The Hynek UFO Report

On August 13 and 14, 1956, between the hours of 9:20 P.M. and 3:30 A.M. in the vicinity of Lakenheath-Bentwaters, England, occurred one of the most baffling series of UFO radar-visual contacts ever to confront Air Force radar operators. This case was so confounding that it was eventually to cause the Condon Committee investigator who reviewed it to state all but outright that it was proof that UFOs did exist. But Project Blue Book, in its customary manner, listed it as "anomalous propagation," the all-purpose out of the Air Force applied to any radar contact with a UFO that it could not explain.

An extensive analysis of this case by Gordon D. Thayer of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (and the member of the Condon Committe who conducted its review of radar cases) was examined closely by the UFO Subcommittee of the American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics and then published in the September 1971 issue of its magazine, Astronautics & Aeronautics.

Thayer's report describes the case as "the most puzzling and unusual case in the radar-visual file. The apparently rational, intelligent behavior of the UFO suggests a mechanical device of unknown origin as the most probable explanation of this sighting...." He did leave open the possibility that more conventional explanations could be applied to the case due to the fallibility of human witnesses.

According to Thayer, a report by the night-watch supervisor in the Radar Air Traffic Control Center at Lakenheath submitted to the Condon Committee years after the events of the night of August 13-14, 1956, provided the most coherent account. That report was not to be found in the Blue Book file at the time of Thayer's analysis for the Condon Committee in 1967, but it was contained in the files released in 1976 by the Air Force. Here is the account of the night-watch supervisor as submitted to the Condon Committee:

In 1956, sometime between January and September (I can't remember the exact date or month), I was on duty as Watch Supervisor at Lakenheath RAF Station, England, (a USAF base), in the Radar Air Traffic Control Center. It was the 5:00 P.M. to midnight shift. I had either four or five other controllers on my shift. I was sitting at the Supervisor's Coordinating desk and received a call on the direct line (actually, I'm not sure which line it was). Anyway, it was Sculthorpe GCA Unit calling and the radar operator asked me if we had any targets on our scopes traveling at 4,000 MPH. They said they had watched a target on their scopes proceed from a point 30 or 40 miles east of Sculthorpe to a point 40 miles west of Sculthorpe. The target passed directly over Sculthorpe, England, RAF Station (also a USAF Station). He said the tower reported seeing it go by and just appeared to be a blurry light. A C47 flying over the base at 5,000 feet altitude also reported seeing it as a blurred light that passed under his aircraft. No report as to actual distance below the aircraft. I immediately had all controllers start scanning the radar scopes. I had each scope set on a different range -- from 10 miles to 200 miles radius of Lakenheath. At this time I did not contact anyone by telephone as I was rather skeptical of this report. We were using ______ on our radar, which eliminated entirely all ground returns and stationary targets. There was very little or not [sic] traffic or targets on the scopes, as I recall. However, one controller noticed a stationary target on the scopes about 20 to 25 miles southwest. This was unusual as a stationary target should have been eliminated unless it was moving at a speed of at least 40 to 45 knots. And yet we could detect no movement at all. We watched this target on all the different scopes for several minutes and I called the GCA Unit at Lakenheath to see if they had this target on their scopes also. They confirmed the target was on their scope in the same geographical location. As we watched, the stationary target started moving at a speed of 400 to 600 MPH in a north/northeast direction until it reached a point about 20 miles north/northwest of Lakenheath. There was no slow start or build-up to this speed -- it was constant from the second it started to move until it stopped.

I called and reported all the facts to this point, including Sculthorpe GCA's initial report, to the 7th Air Division Command Post at London. They in turn notified 3rd Air Force Command Post and hooked into the line. I also hooked in my local AFB Commanding Officer and my Unit (AFCS, Communications Squadron) Commander on my switchboard. And there could have been others hooked in also that I was not aware of. I repeated all the facts known to this point and continued to give a detailed report on the target's movements and location. The target made several changes in location, always in a straight line, always at about 600 MPH and always from a standing or stationary point to his next stop at constant speed -- no build-up in speed, no set pattern at any time. Time spent stationary between movements also varied from 3 or 4 minutes to 5 or 6 minutes (possibly even longer as I was busy answering questions -- listening to theories, guesses, etc., that the conference line people were saying). This continued for some time. After I imagine about 30 to 45 minutes, it was decided to scramble two RAF interceptors to investigate. This was done I believe by 3rd Air Force calling the RAF and, after hearing what the score was, they scrambled one aircraft. (The second got off after as I will mention later.)

