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Pull Up A Sandbag

TheGord

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Aug 19, 2003
Messages
57
Im wondering if any serving or ex-service people have any tales to tell, seeing as we tend to spend a lot time outdoors, contemplating the night sky...... Here is my story(no names etc!)

In February 1996 I was on a detachment on board a British Naval Destroyer somewhere in the North Atlantic. I was working as part of the communications team, which sometimes occasioned me to work on the bridge, which I was quite happy about as being able to see the horizon helped enormously with my seasickness.

On one night in particular, just after midnight, a bright red point of light suddenly appeared in the sky off the bow. It was about 35 degrees from the horizon and appeared steady and unmoving, that is it did not twinkle. Needless to say this provoked intense interest among the bridge crew! One of the officers contacted the operations room to ask if any of the other ships in the group were operating aircraft. None were, and additionally no airborne objects had been observed by the search radar. An infra-red camera mounted on the bridge roof was used to monitor the phenomena, which indeed registered as extremely bright.

As this information was being considered, the operations officer(I think?) suggested using the tracking radar on the seawolf missile system to “paint” the object and gain a reading of range(this radar could be pointed directly at the light using a camera). This was agreed. On the bridge, some time passed, until one of the EW ratings entered the bridge. He reported, rather breathlessly, that the radar had indicated the that light was an object or aircraft of some kind, but erratically reported the range as between five or fifty miles away. They apparently had to abort the attempt as the launcher was shaking so violently in its attempts to track the object, that damage to the multi-million pound piece of hardware was feared.

As he finished his report, I was looking at the light when it suddenly “switched off” – it was that quick, as if a switch had been flicked.

After that, I understand a signal was drawn up reporting the “contact”, and apart from being a subject of speculative talk among the crew for few days, nothing more was heard. I am still friends with a couple of the people I met on board, and they still remember the “red ufo” and it remains the only unexplained aerial phenomena I have ever witnessed.
 
Fascinating...

So basically, this object was moving rapidly towards and away from your position? But there was an actual radar contact from the ship or was it just the Sea-Wolf's sensors picking it up?
 
Range.

Not sure - from what I remember, the guy seemed to think that the range reading was erroneous - as if the radar could not measure the range of the object accurately, beyond that there was one. You'll have to excuse me as I was never a radar expert.

I was told that there was no radar contact prior to manually aiming the seawolf sensor at it.
 
It wasn't a very large flare was it?
 
Flare?

Cant be certain myself, but there were many more experienced observers on the bridge that me, and none seemed to consider it a flare. It did not rise to its position either. It appeared, remained apparently motionless for about 10 minutes(a flare would have descended long before then!), and then disappeared.
 
How near to land were you?
Was this just a steady light, or did it pulsate at all?

Is there any chance it was a warning light, say on a mast-possibly land based, that was visible until covered by cloud, or that it was the afterburner of an aircraft flying away from you, under your radar cover?
 
As I remember, we were pretty far from land, somewhere north west of the outer isles of scotland. No land would have been visible. Indeed as the light appeared off the bow, and we were moving towards it, we would have found out if the light was land based pretty quickly! As stated before, the light did not pulse or twinkle.
 
My own hypothesis is that a US stealth aircraft, coming from one of the bases in scotland on its way back to the US, had overflown us at high altitude. Once in international airspace, it had either turned on an exterior light or lit its afterburner. However I have nothing to base this on, it just seems to fit the evidence.
 
What is the usual etiquette regarding military aircraft and external lights, I wonder. Though stealth may be an exception of course. Something to do with mid-air refueling? It reminds of ex-military man on an offshore oil platform that witnessed a large black triangle refueling in 1989. He was specifically trained to be able to recognise all military aircraft by sight, and he hadn't seen this one before. It wasn't stealth, either.
Wouldn't an afterburner be yellowish rather than red?

Great story, Gord, thanks for sharing :)
 
I seem to remember stories in UFO mag (UK) in the mid-90's about a US base in Scotland ( on an island?). Can't remember the name but it ties in with whats been said.
The Gord- great recollection
 
Dark Detective said:
Wouldn't an afterburner be yellowish rather than red?

Last month I got to see a B1B bomber light up its' afterburners at night. They are yellow-orange, at least from where I was looking. That thing really moved! And they can only light them off for a few seconds. Anything that lights up the afterburners is gone in no time- you won't have a chance to see it for very long.
 
I remember once, up beside RAF Kinloss, we saw lights going overhead*. We thought at first that it was just a Nimrod, but then realised that on a perfectly clear night, in the middle of nowhere, we should have been able to hear four antique turbojets. Then we decided it must be a fighter from RAF Lossiemouth. Of course, being a flyer myself, I was the last to notice that, unless the thing was flying backwards, he should have been showing a green light. Not only that, but the way the lights were moiving we should have been able to inspect the wreckage the next morning, because it looked to be in an unrecoverable mess, tumbling, more than flying.
Strangely enough, that night I saw the biggest meteor I've ever seen, and it looked like it must have hit somewhere to the East of where I was. Either that or it was really big.

