Istrana Air Force Base, ITL being encounter — October 7, 1973

The Istrana Air Force Base entry needs a dating qualification. The imported Hatch digest assigns October 7, 1973, and mentions two short figures, a landed object, traces and secrecy. A closely matching published sentry-change story is dated November 16 in INTCAT, citing Flying Saucer Review, Lumières Dans la Nuit and Veneto Notte of November 19. In that account, a sentry descending from his lookout saw two individuals in white clothing, no more than about a metre and a half tall, in a nearby field. A small white object stood farther away near a hedge. The relieving sentry reportedly saw them too. The figures entered the object, which departed silently, and a patrol was said to have found marks on the ground. Another Istrana retelling places silver-suited, large-headed figures near a drinking fountain on October 7. That is not automatically the same observed sequence and has not been merged into this illustration. A catalogue's secrecy label is also not evidence that a classified case file has been inspected. The plate uses year-only dating and reconstructs the two sentries, white-clad figures and indistinct white object while retaining the report's second-hand status.