UFOs One Year at a Time: 1981

The Trans-en-Provence, France, Landing Case
January 1981

On the afternoon of January 8, 1981, a strange craft landed on a farm near the village of Trans-en-Provence in the Var region in southeastern France. Physical traces left on the ground were collected by the Gendarmerie within 24 hours and later analyzed in several French government laboratories. Extensive evidence of anomalous activity was detected.

The case was investigated by the Groupe d'Etudes des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés (GEPAN), or Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena Study Group, established in 1977 within the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) in Toulouse, the French counterpart of NASA. (The functions of GEPAN were reorganized in 1988 into the Service d'Expertise des Phénomènes de Rentrées Atmosphériques or SEPRA). The primary investigator was Jean-Jacques Velasco, the current head of SEPRA.

The witness was the farmer Renato Nicolai, 55, on whose property the UFO landed and then took-off almost immediately. Thinking that it was a military experimental device, Nicolai notified the local gendarmes on the following day. The gendarmes interviewed Nicolai and collected soil and plant samples from the landing site within 24 hours of the occurrence, notifying GEPAN on January 12 as part of a cooperation agreement for UFO investigation between the two agencies. Further collection of samples and measurements of the site were undertaken by the GEPAN team, and the samples were thoroughly analyzed by several government laboratories.

The first detailed report on the case was published by GEPAN in 1983 in its "Technical Note No. 16, Inquiry 81/01, Analysis of a Trace." Nicolai's testimony to the police was simple and straightforward:

"My attention was drawn to a small noise, a kind of little whistling. I turned around and I saw, in the air, a ship which was just about the height of a pine tree at the edge of my property. This ship was not turning but was descending toward the ground. I only heard a slight whistling. I saw no flames, neither underneath or around the ship.

"While the ship was continuing to descend, I went closer to it, heading toward a little cabin. I was able to see very well above the roof. From there I saw the ship standing on the ground.

"At that moment, the ship began to emit another whistling, a constant, consistent whistling. Then it took off and once it was at the height of the trees, it took off rapidly... toward the northeast. As the ship began to lift off, I saw beneath it four openings from which neither smoke nor flames were emitting. The ship picked up a little dust when it left the ground.

"I was at that time about 30 meters [100 feet] from the landing site. I thereafter walked towards the spot and I noticed a circle about two meters [7 feet] in diameter. At certain spots on the curve of the circle, there were tracks (or traces).

"The ship was in the form of two saucers upside down, one against the other. It must have been about 1.5 meters [5 feet] high. It was the color of lead. The ship had a border or type of brace around its circumference. Underneath the brace, as it took off, I saw two kinds of round pieces which could have been landing gear or feet. There were also two circles which looked like trap doors. The two feet, or landing gear, extended about 20 centimeters [8 inches] beneath the body of the whole ship."







SOURCE: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ufo_briefingdocument/1981.htm

UFOs One Year at a Time: 1968

CLUJ, ROMANIA- 1968In the morning of August 18, 1968, Emil Barnea, a 45 year old construction technician, which had been an officer in the army, known for his integrity, and his girlfriend Zamfira Mattea, aged 34, employee in a charity organization, were taking a walk and went towards the wood of Hoia-Baciu, near the city of Cluj in Romania. They were accompanied by two other people, a man and a woman, who remained anonymous becasue they wanted their privacy respected.

The weather was splendid, and the four decided to stop and have lunch under the sun in a small clearing of the wood, close of the road from Cluj to Bucharest.

Emil Barnea went to seek seasoned wood for a campfire. There was no wind, and the only sounds were the birds singing.

He then heard his girlfriend calling to invite it to come see something which intrigued her. It was 01:23 p.m.

Barnea came back from the clearing and looked at what her girlfriend indicated to him: above the clearing where they were, there was a round craft in the sky, rather large, of metallic appearance, which reflected the sunlight as if it were silver plated. The machine slowly flew above the wood, without any noise.

Barnea then rushed towards his bag of which he extracted his camera, he estimated the lighting and the distance and took a first photography. As the machine went always rather slowly, it had more than enough time to take a second shot.

He noticed variations of luminosity of the craft, and its fluctuating flight.

At this time, the craft suddenly accelerated, going up, and Barnea had just the time to take two more photographs before the machine was too far away to be seen. His fourth photograph was never publicly published because the other couple appeared on it, and they really did not want to be identified. This fourth photography was nevertheless shown by Emil Barnea to ufologists Florin Gheorghita and Ion Hobana later, it shows the machine who had become very small in relative size and as lost in a sort of cloud.

