Question to Mr Ridpath re Neatishead Radar & Conference

[Gordy]

Ian, on Dec 28 at the Woodbridge Community Hall, there will be a gentleman in attendance who worked at RAF Neatishead. He is an eye-witness to US Airforce personnel who travelled to Norfolk and confiscated the tapes that were taken on the nights the Rendlesham Forest Incidents took place. Would you care to attend on the 28th and meet him?.

Also, we have several new civilian witnesses that will be at the Community Hall on Dec 28. Would you care to meet with them?. These are very important witnesses, I have their phone numbers if you wish to check their credentials. Surely, no matter what side you take in this matter, an independent researcher like yourself cannot afford to miss this opportunity, it may be the only time all these witnesses will be in the same room at the same time, right where it happened. I'm no bullshiter, so, the price is right....come on down.

[IanR]

Wouldn’t it be better if these people wrote down their accounts and you posted them here so that we can all read them and decide whether they add anything? I’m sure everyone on this Forum would prefer to hear what these people have to say in their own words rather than filtered through me.

We need to know where they were, what they saw, who they told, and the date and time, preferably with supporting records such as diary entries. In addition, I’m sure anyone would be curious to know why they have not come forward before. Georgina had a chapter on local witnesses in her book and none of it amounted to very much.

Re your RAF witness, while it is entirely possible that USAF personnel came to inspect the radar tapes, the important thing is what was on them. Does your new witness know? The act of inspecting the tapes is in itself not unusual, as we learn from the following.

Back in 2004, a Radio 4 investigative reporter called Gerry Northam interviewed Squadron Leader Derek Coumbe who was senior operations officer at RAF Watton at the time of the Rendlesham incident. Northam asked him about the radar tapes. This is an excerpt from the interview.

---
Gerry Northam: What did you do afterwards with regards to the records that were kept those nights?

Derek Coumbe: As usual, with any incident of any kind, any aircraft incident, any reports coming through, the automatic procedure was for the voice tapes initially to be impounded and also the radar film because the radar was on a permanent camera, to be impounded as well, and they would then be scrutinised later as and when required.

GN: Did you impound them?

DC: I did.

GN: What then happened to those records?

DC: Well those records would have been kept on base. They would have been scrutinised and investigated for anything unusual in the event that anybody asked for any evidence required at any subsequent inquiry.

GN: The story is that American intelligence came to investigate this evidence and took it away afterwards. Is that right?

DC: It would well be that the USAF or their investigators could have come to the base. But this was a normal occurrence after any type of incident with American aircraft. They would come to the base in conjunction with the American liaison officer who was permanently based at RAF Watton to scrutinise tapes or even view the films from the radar.

GN: So if they did that was nothing unusual?

DC: It was nothing unusual at all.

GN: So the idea that the spooks were coming to seize evidence that was so dramatic that it couldn't be made public, what do you make of that claim?

DC: Absolute nonsense. Nothing was ever taken away, nothing was ever forwarded to anybody in any shape or form. If they came to investigate they came purely to view what we had as our own holdings and they would have taken down any evidence which they wished to see, but they certainly wouldn't have taken anything away with them.

GN: This is regarded by UFOlogists by Britain's biggest and most well documented visitation from outer space, and they think that the evidence has been suppressed by the Government, that it's too frightening to make public. In which case you would be in the front line of the conspiracy. Has anyone ever told you that you must not talk about this?

DC: Never. I have never heard the question even mentioned even, about the incident until it was raised recently under an inquiry on files that had been released by MoD to an investigator called David Clarke.

GN: So what do you make of the claim that this was a major incident in the history of Britain?

DC: Well it certainly wasn't an incident which we would have discussed further after the night in question, so I can't imagine that there was anything in it at all.

----

Back in 1981, Jenny Randles spoke to a radar operator she named as David Potts who told a story about a visit to Watton (not Neatishead) by USAF intelligence officers to see the tapes. Could your source be the same as this pseudonymous David Potts?

Ian

[Frank]

They would come to the base in conjunction with the American liaison officer who was permanently based at RAF Watton to scrutinise tapes or even view the films from the radar.

DC: (...) they certainly wouldn't have taken anything away with them.

He is an eye-witness to US Airforce personnel who travelled to Norfolk and confiscated the tapes

So it does mean something if the tapes were confiscated ...

[Gordy]

Wouldn’t it be better if these people wrote down their accounts and you posted them here so that we can all read them and decide whether they add anything? I’m sure everyone on this Forum would prefer to hear what these people have to say in their own words rather than filtered through me.Ian

Yes I agree, I will try and get detailed witness statements from the 4 people who have contacted me. I know they will be at Woodbridge on Dec 28. Please understand I have a day & evening job and many of these phone calls I'm receiving whilst I'm at work and it becomes difficult at times to find the time to talk in detail when the boss is on my case or I am driving a vehicle.

