Two very important issues were raised as a result of the MoD's Rendlesham file being released, firstly their claim that RAF Neatishead's radar camera was turned off over the date of the incident and secondly that the UFO sightings were of no defence significance.
In my opinion, both these claims do not make sense.
Unless you want to believe that the Ministry of Defence was/is involved in a cover-up, then the MoD's files have just about squashed the radar evidence. So was the alleged radar tracking of an unknown object just a rumor? Let's examine the evidence.
Nigel Kerr was stationed at RAF Watton during 1980. He says that sometime near Christmas 1980, he received a phone call from RAF Bentwaters. The person who he spoke to wanted to know if there was anything unusual on his radar screen, as some strange lights had been seen falling from the sky. Nigel checked the radar screen and noticed a strange blip, it was visible over the Woodbridge area, it was visible for three of four sweeps of the screen, until it suddenly disappeared. No report was ever made. It was years later when Nigel realized the significance of his memories. Could Nigel have been forgotten or mistaken the crucial details of his story over 15 years? Some might say so, but I don't think so. When Jim Penniston spoke to John Coffey, who had contacted staff (Mr Kerr?) at RAF Watton, Coffey said that RAF Watton had tracked an object which had disappeared into the forest area. Minutes after hearing this, Jim Penniston et al were trooping through Rendlesham Forest in search of the UFO. There is a definite link - Jim Penniston and Nigel Kerr's claims both collaborate. There are also many people who have spoken about radar tapes being taken from RAF Watton or Neatishead, these were among the first rumours to ever surface in 1981-82. There's little point going into too much detail about these rumours, after all they were just rumours - however there's no smoke without fire.
Was RAF Neatishead's radar camera really turned off during the incident? And was RAF Watton's radar film damaged?
Gary Baker contacted UFO Magazine (closed March 2004 due to Editor's tragic death, UK Edition) after reading an article by Georgina Bruni which examined the claims that RAF Neatishead's radar camera was switched off around the Christmas period of 1980. From 1979 to 20 November 1981, Senior Aircraftman Gary John Baker was stationed at RAF Neatishead as an Aerospace systems operator with 2 squadron, Air Defence unit. He supplied UFO Magazine with his papers, certificates etc. proving that he was stationed at RAF Neatishead at the time, copies were printed in UFO Magazine's article concerning him. Gary's claims are most interesting, and while answering many questions they also create new ones.
Baker said, "RAF Neatishead had not one Primary air defence radar in 1980, but two!". In other words, if the primary radar camera was down for maintenance during the UFO incident, then the second one would have been in operation instead. In my opinion, Gary's statements are nothing short of a revelation. Among this, Gary has numerous other bits of information to add:
"These [radar cameras] would always work together apart from routine planned maintenance, but you don't have both going wrong and the same time. Maintenance is planned well in advance so that one is always operational." "I've been aware of the Rendlesham Incident for some time, but always felt that I didn't have anything to add to what was known but when I read UFO Magazine and saw what Georgina Bruni had to say about the newly released documents, I wouldn't quite believe it. Radar switched of at RAF Neatishead and poor and unusable radar film at RAF Watton? I find this totally unacceptable. Remember the cold War? The importance of RAF Neatishead and RAF Watton to NATO? You cannot have equipment that goes wrong simultaneously and at separate installations. That's why we used two radars, and even then, other overlapping stations would take over if RAF Neatishead were ever taken out.
"I find it absolutely inconceivable that both radar cameras could go wrong, but the files don't mention 2 cameras or 2 radars, just a camera. That smells of a cover-up and from my own point of view, I distinctly remember rumours flying around at the time, within the 'Ops [operations] room, of a UFO incident and a UFO Flap [a UFO flap is when many UFOs are seen over a period of days]. It was common knowledge amongst personnel that the MoD had come down to remove the tapes. I should add that I was personally not a witness to the Rendlesham forest incident, but I never heard any other rumours about a UFO flap during my time at RAF Neatishead. That said, there would definitely be film of radar of that incident at that time".
I was also able to find an interview with Gary Baker (the text above is from that interview), and with the kind permission of Russel Callaghan (he interviewed Baker), I have been able to reproduce the entire interview here on this website in MP3 format.
Russel runs UFO Data Magazine, which has been created to fill the void left by the old UFO Magazine, now the magazine has gone into full A4, 68 glossy page production and in a few months should be on the shelves. I have read issue two of the UFO Data magazine and can honestly say it was excellent.
It must not be reproduced anywhere else without Russel Callaghan's permission!
Listen to Russel Callaghan's Interview With Gary Baker
It must not be reproduced anywhere else without Russel Callaghan's permission!
Click the link above, unless you have a very quick internet connection I recommend you download the MP3 file by right clicking the link above, and choosing 'save target as...'.
Finally, I need to make another point. The MoD's files claim the (single, even though there were two) radar camera at RAF Watton was turned off on the 29th December at 3:27PM, so they don't have any records relating to the incident.
What I would like to know is where did the MoD get this date from? Halt's memorandum clearly states that the first incident took place on the morning of the 27 December (26/27 December), although it was infact on the 25/26 December.
In my opinion, The MoD's claim regarding the radar camera seems all too convenient, in light of Baker's claims it seems even sillier, and the claim that RAF Watton's radar film was faulty seems to be an excuse as well.
Was the Rendlesham forest incident of defence significance?
This question is easy to answer, and I truly believe that the MoD were plain wrong in their conclusion. We don't even know how they came to this conclusion. As I have already said, if an unknown and intelligently controlled object (so the witnesses say) plunging into the trees less than a mile away from two USAF bases harboring nuclear weapons is of no defence significance to the United Kingdom, I cannot think what would be!
If an unknown object leaving traces of radiation around a forest less than a mile away from nuclear-armed USAF bases and then flying up into the sky and beaming laser-type beams towards the nuclear bunkers is not of any defence significance; then we should start worrying what else the Ministry Of Defence are over-looking.
There is another way of looking at it also, and this is to work out the possibilities - there are only two:
- Either many trained USAF personnel as well as the bases' Deputy Base Commander, who were meant to be guarding nuclear-armed bases, were all hallucinating for 2-3 nights during the Cold War.
- Or what they say did happen really did happen - intelligently controlled unknown objects exhibiting advanced technology visited the area near RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters for 2-3 nights in a row.
Either of these scenarios must surely be important to the Ministry of Defence; I would be very surprised if anyone can claim otherwise.