The four witnesses had followed all the maneuvers of the machine, which had lasted approximately two minutes, and then stood quite some time in awe and not knowing what to say. At the end of a few days, the shock which this incident had caused them had dissipated. At the end of one week or two, the film roll in Emil Barnea's camera was finished, and he developed it and made some prints. he was hesitant as of what to do about the observation and of the photographs, knowing that people talking of flying saucers were generally ridiculed.

(From UFO Phenomenon at Close Sight)

FEBRUARY 28, 1968

At 7:45 p.m., February 28, the three-man crew of an Eastern Air Lines ferry flight from St. Louis to Miami saw a string of unknown lights that caused the pilot "to take evasive action." Traveling at 18,000 feet, Captain Robert F. Reilman, Flight Officer A. J. Farmer and Safety Officer Rick Morrison first noticed "a red flashing light" at their altitude. In his report to NICAP, the pilot said the light was at their 11:30 position about halfway between Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida. "Who's this at our 11:30 position?" Capt. Reilman asked a nearby control center. The center replied that they had been in communication with a plane 15 miles away. "Well, this guy isn't 15 miles away," the pilot replied.

"He's at 11:30, has one flashing red light and three - now four red lights strung out - one red light turned to green." At this point, Capt. Reilman "prepared to take evasive action." The center radioed back that they had spotted no targets on their radar scope. "Come on," Reilman responded, "he's going right by us at our 9:00 position." The center still replied that they had no targets and that no balloons were in the vicinity. "I dropped the subject and proceeded to Miami," the Captain concluded. Pacings of ground vehicles have often badly frightened the witnesses, showing that official debunking and denials have not abated fears of UFOs. If anything, they have increased such fears, since many citizens believe the facts are kept from them.

source: http://www.nicap.org/newlook/section_III.htm

Plaine des Caffres, La Réunion, France-- July 31, 1968:

http://ufologie.net/htm/plainedescafres1968.htm

On July 31, 1968, at approximately 9 hours in the morning, Luce Fontaine, a creole, a "drunk cowboy" according to sources making fun of the event and a farmer married to a shcoolteacher according to other sources, 22 years old, was gathering grass for his rabbits in a small clearing, at the center of an acacias wood at the location"Le Tampon" in the Plain of Cafres, Reunion island.

He said to have seen there, during about fifteen seconds, an object of oval shape, with a translucent center and dark blue ends, stationed four or five meters above him at a distance of 25 meters. The machine measured some 5 meters broad and 2 meters 50 height.

Of blue and white color, the object emitted a raw whitish light compared with that of an welder. Sorts of large feet of metal were above and below the machine:

Drawing in J.P. Lavilgrand's report.

In the center of the craft, behind the translucent part, Luce Fontaine saw two characters of the humanoid type, of approximately 90 centimetres in height, dressed from the feet to the head of a kind of bumpy cosmonaut suit, which he called the "Michelin babas" since they resembled the famous mascot of the tires manufacturer. The two beings carried sorts of helmets which partially masked their face.

At the end of a few seconds, the two beings seemed to realize the presence of Luce Fontaine, they turn their back to him and the machine disappears in a few seconds in a dazzling flash of light and a hot air blast.

Luce Fontaine, according to various local journalistic sources, is presented sometimes as "a farmer considered as sober and honest", or "a cowboy who was returning of a party where alcohol abunded." The accounts do not specify if it is him who spontaneously went to find the Gendarmes to report what he saw or if the gendarmes came to challenge the man about a spread story, in any event, the Gendarmes of the island noted his statement to them as:

"I saw during about fifteen seconds an object of ovoid shape stationed at four or five meters above the ground. The object emitted a light like that of an electric welder. It had four to five meters in diameter and approximately two meters and a half in hieght. It was blue and white in its upper and lower parts. I was incomodated by the powerful light, but I could nevertheless distinguish, behind a blue screen, two characters who seemed to me to measure approximately 90 centimetres. The two characters were in an astronaut's suit."

"They resembled two "Michelin Babas", one of them was showing his back whereas the other faced me. When these two kind of cosmonauts saw me, there was a white flash and the apparatus flew away."

His interrogation by the Gendarmerie, within the framework of the investigation directed by Gendarmerie Captain Maljean, of Saint-Pierre, did not end in the publication of a commonplace explanation nor in the exposure of a hoax and the reports are not classified.

