I’d heard about the Rendlesham Forest Incident – dubbed Britain’s Roswell – some time ago, and recall finding it fascinating at the time. I was, and still am fascinated by UFOs, and always interested to hear about knew sightings and facts. I was only 15 years old when this story broke, but do recall the headline in the News of the World. But, like with most UFO stories, as time passes, and no more information comes out, you sub consciously file the story away, and it loses its importance and significance.

Nick Pope’s new book, co-written with Jim Penniston and John Burroughs, two of the primary witnesses, breathes new life into the events that occurred that December night in 1980. The two airmen were the first to out that night to investigate the strange lights seen over Rendlesham Forest, which lies between the then twin USAF bases, Bentwaters and Woodbridge, in Suffolk, England. Upon reading Mr Pope’s new book, my interest in the event has now been more than re-kindled, excuse the pun!

This book is well written, and sets out the timeline of the events in digestible bits of information, together with additional facts and testimony that has come out since the event. The book is written with the help of the two primary witnesses, Jim Penniston and John Borroughs.

The important thing about this case has got to be the sheer number of trained military personnel who witnessed the events over the 3 nights, together with some photographic evidence, radar evidence, and radiation readings taken at the alleged landing site, after the initial event. The now famous Halt memo, released by the USAF, under the Freedom of Information Act in 1983, led to the story being broken by the News of the World back in the same year. This memo, written by Colonel Charles Halt, the deputy base commander, together with a recording he made, which can be listened to on YouTube, and which are transcribed in Pope’s book, provide clear evidence that Halt, and his men, who went out into the forest on the third night, witnessed something very unusual – more lights in the forest, and the sky, which appeared to be craft, under intelligent control, performing incredible high-speed maneuvers, and which shone laser-like beams of light to the ground, and into the weapons storage areas. (Probably housing nuclear weapons.)

Pope can’t comment on whether there were nuclear weapons stored at the base, as it would be a breach of The Official Secrets Act if he did, but some brief research quickly reveals that the bases were storing a large quantity of the US’s battlefield nuclear warheads, an interesting and worrying fact in and of itself.

Although the story seems to have become embellished over the years, with contradicting accounts as to what happened, the original witness testimonies taken as part of the initial investigation, are perhaps the most interesting aspect. They leave no room for doubt that the witnesses experienced something other than just the flashing light of the Ofordness Lighthouse during the 3 nights of the event. Simply too many individuals saw something they could not explain.

Having devoured Mr Pope’s book in a few days, I needed to find more information on the event, and I located a load of information and interviews on YouTube, and even better, downloaded the late Georgina Bruni’s book, entitled `You Can’t Tell The People.’ This book, unlike Mr Pope’s, was written back in 2000, and the author carried out meticulous research, and tracked down dozens of witnesses, both military and civilian who all verify different aspects of the sightings. Anyone interested in this story, and who has read Pope’s book, will be doing themselves a favour if they also read Bruni’s book.

The fact is, 34 years on, the witnesses still maintain that they said they saw back in 1980. To me, it seems incredible if the accounts of these trained military men, who had to remain silent until they left the USAF, were not genuine. Why put yourself through the hassle and ridicule of saying you witnessed such `outlandish’ events, if they weren’t true? It doesn’t make sense.

I’d be astounded if more information doesn’t eventually come out on this case, but unless it comes from Colonel Halt, or as yet, some unknown, but verifiable witness, or higher ranking officer who was present at the bases in 1980, then it will be difficult to accept.

So, did an alien craft land in the forest? Or was it a top secret military craft belonging to the good old USA? The secret TR-3B, would be a good contender. Especially as some of the witnesses described seeing what appeared to be something dripping off the craft.. perhaps a problem with the mercury-based plasma drive engine?? Or has a cover-up been orchestrated to hide a sinister accident of some kind? Whatever happened, the case is fascinating, and won’t be going away any time soon. I suppose the only comforting fact is that if it was indeed an alien craft, no one was harmed by said aliens – at least not intentionally. If the men were harmed, the harm was more likely caused by fellow humans from the MOD or the USAF!

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