UFO Britannia: Part 5 - The 1970s Anarchy in the UK?

Continued from part 4

1970 - Capt. William Schaffner – Killed by a UFO?

This is one of the most intriguing cases from the Cold War years.

Captain William Schaffner was an American exchange pilot based at RAF Binbrook in north-east Lincolnshire. RAF Binbrook and RAF Coningsby were both Quick Reaction Alert bases in 1970. This was still a time when Soviet aircraft would often test the reactions of NATO by launching sorties close to “enemy territory”.

Late on September 8th, 1970, an object was spotted over the North Sea by radar. Schaffner, scrambled to intercept in an RAF Lightning. He never returned from the mission...

Rumours were rife for years that he had been abducted by an alien spacecraft as he closed in on a UFO. In the 1990s speculation in media articles and the internet had it that unusual UFO activity in 1970 had put NATO on a heightened state of alert. The UFOs were allegedly tracked by Fylingdales, and even Cheyenne Mountain. President Nixon was even rumoured to have authorized what was to become Schaffner’s fatal last mission.

An alleged recording, provided by a secret RAF source, of Schaffner’s transmissions with RAF Patrington on the East Yorkshire coast even circulated amongst UFO investigators.Schaffner was around 90 miles east of Whitby had visual contact with a bluish conical shape which was so bright it was almost blinding. The UFO was accompanied by an object resembling a large glass football. Schaffner closed in, verbally transmitting his description of the strange object:

“Wait a second, its turning…coming straight for me….am taking evasive action…I can hardly….”

At that point contact was lost, Schaffner’s radar plot merged with the UFO and then lost altitude and vanished off the radar. Schaffner’s plane was found one month later on the bed of the North Sea with the cockpit still closed. There was no sign of the pilot’s body.

In 2005 MoD Documents (Ref: National Archives DEFE 31/181/1 ) were released and finally revealed the official, but contradictory, chain of events. The Air Accident Report produced by the RAF Board of Inquiry in June 1972 reported that Schaffner was taking part in a tactical evaluation. Air crews were often scrambled and would have no prior knowledge of whether they were flying a live mission or a test.

RAF Lightning

On the fateful night, Schaffner’s RAF Lightning fighter was ordered back to dispersal as it had not had a regulation service. However he ignored the order and scrambled his aircraft. Despite being a highly skilled intercept pilot. He was not trained for the high risk, low speed shadowing exercise (the UFO was officially recorded as an RAF Shackleton) and got into difficulty.

The officially released transcript with RAF Patrington reads :

Capt Schaffner: Contact with a set of lights in that area
Fighter Controller: Say again.
Capt Schaffner: Set of lights in that area – closing.
Schaffner then explains he needs to “do some manoeuvring to slow her down a little bit” and radar controllers warn him to “keep a sharp look out.”
Fighter Controller: 45 Patrington you are dark on me this time – check target’s heading and your own over. C45 Patrington do you read over.
Do you read – over. Do you read – over.
,,,,Silence

Two months later the Lightning was found on the seabed. The cockpit was closed and the pilot’s body missing to add to the mystery. Further investigation showed that the ejector seat had not been properly serviced and failed. Schaffner ejected manually but became disorientated and separated from his life support pack and drowned in the North Sea.

Schaffner’s wife and sons, despite their best efforts, were never told the findings for decades. They were informed that all records had been destroyed. When the UFO stories spread their anxiety was heightened. The late Tony Dodd who had written in his book “Alien Investigator (1999)” that Schaffner had vanished after encountering a UFO would not accept the official tale of events saying:

“I don’t think that we will ever get to the bottom of what happened because the RAF would never accept that a UFO could be involved.” www.crowdedskies.com...

Who was fooling who?

It is hard to decide if the official MoD version is a true account or not. There are some conflicting reports from other sources over the UFO incident, details concerning the recovery operation and American interference in investigations.

The fact remains that the MoD hid the findings of this case away for 3 decades, even from the deceased pilot’s family. They leave themselves open to claims of cover-ups and secrecy for this reason alone.

A final footnote is that Dr. David Clarke, who did a lot of investigation into this case, commented on his own blog with a question:

“…Who was the anonymous source and what was his motivation for seeding a bogus story into the UFO rumour mill?”

www.uk-ufo.org...

We’ll pick up on the irony of that point again when we get to the 1990s.

Recommended for further reading:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.uk-ufo.org...

www.bbc.co.uk...

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1974 – The Berwyn Mountains UFO Crash

The 23rd January 1974 was a cold wet evening in the small North Wales town of Llandrillo. A loud bang was heard and strange lights were seen in the area of the nearby Berwyn Mountain range sometime around 8:30pm. Reports from a number of witnesses described red and amber pulsing lights on a sort of egg shaped craft.

