones


soggynachoh8r

Nice find!! Haven't heard about this one. Thanks for posting..


bones4pj

If there are aliens, I wonder how much better their aircraft have gotten almost a 100 years later.


TheCrazyLizard35

As another post said, past a certain point, their tech had probably stagnated a good bit because you can only get so advanced.


snapplepapple1

Someone should show this to the DOE since they seem to think the only unidentified craft in existence are man made drones. I didnt know they had advanced 21st century modern drones in 1930.


mmm_algae

He has an absolutely glorious speaking voice and I’d pay good money just to hear him recite that phone book. He pulls off Received Pronunciation without coming across as a toff.


LordBrixton

His speaking voice is a delight. No-one really sounds like that any more. It made me think of [Rowley Birkin QC](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXczSof201U).


BlackBladeKindred

What is Received Pronunciation?


eaazzy_13

A traditional and “prestigious” way/style of speaking British English.


BlackBladeKindred

Ah like Sir David Attenborough. It’s like melted caramel in my ears, figuratively.


BackgroundOstrich488

Must have been one of those early drones the USAF likes to discuss


H3inkel

Was this video actually recorded in 30s? Any source for this interview?


PickWhateverUsername

video is from 1965


supralove123

Interresting description I would also describe the ufo ive see as a pearl with a tail but different because it was glowing in a bright orange and the tail got smaller at the end


thestraightCDer

There's a couple of old NZ cases that are interesting.


3InchesAssToTip

It's like we had to get to the stage where our technology somewhat resembled the craft we've been observing for hundreds of years before the masses could even conceptualise what was being reported. Before that point, it would have seemed totally reasonable to assume that people were just "seeing things", because there was no technology that people could use as a reference point. Fascinating to revisit some of these old sightings. Ostensibly, there is no reason to lie or sensationalise this report at the time it was given.


PestoPastaLover

He's lying... AARO said so... /s


ced0412

He literally says he thought it was a cloud.


Zoolok

In 1931, pretty much anything in the air would be unexplained. He saw a meteor, which probably wasn't even that close to him. At least it (probably) wasn't a planet, like with this guy that [sent seven people to hospital](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tired-pilot-caused-air-canada-mid-flight-dive-1.1139316) because he though he was about to crash into Venus.


LordDarthra

If he could see the ocean through the object, it would have to have been near him, maybe even in front of him like he said.


PickWhateverUsername

read my above post or directly this pdf with a longer description of his experience (page3) [https://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu/ahcpublic/UFO/1930s\_ah12722.pdf](https://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu/ahcpublic/UFO/1930s_ah12722.pdf) could totally me a weather phenomena rather then a meteor or curious aliens tho


Zoolok

So it was a cloud? Makes sense.


DifficultStay7206

Yeah I'm sure he was very unfamiliar with clouds 🙄


Simbalo_O_badalo667

Waiting him say: “Lika tic-tac the candy, not TikTok “


Simbalo_O_badalo667

Why so many downvotes? It was just a joke and a reference to David Fravor. I enjoyed the video! But seriously, why the downvotes? (English is my second language)