A former Air Force intelligence officer, Filer was a pilot stationed at the U.S. Air Force base at Sculthorpe RAF Base in England in January 1962. He was out refueling fighter aircraft at around 30,000 feet over the North Sea, when he was notified from London Control that radar had picked up a UFO. 

It was around sunset and a clear night when he headed toward the object’s location, around 1,000 feet above an area near Oxford and Stonehenge, he said. 

Filer said he could feel the adrenalin as his KB-50 J tanker aircraft exceeded what he called redline maximum speed to get there. He said that the control tower in London had cleared the area and was calling out the distance to the craft.

In a written submission to the hearing he described the experience as follows: 

“They called out your miles apart, 60, and 40. At about 30 miles my APS-23 Radar picked up the hovering UFO directly ahead. 

“It was an exceptionally large radar return reminding me of a large bridge or ship. This craft was bigger than anything I had seen in the air before. It reminded me of the radar return from the Brooklyn Bridge 6,000 feet or the Firth of Forth Bridge in Scotland (8,300) feet, over a mile long.

“The return was sharp and solid as compared to the fuzziness of a rain cloud. I felt this craft must be made of steel or strong metal. We were doing around 425 mph as we approached to about 10 miles, when the UFO apparently realized we were intercepting,” he said. 

“It was a dark night; we could only see a series of dim lights directly ahead similar to a cruise ship at sea. Now only five miles separated us. Suddenly the UFO seemed to come alive, the lights brightened immensely and the UFO accelerated in a launch similar to the Space Shuttle taking off at night. 

“We saw much brighter lights and fantastic acceleration as it climbed almost straight up and suddenly it was gone. These huge craft I learned are called mother ships, because like an aircraft carrier they carry smaller disc craft. 

“We asked London Control, if they had any rocket launches in the area. London Control seemed as disappointed as we were. The controller said, “There are no rocket launches in that area, thank you for the intercept, you are now cleared to return to your mission.” 

Royal Attention 

Filer said the incident did not gain vast attention although he did record it in his navigator’s log and it was mentioned the next day in operations. A few weeks later, however, he and his crew received an invitation to dine with Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, who had expressed an interest in their experience. 

“About seven of us sat around a table discussing UFOs. Prince Phillip was very personable and friendly. He was very interested in our intercept and we assume he had also been briefed by London Control because the U.S. Air Force had no apparent interest,” he said in his written testimonial. 

When he asked the royal consort of Queen Elizabeth II why he was interested he said Prince Phillip replied: “My uncle who raised me, Earl Mountbatten had seen UFOs close up while in the Navy.” 

Filer said Prince Phillip told him he had debriefed aircrews who intercepted UFOs “on many occasions.” 

Filer said he has researched the topic of UFOs over many years and now believes that extraterrestrials have been visiting planet earth for thousands of years. 

He referred to archaeological structures carved in the soil called cursors, which are found throughout England. He believes they resemble the reported shape of mother ship UFOs. 

“This complex at Stonehenge and Silbury Hill in England, may in fact represent visitation by an alien race in the distant past,” he said. 

Filer had another experience with an extraterrestrial craft while in the U.S. Air Force according to organizers of the Citizen Disclosure hearing but he did not discuss it at the event. He is now a regional director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), a nonprofit volunteer organization which was established in 1969 to record and study UFOs. He also produces a weekly UFO newsletter called Filer’s File. - Epoch Times.

Other resources: http://rense.com/general12/watchasd.htm

Two USAF Fighters Encounter UFO 

In early March, UFOData Magazine was contacted by Chris Rolfe, of UFO Monitors East Kent (UFOMEK), with regard to an audio file that had come into his possession. The file apparently recorded the observation of an unidentified object by at least two United States Air Force (USAF) F-15 fighter jets from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The actual location of the incident is not yet known.

