{"it":{"id":"UFO-LAK1956","name":"Lakenheath–Bentwaters radar-visual","kind":"ufo","sub":"Historical sighting","place":"RAF Lakenheath and RAF Bentwaters, Suffolk, England","lat":52.409,"lon":0.561,"date":"1956-08-13/14","rep":"The target manoeuvred behind a Venom fighter.","off":"Unresolved: Condon left it unexplained; Klass contended radar faults.","src":[{"t":"Wikipedia: Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakenheath-Bentwaters_incident"}],"tags":["Sightings"],"sum":"The Condon Report called the Lakenheath–Bentwaters case of 13–14 August 1956 the most puzzling radar-visual case in its files.","nsrc":1,"new":1,"qs":["The Condon Report, which closed the Air Force's UFO study, called this its most puzzling radar-visual case. Why isn't it better known?","A radar target at 2,000 to 4,000 mph in 1956 Suffolk. What on Earth could do that then, and who would know if it were ours?","Squadron logs and controllers' memories differ by two hours. Does that sink the case, or just show how messy honest records get?"],"yt":"Read Condon's case text and list each radar contact.","rel":["REC-CON1968"],"hook":"\"I've got my guns locked on him.\" Over Suffolk in 1956, a fighter pilot became the hunted.","why":"The study that told the Air Force to stop investigating UFOs judged this case likely to involve a genuine unknown."},"S":{},"rec":{"id":"UFO-LAK1956","sum":"\"I've got my guns locked on him.\" A Royal Air Force Venom pilot said it over Suffolk on the night of 13–14 August 1956, as the American watch supervisor at Lakenheath remembered it in a letter written 12 years later. Moments afterwards the target got \"glued right behind him\", and stayed there for about ten minutes while the pilot tried to shake it.\n\nThe Condon Report, the University of Colorado study the US Air Force paid for, made this its Case 2. Three separate radar sets tracked unknowns that night. At Bentwaters one target crossed the scope at an estimated 2000 to 4000 miles an hour. Others were tracked at 600 to 800.\n\nThe pilot came down baffled. \"I saw something, but I'll be damned if I know what it was,\" he said, according to the supervisor's letter, which also calls it the \"clearest target I have ever seen on radar\". By about 03:30 GMT on 14 August the targets were gone.\n\nThe Condon analyst weighed the usual answers. Meteors from the Perseid shower were set aside. Anomalous propagation, radar beams bent by layers of warm air, was considered as well. The verdict was plain: \"the probability that at least one genuine UFO was involved appears to be fairly high.\"\n\nThat sentence sits in a report best known for concluding that UFOs did not merit further study. What did Lakenheath's radars see?","qs":["The Condon Report closed the book on UFOs, yet called this case likely genuine. How do you square the two?","The best quotes come from a letter written 12 years later. How much does memory change a story?","Three radars and human eyes agreed. What would it take to explain all of them at once?"],"gal":[{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Project_Blue_Book_report_-_1956-08-7069309-Bentwaters-Lakenheath-England.pdf/page1-1280px-Project_Blue_Book_report_-_1956-08-7069309-Bentwaters-Lakenheath-England.pdf.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Project_Blue_Book_report_-_1956-08-7069309-Bentwaters-Lakenheath-England.pdf","title":"Project Blue Book report - 1956-08-7069309-Bentwaters-Lakenheath-England.pdf","lic":"Public domain","licurl":"","by":"Project Blue Book","cap":"First page of the Project Blue Book case file for Lakenheath–Bentwaters radar-visual","alt":"First page of the Project Blue Book case file for Lakenheath–Bentwaters radar-visual"}],"ms":[],"aa":[],"ac":[],"src":[{"t":"Wikipedia: Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakenheath-Bentwaters_incident"},{"id":"VUFO-LAK1956-2","t":"Condon Report (1968), Case 2 (NCAS text)","u":"http://files.ncas.org/condon/text/case02.htm"}],"pts":[{"p":"Bentwaters radar target logged at 21:30; another at 22:55 moving 2,000–4,000 mph.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakenheath-Bentwaters_incident"},{"p":"A C-47 at 4,000 ft saw a light pass beneath it.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakenheath-Bentwaters_incident"},{"p":"RAF Venom chased the target for about 10 min (Perkins, 1968 letter).","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakenheath-Bentwaters_incident"},{"p":"No. 23 Sqn records show scrambles at 02:00 and 02:40, about 2 h later than Perkins/Wimbledon said.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakenheath-Bentwaters_incident"},{"p":"Condon Report called it the most puzzling radar-visual case in its files.","g":"SINGLE SOURCE","b":"S","t":"Wikipedia: Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakenheath-Bentwaters_incident"}]},"img":null,"md":{"h":"img/h/UFO-LAK1956.webp","w":1280,"hh":1577,"alt":"First page of the Project Blue Book case file for Lakenheath–Bentwaters radar-visual","by":"Project Blue Book","lic":"Public domain","lu":"","p":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Project_Blue_Book_report_-_1956-08-7069309-Bentwaters-Lakenheath-England.pdf","g":false,"ct":false,"cap":"First page of the Project Blue Book case file for Lakenheath–Bentwaters radar-visual","sec":[]},"hh":null,"hs":{}}