United Kingdom · 13 August 1956

RAF Bentwaters and RAF Lakenheath, 1956

Documented

An RAF interceptor obtained radar gun-lock on the target, after which the target moved behind the fighter and stayed on its tail through every evasive manoeuvre.

Where

RAF Bentwaters and RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, with RAF Neatishead GCI

When

13 August 1956

Who reported it

Multiple USAF and RAF radar operators across three radar sets, tower personnel, a C-47 crew, and an RAF Venom night fighter crew

Entities described

None reported

Handled as

INVESTIGATED / UNRESOLVED

Evidence class

GOV-1

The record

An official file preserves that a report was made and examined. It does not, by itself, establish what was seen.

• USAF Project Blue Book; the Condon Committee; RAF Fighter Command Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (Condon Report), Section IV Case 2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)

The document is attached to this entry.

What is not settled

A US official study of an event on UK soil; the RAF Fighter Command operational records were reportedly not retained. Condon's own conclusion is hedged, and the principal narrative was supplied twelve years later by a retired NCO's recollection, not a contemporaneous log. Anomalous propagation plus Perseid meteor activity is the standing sceptical explanation.

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