Chris had read about the incident in an article published in Radio User magazine by Kevin Patterson, an aviation reporter who has also contributed to UFOData Magazine. Kevin has a regular column in Radio User entitled ‘Military Matters’. Chris contacted Kevin and discovered that an audio record of the event had been made by an anonymous radio enthusiast. Kevin passed on the recording to Chris, who, in turn, forwarded it to us. Kevin reported that London Military Air Traffic Control had picked up the object at between three and four thousand feet and had requested the jets to investigate. The F-15s, call-sign ‘Gator’ duly manoeuvred and encountered the object. 

The audio appears to be a conversation between three men and they pick up an object on their radar. It is at an altitude of seventeen thousand feet, rising to seventeen thousand seven hundred feet, considerably higher than when London Military ATC first detected it. Its airspeed varied from a dead stop to eighty knots and the planes made at least two passes of it, flying both beneath and above the object.

Below is a transcript of the audio recording. It may not be a hundred percent accurate, given the noise in the file, but it should be pretty close:

Voice #1: Alright, dude. No kidding. I just flew over Bullseye zero zero eight for twenty. I had a radar hit and it was swinging, looked like thirty knots. There was something there. It looked like, it didn't look like a bird. It looked like a rock to me. I... CQ negative. I have no idea what it was, but, er, basically this... heads up, try to stay away from seventeen thousand feet, keep your nugget on, so I have no idea what it was. I'm gonna use our radar and see if I can pick this object up again. I picked it up twice, the first time I picked it up, my radar broke lock, so I thought it was just, er, some kind of bad lock or superficial chaff. I'm gonna turn back towards the north a little bit.

FOIA request 

According to FOIA documents that were released about this incident on January 12th, 2007 two F-15 Eagles were requested by LATCC (Lakenheath Air Traffic Control Center) to investigate a radar target. As you might remember, this is the same RAF base which was at the center of the infamous Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident. Inquiries to the LATCC staff were made regarding the incident, but there was no final determination given as to what the result of the intercept was. Apparently, a HAM radio operator of unknown origin recorded a very clear conversation between the two pilots discussing what they were seeing.

Some important points to make note of which I believe make this a very important encounter:

The object was picked up visually AND on radar by both pilots.

The object increases altitude by 700 feet over the course of several minutes and this is verified by one of the pilots. This pilot clearly states that it is "not falling"

The object ranges in speed from 30 to 80 knots with one pilot verifying a speed between 30 and 60 knots with the other pilot recording a peak velocity of 80 knots.

The object was described as being between the size of a "grapefruit and a soccer ball"

Both pilots managed to target the object with radar and then guns to confirm a positive 'lock' on the target, meaning IF they had permission to engage the target they would have hit whatever it was.

This is a great recording for a number of reasons, namely the fact that these are military pilots who are trained observers and not prone to seeing something that isn't there. We have verifiable radar hits on a seemingly small object (but not small enough to not be picked up by radar) as well as multiple visual locks with no explanation from the pilots as to what it could be. 

A transcript of the conversation is posted below this video. PLEASE NOTE that the actual video has nothing to do with the incident, it is simply there for aesthetics. The Object Report claims no ownership of any of these videos.

Transcript Of Transmissions 

Aircraft 1 Pilot ...alright dude no kidding. I just flew over I have a bulls-eye at zero zero eight for twenty -BREAK- I had a radar hit -BREAK- and I ahh, it was swinging looked like thirty knots err there was something there it looks like a uhh it didn't look like a bird it looked like no kiddin' a rock to me I -BREAK- kid you negative -BREAK- I have no idea what it was but uhh basically just -BREAK- heads up try to stay away from seventeen thousand keep your nugget on swivel I have no idea what it was -BREAK- I'm gonna' use my radar to see if I can pick this object up again -BREAK- I've picked it up twice the first time I picked it up my radar broke lock so I thought it was just uhh some kind of bad lock or potential chaff -BREAK- I'm gonna' turn back towards the ahh north for a little bit -BREAK- 