Back in 1981, Jenny Randles spoke to a radar operator she named as David Potts who told a story about a visit to Watton (not Neatishead) by USAF intelligence officers to see the tapes. Could your source be the same as this pseudonymous David Potts?Ian

Could be the same person, I do not know but this person said he was at RAF Neatishead, and it was from there US officials took the tapes away. TAKEN AWAY, not simply inspected, so what ever was on them, they did not want to get into the public domain. What was on them I don't know, I hope he can answer that question for us all. I will see if I can obtain a witness statement from this man. He too, will be at Woodbridge on Dec 28.
At this stage I cannot answer why these witnesses have never before come forward. The East Anglian Daily Times ran a double center page spread on Friday Nov 19 and it was after this story ran, I received the phone calls. One witness said he had not come forward because he was terrified at what he saw (still is in fact) and was scarred of being ridiculed.

[Frank]

The East Anglian Daily Times ran a double center page spread on Friday Nov 19 and it was after this story ran, I received the phone calls. One witness said he had not come forward because he was terrified at what he saw (still is in fact) and was scarred of being ridiculed.

Gordy,

Maybe you can persuade them to join this forum anonymously?

Frank

[Daniel]

Didn't one of the MOD documents mention the Radar at RAF Watton was switched off during at least one of the events? It seems like a very odd thing to do in the first place.

[IanR]

this person said he was at RAF Neatishead, and it was from there US officials took the tapes away.

As I understand it, from Dave Clarke who has investigated the radar aspect far more closely than I have, Neatishead received its input from various other radar stations, of which Watton was only one. Hence the coverage at Neatishead was far greater than the Woodbridge area alone. If the USAF really did take away tapes from Neatishead it is possible that they were actually interested not in UFOs but in the Cosmos rocket re-entry on the late evening of December 26
http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/Cosmos%20749%20JBAA.pdf
although I am not aware that this object was tracked by radar before it finally burned up somewhere near Clacton..

I will see if I can obtain a witness statement from this man.

Thank you!

Cheers,
Ian

[Andrew Pike]

I would also be interested in any statements and new details.

The reason being is during my time with UFO Magazine (1995 to 2004) as Space and Astronomy Correspondent, we interviewed radar personnel from Neatishead, etc, regarding the case. It was never quite completed as the editor, Graham Birdsall, died suddenly and the magazine closed. So certain things were never followed up. It would be nice to know anything new.

To give some details for those who did not read the magazine, the first item appeared in May 1995 just as I started at the magazine. It was a piece based around Malcolm Scurrah who had been ignored during a Thames Television 'Strange But True' programme when he tried to tell the producers the truth about the radar sightings. The television company did not want to give his version, instead they wanted to give the impression it was a sighting at Christmas that he was involved in rather than Oct/Nov 1980. As some of you may know my brother was involved with televison companies like Thames as a director in the gallery, he knew about the making of the programmes. So we gave Malcolm a chance to put the record straight.

Later in December 2001 and February 2002 we ran pieces from Gary Baker, another radar operator who wanted to point out the facts about the claims in the 2001 release of the MoD file on the case. He was unhappy about the lies the MoD were putting out. This resulted in a reunion of several of his colleagues and a chance to look through old photo albums, etc. This in turn provided the solution to a mystery from Georgina Bruni's book involving a serviceman from Coltishall which George Jagathesan recognized as Malcolm.

Anyway, according to Gary, it was common knowledge that the MoD (not the USAF) sent two 'suits' down from Whitehall to remove tapes. He recalls it because it was the only time a UFO flap had resulted in such action. Gary's story was confirmed by George and others, and in all Gary eventually traced 50 personnel in all who would support his claims. Neathishead had a lot of UFO talk following the incident until two senior operators clamped down on them.

Graham Birdsall died soon after and the whole thing came to an end. So it might be nice to find out anything new.

Anyway, the items appeared in UFO Magazine (UK) in May/June 1995, November/December 2001 and February 2002 (there is also details in chapter 8 of my book, The Rendlesham File) for those who want to look up the full story.

Anyway hope this might help. All this is off the top of my head so sorry if it is not as complete as it could be, I don't have any of the magazines or files at hand tonight. However, the details are out there for those who want to look. I'm not saying whether this is all true, lies, this or that. As those who know me will confirm, I don't try to tell people what to believe, that is up to you, but I just thought I would draw attention to the items we published and see what you think.

