The Lakenheath /Bentwaters radar/visual episode occurred during the night of 13th-14th August 1956.
This incident is discussed as “Case 2” in the Condon Report, which states that “The preponderance of evidence indicates the possibility of a genuine UFO in this case”.
This incident is Case 21 in Isaac Koi's "Top 100" article, since it was referred to in 83 of the books covered by that article.
This was Project Blue Book Case Number 4294.
This incident featured in a document (“the Rockefeller Briefing Document”) endorsed by Dr Mark Rodeghier (President of CUFOS), Richard Hall (Chairman of FUFOR) and Walter Andrus (President of MUFON) as containing “the best available evidence for the existence of UFOs”.
This incident has also featured in lists by various UFO researchers of the top UFO cases, including the following:
- a list of the ten “best” case published by Ronald Story in his book “UFOs and the Limits of Science” (1981).
- a list by Don Berliner of “the top 10 cases of World Ufology” in an interview made available on the UFO UpDates discussion List on 14 January 2007.
As part of a survey of various researchers conducted by the Fortean Times in 2007 of the ten cases from 1947 onwards that interested them the most, this incident featured in lists of cases produced by the following:
- British ufologist Nick Pope
- British ufologist Gary Heseltine
Web Resources
For links to various relevant documents and articles online see:
http://lakenheath.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/background.htm
http://www.nicap.org/lakendir.htmThis incident is discussed on the ATS.com forums in Thread 326808.
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Book References
For discussion of the Lakenheath episode see the following:
Year |
Discussion by:
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No. of Pages |
Andrews, George C in his “Extra-Terrestrials Among Us” (1986) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 15-16 (in Chapter 1) of the Llewellyn softcover edition, at page 18 of the Llewellyn paperback edition. |
2 |
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Beaty, David in his “Strange Encounters : Mysteries of the Air” (1982) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 146 (in Chapter 10) of the Book Club Associates hardback edition. |
1 |
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Berliner, Don with Galbraith, Marie and Huneeus, Antonio in their “UFO Briefing Document : The Best Available Evidence“ (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 64-66 (in Part 2: Case Histories, section entitled “1956: Radar/Visual Jet Chase Over England”) of the Dell paperback edition. |
3 |
|
Birnes, William in his “The UFO Magazine UFO Encyclopedia” (2004) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 33 (in an entry entitled “Bentwaters Case”) of the Pocket Books softcover edition. |
1 |
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Blundell, Nigel and Boar, Roger in “The World’s Greatest Alien Abduction Mysteries” (2001) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 426-428 (in the chapter entitled “Encounters of the Aerial Kind”) of the Chancellor Press softcover edition. |
3 |
|
Blundell, Nigel and Boar, Roger in their “The World’s Greatest UFO Mysteries” (1986) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 166-168 (in the chapter entitled “Encounters of the Aerial Kind”) of the Octopus hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Hamlyn softcover edition). |
3 |
|
Blundell, Nigel in his “World’s Most Amazing UFO Visits” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 29 of the Select softcover edition. |
1 |
|
Bowen, Charles in “Encounter Cases from Flying Saucer Review” (1977) (edited by Charles Bowen) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page xi (in the Introduction) of the Signet paperback edition. |
1 |
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Bowen, Charles in “The Age of the UFO” (1984) (edited by Peter Brookesmith) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 195-196 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “Aliens in the dark”) of the Black Cat hardback edition. The relevant chapter is an article reprinted from the weekly partwork “The Unexplained”, Volume 1, pages 198-199. |
2 |
|
Brookesmith, Peter in his “UFO: The Complete Sightings Catalogue” (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 60-61 (in Chapter 3) of the BCA hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Blitz hardback edition, and in the Barnes & Noble hardback edition published under the title “UFO: The Complete Sightings”). |
2 |
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Brookesmith, Peter in his “UFO: The Government Files” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 66 (in Chapter 3) of the Parragon hardback edition. |
1 |
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Bruni, Georgina in her “You Can’t Tell the People” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 366-367 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “More Strange Encounters”) of the Sidgwick & Jackson hardback edition. |
2 |
|
Butler, Brenda & Street, Dot & Randles, Jenny in their “Sky Crash” (1984) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 76-81, 89-90 (in Chapter 8), 193 (in Chapter 18) of the Grafton paperback edition. |
8 |
|
Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 333-336 (in an entry entitled “Lakenheath-Bentwaters Radar/Visual Case”) of the Visible Ink Press softcover edition. |
4 |
|
Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: 1st edition: Volume 2 – Emergence of a Phenomenon” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 225-227 (in an entry entitled “Lakenheath-Bentwaters Radar/Visual Case”) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. |
3 |
|
Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning - 2nd edition” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) in Volume 2:L-Z at pages 569-571 (in an entry entitled “Lakenheath-Bentwaters Radar Visual Case”) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. |
3 |
|
Clarke, David and Roberts, Andy in their “Out Of The Shadows” (2002) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 130-143 (in Chapter 7), 144 (in Chapter 8) of the Piatkus hardback edition. |
15 |
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Clarke, David in his “The UFO Files : The Inside Story of Real-Life Sightings” (2009) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 64-66, 67 (in Chapter 3) of the National Archives softcover edition. |