Aircraft2- Two will pick up trail -BREAK-

Aircraft 1 Pilot- Thanks I'm gonna uhh -BREAK- start coming back towards the uhh west (faint) I think it was zero zero four for about twenty -BREAK- I've got it again it's at seventeen seven -BREAK- three miles off my nose at sev..yeah seventeen seven I'm flying that way now. I'm gonna' slow down -BREAK- I'm not gonna get below three hundred knots but uhh -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot ...right towards you. Dude I can't tell, something small 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- very small black object I had it at seventeen seven -BREAK- He just flew right it just flew right over me -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- Confirm the object appears stationary? 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- Well I, I couldn't tell cause it was -GARBLED- 

Aircraft 1-WSO (faint) Think it was moving about thirty. 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- Nearer eighty knots -BREAK- 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- Yeah my radar showed between thirty and sixty so I have no idea what it's -BREAK- actually doing -BREAK- but it went from seventeen the first time I saw it to seventeen seven so it's not falling -BREAK- I don't think it was a bird -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot -UNINTELLIGABLE- 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- What's that? 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- Were you taking a manual lock or was it an auto guns lock? -BREAK- 

Aircraft 1 Pilot -TONE- I'm getting' him on auto guns every time -BREAK- Putting in a bulls eye zero zero nine for fifteen -BREAK- Still at basically no airspeed on it -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- Two is clean 

Aircraft 1 Pilot -Say again -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- Two's clean -BREAK- Two's locked! Bulls-eye at zero one two fifteen, eighteen thousand. 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- alright I'm gonna' uhh -BREAK- climb up slightly here. I wanna try and look at it then you follow in behind me if you can. -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- I'm at fourteen thousand. 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- (Dual Transmission) UNINTELLIGIBLE. BREAK- Dude I have no idea what that is -BREAK- But he's passed over me. -BREAK- Now I've got it uhh seventeen thousand feet eight miles off my nose -BREAK- Bulls-eye zero four nine for twenty -BREAK- Seventeen thousand I'm gonna' get down to sixteen five -BREAK- Uh two point five miles off my nose right now -BREAK- seventeen thousand feet -BREAK- Yeah I'm not gonna be able to slow down as much as you are maybe you can slow down a little bit more, get a better look -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- (bass tone) UNINTELLIGIBLE -BREAK- 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- UNINTELLIGIBLE outmaneuver him -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- Copy confirm you've merged weapons (?) -BREAK- 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- I am about to merge right now. I'm seeing him -BREAK- Underneath me now -BREAK- And I'm gonna' get my airspeed back before I maneuver -BREAK- Are you locked or clean? -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- I'm no joy approaching line abreast with you two thousand feet high eighteen five -BREAK- 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- Copy that I'm gonna UNINTELLIGIBLE right hand turn -BREAK- You, you said you're at eighteen? -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- Yeah contact I'm at eighteen five now you're six o'clock for about three miles TONE -BREAK- 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- Copy that -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- If we are well clear I will descend at this time -BREAK- Fox are we clear of this target? -BREAK-

Aircraft 1 Pilot- I uhh -BREAK- I'm not sure. Again it stays between seventeen and eighteen so -BREAK- I, I believe I'm in the vicinity of it I'm not uhh a hundred percent positive -BREAK- UNINTELLIGIBLE -BREAK- I have visual now -BREAK- I'm gonna fly underneath you -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- Copy I saw it that time and I cannot make out what it was -BREAK- 

Aircraft 1 Pilot -TONE you didn't see it? -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- Confirmed 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- Alright I'm gonna circle back around -BREAK- TONE Hopefully we'll be able to see it through the HUD. 

Aircraft 2 Pilot -We've got somebody else out here with it -BREAK- 

Aircraft 1 Pilot- Yeah I see him -BREAK- Dude did you see anything? -BREAK- 

Aircraft 2 Pilot- Negative  

On March 6th, 2007, UFOData Magazine contacted the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and asked for any information they had via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). We also contacted RAF Lakenheath, but they have failed to reply to our correspondences.

The very next day, I received an email from Mrs Sue Welch, of the Defence Flying Complaints Investigation Team. She wanted me to phone her so that I could provide her with more information. I did this and she was very nice and thanked me for the information. She said that now she had the call-sign of the flight, she could contact the pilots in question at RAF Lakenheath. A report would be filed with the MoD and, in the fullness of time, we would hear back from them (not her).