At the time it was feared there had been an aircraft crash of some sort. Local nurse Pat Evans left home from the village of Llandderfel accompanied by her two daughters and made the journey towards the mountains in the belief she was going to help any survivors. She reports that she saw a red glow on a slope of Cader Berwyn and then smaller, flickering lights lower down the mountain. She assumed they were from a rescue team. That thought vanished as it struck her that no rescue team could have possibly responded as fast this. Becoming puzzled and nervous of what she was witnessing Pat decided she could be of no assistance and turned round for home. Some reports state she was flagged down and politely questioned by a British military patrol on her return home to Llandderfel.

In the days following there were reports of a lot of military activity in the area and strange visitors to the surrounding villages questioning people over what they had seen.

The official take on events is that a meteor entered the earth's atmosphere over Britain and this was accompanied by an earthquake registering above 4 on the Richter scale. The activity afterwards is linked to visits from the Geological Survey teams. The lights seen were either from the meteor or earthlights created by the tremor whilst the smaller lights seen by Pat Evans were simply poachers’ lamps. Also a trainer aircraft crashed in the area in 1982 and some locals (questioned well after the event) may have mixed this up both events. Hence the claims of military roadblocks and other activity. Case closed it would seem. These are pretty much the conclusions of sceptical researcher Andy Roberts but are not the conclusions of others who have researched the case. The UFO stories resurfaced in the 1990s and simply won’t go away.

Scott Felton, a local researcher, who also considered evidence given in Welsh that Roberts ignored, believes that there was a UFO landing in1974 and some of Roberts evidence is flawed. Author, Nick Redfern was told that there was a retrieval operation by British military and that alien bodies were recovered and taken to Porton Down. Another UFO researcher, Russ Kellet, claimed to have uncovered a paper confirming a military operation called "Photoflash" was scheduled for the evening of January 23rd 1974. A Marine and Coastguard document details that :

“During the late afternoon and early evening of 23rd January 1974 there was an exercise from Jurby Range on the Isle of Man.

“ The exercise was called ‘Photoflash' and coastguards were advised to expect at least 10 aircraft taking part and at least 80 flashes around the Liverpool Bay area and the North Wales coastline .”

The Liverpool Daily Post of 25th Jan 1974 reported that many people, especially in the Isle of Man, had seen an RAF night bombing exercise. Kellet concludes that 3 USOs were flushed out of the Irish Sea by the Royal Navy and RAF. One of the craft came down near Bala and aliens were taken away from the scene by the military. Russ also claims to have several fragments of one of the craft.

Berwyn has, for a long time, played second fiddle to the Rendlesham/Bentwaters case and remained low key outside of the United Kingdom. The story has grown somewhat since the 1970s and there seems to be no real evidence for alien bodies being taken on the back of a truck to Porton Down (or anywhere else for that matter). However there does seem evidence that military activity was going on in the Irish Sea on the night the UFO was seen. There are also errors in the detail of Andy Roberts report which throws doubt on the skeptical and officially accepted story that it was all just a bolides and a tremor.

More detail in these threads here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

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Broad Haven School UFO - February 4th 1977

This is a UFO & humanoid case that seems almost forgotten today, despite it being one of the few UFO cases that were investigated by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). It became part of the “The Broad Haven Triangle” as other stories began to emerge in the spring and summer of 1977.

The story begins on the 4th February 1977. Children at Broad Haven junior school near Haverfordwest, South Wales, had witnessed a landed UFO in a field close to the school but it was somewhat obscured by shrubbery. The report also confirms that 6 of the youngsters reported seeing a humanoid figure close by.

David Davies (10) described a silver, cigar shaped object the size of a bus, hovering up above the trees as if trying to take off. It seemed to stop for a few seconds and disappeared back behind the tree line again. Davies agreed to accompany investigator later in the day, Randall Jones Pugh, to the area where the sighting had occurred. However it was raining heavily, and the light had faded before he could survey the scene.

On the Saturday (5th Feb 1977) Pugh and Hugh Turnbull of the Western Telegraph. accompanied Davies to the landing site. However no evidence was found. There was damage to a nearby telegraph pole with the support beam left at an angle. But Pugh found it implausible that there was nothing else of note despite heavy rain.

The headmaster, Ralph Llewellyn, and his staff were eventually convinced the pupils had been shocked by something. So Llewellyn asked the pupils to sketch and report what they had seen. (see thumbnail below and click to enlarge)



Hugh Turnbull decided to run with the story in the Western Telegraph on the 7th of Feb.1977.

