August 13–14, 1956 — RAF Bentwaters-Lakenheath, England
9:30 p.m. A radar-visual UFO sighting begins at RAF Bentwaters [now Bentwaters Parks], Suffolk, England. A blip traveling approximately 4,000–8,000 mph on an east-west course is picked up on radar. It moves in a straight line to a position about 15 miles northwest of Bentwaters. Within a few minutes, about a dozen normal targets are spotted 8 miles southwest, moving northeast at about 100 mph. In front of the targets are three objects in a triangular formation, about 1,000 feet apart. All the targets then appear to converge into one extremely large target (several times the size of a B-36), which continues moving to the northeast, then stops for a few minutes, then resumes, and is lost to radar. The entire sighting up to this point takes 25 minutes. Five minutes later, another solid target appears, flying east to west at 4,000 mph or more, then vanishes when it moves out of range. A T-33 trainer from the 512th Fighter Interceptor Squadron crewed by 1st Lts. Charles Metz and Andrew Rowe is sent to investigate the radar contacts, but sees nothing. No visual sightings of the objects are made from Bentwaters in this period, with the exception of a single amber star-like object which was subsequently identified as probably being Mars. At 10:55 p.m., another target is picked up 30 miles to the east, traveling west at 2,000–4,000 mph. It passes directly overhead and is seen as a white light by both air (a C-47 at 4,000 feet reports it passed underneath him) and ground observers. Bentwaters notifies RAF Lakenheath, also in Suffolk, about what is going on, and Lakenheath personnel see a luminous object stop, then zoom off to the east. Also, two white lights are seen joining from different directions, which are tracked on two screens at Lakenheath. According to T/Sgt. Forrest Perkins, watch supervisor at the Lakenheath radar center, at midnight Lakenheath notifies RAF Neatishead, Norfolk, that a strange object is buzzing the base. A de Havilland Venom night fighter is scrambled, directed by Neatishead radar controller Flight Lt. Freddie H. C. Wimbledon. Perkins and Wimbledon claim the jets are sent up around midnight, but the crews think it is at 2:00 a.m. The Venom, crewed by Flight Officers David Chambers and John Brady from 23 Squadron at RAF Waterbeach [now closed] in Cambridgeshire, finds the object on radar north of Cambridge and sees it as a bright white light, which then disappears. The navigator says it is the “clearest target I have ever seen on radar.” The object, however, is behind the plane and stays there for some time, despite climbs, dives, and circling. Ground radar operators say that the object is glued right behind the fighter. After 10 minutes, the fighter heads back. The UFO follows briefly, then stops and hovers. Another Venom, crewed by Flight Officers Ian Fraser-Ker and Ivan Logan, is scrambled at 2:40 a.m. but experiences engine problems and aborts. Ministry of Defence officer Ralph Noyes says that one of the Venom pilots has taken a gun-camera film, which was later shown at a briefing in Whitehall. The object is tracked on two radars, leaving the area at 600 mph. The encounter is classified until 1969, when it is analyzed by the Colorado project. Gordon Thayer suggests that the “apparently rational, intelligent behavior of the UFO suggests a mechanical device of unknown origin as the most probable explanation of this sighting.” A later investigation is conducted by David Clarke, Andy Roberts, and Jenny Randles. In contrast to the reports given in the original classified teleprinter message (from 3910th Air Base Group to ADC at Ent AFB, now the US Olympic Training Center) three days after the event and in the accounts of both Wimbledon and Perkins, the air crews now state that the radar contacts were unimpressive and that no “tail-chase” or action on the part of the target occurred. They also assert no visual contacts were made. Chambers and Brady comment that “my feeling is that there was nothing there, it was some sort of mistake,” while Ivan Logan, the second Venom’s navigator, states that “all we saw was a blip which rather indicated a stationary target.” At the time 23 Squadron decides that the radar contact had, if anything, been with a weather balloon. Martin Shough concludes that there are actually several incidents at different times and places and that the relationship between each is unclear. [Eberhart]
Blue Book Record Card:
Sources:
Brad Sparks, Blue Book Unknowns Catalogue, Case 1196-1197, p. 238;
Edward Condon, Final report of the scientific study of unidentified flying objects conducted by the University of Colorado, pp. 163–164, 248–256;
James E. McDonald, “UFOs over Lakenheath in 1956,” Flying Saucer Review 16, no. 2 (Mar./Apr. 1970): 9–17, 29;
Gordon D. Thayer, “UFO Encounter II,” Astronautics and Aeronautics 9, no. 9 (September 1971): 60–64;
Carl Sagan and Thornton Page, eds., UFO’s: A Scientific Debate, Cornell University, 1972, pp. xxv–xxvi;
J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine ed., 1974, p. 91;
Philip J. Klass, UFOs Explained, Random House, 1974, pp. 255-276, Plate 21-22;
RAF Fighter Controller (Rtd.), “UFOs over Lakenheath,” Flying Saucer Review 24, no. 1 (June 1978): 31;
Ian Ridpath, “New Light on Lakenheath,” IUR 3, no. 8 (August 1978): 6–7;
Martin L. Shough, “Radar and the UFO,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 219–226;
Timothy Good, Above Top Secret, pp. 44–46;
Don Berliner, with Marie Galbreath and Antonio Huneeus, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence, Dell, 2000, pp. 64–66;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, A History, 1956: August, The Author, 1994, pp. 28–42, 72;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, A History, 1956: September–October, The Author, 1994, pp. 22–26;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, A History, 1956 August: Supplemental Notes, The Author, 2003, pp. 9–30;
David Clarke, The UFO Files, 2nd Edition, pp. 66–69;
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed., pp. 665–670;
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 4th Ed., pp. 739-745;
Wikipedia, “Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident”;
NICAP, “Several Incidents of R/V at Bentwaters”;
Center for UFO Studies, [case documents 1, case documents 2, case documents 3];
James E. McDonald, “Science in Default: Twenty-Two Years of Inadequate UFO Investigations,” paper presented at the Symposium on UFOs, 134th Meeting, AAAS, Boston, December 27, 1969, pp. 9–20;
http://kirkmcd.princeton.edu/JEMcDonald/mcdonald_aaas_69.pdf
Martin L. Shough, “Background & History”;
David Clarke, Paul Fuller, Jenny Randles, Andy Roberts, and Martin Shough, “The RAF Lakenheath/Bentwaters/Neatishead Incidents,” The Lakenheath Collaboration, 2003;
Ivan Logan, [Letter to Dave Clarke], October 23, 2000;
Interview with Ivan Logan Archived 11 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Lakenheath Collaboration
David Clarke, @shuclarke “Lakenheath-Bentwaters UFO”; [The best summary you could probably read]
G.D. Thayer, “UFO ENCOUNTER II,” Astronautics & Aeronautics, Vol. 9, No. 9 (September 1971): 60-64; [Transcription via NICAP vs Wayback Machine]
Thomas Tulien, “RAF Bentwaters/Lakenheath, Air-Visual/Radar UFO Observation, 13–14 August 1956,” The Author, 2022;