Retired U.S. Air Force officer who later described a 1952 investigation near St. Anthony, Newfoundland, in which he said he observed an unidentified object leave the water after local witnesses reported unusual activity offshore. He became widely known through later interviews and television coverage of historical military UFO cases.
Richard French is a retired U.S. Air Force officer who became publicly known decades after service for statements about a 1952 Newfoundland case. In later interviews, French said he had been sent to examine reports near St. Anthony and that local witnesses, including an RCMP officer, described two objects beneath the water, one of which he said he later saw leave the surface and depart. Those statements entered the public record long after the event and became most visible through television appearances and retrospective UFO documentaries. French is chiefly associated with the subject through that Newfoundland account and later commentary on how unusual military-era reports were handled.