Studeo
19th June 2010, 13:12
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/6038208/Former-Armed-Forces-head-wanted-probe-into-UFO-sighting-newly-released-files-show.html
A former head of the Armed Forces wrote to the defence secretary urging him to “demonstrate a more serious concern” over a now famous UFO sighting, files released by the Ministry of Defence disclose.
The incident is just one among the hundreds of reports of UFO close encounters, from aliens with lemon-shaped heads to laser beams being shot to earth, contained in the files.
Other episodes include when two “sober” Glastonbury festival goers saw a flying saucer hover overhead and dozens of sightings which turned out to be a Virgin Airship and two boys who claimed an alien told them: "We want you, come with us".
Lord Hill-Norton, a former chief of defence staff, wrote to Michael Heseltine some years after a mysterious incident in which several US Air Force personnel reported seeing a strange metallic object hovering in Rendlesham Forest near RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk.
The incident, in the early morning of December 27, 1980, has become known as “Britain’s own Roswell”, and has never been fully explained.
The late Lord Hill-Norton, a member of what he described as the “rather ineffective” House of Lords UFO Group, wrote to Mr Heseltine in May 1985 to express his concern over the “puzzling and disquieting features” of the case.
He referred to the USAF report submitted by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt in which the deputy base commander details the account of three patrolmen.
Lt Col Halt wrote: “The individuals reported seeing a strange glowing object in the forest. The object was described as being metallic in appearance and triangular in shape, approximately two to three metres across the base and approximately two metres high. It illuminated the entire forest with a white light.
“The object itself had a pulsing red light on top and a bank of blue lights underneath. The object was hovering or on legs. As the patrolmen approached the object, it manoeuvred through the trees and disappeared.”
The commander himself described witnessing three depressions in the ground the next day where the object had been sighted.
And later that night he was among several men who saw a “red sun-like light” through the trees which “moved about and pulsed”.
Lord Hill-Norton also wrote: “Your officials should be ready to demonstrate a more serious concern with its implications than they have so far manifested. There seems to be a head of steam building up on this matter, and I can see a potential ‘banana-skin’ looming.”
An MoD briefing was handed to the defence secretary following Lord Hill-Norton’s letter for use in a House of Lords Defence debate.
The note states the MoD’s final position on the incident, saying the USAF report was “carefully examined” and the conclusion was that there was “no Defence interest” and “no evidence of anything having intruded into British airspace”.
It noted: “Indeed the high visibility of the phenomenon reported – multicoloured bright lights – is totally inconsistent with a covert entry into the UK.”
The briefing note said UFO sightings were “not a matter the MoD take lightly” and continued: “I can accept that people do from time to time see things in the sky which they find difficult to explain.
"I am sure your Lordships will agree that in many cases normal explanations come to light, such as falling meteorites or satellite debris, unusual cloud formations or aircraft lights... What the true explanation is, I do not know.”
The incident is just one of countless mysterious reports released as part of a three-year project between the Ministry of Defence and The National Archives, aimed at opening up the records to a worldwide audience.
This fourth instalment consists of 14 files of sightings, letters and Parliamentary Questions – 4,000 pages in total.
Other reports in the files include
Two “sober” revellers saw a flying saucer hover over the Glastonbury music festival but claimed others failed to “tune into” it because they were too interested in the music. The pair said they were “standing soberly” in a field when the craft appeared from nowhere over the Jazz field and seemed to “communicate” with them in 1994. One, a metaphysics student, said: “It appeared to be coming towards us and quite suddenly it changed colours. “It went from red and orange to yellow and green. This really had an amazing impact on me because I was wearing yellow and green.”
Dozens of people across London reported the sighting of a brilliant white flying saucer with flashing lights floating across the night sky during 1993 and 1994. But an investigation by the MOD concluded that the craft responsible for the phenomenon was much more mundane – a Virgin Airship advertising the Ford Mondeo, a new car. Despite everyone from students revising in Tottenham to dog walkers in Richmond insisting it was real – even producing detailed sketches – the sightings were dismissed as mistaken by the authorities.
Two youths on their way home just before midnight claimed they were accosted by a lemon-shaped headed alien who said “We want you, come with us”. One of the boys said they were drawn to a field in Chasetown, Staffordshire on May 4 1955 by an intense heat. There was a flash of light then some sort of spaceship allegedly appeared that sent his friend’s face “the colour of beetroot”. The officer’s report reads the boys, who insisted they were “not drunk or on drugs”, arrived “agitated and distressed” after gazing at the UFO which emitted an intense heat before zigzagging off east to west.
Between November 1989 and April 1990 the Belgian Air Force scrambled fighter jets to investigate potential UFOs in its airspace. Despite reports from police, radar contact and other eyewitness accounts, the authorities never solved what was repeatedly hovering unannounced in their skies. The first wave of observations began on November 29 and three days later on the evening of December 2, two F-16s were sent to the Liege area to investigate a sighting, although they found nothing. But according to an air force ground controller, the “echo” on the radar vanished when the planes arrived but returned when the F-16s left. The mystery resulted in correspondence between the Belgians and Britain’s Ministry of Defence, who were told none of Belgium’s neighbours were informed of the air breach.