“…the flying saucer was first seen at lunchtime on Friday (Feb.4th 1977), behind a bush about 300 yards from the school. Most of the children give the object a classical saucer shape, though other s have drawn it looking more like a pudding, or even a cigar. Some accounts give it a dome and windows; others say it had a flashing light.

On the 17th Feb one of the teachers, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that she had left the school by the side entrance (facing the east) on the day . Something shining had caught her eye and she could see a large oval shaped object with a slight dome, the colour of shining metal and heard a humming noise as the object glided away to the left.

Liz Philpott , a school secretary. believed the children had seen a tanker of some sort in the adjoining fields. She contacted the site manager of a nearby sewerage depot to find if any of his employees were responsible. His answer was a simple “Absolutely not. No way could we get down there”. A large vehicle would struggle to get into the field and would almost certainly be unable to get out.

In later years a number of people came forward to claim their part in a bit of tomfoolery. In 1996 Local businessman Glyn Edwards, claimed he had wandered around the area in a silver suit in 1977 as a prank. In 2007 James Carlson from Albuquerque, New Mexico, wrote into the Fortean Times. He was stationed at the US Naval Facility in Brawdy and claimed he’d borrowed a fire fighting suite and oxygen tank to goof around in.

Was it just silly pranksters wandering around in a silver suit? Could it perhaps have been some kind of secret military exercise in the area that we are still not aware of? Or did something stranger happen in South Wales in 1977?

Covered in more detail on ATS here

www.abovetopsecret.com...

There were many other UFOs and strange tales during 1977 which I’ve left aside but here are a couple of the more interesting ones.

Strange Object at RAF Boulmer www.abovetopsecret.com...

Coombs Family UFO experiences (another Welsh case)
www.abovetopsecret.com...
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Britain Opposes UN Committee for UFOs – 1978

In 1977, Eric Gairy, the prime minister of the Caribbean island of Grenada, began his personal crusade to establish an international committee dedicated to studying and sharing UFO reports. Most nations were lukewarm to the idea.

However in the British National Archives there exists a document that shows the United Kingdom's desire to oppose such a UFO committee out of fear that it would ultimately cause the U.N. to fall into some sort of disrepute:

The British delegation does not think that the establishment of an agency for research into unidentified flying objects is appropriate to the functions of the United Nations. ...

Hopefully, a confrontation with the representatives of Grenada can be avoided, but the U.K. should not hesitate to make its views known as and when appropriate. ...

Foreign and Commonwealth Office ministers expressed the view that any such body would reduce the credibility of the U.N. The U.K. delegation was instructed to oppose Gairy’s proposal with the implication that the other Commonwealth nations should follow suit.

Nevertheless, on behalf of Gairy, Lee Speigel organized presentations in November 1978 to the UN Assembly. It contained notable speeches by Stanton Friedman, Jacques Valles and J. Allen Hynek. Spiegel has said that the US State Dept. was carefully watching.

Source: www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread848873/pg1

There seems something more to this as surely the study of UFOs should be an international exercise and any first contact situation be with a body that at least attempts to represent the planet?

What the real motive of the attempts to block the proposal is open to speculation.
 

House of Lords UFO Debate 1979

This was to be the only full debate on UFOs held in the British Parliament on 18 January 1979. The debate was one of the best attended ever held in the Lords. Despite a rail strike and industrial disputes crippling the nation 60 peers took part and hundreds of onlookers – including famous UFO writers packed the gallery.

Lord Clancarty opened the session at 7pm and called attention to the increasing number of UFO sightings and landings reported across the world, and the need for an intra-governmental study of UFOs. He ended by asking the Government reveal publicly what they knew about the phenomenon.

Over a dozen Peers discussed various elements in favour and against the implementation of such a study. However the MoD had prepared their man, Lord Strabolgi, to combat the believers.

At around 10.10pm he stood up and spoke. He outlined the unimaginable distances that would make visits from outer space unlikely and how nothing had been detected that indicated there was anything threatening us with alien invasion. Rebutting Clancarty’s claim that evidence existed of thousands of sightings he said :

“there is nothing to convince the Government that there has ever been a single visit by an alien spacecraft…..As for telling the public the truth about UFOs, the truth is simple.There really are many strange phenomena in the sky, and these are invariably reported by rational people. But there is a wide range of natural explanations to account for such phenomena. There is nothing to suggest to Her Majesty’s Government that such phenomena are alien spacecraft.”

Clancarty failed to persuade the Defence Minister to make a public televised statement on what the government knew about UFOs. No surprise there.