After the investigation by the Gendarmerie, it was the director of the departmental service of fire and help, Captain Léopold Legros, who had some knowledge as regards nuclear power, chemistry and biology, who realized that Luce Fontaine's hat and trousers were radioactive in proportions higher than the natural rates. He had used the detection equipment of Gillot airfield to that effect.

Legros then inspected the sighting's premises and also detected an abnormal radioactivity there, on six specific points aligned three by three on the ground. In addition, Luce Fontaine had a bleeding nose during the eight days which followed his observation, but there was no other noted consequence on his health.

J.P. Lavilgrand, of Daint-Denis de la Reunion, was the first "civilian" ufologist to learn about the case and he published a report, followed by a report by Mr. Albany of the GEPA ufology group. Captain Legros told J.P. Lavilgrand about the radioactivity measured on the site:

"In a radius of five meters around the point flown over by the UFO, eight points of radioactivity caught our attention. On grass tufts, on stones, we detected up to 60 milliRöntgens."

These measurements are not alarming, but quite abnormal. J.P. Lavilgrand furthermore pointed out that the measurements were made 10 days after the events, and that the abundant seasonal rains might have washed up the ground. He also noted the statement of Luce Fontaine, as follows:

"I was at kilometer 21 in a small clearing in the center of a wood of acacias. Bent towards the ground, I collected grass for my rabbits that morning, when I suddenly saw in the clearing a kind of oval cabin 25 meters away of me, hovering at 4 or 5 meters of the ground. Its ends were dark blue, the center was clearer, more transparent, a little like the windshield of a 404 car. Above and below, there was like two feet of brilliant metal glass."

"In the center of the cabin, two individuals, stood with their backs turned towards. That of left turned the head and thus faced me. He was upright, small, 90 cm approximately, wrapped feet to head in a kind of suit like the Michelin man. The one at my right-hand side simply turned the head towards me, but I nevertheless had time to glimpse on his face, partly masked by a kind of helmet."

"Both then turned their backs at me, and there was a flash as violent as that of the electric spark of a welding machine. All became white around me, a strong heat came, then like a blow of air, and a few seconds later there was nothing any more."

"I then approached the place where the machine had been; there was no trace. This object measured 4 or 5 meters in diameter and 2 meters 50 of height approximately. It was of bluish color, white on the higher and lower parts. I told all that to my wife and to the gendarmes, all believed me immediately."

The story was published in the local press, under the heading: "Flying saucer in the Plain of Cafres? Radioactivity slightly higher than the normal noted on clothing of the single witness, a farmer named Luce Fontaine who claims: "Two Michelin men were in the apparatus"." It then came to the press in mainland France, with numerous articles in newspapers like "Centre-Matin", "Le Courier de l'Ouest", "l'Alsace", "Nice Matin", "Le Provençal", "L'Alsace ", "Nice Matin", "Le Provençal": obviously, the fact that the Gendarmerie had investigated, and the traces of radioactivity, made the journalists more comfortable on whether the event was worthy to be reported.

On the very spot of the observation, one of the most famous night clubs of La Reunion was later built, and called "The Flying saucer", and the story is now as much the subject of the gibes in the island as a minor classic of the ufologic literature:

The Flying Saucer: a discotheque in the outer limits It is the last house on the road of the Plains. In 1958, a named Luce Fontaine, cowboy, returning from a party where there was large amounts of alcohol, saw an unidentified flying object crash on its current site. The myth of the "Flying saucer" was born. Today and for forty years, inhabitants of the four corners of the island and all generations have perpetuated the myth while shaking their hips on java, tango and techno music. A dance hall not like any others, where couples form and split, and forget their daily concerns.

Several more times, and notably a few years later in 1975, the Michelin men and their flying saucer came back to visit the island of La Réunion.

ABOVE: Incident at Redlands, California (4 Feb 1968)
http://www.nicap.org/redlands.htm

 This case concerns the reported sighting by some
twenty observers of an object with seven lights on the bottom,
which appeared as jets, and a row of eight to ten lights on top
which were alternating in color.  The object was reported to have
proceeded at a low altitude (estimated about 300 feet) in a
northeasterly direction for about a mile, to have come to a stop
and to have hovered briefly, jerked forward, hovered again, then
to have shot straight upward, stopped, hovered again, then wavered
to the northwest, gained altitude, and then to have shot off to
the northwest with a strong burst of speed.  It was under
observation for about 5 minutes.  The object was estimated to have
been at least 50 feet in diameter.  The estimates of 300 feet
altitude and 50 feet must be considered jointly; only the apparent
diameter can be judged, of course, but on the assumption of a
given distance the estimate of 50 feet was arrived at.  Clearly,
if the object had been several miles away, the unchanged apparent
diameter would lead to an unbelievably large object.

