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Case · C-014

Lakenheath–Bentwaters 1956: radar targets and night fighters over Suffolk

RAF Lakenheath and RAF Bentwaters (bases used by the U.S. Air Force), Suffolk, England · United Kingdom · Aug 13, 1956 – Aug 14, 1956

In flight Military witnesses Radar

Unexplained

What happened
On the night between August 13 and 14, 1956, the radars of the Bentwaters and Lakenheath bases, operated by the U.S. Air Force, tracked very fast or stationary targets; the crew of a transport aircraft in flight reported a light that passed beneath the aircraft. The RAF scrambled Venom night fighters: according to the Lakenheath radar supervisor a target got behind a fighter and followed it for a few minutes, while the crews traced decades later recall only fleeting radar contacts, no visual sighting and, like the log of No. 23 Squadron, the hypothesis of a weather balloon. The Condon report, commissioned by the U.S. Air Force, concluded that conventional explanations could not be excluded but appeared unlikely; the Air Ministry papers on the British investigation appear to have been destroyed, as, according to the British government, routinely happened with UFO documents prior to 1962.
Proposed explanation
Philip J. Klass attributed the events to false radar echoes and to meteors from the Perseid shower; for individual chases a bright planet or weather balloons have been suggested. The Condon report judged anomalous radar propagation possible but improbable.
Official investigation
US Air Force (Project Blue Book) and Royal Air Force; case no. 2 of the Condon Report (University of Colorado for the US Air Force)
Words of the document
the probability that at least one genuine UFO was involved appears to be fairly high

Official documents

  1. Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (rapporto Condon), sezione IV, caso 2 · University of Colorado for the U.S. Air Force (full text, NCAS copy) · 1968

Sources

  1. David Clarke, “Lakenheath-Bentwaters UFO” (analysis of the documents and the crews' testimonies) (analysis)
  2. Wikipedia (en) – Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident (other)

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