On March 8th, 2007, I received an email from Mr Paul Welch, of the MoD Freedom of Information office. His email said:

Thank you for your e-mail of 7 March 2007 asking for any information or documentation relating to an alleged incident on 12 January 2007, when London Military Air Traffic Control tasked two USAF F-15 aircraft to investigate an unknown object that had been picked up on radar.

We have no record of London Military Air Traffic Control Centre making such a request.

I immediately sent a reply to Mr Webb, explaining that, while we appreciated his speedy reply (perhaps the fastest ever in response to a FOIA request!), he had only referred to the request from London Military ATC for the jets to intercept the unknown object. I asked if it was possible for him to look into the interception incident itself.

In the meantime, various explanations of what the object might be had been submitted by various researchers, including weather balloons, vultures, mythical birds or a helium-filled, toy balloon.

By 19th March, 2007, I had not heard back from the MoD, so I sent an email to Mr Webb, asking if he had received my initial reply. The next day, an email arrived confirming that my reply had been received and two hours and forty-two minutes later I received the following message from Mr Webb in my email inbox:

Thank you for your e-mail of 8 March 2007 asking me to look into any records of an alleged sighting of an unknown object by two USAF F-15 pilots on 12 January 2007. I am dealing with it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Ministry of Defence have no record of UK military air traffic control tasking USAF aircraft to undertake any such investigation on or around 12th January 2007. However, I understand that two USAF aircraft spotted an object on their onboard radar whilst on a routine training flight and, on their own initiative, made a number of passes over it.  They believed the object, no bigger than a football, was floating with the wind and had probably come from a weather balloon.

I should also like to take the opportunity to explain that the unless there is corroborating evidence to suggest that the UK's airspace may have been compromised by a hostile or unauthorized foreign military aircraft, the MOD does not investigate or seek to provide a precise explanation for each of the 200-300 "UFO" reports we receive every year. However, we believe that rational explanations could be found for most of the sightings if resources were devoted to so doing, but it is not the function of the MOD to provide this kind of aerial identification service. It would be an inappropriate use of defence resources if we were to do so.

Touchy! So, it wasn’t a bird, after all. What part of a weather balloon is black, rock-like and can go from three thousand to nearly eighteen thousand feet and be locked on radar, despite being no bigger than a football? I asked Mr Webb if he could send me a hard copy of his findings and he said he would pop it in the post. All I got, however, was a printout of the email I received from him. I have asked for hard copies of the information he has received from his investigation, but have yet to receive a reply to this request.

Chris Rolfe, in the meantime, had contacted UFO researcher, Don Berliner, in the States and he made a FOIA request from over there. The reply he got, from Joanne F Kitchen, of the 48th Fighter Wing (USAFE), read as follows:

This responds to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of March 4, 2007 which you seek information and copies of all materials related to the January 12 2007 radar/visual observation from and/or attempted intercept by the crews of two RAF Lakenheath based F-15's of an unidentified object. Your request was received by this office on March 5, 2007 and assigned file number 2007-018.

A thorough search by the 48 Operational Support Squadron did not locate any records responsive to your request. The FOIA applies to existing Air Force records; the Air Force need not create a record in order to respond to a request.

‘A thorough search’ did not locate any records? This clearly contradicts the Ministry of Defence’s assertion that the pilots did encounter an object. Is this a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing, or are the MoD’s searches more ‘thorough’ than the United States Air Force’s?

In an effort to ascertain where the incident took place, Chris Rolfe is trying to find out which region of UK airspace the frequency of the radio exchange covers. As yet, he has been unsuccessful. Two frequencies were used, according to the enthusiast that recorded the transmission, one of which is used by London Military ATC and the other reserved for the 492nd and 493rd Fighter Squadrons at RAF Lakenheath. The 492nd use F-15E Eagles, while the 493rd fly F-15Cs.