Claremont, New Hampshire-Dome-Shaped Object Hovers 10 ft above Ground

source:
http://www.nicap.org/newlook/section_VI.htm

Early on the morning of July 30, 1968, a couple (names on file at NICAP) finished working on their new house in the Robert's Hill district of Claremont, New Hampshire and were preparing to retire. Some lights in the field back of the house, apparently about 200 feet away, attracted their attention and they went to the window to see what was going on.

To their astonishment, they saw a dome-shaped object hovering about 10 feet off the ground. The underside of the object was illuminated, and the light covered an area about 20 feet in diameter on the ground. Since they were in a fairly isolated area with no telephone (they had just moved into the house), the couple became frightened. They could hear a buzzing sound, like a transformer, coming from the object. The time was about 2:30 a.m.

Mr. and Mrs. John Meloney of the New Hampshire NICAP Subcommittee investigated the report in close cooperation with the Claremont police. In their interview with the couple, they learned that the UFO had remained over the field until about 4:30 a.m. Then the humming became very loud, the light grew to high intensity and the UFO moved away at a low angle upward to the west and disappeared. In the garage, the family dog whined loudly as the UFO departed. Two separate groups of witnesses have been located by the Subcommittee. The reports seem to indicate beyond a reasonable doubt that something unexplained was in the area.

UFOs One Year at a Time: 1956

Elizabeth Klarer (1910-1994)

(From Answers.com) Elizabeth Klarer was the most prominent flying saucer contactee of the 1950s from South Africa. She was born in 1910 in Mooi River, Natal, South Africa and rose out of obscurity in 1956 following an encounter with a spaceship reputedly from Alpha Centauri, of which she took a picture. She was received enthusiastically among South African UFO buffs who provided her with a platform to recount her encounters.

As Klarer's story unfolded, she claimed to have had an initial UFO sighting in 1917 and again in 1937. Finally, in 1954, while at her farm in Natal where she was born, she saw a saucer again. This time it flew close enough that she could see one of its occupants. Then on April 6, 1956, she was again at her farm in Natal when a saucer landed and she was taken aboard. The fair-haired and handsome person she had seen before introduced himself as Akon. The saucer took her to a large mothership, where she was shown pictures of Meton, Akon's home planet. She was given food, a vegetarian meal, and introduced to their culture. Two months later she saw the saucer again and took a picture of it as it flew above her farm.

She told this story at UFO gatherings in South Africa, and over the years reported additional contacts. The most important event in these later encounters was her developing romantic attachment to Akon, with whom she had a son. She claimed that at one point she stayed for four months on Meton and completed her pregnancy there. Her son could not live on Earth, but occasionally visited her. All of these events were discussed in her 1980 book, Beyond the Light Barrier. Although warmly received in South Africa, her story was not believed by North American and European UFO researchers. Except for the picture, weak evidence indeed, there was nothing to collaborate her story. She persisted in her claims, however, until her death in February of 1994.

Elizabeth Klarer

UFO Contactee and Space Traveler

Introduction and Interview by Stuart Bush ~ Transcribed and Edited by Noel Huntley, Los Angeles, California
http://www.esoteric-news.com/artman/publish/article_20.shtml
Copyright 2009 by Esoteric-News.com

Elizabeth Klarer was born in 1910 in Mooi River, Natal, where she grew up on a farm and soon learned to understand the Zulus very well. She was trained as a meteorologist at Cambridge, England. She later went to Trinity College, London, to study music, where she obtained a degree. She is also a pilot, and learned to fly the DeHaviland plane. During World War II she was employed by the South African Air Force Intelligence and during operations did work for the Royal Air Force decoding German communications. She was also trained to observe UFOs for the South African Air Force UFO Division. She has a son David, a daughter, Marilyn, who is now a medical specialist, and another son, Ayling ~ an astrophysicist living on another planet, which we will cover shortly.

Her fascinating story began at the age of seven when a flying saucer visited her near her home. Telepathic communication between Elizabeth and Akon, who was a crew member and scientist of the spacecraft, occurred several times. In April, 1956, on Flying Saucer Hill at Rosetta, Natal, the crew revealed themselves and Elizabeth Klarer was taken up into space and into the vintage mother ship. In November, 1957, on the high plateau of Cathkin Peak, in Drakensberg, Elizabeth Klarer entered the spacecraft to meet her new-found lover Akon.

