Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident
The Lakenheath-Bentwaters Incident was a series of radar and visual contacts with unidentified flying objects over airbases in eastern England on the night of 13–14 August 1956, involving personnel from the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Air Force (USAF). The incident has since gained some prominence in the literature of ufology and the popular media.[1]
The final report of the Condon Committee, which otherwise concluded that UFOs were simple misidentifications of natural phenomena or aircraft, took an unusual position on the case: "In conclusion, although conventional or natural explanations certainly cannot be ruled out, the probability of such seems low in this case and the probability that at least one genuine UFO was involved appears to be fairly high".[2] It has, however, also been argued that the incidents can be explained by false radar returns and misidentification of astronomical phenomena.[3]
The incident
The commonly cited sequence of events is recorded in the original Project Blue Book file by the USAF, subsequently analysed by the Condon Committee's report and by atmospheric physicist James E. McDonald.
The incident began at the USAF-tenanted
At 21:30, radar operators at the base tracked a target, appearing similar to a normal aircraft return, approaching the base from the sea at an apparent speed of several thousand miles per hour. They also tracked a group of targets moving slowly to the north-east which merged into a single very large return (several times the strength of that from a
A
At 22:55, a target was detected approaching Bentwaters from the east at a speed estimated around 2,000–4,000 miles per hour (3,200–6,400 km/h). It faded from the scope as it passed over the base (possibly suggesting
The final phase of the incident was described in some detail by
Investigation by the Condon Committee
The Condon Committee included the case in its analysis largely in response to Perkins' letter. Aside from the Blue Book file, it was able to obtain a previous classified
Based on the information available, the Committee's researcher (Thayer) felt that while anomalous propagation was possible, the lack of other targets on radar scopes at the time made it unlikely.[8] Focusing on the later phase of the incident at Lakenheath, he came to the remarkable conclusion that "this is the most puzzling and unusual case in the radar-visual files. The apparently rational, intelligent behavior of the UFO suggests a mechanical device of unknown origin as the most probable explanation of this sighting".[8]
Aviation journalist and noted UFO skeptic Philip J. Klass concluded, however, that the incident could be explained as a combination of false radar returns and misperceptions of meteors from the Perseid stream.
The account of Freddie Wimbledon and a further civilian witness
Little information emerged on the case until the late 1970s, when an article in the
Wimbledon had been the radar controller on duty at RAF Neatishead at the time of the sightings.[9] While his account of events agreed with that of Perkins in some details, including the description of the aircraft being apparently chased by the object, he stated that it had in fact been his team who directed the two Venoms to the interception and that the U.S. personnel at Lakenheath would have been merely 'listening in'.[10] Wimbledon disagreed with Klass' analysis, remembering the incident as involving a solid radar return tracked from three sets on the ground and one in the intercepting aircraft.
The same 1978 press interest in the case also elicited a letter from a John Killock to the Daily Express in which he claimed to have seen, in August 1956, both a single, rapidly traveling white light at Ely, along with a Venom, and subsequently an odd group of amber lights.[11]
Recent research
Four British Fortean researchers, Dr. David Clarke, Andy Roberts, Martin Shough, and Jenny Randles, have since conducted a study that has indicated that the incident, or incidents, were much more complex than the Condon Report had suggested.
Most significantly, the aircrews originally involved in the incident,
In contrast to the reports given in the original classified teleprinter message and in the accounts of both Wimbledon and Perkins, the aircrews both stated that the radar contacts obtained were unimpressive and that no 'tail-chase', or action on the part of the target, occurred. They also asserted no visual contacts were made. The first pilot, Chambers, commented that "my feeling is that there was nothing there, it was some sort of mistake",[12] while Ivan Logan, the second Venom's navigator, stated that "all we saw was a blip which rather indicated a stationary target".[13] At the time 23 Squadron decided that the radar contact had, if anything, been with a weather balloon.
To add to the contradictory nature of the accounts collected, another Venom crew was traced who had been scrambled much earlier in the evening. Flying Officers Leslie Arthur and Grahame Scofield were not told of the nature of their target and were forced to return to base after the aircraft's wingtip fuel tanks malfunctioned; Scofield recalled listening in to the radio communications of the intercepting pilots while back at Waterbeach later in the evening.[14] Scofield's account of the overheard radio transmissions agreed, puzzlingly, with those of Wimbledon and Perkins, though he felt able to identify the crews as Chambers / Brady and Fraser-Ker / Logan. The time and path of Scofield's flight was identified as one which could also convincingly explain the sighting of a Venom at Ely by the civilian, Killock, who had claimed to see anomalous lights.
The new research additionally revealed that 23 Squadron's Commanding Officer,
See also
References
- ^ See for example Ridpath, I. The UFO Conspiracy, The Sunday Times, 19 March 1978
- ^ Condon Report, Case 2, p.387
- ISBN 978-0-394-49215-5, pp.214-5
- ^ McDonald, J Science in Default, paper given to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, December 1969
- ^ Research by Dr David Clarke has since revealed that personnel at Bentwaters were during the surrounding weeks experiencing a degree of panic over "strange things flying around the runways" (see correspondence from Raymond Thomas to David Clarke Archived 25 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Lakenheath Collaboration).
- ^ a b McDonald, Science in Default
- ^ Perkins, Letter to Condon Committee, February 1968 Archived 11 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Lakenheath Collaboration
- ^ a b Thayer, Condon Report, Optical and Radar Analysis, p.246
- NICAP
- ^ Wimbledon, Letter to M. Shough, September 1986 Archived 11 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Lakenheath Collaboration
- ^ Killock, Letter to M. Shough, February 1988, Lakenheath Collaboration
- ^ Interview with F/O David Chambers Archived 25 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Lakenheath Collaboration
- ^ Interview with Ivan Logan Archived 11 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Lakenheath Collaboration
- ^ "Interview with Grahame Scofield". Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2008.
- ^ Clarke, D. The Lakenheath UFOs
- ^ "Navy's NEMESIS tied to UFO reports by former Area 51 veteran". 27 November 2019.