Source: Planeta UFO and ABCdeSevilla (Spain)
Date: 02.25.2019
Spain: When UFOs Came to Montequinto
By Jose Manuel García Bautista
"One of the saucers mentioned in the press!" thought a witness when the phenomenon appeared before him.
It was on June 24, 1947 when American pilot Kenneth Arnold saw those strange flying shapes over Mount Rainier, giving rise from that moment on to the age of 'flying saucers'
The phenomenon's arrival in the Spain occurred a month later, in July 1947, when two news items were reported by the Spanish press. The first of these was in the locality of Balazonte (Albacete) and the second in Azpeitia (Guipuzcoa).
The accounts state that several farmers working their fields witnessed a dark object fly noiselessly and slowly over their heads, being similar to a "derby hat". The sighting occurred at 19:00 hours. The mysterious object was seen in various localities of the province of Albacete, with all descriptions of it in agreement: an object that did not glow at all presented the stereotypical shape of a UFO.
On July 15, 1947 the second sighting in the Spanish peninsula took place in Azpeitia (Guipuzcoa). On this occasion, there were six witnesses to the strange object that passed before them. It was very bright and left a wake in its path. The mysterious object appeared about to land on a nearby hillside, but immediately rose into the air.
The object was dubbed the "Azpeitia Saucer", and as it rose into the air, it issued flashes of light "that caused all surrounding valleys to light up as if it were broad daylight."
The object was also seen in other localities of the Basque Country, such as Fuenterrabía. There was a growing number of witnesses whose testimony accrued around the incipient 20th century phenomenon.
One of the first close encounters with an unidentified flying object in Spain took place in Seville.
In July 1947, around 18:00, young José Villalobos Cuadra was suffering through the punishing Andalusian summer. He was an ordinary fellow, a medical student heading toward an olive grove in Montequinto - a district near Seville - that evening.
José Villalobos used to go that location to find the peace and tranquility his studies required. But something unforeseen occurred that evening - something the young man would never be able to forget: the UFO phenomenon was about to materialize before him.
His eyes were on the book before him when something caught his attention. Raising his head slowly, he found a strange object before him, separated by the road that leads to Utrera. It resembled a metal sphere surrounded by a ring, flying around the olive trees of that grove while issuing an annoying buzzing sound.
Villalobos stated that the distance separating him from the object was some 300 meters (984 ft.). The object ascended in a rotating motion "much like a corkscrew" and then vanished toward the southeast.
Like a good, steely-nerved medical student, the young man said: "After looking at it, I resumed my studies, telling myself: "It's one of the saucers mentioned in the press!" and returned to my business.
Unknowingly, he went on to form part of our country's ufological history.
[Translation (c) 2019 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to José Manuel García Bautista and Guillermo Giménez, Planeta UFO]