Within Emilia Romagna
Did NATO Fighters Chase a UFO Near Piacenza?
The reported 1966 pursuit near Piacenza remains difficult to verify because accessible accounts lack pilot testimony, radar records and operational files.
On this page
- The triangular object pursuit claim
- What evidence would verify an interception
- Why the surviving account remains weak
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Introduction
The claim that NATO fighters chased a triangular UFO near Piacenza on 17 October 1966 is one of Emilia-Romagna’s most striking military-linked UFO stories, but it is not one of its best documented. The basic account says that Italian Air Force F-84F fighter-bombers operating from Piacenza-San Damiano encountered, approached or pursued a large, motionless triangular object during an afternoon exercise. A later interview attributed the sighting to military pilot Dante Golinelli and linked the flight to the NATO exercise Fallex 66.
That later testimony makes the case more substantial than a bare catalogue entry. It does not, however, supply the radar plots, contemporary pilot statement, interception order, aircraft radio transcript or authenticated operational report needed to establish that an unidentified craft was formally chased. The safest assessment is therefore that an unusual observation may have occurred during genuine military flying, while the stronger “NATO interception” narrative remains weakly verified.
The triangular-object pursuit claim
The earliest readily traceable version appears to derive from the illustrated magazine La Tribuna Illustrata, dated 6 November 1966. A later Italian UFO chronology summarises its story: on 17 October, F-84F aircraft supposedly intercepted an isosceles-triangular object over Piacenza. One pilot was quoted as describing an unfamiliar aircraft-like object that remained completely stationary before departing rapidly after several hours. The chronology does not reproduce the full original article, identify every aircraft or explain how the quoted words were recorded.[crprato.it]crprato.itAnno 1966Foto: Ufo file 6 - 2018-2022 · - Interrogazione 4/19252 alla Camera, sugli UFO… Fonti: La Tribuna illustrata n.45 6/11/1966…
The Centro Ufologico Nazionale, or CUN, preserves an even shorter entry: “flying triangle chased by several NATO F-84 fighters” near Piacenza on the afternoon of 17 October. The same chronology lists two further Piacenza observations that evening — a flattened airship-like form at 19:10 and six objects flying in two groups of three at 20:30 — but provides no evidence that these reports were connected to the afternoon event.[centroufologiconazionale.net]centroufologiconazionale.netOpen source on centroufologiconazionale.net.
CUN’s larger national catalogue also records the afternoon Piacenza case, but only as a compressed line in a table. It supplies the date, location and broad classification without witness names, measurements, documents or an explanation of its source codes. Such catalogues are useful for demonstrating that a story circulated, but they cannot by themselves prove the details of an interception.[centroufologiconazionale.net]centroufologiconazionale.netCasisticaCunItalia1900 2008CasisticaCunItalia1900-2008.pdf…
The aviation setting is nevertheless plausible. The 155th Fighter-Bomber Group had been based at Piacenza-San Damiano since 1963 and was equipped with Republic F-84F Thunderstreaks during this period. The aircraft type, location and presence of an operational fighter-bomber unit therefore fit the historical record; they are not obvious later inventions.[Wikipedia]Wikipedia155º Gruppo ETS155º Gruppo ETS
Later testimony changed the story
In 2018, researcher Alberto Negri published a much fuller reconstruction based on contact with Dante Golinelli, described as one of the pilots flying from San Damiano that day. According to this version, four F-84Fs were preparing for a low-level tactical mission over Emilia-Romagna and the Adriatic connected with Fallex 66. Before departure, Golinelli reportedly noticed what appeared to be an unusually bright star high above the base in broad daylight.[spaziotesla.it]spaziotesla.itwww.spaziotesla.it | www.spaziotesla.itUfo Contact 1966…
The later account says that, after returning from the planned exercise, Golinelli was directed towards the light. He described it retrospectively as a large silver isosceles triangle, apparently self-luminous rather than merely reflecting sunlight. A separate article presenting the interview reported his estimate that it was roughly 40 to 60 metres across.[extremamente.it]extremamente.itL'UFO di Piacenza del 1966, parla il pilota- In esclusiva a “…20 Jul 2018 — Ed ecco come oggi descrive l'oggetto: “Era un triangolo be…
This material matters because it introduces a named pilot and a coherent military context. Negri’s report also displayed what it described as a photograph of Golinelli’s flight log for 17 October. That is stronger than an anonymous newspaper snippet, particularly because the alleged mission occurred during Fallex 66, a real NATO-wide exercise held in October 1966 to test alliance alert systems, command procedures and crisis decision-making. NATO’s archive contains contemporary planning records for the exercise.[spaziotesla.it]spaziotesla.itwww.spaziotesla.it | www.spaziotesla.itUfo Contact 1966…
Yet the later account also alters parts of the earlier story. Negri noted that press versions had wrongly described Golinelli as a lieutenant colonel or deputy base commander, whereas he was then a warrant officer. The alleged height of the object also changed: one later source said an unnamed former officer who had been in the control tower placed it at at least 60,000 feet, rather than the 30,000 feet given in earlier retellings. That unnamed source did not provide a public statement or supporting record.[extremamente.it]extremamente.itL'UFO di Piacenza del 1966, parla il pilota- In esclusiva a “…20 Jul 2018 — Ed ecco come oggi descrive l'oggetto: “Era un triangolo be…
The most dramatic details therefore come from recollections recorded more than half a century after the event. Human memory can preserve the core of an experience while allowing estimates, sequence and language to shift over time. A late interview is valuable historical testimony, but it does not have the same evidential weight as a report written immediately after landing.