According to Kevin Patterson’s original article, on the same day, there was a report of an aircraft over Norfolk executing some unusual manoeuvres at high altitude and a report from Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, of ‘flaming debris’ falling from the sky. A helicopter from RNAS Gannet was despatched to investigate, but nothing was found. It is not known, though, if these incidents are related to what the American F-15 pilots intercepted.

A member of the Above Top Secret forum (www.abovetopsecret.com), ‘PW229’, who claims to work in the area of aircraft communications, has determined that the aircraft in question were F-15E Eagles, which have a pilot and a weapon systems officer and utilise APG-70 radar systems. He also stated that the APG-70 cannot attain an auto-lock on a balloon.

The APG-70 system has a feature that can recognise many different types of aircraft from a continually-updated database. The auto-guns mode of the radar locks on the first target that enters its beam between three thousand feet and fifteen nautical miles distance. The radar also features a High Resolution Map mode (HRM) which can resolve objects down to eight and a half feet across at a distance of up to twenty nautical miles. Smaller objects can be detected, but they will appear on the scope as being the minimum resolvable size of eight and a half feet i.e. much larger than a football.

‘PW229’ has also claimed that one of the voices on the recording actually came not from one of the F-15s, but from a NATO-E3 AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft. He said: “This aircraft tracked the object for quite some time and saw 2 very unusual manoeuvres. The first was a rapid acceleration from 30 knots indicated to around 150 knots in 6 seconds... Although this first manoeuvre was nothing outrageous, the second manoeuvre most certainly was. The target dropped from 155 knots indicated to 10 knots indicated in less than half a second at which point the E-3 lost the target (it was lost in ground clutter)... From here the E-3 telemetry is very hazy on the target... I have received additional info that there was no IFF transmission from the object.”

Chris Rolfe is attempting to contact ‘PW229’ for more information. Even though the information provided by the Above Top Secret members appears interesting and seems to come from those who know what they are talking about, we accept that such information presented via internet forums can often be unreliable and, more often than not, unverifiable.

Another Above Top Secret forum member, ‘USAF1N051’, who claims to be a member of the Texas Air National Guard, reported that the terminology used in the audio recording was accurate and consistent with the way pilots speak to each other over the radio.

On March 27th, 2007, Mr Eric Rush received a reply from the Meteorological Office in Exeter, Devon, after making enquiries about whether the object could have been a weather balloon, as suggested by the MoD:

Dear Mr Rush

Thank you for your email.

As the National Met Service and a world leading source of information and advice on the weather and natural environment we are well equipped to deal with your enquiry.

This sighting, if it was one of our weather balloons ascending then at 17000 feet it would be considerably larger than a football as at launch the balloon is approximately four feet in diameter and with the reduction in air pressure the balloon only gets larger in volume. The balloon is made is of a tranclucent [sic] latex that is beige in colour. The parachute is white. The radiosonde is also white and the size of a paperback book. If the balloon has burst and the radiosonde is descending and the parachute has deployed then that would be approximately three to four feet in diameter.

I don't believe that the radiosonde is large enough to be picked up on radar.

I think that this sighting isn't anything to do with weather balloons!

If you have any questions or need additional information please contact the Customer Centre on 0870 9000 100 where one of our advisors will be happy to help you. The number is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Kind regards,

Richard

Customer Centre, Met Office, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, Devon, EX1 3PB, United Kingdom.

UFOData Magazine contacted NATS (National Air Traffic Services), the leading company tasked with providing air traffic control for fifteen of the UK’s largest airports, as well as ‘en route’ services for aircraft crossing UK airspace. We spoke to Richard Wright, Senior Press Officer at the NATS Press Office, and he explained that our skies are divided into two, distinct sections: controlled airspace and open airspace.

Open airspace is not covered by air traffic control, so pilots are responsible for avoiding any other air traffic. Most flights in open airspace take place during the day, although pilots with instrument training may be allowed to fly at night or in low-visibility conditions. When low-visibility is a factor, restrictions are placed on flights for reasons of safety.