A former head of the Armed Forces wrote to the defence secretary urging him to “demonstrate a more serious concern” over a now famous UFO sighting, files released by the Ministry of Defence disclose.
The incident is just one among the hundreds of reports of UFO close encounters, from aliens with lemon-shaped heads to laser beams being shot to earth, contained in the files.
Other episodes include when two “sober” Glastonbury festival goers saw a flying saucer hover overhead and dozens of sightings which turned out to be a Virgin Airship and two boys who claimed an alien told them: "We want you, come with us".
Lord Hill-Norton, a former chief of defence staff, wrote to Michael Heseltine some years after a mysterious incident in which several US Air Force personnel reported seeing a strange metallic object hovering in Rendlesham Forest near RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk.
The incident, in the early morning of December 27, 1980, has become known as “Britain’s own Roswell”, and has never been fully explained.
The late Lord Hill-Norton, a member of what he described as the “rather ineffective” House of Lords UFO Group, wrote to Mr Heseltine in May 1985 to express his concern over the “puzzling and disquieting features” of the case.
He referred to the USAF report submitted by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt in which the deputy base commander details the account of three patrolmen.
Lt Col Halt wrote: “The individuals reported seeing a strange glowing object in the forest. The object was described as being metallic in appearance and triangular in shape, approximately two to three metres across the base and approximately two metres high. It illuminated the entire forest with a white light.
“The object itself had a pulsing red light on top and a bank of blue lights underneath. The object was hovering or on legs. As the patrolmen approached the object, it manoeuvred through the trees and disappeared.”
The commander himself described witnessing three depressions in the ground the next day where the object had been sighted.
And later that night he was among several men who saw a “red sun-like light” through the trees which “moved about and pulsed”.
Lord Hill-Norton also wrote: “Your officials should be ready to demonstrate a more serious concern with its implications than they have so far manifested. There seems to be a head of steam building up on this matter, and I can see a potential ‘banana-skin’ looming.”
An MoD briefing was handed to the defence secretary following Lord Hill-Norton’s letter for use in a House of Lords Defence debate.
The note states the MoD’s final position on the incident, saying the USAF report was “carefully examined” and the conclusion was that there was “no Defence interest” and “no evidence of anything having intruded into British airspace”.
It noted: “Indeed the high visibility of the phenomenon reported – multicoloured bright lights – is totally inconsistent with a covert entry into the UK.”
The briefing note said UFO sightings were “not a matter the MoD take lightly” and continued: “I can accept that people do from time to time see things in the sky which they find difficult to explain.
"I am sure your Lordships will agree that in many cases normal explanations come to light, such as falling meteorites or satellite debris, unusual cloud formations or aircraft lights... What the true explanation is, I do not know.”
The incident is just one of countless mysterious reports released as part of a three-year project between the Ministry of Defence and The National Archives, aimed at opening up the records to a worldwide audience.
This fourth instalment consists of 14 files of sightings, letters and Parliamentary Questions – 4,000 pages in total.
Other reports in the files include
Two “sober” revellers saw a flying saucer hover over the Glastonbury music festival but claimed others failed to “tune into” it because they were too interested in the music. The pair said they were “standing soberly” in a field when the craft appeared from nowhere over the Jazz field and seemed to “communicate” with them in 1994. One, a metaphysics student, said: “It appeared to be coming towards us and quite suddenly it changed colours. “It went from red and orange to yellow and green. This really had an amazing impact on me because I was wearing yellow and green.”
Dozens of people across London reported the sighting of a brilliant white flying saucer with flashing lights floating across the night sky during 1993 and 1994. But an investigation by the MOD concluded that the craft responsible for the phenomenon was much more mundane – a Virgin Airship advertising the Ford Mondeo, a new car. Despite everyone from students revising in Tottenham to dog walkers in Richmond insisting it was real – even producing detailed sketches – the sightings were dismissed as mistaken by the authorities.
Two youths on their way home just before midnight claimed they were accosted by a lemon-shaped headed alien who said “We want you, come with us”. One of the boys said they were drawn to a field in Chasetown, Staffordshire on May 4 1955 by an intense heat. There was a flash of light then some sort of spaceship allegedly appeared that sent his friend’s face “the colour of beetroot”. The officer’s report reads the boys, who insisted they were “not drunk or on drugs”, arrived “agitated and distressed” after gazing at the UFO which emitted an intense heat before zigzagging off east to west.
Between November 1989 and April 1990 the Belgian Air Force scrambled fighter jets to investigate potential UFOs in its airspace. Despite reports from police, radar contact and other eyewitness accounts, the authorities never solved what was repeatedly hovering unannounced in their skies. The first wave of observations began on November 29 and three days later on the evening of December 2, two F-16s were sent to the Liege area to investigate a sighting, although they found nothing. But according to an air force ground controller, the “echo” on the radar vanished when the planes arrived but returned when the F-16s left. The mystery resulted in correspondence between the Belgians and Britain’s Ministry of Defence, who were told none of Belgium’s neighbours were informed of the air breach.