What evidence would verify an interception
A genuine military interception should normally leave more than one evidential trail. Even allowing for Cold War secrecy and the loss of records, several kinds of material could test the Piacenza claim.
A contemporary flight record. A complete, legible and independently authenticated copy of Golinelli’s logbook could confirm that he flew on the date, the mission duration, aircraft details and perhaps unusual tasking. The image reproduced by the later investigation appears to support the existence of a Fallex-related flight, but a routine exercise entry would not necessarily prove that a UFO approach occurred.
Squadron or base operations logs. Daily records from San Damiano could show whether an aircraft was diverted, scrambled or ordered to investigate an unknown contact. They might also identify the other pilots, controllers and ground personnel who could corroborate the event.
Radar records. If controllers tracked a target at 30,000 or 60,000 feet, radar plots, operator logs or written summaries would be crucial. None has been made publicly accessible in the material commonly cited for the case. Without radar data, the claimed altitude, position and movement cannot be independently checked.
Radio or interception documentation. A formal approach to an unidentified aircraft would be expected to generate communications between the pilot, tower and controlling radar station. No transcript or recording has surfaced publicly.
Near-contemporary testimony. The original magazine article may preserve some early wording, but the publicly available summaries do not show a signed pilot statement, interrogation record or detailed interview from 1966. Locating the complete issue and establishing how its journalist obtained the pilot quotation would significantly improve the case.
Independent witnesses. The afternoon object was supposedly visible for a prolonged period above or near a military airfield. Statements from other pilots, controllers, ground crew or civilians would help distinguish a shared observation from one person’s visual impression. The separate Piacenza reports later that evening are too poorly described to serve as reliable corroboration.[centroufologiconazionale.net]centroufologiconazionale.netOpen source on centroufologiconazionale.net.
Modern scientific proposals for investigating unidentified aerial phenomena emphasise exactly this kind of combined evidence: calibrated imagery, radar-derived distance and motion, multiple observing positions and environmental measurements. A single visual account rarely allows confident estimates of an object’s size, range or speed because those quantities depend on one another.[arXiv]arxiv.orgOpen source on arxiv.org.
Why the surviving account remains weak
The central difficulty is not that the story is impossible. Italian F-84Fs were present, military flying was taking place, and Fallex 66 provides a credible reason for heightened activity. The difficulty is that these verified circumstances can make an unverified encounter story sound better documented than it actually is.
First, the word “chase” may exaggerate what the later testimony describes. The available accounts range from several fighters pursuing a triangle to one pilot being directed towards a bright object after completing a scheduled mission. Those are materially different scenarios. An aircraft sent to obtain a closer look is an investigation or attempted identification; it is not necessarily a high-speed pursuit.
Second, Fallex 66 was a real NATO exercise, but that does not automatically make every sortie from Piacenza a NATO UFO interception. The exercise involved alliance-wide command and alert procedures. Its existence supports the operational background, not the anomalous-object claim itself.[ORA]ora.ox.ac.ukSelf-annihilation, nuclear play and West Germany'sby I Klinke · 2016 · Cited by 9 — Fallex 66 was an 18-day NATO-wide exercise, involv…
Third, crucial measurements are retrospective and visually uncertain. A bright point observed in daylight can be difficult to locate in three dimensions. Without radar range, a pilot may see an apparently stationary object that is very distant, or interpret glare, haze and changing viewing angle as a structured form. Once the observer closes on it, separate bright areas or reflections can appear to define a triangle. This is a possible explanation, not a demonstrated solution.
Fourth, the case does not appear in a publicly available official Italian Air Force file from 1966. Italy’s better-known central system for collecting and assessing UFO reports developed later, particularly after the major national wave of 1978. The absence of a modern-style case file is therefore not proof of concealment, but it means the Piacenza account lacks the structured official documentation available for some later Emilia-Romagna incidents.
Finally, later reporting has strengthened the human side of the story without securely strengthening its technical side. It supplied a name, an interview, a claimed flight-log image and a plausible mission setting. It did not produce the records that would establish an unknown radar target, a formal scramble, extraordinary performance or confirmation by several crews.
The most defensible verdict
The Piacenza case should not be dismissed as a completely invented legend. Its aircraft type and airbase setting are historically consistent, an original 1966 press source is repeatedly cited, and later investigators identified a pilot who described an unusual triangular object. Those points justify preserving it as part of Emilia-Romagna’s UFO and aviation history.
However, the strong version of the story — several NATO fighters chasing a huge craft that hovered for hours and then escaped at exceptional speed — goes beyond what the accessible evidence can securely support. The surviving record is a chain of brief catalogue entries, an incompletely accessible magazine report and much later testimony. The absence of radar plots, contemporary operational files, communications records and independently documented witnesses prevents a firm reconstruction.
The case is therefore best classified as unresolved but weakly substantiated. It may preserve a genuine pilot observation during military operations near Piacenza. It does not presently demonstrate that NATO forces tracked or pursued an extraordinary aircraft.
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Endnotes
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