As would be expected, there are more stringent controls in controlled airspace. These areas cover regions around airports and air corridors and NATS are paid to keep aircraft safely separated in these areas in any weather. All aircraft in controlled airspace are required to carry active transponders to send vital information to air traffic control about height, speed and the aircraft’s identification code or call sign. This will be displayed on the radar screen as a small box of information attached to the ‘blip’ on the ATC screen.

Any metallic object will be detected on radar and return a ‘blip’ on the screen, but unless the object carries a transponder, no other information will be displayed.

Hot air balloons generally do not carry transponders, but they are required to stay well away from controlled airspace. As a rule, hot air balloons will not be detected by ATC radar. This is because they usually fly at low altitudes and, for the most part, are non-metallic

Meteorological balloons also do not carry transponders for the most part, but they are required to be launched in areas where they will not drift into controlled airspace. A metallicised weather balloon will be detected on radar, but, unless it is carrying a transponder, will only appear as a ‘blip’ on the radar screen with no altitude data etc.

Mr Wright was familiar with this case and was sceptical of the claims being made. He found it unlikely that an object the size of a football would be visible to pilots in jets flying at several hundred miles per hour.

UFOData Magazine would like to thank NATS and Mr Wright for their invaluable assistance.

Sheffield Hallam University lecturer, Dr David Clarke has said that the weather balloon explanation offered by the pilots satisfies him, although he encouraged us to keep digging for more information on this case.

UFOData Magazine and UFOMEK are still investigating this case and if any new information comes to light, we will let our readers know in the next issue (June/July 2007).

Steve Johnson - writing for UFOData Magazine 

At first he estimated the size of the object to be as large as a 737 fuselage, and estimated the object to be at about 2000 feet. As he got closer to the object he noticed there was a second identical one just beyond the first. They didn’t appear to move, although later he learned they were moving slowly apart. He called the radar controller on the island of Jersey, to inquire about the objects, but they said they were not picking anything up. However, after Bowyer asked them to check again a few minutes later they were able to pick up two objects south of the island of Alderny. Seeing the object get larger as he flew closer, he felt relieved with this information as Alderney was his destination. Bowyer was not enthusiastic about flying close to these unknown objects with a cabin full of passengers.

As they approached Alderney the objects were visible to the naked eye. The Trislander aircraft does not have a separate cabin for the pilots, so Bowyer could hear passengers inquiring about what the objects were. He decided not to address their concerns in fear of frightening them. At this distance he could now see that the dark band on the objects was actually an area of sparkling blues and greens.

While descending into Alderney, they lost site of the objects once they dropped below the haze. Bowyer figured that no one from the ground must have been able to see the UFOs due to the layer of haze. Once on the ground he asked the passengers what they had seen and they confirmed seeing the same objects he saw. One of the passengers onboard, John Russell, who had seen the object along with his wife Kate, later told the press, “I saw an orange light. It was like an elongated oval.”

Bowyer reported his sighting, as required, and took a break before his next flight. He was a little worried that the objects were still up there. However, once he broke the haze on his next flight, the objects were gone.

Upon reflection of the distances, Bowyer felt that the objects must have been a lot larger than he first estimated. In fact he feels they must have been a mile long. He is still at a loss to what it was that he saw. He told the press soon after the sighting, “I’m certainly not saying that it was something of another world. All I’m saying is that I have never seen anything like it before in all my years of flying.”

Later Bowyer found out that there had been another pilot who had sighted the object. At the time Bower was discussing his sighting with the tower in Jersey, Captain Patrick Patterson, was flying from the Isle of Man into Jersey. He had heard the tower report that they had a radar hit of an unknown, so he took a look to see if he could see something himself. In a report in the UK files, it states that Patterson reported seeing a cigar shaped craft yellow in color. He also estimated it at 2000 feet. However, because of the haze he was only able to see one object for about a minute.