During the next eight and a half months she endured harassment, especially from American intelligence forces, and on one occasion she was almost kidnapped by the Russians who wanted to capture the future space child. She was eventually taken by Akon to another solar system, our nearest neighbour, Alpha Centauri. There she stayed on the planet Meton for four months where she gave birth to and reared her space child, Ayling. Owing to the vibrations of the magnetic field being different on Meton, her heart was unable to adjust to the new pressures, and she was forced to return to Earth. Contact has been maintained and Akon and her son, Ayling, have both appeared to her visually in a projected holographic image.

In 1984 particular interest was shown in Elizabeth's experiences by the British Ministry of Defense and they announced that UFOs do exist and are now official. Elizabeth's story has attracted the attention of many countries, in particular, America, Britain and Russia. In 1975 she was given a standing ovation at the 11th International Congress for UFO Research in Germany. She was applauded by a group of scientists representing 22 nations where she gave a speech about the secrets of light. In 1983, she addressed the house of Lords in England, and her paper was also read at the United Nations. A few years ago she traveled to Switzerland to appear on a TV show. She has written a book entitled "Beyond the Light Barrier," and has now completed a second one, "The Gravity Files."

TO READ AN INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH KLARER, CLICK HERE

Movie Review UFO (1956) June 13, 1956
New York Times

Screen: 'Saucer' Story; Quasi-Documentary on 'Flying Objects' Bows

By A.H. WEILER Published: June 13, 1956

THE fact that truth can be more engrossing than fiction is quietly and effectively demonstrated in "Unidentified Flying Objects," which landed at the Mayfair yesterday.

Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse the producers, reportedly assembled their material over a period of two years. They have re-created in black-and-white and in heretofore classified color footage of "flying saucers" the astounding events that have perplexed and/or frightened civilians and the military alike since 1947.

If "Unidentified Flying Objects" is not as startling as an imaginary invasion by tiny, green men with pointed heads, it does, however, leave an impression of restrained documentation that is instructive and sobering.

Messrs. Greene and Rouse are concerned mainly with illustrating reports of unexplained aerial phenomena that have been seen and photographed, and showing that these observations have been verified by Air Force, Army and Navy experts. Specifically, their "story" is based on the experiences of Albert M. Chop, a Los Angeles newspaper man who was chief of the press section of the Air Material Command in Washington. He is played in an unadorned manner by Tom Towers.

Others portrayed in this quasi-documentary are Capt. Edward Ruppelt, who headed "Project Bluebook," the Air Force's designation of its official inquiry into "U. F. O.", and Maj. Dewey Fournet, Pentagon liaison officer. Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse, Navy photographer, and Nicholas Mariana, Utah businessman, both of whom photographed "saucers" in flight, and Capt. Willis Sperry, American Airlines pilot who sighted them, "play" themselves.

Naturally, the color clips taken in Utah on July 2, 1952, by Newhouse and those shot by Mariana on Aug. 15, 1950, in Montana are of short duration. But the "objects"—seemingly small, silvery dots against a brilliant blue sky—are attested as genuine in the commentary of the principals.

The film-makers' meticulous depiction of the military's documentation has a tendency to slow matters. But through their obviously sincere effort to show that a vast majority of the more than 2,000 reports checked were proved erroneous, a viewer also would he inclined to go along with the disclosure that about 15 per cent of the reports are still officially designated as inexplicable: that, in effect, unidentified flying objects have been sighted. It must be noted too that the reproduction of the sudden appearance of a flight of fourteen giant, saucer-like, fantastically speedy unidentified "objects" over Washington International Airport in July, 1952, is more exciting than the foregoing investigations. But the alleged flight, as it is picked up on the radarscopes and as it nearly makes contact with jets sent up to intercept, has a theatrical tension and a spurious quality not present in preceding scenes.

"Unidentified Plying Objects" is not a specially imaginative example of movie-making. But in avoiding sensationalism the producers have given dignity to the "credible observations of relatively incredible things."

