1977.07.01
03.00
The Aviano blackout
In the early hours of 1 July 1977, US soldier James Blake at the NATO base at Aviano saw a very bright light hovering over the location of two military aircraft; this was corroborated by other personnel on the base.
(UFOs: The Definitive Casebook, Spencer)
At about 3.00am a USAF guard observed a strange object hovering above an area known as “Victor Alert”, which housed two secret jet fighters in a large hangar.
The object was described as a large spinning top, 45m in diameter and hovering very low above the hangar. The upper surface was dome-shaped and had white, red and green lights emitting from its surface.
The USAF guard reported the incident and a team of military guards were sent to the hangar. The guards surrounded the area and radar personnel were contacted to see if they could pick the object up on their equipment. However, when they tried to access the radar consoles the base was seemingly hit by a mysterious power cut.
(ufologie.patrickgross.org)
This was corroborated by an independent witness living nearby who noticed that the base was in darkness, which was something he had “never seen before.” He also noticed a “mass of light” low over the base.
(UFOs: The Definitive Casebook, Spencer)
[The] object [was] described by airmen and civilians as a disc with a plate-like base… There was… disturbance to local dogs, possibly connected with a high-pitched whistle the object gave off.
(UFOs and How to See Them, Randles)
Just a few seconds after the object flew away beyond the mountains the base lights came back on in a mysterious fashion.
(UFOs: The Definitive Casebook, Spencer)
The incident went all the way up to NATO headquarters in Brussels, but when questioned by various UFO researchers they [said] that the encounter had been a misperception of the moon shining off some low clouds.