The official statements of the Royal Air Force are also in the files, they questioned the radar contacts. They stated, “We believe the ATC radar at Jersey is secondary only and therefore unable to achieve primary radar contact (if the object was producing one). The contact was reported stationary again making radar detection unlikely…” They went on to wrap up their investigation with this final statement, “…no further reports indicated that the object had a heading towards the UK. Therefore, we concluded that there was no threat to the UK from this observation and will not be taking the investigation further.”

In other words, they disregard the radar evidence, and since the objects didn’t seem to be in British airspace, it is not their problem. Not everyone agrees that such a credible sighting of two very large objects near British airspace should not be of concern to their military.

Soon after the incident, Nick Pope, who once worked for the British Ministry of Defense UFO desk, had this to say, “While no witnesses are infallible, pilots are trained observers and less likely than most people to misidentify something mundane. The MoD’s UFO case files contain several reports from civil and military pilots, some of which were correlated by radar. This is the sort of sighting that is taken seriously and should be investigated thoroughly. While most UFOs can be explained as misidentifications of aircraft, weather balloons, satellites and suchlike, a small percentage are more difficult to explain. This is one of the most intriguing sightings I’ve heard about in recent years

Le News Scotsman vient de sortir une affaire embarrassante pour le Ministère de la Défense britannique : “Un officier de la RAF (Royal Air Force) rompt le silence après 37 ans“. Un article de Marc Horne.

“C’est une rencontre rapprochée officielle. Un ancien officier de la RAF a prétendu que les Ovnis sont réels, et qu’ils ont pénétré dans l’espace aérien de la Grande-Bretagne. Le Commandant Alan Turner avait du prêter serment après avoir détecté au radar une série d’objets non-identifiés qui se déplaçaient à des vitesses incroyables au-dessus du sud de l’Angleterre.“

Son récit est particulièrement gênant parce que la Reine lui avait décerné le MBE (Ordre de l’Empire Britannique) en 1984, et il a choisi de s’exprimer publiquement malgré sa promesse de garder le secret. En outre, il a ironisé sur la position des autorités, pour lesquelles il pourrait exister “d’autres explications possibles”, les qualifiant de “stupides et arrogantes”. Il maintient sa version, qui n’exclue pas une manifestation extra-terrestre.

Alan Turner est agé de 64 ans. Il a dirigé le contrôle aérien sur la base RAF de Lossiemouth. L’ancien radariste ressasse depuis des décennies ce qui s’est passé, au cours de l’été 1971, au-dessus de la côte de Sopley, située au sud-ouest de l’Angleterre. Il commandait à l’époque une équipe de 13 hommes affectés à la surveillance aérienne, pour repérer d’éventuelles incursions soviétiques. Ce jour-là, son unité a été mise en état d’alerte par un évènement soudain et inattendu. Il raconte au journaliste : “Je me souviens parfaitement bien que tout le monde s’est exclamé : ‘Bon sang, qu’est-ce c’est ?’ Je me suis assis devant une console, et ils me criaient de regarder vers l’est de Salisbury Plain.

Les objets se trouvaient à environ 1.000 mètres d’altitude lorsqu’ils sont apparus et ils ont grimpé si rapidement que, au moment de disparaître du radar, ils étaient à plus de 20.000 mètres. Aucun avion de combat de l’époque n’aurait pu atteindre une telle altitude en parcourant seulement 60 kilomètres.” Pour tenter de résoudre ce mystère, Turner avait alors demandé à un jet Canberra de la RAF, qui revenait d’Allemagne de l’Ouest, de se dérouter pour intercepter l’intrus.

“Lorsque le pilote s’est approché à un peu moins de 2 kilomètres de cet écho particulier, il nous a communiqué - d’une voix qui trahissait son excitation - que son radar avait accroché quelque chose qui grimpait ‘à toute allure’. Ni le pilote ni son navigateur n’avaient pu établir de contact visuel avec ce qui se trouvait là.“

Peu après, Turner avait été convoqué au bureau du Chef de l’escadron, où il fut interrogé au sujet de l’incident par deux hommes en civil, qui ne se sont pas présentés.

“On m’intima l’ordre, ainsi qu’à tous ceux qui étaient présents ce jour-là, de ne jamais raconter ce que nous avions vu.”