Andrew

[Andrew Pike]

Off course, there is also Nigel Kerr, he was introduced to Gerogina Bruni by Nick Pope. However, all that amounted to was he saw a blip for 3 or 4 sweeps of the radar during the RFI and then heard no more until the News Of The World front page story.

From all the UFO Magazine investigations, my understanding is Kerr and David Potts are the same person.

Andrew

[Gordy]

I had 4 witnessed contact me in the last week or so. One of those has written the statement below on the bentwaters1980.com site. There is no point me detailing the other 3 until we receive witness statements from them.

Dear John & Jim,

I would like to invite you to visit the site in East Bergholt (not more than a nano second away from Rendlesham as the UFO flies!), where I, together with my father and brother, sited a UFO just a few days after the Rendlesham incident. I hope that you will take me seriously, as this might be some of the best evidence yet, as it was witnessed by three of us. There is no explanation of what we saw that day, and if you visit the location you will understand the whole importance of it.

The day in question was between Boxing Day and New Year 1980. It had been snowing, and we went to Cemetry Lane, East Bergholt in the late afternoon to go sledging. The light was starting to fade (although it was a clear evening), and my father had just been launched down the hill on the sledge. I noticed that a huge bright ball of light had drifted gently up to where we were. There was no sound and it appeared to shimmer around the edges. I turned around and said to my brother, “What the hell is that?” It hovered hundreds of feet above us. We also noticed a plane many thousands of feet above, which seemed to be tracking the UFO. The ball of light hovered above us long enough for my father to get to the bottom of the hill and for us to call out to him to look at it. Therefore, all three of us witnessed the ball of white light. Then, within literally two clicks of my fingers, the light disappeared across the Dedham Vale. Again, I must emphasise that there was no sound. The speed with which it moved was immense, from a standing start. My brother remembers that it left light trails. The plane was left standing still. There was no doubt in our minds that what we had just seen was a controlled craft. We were all left spellbound by what we had just seen. On a personal note, I was left frightened (being just 15 years old at the time.) I remember saying to my brother (then 18) and my father (then 42), “Let’s go home!”

An American Fighter Pilot from Bentwaters, who was at the base during this period became a family friend through my father. My father is a landscape artist and the pilot and his wife (names with-held at the moment) loved my father’s work and got to know him personally. One evening, not long after we had witnessed what we believe to be a UFO, they came over for a meal. This was well before anything had been said publically about the Rendlesham incident. We told him about our sighting and I seem to remember that he smiled, nodded his head and said “All I can tell you is that we know they exist and there is nothing we can do about it.”

Anyway, I do hope that someone will contact me and take me up on my offer to show them the location of my sighting. I can assure you that this was not a product of our imaginations. On a personal note, I have five children, and I am prepared to swear on their lives that all that I have told you is true, and they mean everything to me.

Here is some other useful information to help the ‘Justice for the Bentwaters 81st’. I believe that the Orford lighthouse theory is just an insult to everyone concerned. My mother, who will be with me at the meeting on 28th December, is an Orford-born girl and her brother-in-law was born on the Island near the lighthouse. (He later worked as a civilian on the Woodbridge base.) They know a lot about it as they were brought up with it. I remember when the Rendlesham Incident came to light, we heard it on BBC Radio 2. They mentioned Orford lighthouse as a possible explanation for the strange lights, and my mother was very angry and felt like telling them that they may be able to fool and nation but they couldn’t fool the locals! As for the other theories, I believe that they would be better off admitting that this was a UFO rather than say that the military were fooled by a lighthouse, an emergency vehicle running around in the woods, a meteor shower, a plane crashing, etc. Incidentally, I think that the photos of the lighthouse are deceptive. They make the lighthouse look a lot nearer than it actually is.
We know the area so well and we as a family have visited Rendlesham Forest many times. Anyway, I would love the sceptics to challenge us if they want, as we plan to stand and testify on 28th December.

I have also recently contacted BBC Radio Suffolk, but so far have met a wall of silence, which I find disappointing. Hopefully we will be able to meet up soon and strengthen the ‘Justice for Bentwaters 81st’ cause.

Best wishes,

Alex

Read more: http://bentwaters1980.proboards.com/ind ... z16VG9TrMU

[arvd]

My mate who lives in Clacton said he saw it aswell. Shame he has no evidence to submit. Shame that there is never any evidence.

[AdrianF]

Interesting.

Then, within literally two clicks of my fingers, the light disappeared across the Dedham Vale.

I wonder what direction it was going in, in relation to them? Across Dedham Vale from where they were, could mean a few different directions, as I presume they were looking across the valley at the time.