From: UFO UpDates - Toronto <ufoupdates.nul>
Date: Thu, 09 Dec 2004 07:40:23 -0500
Fwd Date: Thu, 09 Dec 2004 07:40:23 -0500
Subject: UK Government Files On UFOs 




Source: Phenomena Magazine - UK

http://www.phenomenamagazine.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Area+51&action=page&obj_id=2109

12-08-04


UFOs In The 1960s
From The Archives

Government Files On UFOs

By: Nick Redfern
Phenomena US Editor In Chief

Sources:

Declassified British Air Ministry files, Reference Numbers: AIR 2/17318 and AIR 2/16918

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had in my files a whole
range of UFO reports and encounters that I had never published
and that I would begin to make available for the Phenomena
audience on a regular basis. The following data all dates from a
clearly defined period in the early 1960s in the UK and
demonstrates the sheer scale and diversity of UFO reports that
were investigated by the British Air Ministry at the time.

In mid-January 1963, the Wiltshire town of Corsham was the scene
of a notable UFO encounter involving a retired Royal Air Force
officer whose report attracted the attention of Air Intelligence
at the MoD. And it may not be without significance that Corsham,
Wiltshire, is the home of RAF Rudloe Manor - a British Royal Air
Force base that was for years the location for classified UFO
investigations undertaken by the RAF.

On the morning of 15 January 1963 Mr. J.E. Hipkin of Chippenham
telephoned the Station Adjutant (S.A.)at RAF Colerne to report
an unusual experience that had occurred the previous afternoon.
Following established guidelines, the S.A. at Colerne asked him
to submit a report in writing. It was at shortly after 5.30 p.m.
on 14 January 1963, Mr. Hipkin said, when something decidedly
unusual caught his eye in the sky over the town. He began:

"The object was a dull orange glow terminating with a tail of
light of considerable length; the tail being for the best part
parallel but ending in a point. As the point source of the
orange glow appeared to be the rear of the vehicle and therefore
an outlet, it was perhaps significant that I could not see any
shape whatever ahead of the glow. There was no audible sound
whatever."

Mr. Hipkin elaborated further: "I estimated that I held the
object in view for approximately five seconds during which it
passed through an arc at a steady altitude and a phenomenal
speed. My estimate of the altitude is certainly not more than
three hundred feet and I place the nearest point of passing at
some two thousand yards distant. The course of the object was
almost due north; perhaps a few degrees east of north.

"Upon reflection one point comes to mind, as the object moved
towards the point where it passed from sight I did not observe
any change in intensity of light as one may possibly expect when
the rear of the motor is presented to the eye. This I find odd
in itself when considering the character of the subject."

Mr. Hipkin then made a highly significant point: "Perhaps I
should say that I have served almost fifteen years in the RAF as
a S.N.C.O. [Author’s Note: Senior Non-Commissioned Officer] and
have no small experience of aircraft. Whatever the object was I
feel quite sure it was not an aircraft in the accepted senses
nor was it debris entering the earth’s atmosphere.

"Living in this area I am accustomed to seeing a large amount of
Air Traffic and I cannot relate this sighting to any normal
flying machine." He concluded: "I have been careful not to
colour my story with exaggeration or wishful thinking and look
forward to hearing more of this matter."

From RAF Colerne, Mr. Hipkin’s report found its way to the
Ministry of Defense at Whitehall and ultimately to Air
Intelligence. The witness, it concluded, had merely been
mistaken by nothing more sinister than the Echo II space
satellite.

Of course, it is quite true that people do mistake satellites in
earth orbit for something potentially far more exotic; however,
it should not be forgotten that in this case, the witness was a
trained observer with the Royal Air Force of fifteen years
standing. Not only that, he was adamant that the object was at a
height of no more than three thousand feet and at one point came
within two thousand yards of his location. It goes without
saying that if a satellite were to come within two thousand
yards of British soil, a calamity of unprecedented proportions
would occur microseconds later when it would inevitably slam
into the ground!

Whatever the truth of the matter, Mr. Hipkin was informed of the
MoD’s conclusion and the report was quietly filed away in the
Ministry’s archives.

Eight months after the incident at Corsham, Wiltshire an event
occurred at Beckenham, Kent, that bore all the hallmarks of an
encounter with one of the fabled Foo Fighters of the Second
World War. And as with the previous case, the witness had a
military background: he had served during the hostilities of
1939-45 with an anti-aircraft detachment and until 1961 was
attached to a territorial unit of the British Army.

As Mr. W. Hooper informed the Air Ministry: "At 0150 hrs on
Tuesday the 27th August I was awakened by my wife to see what
appeared to be something in flames falling from the sky,
slightly N.W. of my house. This object appeared to be a ball of
incandescent gas, red and black and was about a foot in
diameter, and gave the impression of intense heat. It dropped
like a stone from approximately 1000 ft to 500 ft, then stayed
still for about 2-3 seconds, then started moving at an
incredible speed in a Northerly direction and was out of sight
in a matter of about 4 seconds. As it went away the wind brought
a slight humming sound to us and the red and black appearance
turned slightly yellow.

"I would be grateful if you could throw any light on the matter
for me and would like especially to know if you had anything
showing on your radar screens at the time I have stated. I am
convinced that the object was powered as it travelled against
the wind, and think what we saw may have been some sort of
exhaust gas or flame."