Le commandant Turner a pris sa retraite en 1995. Il lui a été confirmé qu’il n’y avait aucun exercice en cours, classifié ou non, ni lâché de ballons météo dans la région, au moment de cet évènement.

“Je n’ai aucune idée de ce que c’était, mais je n’écarterai surement pas la possibilité qu’il s’agissait d’engins venus d’un autre monde. Il est parfaitement possible que nous soyons visités par des extra-terrestres.”

Turner ne craint pas de commenter les déclarations apaisantes des autorités : “C’est extrêmement arrogant et stupide de penser que nous serions seuls dans l’univers.“

Alan Turner a pensé que le moment était venu de rompre son silence, et il a accepté une invitation du présentateur d’une conférence internationale sur les Ovnis, qui se tiendra le mois prochain à Pontefract, dans le Yorkshire.

Il ajoute : “J’ai parlé avec trois anciens compagnons de l’Air Force, qui avaient occupé des postes responsables, et ils ont vu le même genre de manifestations, mais ils avaient décidé de n’en rien raconter parce qu’ils pensaient que leurs supérieurs en viendraient à douter de leur intégrité. C’est pour cette raison que j’ai gardé le silence pendant si longtemps, mais je sais ce que j’ai vu.”

Si son témoignage est exact, alors l'hypothèse de couche d'inversions de températures est caduque à cause de la 2ème confirmation radar.

Timothy Good discussing aircraft UFO chases and the strange case of Captain William Schaffner who disappeared over RAF Binbrook on September 8th 1970 - military historian Bruce Barrymoore Holpenny also makes some intriguing points about aircraft transcripts and closed canopies: 

What follows is drawn from information given to the Grimsby Evening Telegraph newspaper who broke the story and was reported as being an official transcript of the conversation between Captain Schaffner and the radar station at Staxton Wold. 

SCHAFFNER: I have visual contact, repeat visual contact. Over. 

STAXTON; Can you identify aircraft type. 

SCHAFFNER: Negative, nothing recognizable, no clear outlines. There is bluish light. Hell that's bright….very bright. 

STAXTON: Are your instruments functioning 94. Check compass. Over. 

SCHAFFNER: Affirmative, GCI I'm along side of it now, maybe 600 feet off my…It's Conical shape, jeeze that's bright, it hurts my eyes to look at it for more Than a few seconds. 

STAXTON: How close are you now?. 

SCHAFFNER: About 400 feet he's still in my three o'clock. Hey wait…there's something Else. It's like a large soccer ball…it's like made of glass. 

STAXTON: Is it part of the object or independent over. 

SCHAFFNER: Negative, nothing. 

STAXTON: Can you asses the rate…..?. 

SCHAFFNER: Contact in descent, gentle. Am going with it…50 no about 70…it's Levelled out again. 

STAXTON: Is the ball object still with it. Over.

SCHAFFNER: Affirmative it's not actually connected…maybe magnetic attraction to The conical shape. There's a haze of light ye'ow …it's within that haze. Wait a second it's turning…coming straight for me…# I'm taking 

Evasive action…a few…I can hardly… 

STAXTON: Come in 94 are you receiving over, come in.

As the controller lost contact with Captain Schaffner, a radar operator who had been tracking the Lightning and the mystery object watched in amazement. The two blips on the screen representing the aircraft and it's quarry, slowly merged into one. Decellerating rapidly from 500mph. Until they became stationary 6000 feet above the North Sea.

Flight Lieutenant Michael Swiney:"It was something supernatural. I immediately thought of course, of saucers, because that's actually what they looked like. They were not leaving a condensation trail as I knew we were. They were circular and appeared to be stationary. We continued to climb to twice that height [to 30,000 feet] and as we did so they did in fact change position. They took on a slightly different perspective. For example the higher we got they lost their circular shape and took on more of a 'flat plate' appearance - like when you hold a tea-saucer above your head and look at it, and then bring it down to your eye-level, it loses the circular shape and becomes a flat plate."