The interceptor aircraft took off from an RAF station near London and approached Lakenheath from the southwest. Radio and radar contact was established with the RAP interceptor aircraft at a point about 30 to 35 miles southwest of Lakenheath, inbound to Lakenheath. On intial contact we gave the interceptor pilot all the background information on the UFO, his (the interceptor's) present distance and bearing from Lakenheath, the UFO's (which was stationary at the time) distance and bearing from Lakenheath. We explained we did not know the altitude of the UFO but we could assume his altitude was about 1,500 feet and below 20,000 feet, due to the operational characteristics of the radar (CPS-5 type radar, I believe). Also, we mentioned the report from the C-47 over Sculthorpe that relayed the story about the light which passed below him. His altitude was 5,000 feet.

We immediately issued heading to the interceptor to guide him to the UFO. The UFO remained stationary throughout. This vectoring of the intercept aircraft continued. We continually gave the intercept aircraft his heading to the UFO and his distance from the UFO at approximately 1-to-2-mile intervals. Shortly after we told the intercept aircraft he was one-half mile from the UFO and it was 12 o'clock from his position, he said, "Roger, Lakenheath, I've got my guns locked on him." Then he paused and said, "Where did he go? Do you still have him?" We replied, "Roger, it appeared he got behind you and he's still there." There were now two targets, one behind the other, same speed, very close, but two separate distinct targets.

The first movement by the UFO was so swift (circling behind the interceptor) I missed it entirely, but it was seen by the other controllers. However, the fact that this had occurred was confirmed by the pilot of the interceptor. The pilot of the interceptor told me he would try to shake the UFO and would try it again. He tried everything -- he climbed, dived, circled, etc., but the UFO acted like it was glued right behind him, always the same distance, very close, but we always had two distinct targets. (Note: Target resolution on our radar at the range they were from the antenna [out 10 to 30 miles, all in the southerly sectors from Lakenheath] would be between 200 and 600 feet probably. Closer than that we would have got one target from both aircraft and UFO. Most specifications say 500 feet is the minimum, but I believe it varied and 200 to 600 feet is closer to the truth and, in addition the tuning of the equipment, atmospheric conditions, etc., also help determine this figure.)

The interceptor pilot continued to try and shake the UFO for about ten minutes (approximate -- it seemed longer to both him and us). He continued to comment occasionally and we could tell from the tonal quality he was getting worried, excited and also pretty scared.

He finally said, "I'm returning to station, Lakenheath. Let me know if he follows me. I'm getting low on petrol." The target (UFO) followed him only a short distance, as he headed south/southwest, and the UFO stopped and remained stationary. We advised the interceptor that the UFO target had stopped following and was now stationary about 10 miles south of Lakenheath. He rogered this message and almost immediately the second interceptor called us on the same frequency. We replied and told him we would advise him when he had a radar target, so we could establish radar contact with his aircraft. (He was not on radar at this time, probably had just taken off and was too low for us to pick him up, or too far away -- we had most of the scopes on short range, so we could watch the UFO closely on smaller range.) The number-two interceptor called number one interceptor by name (Tom, Frank -- whatever his name was) and asked him, "Did you see anything?" Number one replied, "I saw something, but I'll be damned if I know what it was." Number two said, "What happened?" Number one then switched frequencies to his home-base frequency. We gave number two the location of the UFO and advised him that we still didn't have him on radar, but probably would have shortly. He delayed answering for some seconds and then finally said, "Lakenheath ____ (identification, aircraft call sign) -- can't remember what call sign those aircraft were using. Returning home, my engine is malfunctioning." He then left our frequency.

Throughout this we kept all the agencies, 7th Air Division, 3rd Air Force, etc., advised on every aspect, every word that was said, everything.

We then inquired what action they wanted to take. They had no more suggestions, then finally they told us to just keep watching the target and let them know if anything else happened. The target made a couple more short moves, then left our radar coverage in a northerly direction -- speed still about 600 MPH. We lost target outbound to the north at about 50 to 60 miles, which is normal if aircraft or target is at an altitude below 5,000 feet (because of the radiation loss of that type radar). We notified 7th Air Division Command Post and they said they'd tell everybody for us.

I made out a written report on all this, in detail for the officer in charge of my facility, and was told that unless I was contacted later for any further information, he would take care of it.... I heard no more about it....

At least three separate times that same night, prior to the telephone contact with the supervisor at Lakenheath, unidentified radar echoes were tracked by the GCA unit at Bentwaters. While those incidents are quire interesting themselves, there was no visual observation involved.^[1]