*Well, slightly to the West.
 
Redneck said:
I seem to remember stories in UFO mag (UK) in the mid-90's about a US base in Scotland ( on an island?). Can't remember the name but it ties in with whats been said.
The Gord- great recollection

Benbecula?
 
Sorry, really can't remember

No it wasn't that name , I really can't remember the name-it was a place that was not really meant to be in operation, but as in alot of these stories, armed guards kept popping up out of bushes, and it was rumoured that stealth bombers were there. For one of these type of stories it was all pretty credible and factual (i.e no alien bases or joint ET/human treatys!!!)
All my UFO mags are in the loft, if not I'd find out, the base was mentioned quite a few times during the timeframe ( mid 90's).
 
Ah, then possibly its Machrahanish in Ayrshire. It is a non-flying RAF base. Or at least its meant to be...

I have heard stories about it in UFO mag, some folk reckon the infamous "Aurora" is meant to be there, however, I have to say that Ayrshire isn't really very remote at all, often people from ah, "other countries" seem to think that Scotland consists of two sheep and a couple of bagpipers. In reality you wouldn't be able to fly a plane very far without flying over some village or other. :)

Don't want to hijack your interesting thread Gord, so I'll mention my small and fairly uninteresting sighting.

It was of an orange ball, directly above a helicopter which was flying past my base in Dorset. It was about three helicopter widths above it and looked like it was attached somehow, flying along above it. It looked like an orange bouy. I have often wondered what it was, if anyone is able to enlighten me I'd be grateful.
 
Min, Ya got it, it Machranhanish! They extended the runway for the Stealth-I'm watching Hanger 18 on Sci-fi, it really is pretty pants! Oh the 70's!!
 
MAYBE CONNECTED>>>

In Metro ,a London daily paper, there was an interview with Jim Shekhdar the guy who rowed the Atlantic with David Jackson in 97, and the Pacific in 2001. He was asked what the strangest thing he had seen on his rowing trips was. This was his answer:

"When David Jackson and I rowed the Atlantic in 1997 we both saw something in the sky. We thought it was Concorde because it was moving very fast and low. Then we thought it was a ballistic missile going across to Iraq but it had no lights on so it wasn't that. No one could explain it. We both saw it, but we didn't take a photograph so we don't really talk about it"

And I remember the story of a military trained spotter seeing what was probaly Aurora flying over an oil rig, can't remember the exact details, but it does seem that stealth/black budget craft do fly over those expanses of sea, leaving do nut trail contrails.
 
Well..

Inverurie Jones said:
I remember once, up beside RAF Kinloss, we saw lights going overhead*. We thought at first that it was just a Nimrod, but then realised that on a perfectly clear night, in the middle of nowhere, we should have been able to hear four antique turbojets. Then we decided it must be a fighter from RAF Lossiemouth. Of course, being a flyer myself, I was the last to notice that, unless the thing was flying backwards, he should have been showing a green light. Not only that, but the way the lights were moiving we should have been able to inspect the wreckage the next morning, because it looked to be in an unrecoverable mess, tumbling, more than flying.
Strangely enough, that night I saw the biggest meteor I've ever seen, and it looked like it must have hit somewhere to the East of where I was. Either that or it was really big.

*Well, slightly to the West.

Well, curiouser and curiouser - it seem that both my hypotheses were out. Earthlights anyone?
 
When David Jackson and I rowed the Atlantic in 1997 we both saw something in the sky. We thought it was Concorde because it was moving very fast and low. Then we thought it was a ballistic missile going across to Iraq but it had no lights on so it wasn't that. No one could explain it.

Eh? Concorde low and fast? Ballistic missile on its way to Iraq, via the North Atlantic, but probably not because it had "no lights on it"?!?! Mr Shekhdar's knowledge of airborne objects seems a little shaky, to say the least! He should be pushed on this - we want a more descriptive account!!
 
Interesting topic, folks. I find myself wondering about other bits of Fortean military folklore; I'm thinking along the lines of the 'campfire scene' in Dog Soldiers here. Which is probably enough to trigger apoplexy amongst the service types on here over movies getting it wrong all over the shop, but hey, it's a nice spooky scene.

See, it occurred to me that a lot of stories in that enivironment wouldn't get passed on to civvies and probably would never be recorded. Clearly not all UFO related, so feel free to post elsewhere...

NB - the above post is incoherent due to my escalating temperature and absence from work. Mmmm, broadband.
 
Tall tales...

Certainly I have heard many tales, both tall and short, in my time in the mob, but I'm trying to get only first-hand stories in here not anecdotal.