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Bob Taylor Livingston Incident – 1979

This is notable as it is the only recorded incident in which a UFO sighting has been the subject of a criminal investigation in the United Kingdom. It is a fascinating story that sounds like a script for an episode of the Twilight Zone and remains a true mystery to this day. On November 9, 1979, between 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Bob Taylor, who was at the time working for the Livingston Development Corporation, parked his truck at the side of a road just off the M8 motorway with the intention of examining the progress of some saplings in the forest. Being unable to access the forest by truck, Taylor and his dog made their way into the forest on foot along one of the forest paths that lead up the side of Dechmont Law.

Entering a clearing approximately 500 meters away from his truck, Taylor saw what he described as a large, circular object, spheroid in shape and approximately twenty feet (six meters) in diameter hovering above the forest floor. The object had a narrow rim running along its circumference with stems topped with propellers and the surface of the object seemed to be constructed from a dark metallic material which appeared transparent in places. Taylor later described the surface of the object having rough texture similar to that of sandpaper and suggested that by having transparent areas on its surface, the object was attempting to camouflage itself with its surroundings.

Taylor began to approach the object and upon doing so two smaller spheres three feet in diameter, which looked to be made from the same material, appeared to drop from underneath the larger sphere and began to roll towards him. Taylor described the smaller spheres as having appendages, making them similar to sea mines in appearance. As the small objects moved towards him, Taylor described them as making a "plopping" noise as the appendages made contact with the ground. The small spheres manoeuvred around Taylor and by using their appendages, attached themselves to each side of his trousers, just underneath the pockets. Taylor said at this point, he heard a hissing noise coming from the small objects and he began to choke due to a strong acrid smell which he believes was being secreted by them. He described this smell as "burning brake linings" which or as an "acrid smell" which caused him to cough. By now, Taylor was aware he was being dragged by the smaller spheres along the ground towards the larger object. He eventually fell forwards onto his face and lost consciousness. Investigations later showed markings in the ground in the area.

Taylor later regained consciousness and upon doing so discovered the object had disappeared. He had trouble attempting to speak and could not get to his feet. He then crawled 100 meters along the ground and managed to stagger the rest of the distance back to where he had parked his truck. On reaching the truck he attempted to call for help on the truck's two way radio, but struggled due to his loss of voice. Taylor then attempted to get back home in the truck, but accidentally ditched it in soft earth while trying to drive. Due to his vehicle being stuck, Taylor walked the rest of the way back home. Other sources state the truck did not start and Taylor had to walk home from its parked location.

Taylor was always cited as being a man of good character, honest and reliable. He never asked for payment on reciting his version of events and up until his death at the age of 89 in 2007, still defended what he had seen on Dechmont Law.

Various theories have been put forward as explanations. One that it was "Black Ball Lightning". Something not clearly defined by science and does not explain why it would appear to attack Mr. Taylor. Another theory is that Mr. Taylor ingested Belladonna and the incident was an illusion caused by this plant. The spacecraft sighted being a hallucination of one seen in Dr. Who in the weeks running up to the incident.
Source:anomalousculture.blogspot.com...vils-herb.html...

Doctor Who City of Death
It is not impossible that he unknowingly came into contact with Belladonna .Dr. Who "City of Death" aired during an ITV strike in 1979. In the days of 3 channel TV it does make it more likely that Mr. Taylor may have been one of the 16.1m viewers who watched Dr. Who and stored the image of a spaceship in his subconscious memory.

Great description and video here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

en.wikipedia.org...






So there you have the 1970s. A decade which I thought had been a lot quieter as regards UFO lore in Britain. Next up will be the 1980s and of course our big blockbuster UFO case from Rendlesham Forest ..........coming after Christmas.

Keep em coming, I've loved every part so far, just sad that there's only a few more decades to go lol

reply to post by mirageman


There's been a ton of alleged pilot/UFO related deaths outwith Mantells etc. but hadn't heard of Schaffner before. The one thing that is slightly puzzling is how can the MOD say it was pilot error? I mean the pilot would actually have to be in the cockpit for it to be pilot error. Yes I don't believe the MOD's report and yes, I think it was a UFO that was being pursued.

The Livingstone case is probably the closest incident to where I live and that is a truly remarkable case, Bob Taylor had no reason to lie about what he seen and despite the fact his story is far-fetched, I can believe the incident happened the way he said it did, his relatives also verified what he thought.

Nice comp of cases mate

Nice thread, thanks.

Regarding Capt. William Schaffner and the BAE Lightning case- apart from the fact that the supposed 'Shackleton' ASV aircraft that was somehow 'mistaken' for a UFO (even though its position and call sign would have been well known to GCI and the Lightning pilot) the biggest hole in the official story for me is the suggestion that Schaffner somehow put the Lightning down for a forced landing on the sea.

