Today in UFO History

August 13, 1956 - Suffolk, England:

The Lakenheath–Bentwaters Incident

The Lakenheath–Bentwaters Incident is considered one of the strongest radar-visual UFO cases of the 1950s. During the night of August 13–14, 1956, military personnel at RAF Bentwaters and RAF Lakenheath in eastern England tracked unidentified objects displaying extraordinary speeds and maneuvers.

The incident began at RAF Bentwaters, where radar operators detected several unusual targets, including objects apparently traveling at thousands of miles per hour. Personnel also reported seeing bright lights in the sky, and the crew of a military C-47 reportedly observed a brilliant object passing beneath their aircraft.

Bentwaters contacted RAF Lakenheath, about 40 miles away, where radar operators also detected unusual targets. One object appeared capable of remaining stationary before suddenly accelerating to several hundred miles per hour.

The RAF scrambled de Havilland Venom night fighters from RAF Waterbeach to investigate. Ground controllers guided one Venom toward the target, and the fighter reportedly obtained its own radar contact. As it approached, however, the unidentified object apparently maneuvered behind the fighter.

Controllers watched the two radar returns as the object followed the Venom. Despite evasive maneuvers by the pilot, the unknown target reportedly remained behind the aircraft for several minutes before the interception was abandoned.

The case later became particularly significant because it involved multiple ground radars, visual observations, an airborne sighting, a fighter interception and reported airborne radar contact.

More than a decade later, radar specialist Gordon D. Thayer examined the incident for the skeptical University of Colorado UFO Project, better known as the Condon Committee. Although atmospheric and radar anomalies were considered, Thayer found them inadequate to explain the entire event and concluded that the probability that at least one genuine unidentified flying object was involved was “fairly high.”

Skeptics have since suggested radar anomalies, meteors, astronomical objects or conventional aircraft as possible explanations, and some details remain disputed. Nevertheless, no single explanation has satisfactorily accounted for the entire sequence.

The combination of military witnesses, multiple radar detections and an attempted fighter interception has made Lakenheath–Bentwaters one of the most enduring unexplained UFO incidents of the Cold War.