Ive got a couple of ghost stories though....

Somebody mentioned the UFO press earlier. I remember having a hilarious time with some former colleagues while reading an article about RAF Rudloe Manor in one of the UFO rags. Trust me, there's nothing interesting going on there!

I also remember a channel four documentary featuring a well known UK Ufo expert driving around the perimeter of a military base, filming through the fence, and expressing alarm and surprise about being following by military police. If you do this, they'll quite understandably think you might be terrorists gathering intelligence for an attack, and if you get arrested(or worse), you've only yourself to blame, idiot!
 
Good Points: Filthy/The Gord

I agree Filthy, I'm surprised that no one has probed (excuse the unintended pun), he should be asked more, but then he will no doubt have the cranks descending once they get hold of his tale. Maybe I should let UFO magazine know. Shame about Graham Birdsall, big time. Although the demise of the mag does not seem to be the case, the latest issue is really rather good.

The Gord, let us know more about what is not happening at Rudloe Manor, I'm sure that it's been highlighted(proved?) that there is at least a (small?) dept there doing something UFOOEY

And yes, great point about the incredulous UFO buffs shocked when encountered by MOD police when they have been brandishing camcorder/cameras etc around perimater fences. I've lived on many armybases (which there is a decent thread about somewhere) and there are signposts saying you will get in trouble as this is MOD land!
Always read the articles though!! Loved the ones about breaking in to underground "bases", there was a brilliant one in UFO encounters a while back.........as there is a brilliant thread out there....
 
Re: Tall tales...

TheGord said:
...Ive got a couple of ghost stories though....

OK....we're waiting. Spill it. If you don't want to do it here try the Anybody Seen A Ghost Thread:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=280213#post280213

Come on, you can't just mention it in passing and drop it like that!

And yes, great point about the incredulous UFO buffs shocked when encountered by MOD police when they have been brandishing camcorder/cameras etc around perimater fences.

Ah yes, as an ex-Military Police soldier I remember those.

"We know you're hiding something in there! Why else would you be guarding it so closely?? It's a CONSPIRACY!!"

"Put the camera down, sir, place your hands on top of your head and step away from the fence, you #$%@&$$...
 
Re: Good Points: Filthy/The Gord

Redneck said:
=

The Gord, let us know more about what is not happening at Rudloe Manor, I'm sure that it's been highlighted(proved?) that there is at least a (small?) dept there doing something UFOOEY

What's not happening? Er cheese making, kangaroo bothering, writing a sequel to war & peace, eel dangling.... lots of things really, you'll have to be more specific!

Seriously though, I think you're talking about HQP&SS, the headquarters of the RAF Police. They're mostly concerned with internal security & discipline. Mostly, that is, other than looking bored at main gates on RAF stations everywhere. Nothing UFOOEY. Sorry.

I'm aware the above might look like classic "disinformation" to the paranoid. Tough, thems the facts!
 
No more disinfo, The Gord, spill the beans what is exactly going on under Rudloe Manor, Hanger 19? A Magnetic hover rail trian to Dulce, New Mexico,maybe? Or to the infamous Nazi base down the hole in the pole, Eh?

:hmph:

P.S Any underground base stories?
 
Oh, yeah. I looked like Gollum when I left, I spent so long underground...:D
 
Inverurie Jones said:
Oh, yeah. I looked like Gollum when I left, I spent so long underground...:D

Nice one - but working in a bunker is no joke, and not one hundreth as glamourous as it sounds. I felt like gollum a few times - especially when coming out after a night shift and wincing at the light.

Oh, yes Redneck, there's an underground Naval base down there..... they just havent worked out how to get the ships out yet!:D
 
OOps

From Januarys FT....


"Ufo investigators should perhaps add this equation to their toolkits - natural phenomena+military involvementxthe rumour mill = a ufo crash retrieval."

Have I gone and started something?:eek:
 
Bump

There doesn't seem to be a thread solely focussed on RAF Rudloe Manor.
Speculation continues into the use of the ancient Bath quarry beneath the base to house mysterious captured aircraft. There is an access point which leads to a so-called 'red door'. The base was decommissioned many years ago, yet stickybeaks who venture to the underground entrance point have found the way barred by recently constructed (ie the last two weeks) heavy metal grille barriers.

This link shows what lies within, so I'm curious as to why the MOD or whoever would seek to erect yet another screen across the way. Assuming the site is still private property, one would expect the usual trespasser warnings to be posted but apparently not. https://www.higgypop.com/news/beneath-corsham/

The video that piqued my interest is by Matt Williams, infamous crop circle maker. I do not recommend his channel as he's borderline paranoid and a very angry chap, but this video is where he and his team found the newest gates on their latest incursion under Rudloe Manor. The interesting stuff is at the end from 1hr15min
 
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