{"id":7889,"date":"2025-08-21T05:39:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T05:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/21\/early-tic-tac-aviator-sir-francis-chichester-encountered-an-oblong-pearl-ufo-in-1931\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T05:39:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T05:39:28","slug":"early-tic-tac-aviator-sir-francis-chichester-encountered-an-oblong-pearl-ufo-in-1931","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/21\/early-tic-tac-aviator-sir-francis-chichester-encountered-an-oblong-pearl-ufo-in-1931\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Tic-tac? Aviator Sir Francis Chichester encountered an &#8220;oblong pearl&#8221; UFO in 1931"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Early UFO Encounters: Aviator Sir Francis Chichester\u2019s 1931 Observation of an &#8220;Oblong Pearl&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the annals of aviation history, few accounts stand out as intriguing early reports of unidentified flying objects. Among these, Sir Francis Chichester\u2019s 1931 encounter during a pioneering solo flight from New Zealand to Australia offers a fascinating glimpse into the phenomena that predate modern UFO narratives.<\/p>\n<h3>The Context of the Encounter<\/h3>\n<p>Sir Francis Chichester, a renowned aviator known for his adventurous spirit and pioneering flights, was undertaking a significant milestone: the first solo flight between New Zealand and Australia. During this historic journey, he documented an extraordinary sighting that has captured the imagination of UFO enthusiasts and aviation historians alike.<\/p>\n<h3>The Sightings<\/h3>\n<p>According to Chichester\u2019s own words, the sighting occurred amidst clear skies, with only a few clouds present. He recounted:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cSuddenly, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He observed a craft that appeared to resemble \u201can oblong pearl,\u201d its dull grey-white hue contrasting with the sky. Notably, the object displayed flashes and gleams, darting around his Gipsy Moth biplane, and then exhibiting perplexing behaviors such as sudden disappearance and reappearance.<\/p>\n<h3>The Phenomenon\u2019s Details<\/h3>\n<p>Chichester\u2019s vivid description includes several remarkable observations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Multiple flashes and gleams in the sky, with the craft seemingly coming towards him.<\/li>\n<li>The object\u2019s shape resembled an &#8220;oblong pearl,&#8221; a term that strikingly mirrors later UFO descriptions.<\/li>\n<li>Instances of the craft vanishing and reappearing unpredictably.<\/li>\n<li>The appearance of a ghostly dimming and reemerging effect as it approached, suggesting baffling optical phenomena or physical illusions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>He expressed certain doubts about the nature of the object, contemplating whether it might have been a cloud shaped like an airship that dissolved \u2014 yet the precise reseeding of its shape after vanishing added to the mystery.<\/p>\n<h3>Reflecting on a Pre-UFO Era<\/h3>\n<p>What makes Chichester\u2019s account particularly compelling is that it predates widespread public awareness or<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nEarly UFO Encounters: Aviator Sir Francis Chichester\u2019s 1931 Observation of an &#8220;Oblong Pearl&#8221; In the annals of aviation history, few accounts stand out as intriguing early reports of unidentified flying objects. Among these, Sir Francis Chichester\u2019s 1931 encounter during a pioneering solo flight from New Zealand to Australia offers a fascinating glimpse into the phenomena&hellip;\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/21\/early-tic-tac-aviator-sir-francis-chichester-encountered-an-oblong-pearl-ufo-in-1931\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Early Tic-tac? Aviator Sir Francis Chichester encountered an &#8220;oblong pearl&#8221; UFO in 1931&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ufos","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thataintnoplane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}