If you see the official pictures of the aircraft after it was recovered from the sea bed, it is almost completely intact. Now look at the design of the Lightning, with a large air intake in the nose. I suggest that this would have immediately filled with water on impact, dragging the nose of the aircraft down and probably disintegrating the airframe- bear in mind the Lightening was known to have a high stall speed and a high landing speed, so any attempted 'ditching' would have been at 100 MPH minimum.

Plus, I personally know an ex-RAF Lightning pilot who had a 'flame out' over the North Sea in the 1970's, and it was RAF policy not to attempt to ditch into the sea, but to eject- which he did, breaking his back in the process. Now, its claimed that Schaffner's ejector seat failed to activate, but that just means he had to attempt to ditch, not that it made it any more likely he would survive the attempt.

The Lightning was a fast climbing, mach 2 interceptor, designed to launch against oncoming Soviet bombers- it was popular with its crew, but was a handful to fly for even experienced pilots- now its said Schaffner, although an experienced pilot, didnt have many hours on the Lightning, so to suggest that he somehow gently skipped his stricken aircraft, at night, into the North Sea, then climbed out, leaving an almost entirely intact wreck for the RAF to later find, is beyond ridiculous to me.

Originally posted by Thunda
Nice thread, thanks.

Regarding Capt. William Schaffner and the BAE Lightning case- apart from the fact that the supposed 'Shackleton' ASV aircraft that was somehow 'mistaken' for a UFO (even though its position and call sign would have been well known to GCI and the Lightning pilot) the biggest hole in the official story for me is the suggestion that Schaffner somehow put the Lightning down for a forced landing on the sea.

If you see the official pictures of the aircraft after it was recovered from the sea bed, it is almost completely intact. Now look at the design of the Lightning, with a large air intake in the nose. I suggest that this would have immediately filled with water on impact, dragging the nose of the aircraft down and probably disintegrating the airframe- bear in mind the Lightening was known to have a high stall speed and a high landing speed, so any attempted 'ditching' would have been at 100 MPH minimum.

Plus, I personally know an ex-RAF Lightning pilot who had a 'flame out' over the North Sea in the 1970's, and it was RAF policy not to attempt to ditch into the sea, but to eject- which he did, breaking his back in the process. Now, its claimed that Schaffner's ejector seat failed to activate, but that just means he had to attempt to ditch, not that it made it any more likely he would survive the attempt.

The Lightning was a fast climbing, mach 2 interceptor, designed to launch against oncoming Soviet bombers- it was popular with its crew, but was a handful to fly for even experienced pilots- now its said Schaffner, although an experienced pilot, didnt have many hours on the Lightning, so to suggest that he somehow gently skipped his stricken aircraft, at night, into the North Sea, then climbed out, leaving an almost entirely intact wreck for the RAF to later find, is beyond ridiculous to me.

The Schaffner story is a strange one and smells of cover up. If the incident was down to pilot error why the concealment of the evidence from the family for 3 decades?

Dr David Clarke and Nick Pope both seem convinced by the MoD story even though both were probably not even at school when the incident happened.

Here are the original pictures of Schaffner's Lightning being recovered courtesy of BBC



Another member Firemoon knows a lot about the Schaffner case and has said that the Lightning was taken to the USA for further investigations. Hopefully he will spot this and chip in with his own information as he also knows more about the alleged faked tape as well,

Still working on the 1980s by the way as there is a lot to cram in and I've been enjoying the Xmas period for the last few days.

reply to post by mirageman


Yes- I dont agree anything Dr David Clarke says- seems like a full time de-bunker to me, and makes sure whenever he is interviewed to reel off all the most ridiculous cases in the archives and to avoid any of the more credible.

Nick Pope- I want to believe in him, but I think he has some sort of personal agenda. In this case I think he is a pains to protect the department he served in, but you only have to look at the those pictures you posted to realise that the OS is nonsense. Remember that pilots in WWII had trouble putting down much slower, stable aircraft in the sea- ones without a huge air intake in the nose and with much lower stalling speeds. The aircraft is almost 100% undamaged- very suspicious.

Also, when the wreck was brought ashore, it was held under the highest security in an RAF hangar- why, if it was a simple (if miraculous) ditching after a brief 'misunderstanding'?

Fascinated by the Schaffner story, that Lightning looks like it ditched at pretty low speed.....It wasn't a plane renowned for low speed handling, but it does look like the pilot should have walked/swam/paddled away from that one, so where did he go?