Possibly anticipating that Whitehall would offer a totally down-
to-earth explanation for what occurred, Mr. Hooper closed his
letter thus: "I hope you will not try and persuade me that the
object was a meteorological balloon as these as far as I know
could not possibly travel against the wind."

In this particular case, Air Intelligence once again asserted
that a solution had been found. Mr. Hooper, came back the
conclusion, had been fooled by a "fireball." That the UFO had
hovered in the air for two to three seconds was ignored by Air
Intelligence; as was the fact that Mr. Hooper’s anti-aircraft
work during the Second World War would have given him first-
class observational skills. UFOs have been in our public
consciousness for six decades.

Three weeks later, on 16 September 1963, Flight Lieutenant A.J.
Brown of RAF Middleton St. George, near Darlington, received
details of an encounter with an unidentified aerial intruder
reported by one O. Filon of County Durham. Undercover of a
Restricted memorandum forwarded to Whitehall, Flt. Lt. Brown
mailed a copy of Mr. Filon’s report, which read thus:

"At approximately 10.25 p.m. last night (sun. 15th) my son
called me into his bedroom. He pointed out a light looking
exactly like a star. It was moving towards us in what appeared a
very slow fashion. I at first took it to be a plane but the
light was too bright and it appeared to be at a great height.
The light then appeared to be zig-zagging. Not as an aircraft
would, i.e. with a bank or curve at each new leg of flight but
with an immediate change of direction.

"When almost overhead the light underwent a course change of
approx. 90 degrees. The line of flight was again constant and it
headed away in an E.S.E. direction. After a short time it
appeared stationary. This was for maybe three to four minutes.
The light suddenly appeared to go out, then just for a fraction
of a second it seemed to be dark blue, then it was gone. The
only conclusion I can make out is that it was moving outwards!
The whole thing lasted for approx. 15 mins. and was seen by my
wife, my son and myself."

And again, there was the crucial factor so present in the
overwhelming majority of those cases discussed thus far: "I
would like to point out that during the war I was a radar
operator, a trained supervisor, one of six selected for the
whole of the M.E. Command." Needless to say, the Air Ministry
again dismissed the case. "The man saw a satellite," Air
Intelligence informed the office at Whitehall that handled UFO
reports from the general public.

Barely a week after, a UFO incident took place at Peterborough
that involved both civilian and military witnesses. The facts
were set forth in a two-page Restricted report from Sergeant
T.G.M. Kendall at RAF Wittering Northants., who graphically
relayed to the Air Ministry what took place; and since this
particular report is of some significance, I reproduce its
contents in total:

"Sir, I have the honour to report the following facts for your
consideration. I was NCO in charge [of the] Operations Room at
2240 hours on 26th September, 1963 when I received a telephone
call from Mr. STRICKSON of [witness’s address] who, in company
with Mr. QUANTRELL of the same address, saw what he considered
to be two unidentified flying objects. The objects were in view
in the first instance from 2000-2100 hours. During that time two
orange coloured balls of light travelled from the South to the
East in a zig-zag fashion, then were seen again moving from West
to East. They were then seen to orbit overhead for some ten
minutes during which time three or four objects left the two
first mentioned and then rejoined them. Mr. Strickson was not
able to estimate the range or the altitude of the sightings, but
considered them to be 'higher than an aeroplane but lower than a
star'.

"I received a further call from Mr. Strickson at 2250 hours
reporting two objects blue in colour, higher than the previous
sighting, and travelling very quickly. At 2320 hours Mr.
Strickson informed me of two sightings which had taken place at
2305 hours when two objects were seen to move west to east in
close formation one behind the other, the one in front being
appreciably brighter than the one behind.

"At 2330, 2340 and 2350 hours, I received calls from S.A.C.W.
[Author’s Note: Senior Aircraftswoman] Marshall, the Duty PBX
Operator, who had seen a bright orange light moving north to
south which had turned south in the first instance and
subsequently orbited overhead. At one time she thought that she
had heard engines but was not sure. As a result of these calls,
I joined S.A.C.W. Marshall outside the PBX building and saw at
0010 and 0020 hours two orange lights approx. 30 seconds apart
which appeared from W.S.W. at a constant altitude heading
approx. 100 degrees, flying what I considered to be a left hand
race track pattern. I lost sight of the objects as they
described a descending left hand turn onto the reciprocal of the
visible leg. The sightings were exactly 10 minutes apart and
speed, direction and altitude appeared to be constant.

"Flying Officer Gastrell was Duty Operations Officer when these
sightings were reported. On his instructions I informed the Duty
Operations Officer No.3 Group of the various reports. He in turn
contacted the Duty Operations Officer at Air Ministry. The Duty
Operations Officer at Air Ministry required a full report to be
submitted to Air Ministry D.D.I. Tech [Author’s Note: Deputy
Directorate of Intelligence, Technical] giving full particulars
of all witnesses. A met. Report giving the conditions at two
specimen times during the period of sightings is attached to
this report. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient
Servant, T.G.M. Kendall, Sergeant."

{IMG4L]Once again the Air Ministry quickly came up with a
solution. All of the witnesses (including trained military
observers) had been fooled by an air-to-air refuelling
operation. However, an examination of the files pertaining to
the case show that, in reality, this was simply the Ministry’s
best "guesstimate," as no such refuelling operation was ever
officially confirmed as having taken place.

Stay tuned for more reports from the archives.


[UFO UpDates thanks Stuart Miller for the lead]