The Cast
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS, written by Francis Martin; directed by Winston Jones; produced by Clarence Greene; presented by Mr. Greene and Russell Rouse and released through United Artists. At the Mayfair.
Albert M. Chop . . . . . Tom Towers
Capt. Edward Ruppelt . . . . . Lieut. Robert Phillips
Maj. Dewey Fournet . . . . . Lieut. Floyd Burton
Radar Expert . . . . . Wendell V. Swanson
Mrs. Chop . . . . . Marie Kenna
Scientist . . . . . William Solomon
Nicholas Mariana . . . . . Himself
Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse . . . . . Himself
Capt. Willis Sparry . . . . . Himself
Editor . . . . . Gene Coughlan

1956: RADAR/VISUAL JET CHASE OVER BENTWATER, UK
(UFOs AT CLOSE SIGHT)

On the night of August 13-14, 1956, radar operators at two military bases in the east of England repeatedly tracked single and multiple objects which displayed high speed, as well as rapid changes of speed and direction. Two jet interceptors were sent up, and were able to see and track them in a brief series of maneuvers. According to official U.S. Air Force reports, the sightings could not be explained by radar malfunction or by unusual weather.

It began at 9:30 p.m. when Airman 2nd Class John Vaccare, of the U.S. Air Force at RAF Bentwaters, tracked one UFO on his Ground Controlled Approach radar (type AN/MPN-11A) as it flew 40-50 miles (65 to 80 km.) in 30 seconds, i.e. 4,800 to 6,000 mph (7,500 to 9,500 km./hr.).

A few minutes later Vaccare reported to T/Sergeant L. Whenry that a group of 12 to 15 unidentified targets was tracked from 8 miles (13 km.) southwest of Bentwaters to 40 miles (65 km.) northeast, at which time they "appeared to converge into one very large object, according to the size of the blip on the radar scope, which seemed to be several times larger than a B-36 aircraft [the largest operational bomber in history, with a wingspan of 230 feet or 70 m.]." The single large blip stopped twice for several minutes while being tracked, before flying off the scope.

At 10 p.m., a single unidentified target was tracked from Bentwaters as it covered 55 miles (90 km.) in just 16 seconds. This works out to over 12,000 mph (19,000 km./hr.).

Then, at 10:55 p.m., the Bentwaters GCA radar picked up an unidentified target on the same east-to-west course as the previous one, at an apparent speed of "2,000 to 4,000 mph" (3,200 to 6,400 km./hr.). Someone in the Bentwaters control tower reported seeing "a bright light passing over the field from east to west at about 4,000 feet [1,200 m.]." At about the same time, the pilot of a C-47 twin-engine military transport plane over Bentwaters said, "a bright light streaked under my aircraft travelling east to west at terrific speed." All three reports coincided.

Soon after, radars at Bentwaters and RAF Lakenheath reported a stationary object 20-25 miles (32-40 km.) southwest of the latter base. It suddenly began moving north at 400 to 600 mph (650 to 1,000 km./hr.), but "there was no build-up to this speed - it was constant from the second it started to move until it stopped." It made several abrupt changes of direction without appearing to slow for its turns.

Around 11:30 p.m., the RAF launched a deHavilland Venom jet interceptor, from RAF Waterbeach. According to the U.S. Air Force UFO report:

"Pilot advised he had a bright white light in sight and would investigate. At 13 miles [20 km.] west he reported loss of target and white light. Lakenheath (radar) vectored him to a target 10 miles [16 km.] east of Lakenheath and pilot advised (that) target was on his radar and was 'locking on.' Pilot then reported he had lost target on his radar.

"Lakenheath GCA reports that as the Venom passed the target on radar, the target began a tail chase of the friendly fighter. Radar requested pilot acknowledge this chase. Pilot acknowledged and stated he would try to circle and get behind the target. Pilot advised he was unable to 'shake' the target off his tail and requested assistance.

"One additional Venom was scrambled from RAF station. Original pilot stated: 'Clearest target I have ever seen on radar."

The following conversation between the two Venom fighter pilots was heard by the Lakenheath watch supervisor:

"Did you see anything?" [Pilot #2]

"I saw something, but I'll be damned if I know what it was." [Pilot #1]

"What happened?" [Pilot #2]

"He - or it - got behind me and I did everything I could to get behind him and I couldn't. It's the damndest thing I've ever seen." [Pilot #1]

The 1969 report by the Air Force-funded study at the University of Colorado under Dr. Edward U. Condon concluded:

"In summary, this is the most puzzling and unusual case in the radar-visual files. The apparent rational, intelligent behavior of the UFO suggests a mechanical device of unknown origin as the most probable explanation of this sighting. However, in view of the inevitable fallibility of witnesses, more conventional explanations of this report cannot be entirely ruled out."