phenomenon. The reality is that UFOs will still be taken seriously and investigated. They will still be treated as something of potential defense significance, but unfortunately, now the general public won’t necessarily be kept informed about these most important UFO cases.
While the MoD has been unnecessarily defensive concerning UFOs, constantly seeking to downplay the subject and the department’s involvement, I have seen no evidence to suggest the existence of a conspiracy to cover up some sinister truth about UFOs. Most sightings are misidentifications of ordinary objects and natural phenomena. But there is compelling evidence in the MoD files and in the files of other countries to show that some UFOs can not be explained in conventional terms. While nobody has a definitive explanation for the UFO phenomenon, my research and investigations show not only that it exists but that it raises important air safety and national security issues.
Despite the extraordinary nature of some of the material in this chapter, everything I’ve written can be checked by referring to documents freely available at the National Archives or on the MoD website. However, people often ask me to go beyond the facts and into the realm of speculation. Never mind what I know, what do I think? What do I believe? How has my official work on the UFO phenomenon affected me? Twenty-one years of working for the government taught me to choose my words carefully.
In terms of my worldview, my government work on UFOs had a profound effect. Before I began my official research and investigations, I knew little about UFOs and had no particular beliefs about the phenomenon. Afterward, I felt that my eyes and my mind had been opened to a world that had previously passed me by. There was certainly more to the phenomenon than misidentifications or hoaxes. What of the 5 percent or so of sightings that defy conventional explanation? Could any of them be attributable to something exotic, or even extraterrestrial?
Many scientists now believe there must be life elsewhere in the universe. If there are civilizations within 100 light-years of Earth, the Square Kilometre Array, the world’s most powerful radio telescope due to be completed in 2024, should be able to detect them. Could we have been visited by an extraterrestrial civilization? Several of my colleagues in the MoD, in the military, and in intelligence believed we have been, and I certainly can’t rule out the possibility. If just
CHAPTER 18
The Extraordinary Incident at Rendlesham Forest
by Sergeant James Penniston (Ret.), U.S. Air Force, and by Colonel Charles I. Halt (Ret.), U.S. Air Force
I. Sergeant James Penniston
In 1980, when I was twenty-five years old, I was assigned to the largest tactical fighter wing in the Air Force, the RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge complex in England. I was the senior security officer in charge of Woodbridge base security. At the time, I held a top-secret U.S. and NATO security clearance and was responsible for the protection of war-making resources for that base.
Shortly after midnight on Christmas night—the early morning of December 26, 1980—Staff Sergeant Steffens briefed me that some lights had been seen in Rendlesham Forest, just outside the base. He informed me that whatever it was didn’t crash… it landed. I discounted what he said and reported to the control center back at the base that we had a possible downed aircraft. I then ordered Airman First Class Edward Cabansag and Airman First Class John F. Burroughs to respond with me.
When we arrived near the suspected crash site it quickly became apparent that we were not dealing with a plane crash or anything else we’d ever responded to. There was a bright light emanating from an object on the forest floor. As we approached it on foot, a silhouetted triangular craft about 9 feet long by 6.5 feet high came into view. The craft was fully intact, sitting in a small clearing inside the woods.
As the three of us got closer to the craft, we started experiencing problems with our radios. I then asked Cabansag to relay radio transmissions back to Central Security Control (CSC), and he stayed back while Burroughs and I proceeded toward the craft. At first I was confused, not understanding what I was seeing. This was truly unbelievable. Then fear struck me, but I told myself that I had to stay focused. Was this a threat to the base and to us? I had to determine that first and foremost.
When we came up on the triangular-shaped craft, there were blue and yellow lights swirling around the exterior as though part of the surface and the air around us were electrically charged. We could feel it on our clothes, skin, and hair. It felt like static electricity, which made your hair stand up and dance on your skin. But there was no sound at all coming from the craft. Nothing in my training prepared me for what we were witnessing. This was no type of aircraft that I’d ever seen before.
After ten minutes without any apparent aggression, I determined the craft was nonhostile to my team and decided to approach further. Following security protocol, we completed a thorough on-site investigation, including a full physical examination of the craft. After my first walk-around of the craft, astonishment and awe overwhelmed me. All fear was gone. During this process, I took photographs, made notebook entries, and relayed messages through Airman Cabansag to the CSC, following required procedures. The feelings I had during this encounter were like nothing I had ever known before.
On one side of the craft were symbols that measured about three inches high and two and a half feet across. These symbols were pictorial in design; the largest symbol was a triangle, which was centered in the middle of the others. They were etched into the surface of the craft. I put my hand on the craft, and it was warm to the touch. The surface was smooth, like glass, but it had the quality of metal, and I felt a constant low voltage running through my hand and moving to my mid-forearm.
After roughly forty-five minutes, the light from the craft began to intensify. Burroughs and I then took a defensive position away from the craft as it lifted off the ground without any noise or air disturbance. It maneuvered through the trees and shot off at an unbelievable rate of speed. It was gone in the blink of an eye.
In my logbook, which I still have, I wrote “Speed Impossible.” I subsequently learned that other personnel based at Bentwaters and Woodbridge, all trained observers, had witnessed the takeoff.
At that moment, I knew that this craft’s technology was far, far above what we could ever engineer. When it took off, I felt alone, knowing now what John and I knew. Suddenly, there was no doubt. I realized that it was 100 percent certain that we are part of a larger community beyond the confines of our planet.
After returning to CSC headquarters, we were debriefed and then advised to return to the landing site in daylight to look for physical evidence. After turning in our weapons and signing off, Burroughs and I went back and discovered broken branches scattered at the landing site. It appeared they had been forced down to the ground when the craft landed. There were scorch marks on the trees facing the site. But most importantly, we discovered three indentations in the ground, marks left by the UFO landing gear in the three corners of a triangle. I was relieved to find proof that this had really happened. I took photos of the landing site and, along with the ones I had taken of the UFO, took the film to the base laboratory. After taking Burroughs home, I went back to the site alone