4 |
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COMETA report (1999) at pages 12-13 (in Chapter 2.1) of the translation of the report appearing at: |
2 |
|
Condon Report (“Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects”, Edward U Condon (Director) and Daniel S Gillmor (Editor) (1969)) as Condon Case 2 at pages 245-246, 265 (in Section 3, Chapter 5 “Optical and Radar Analyses of Field Cases”, by Gordon D Thayer), 372-387 (in Section 4, Case Studies) of the uncorrected version submitted to the Air Force (with the same page numbering in the 3 volume paperbound edition distributed by the National Technical Information Service, US Department of Commerce) at pages 163-164, 175, 248-256 of the Vision hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Bantam paperback edition). The first of these editions has the same page numbering as the edition available free online at the following links: |
19
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Dash, Mike in his “Borderlands” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 140 (in Chapter 4) of the Arrow paperback edition. |
1 |
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Davenport, Marc in his “Visitors from Time” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 127-128 (in Chapter 9) of the 1994 revised Greenleaf softcover edition. |
2 |
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Dolan, Richard M. in his “UFOs and the National Security State: Volume 1: 1941-1973” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 267-268 (in Chapter 5) of the Keyhole softcover edition, at pages 187-188 of the 2002 revised Hampton Road softcover edition. |
2 |
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Druffel, Ann in her “Firestorm : Dr James E McDonald's Fight for UFO Science” (2003) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 341, 349 (in Chapter 13), 435-448 (in Chapter 16) of the Wild Flower Press softcover edition. |
16 |
|
Fuller, John in his “Aliens in the Skies” (1969) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 34, 36-37 (in the Introduction) of the Putnam hardback edition. |
3 |
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Garrett, Richard in his “Aliens From Outer Space” (1983) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 60-63 (in Chapter 5) of the Piccolo paperback edition. |
4 |
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Good, Timothy in his “Above Top Secret” (1987) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 43-45 (in Chapter 2) of the Sidgwick & Jackson hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Guild Publishing hardback edition and the Grafton paperback edition). |
2 |
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Good, Timothy in his “Beyond Top Secret” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 22-24 (in Chapter 2) of the Sidgwick & Jackson hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Pan paperback edition). |
3 |
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Hall, Michael David in his “UFOs : A Century of Sightings” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 242 (in Chapter 6) of the Galde Press softcover edition. |
1 |
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Hall, Robert L in “UFO's: A Scientific Debate” (1972) (edited by Carl Sagan and Thornton Page) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 219 (in Chapter 9) of the Barnes and Noble hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Norton paperback edition. |
1 |
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Harris, Paola in her “How does one speak to a ball of light?” (2007) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 22, 26-33 (in Section 1) of the Author House softcover edition. |
8 |
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2 |
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Hynek, J Allen in “The Hynek UFO Report” (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 120-125 (in Chapter 6) of the Barnes & Noble hardback reprint (1997) at pages 129-134 of the Dell paperback edition (with the same page numbering in the Sphere paperback edition). |
6 |
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Hynek, J Allen in his “The UFO Experience” (1972) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 79-80 (in Chapter 7) of the Henry Regnery hardback edition (with same page numbering in the Abelard-Schuman hardback edition) at pages 90-91 of the various Ballantine paperback editions, at pages 107-108 of the Corgi paperback edition. Included in a table indicating an assessment of Strangeness Rating/Probability Rating of 3/8 as RV- |
1 |
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Jackson, Robert in his “UFOs” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 48-49 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “What the Pilots Saw”) of the Smithmark hardback edition. |
2 |
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Keyhoe, Donald E in his “Aliens from Space” (1973) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 207-209 (in Chapter 14) of the Signet paperback edition, pages 234-236 of the Panther paperback edition. |
3 |
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Klass, Philip J in his “UFOs Explained” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 216-233 (Chapter 21, “UFOs over |
18 |
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Klass, Philip J. in “The UFO Invasion” (1997) (edited by Kendrick Frazier, Barry Karr and Joe Nickell) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 41 of the Prometheus hardback edition (part of Chapter 2 at pages 29-43, “The Condon UFO Study”). The relevant chapter is a reprint of an article in the Skeptical Inquirer 10, number 4 (Summer 1986). |
1 |
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Little, Gregory in his “Grand Illusions” (1994) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 37 (in Chapter 2) of the White Buffalo softcover edition. |
1 |
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Marrs, Jim in his “Alien Agenda” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 166 (in Chapter 6) of the Harper Collins paperback edition. |
1 |
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Marvels and Mysteries (Editors Of) in “Marvels and Mysteries: UFOs” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 32-33 of the Parrallel softcover edition. |
2 |
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McDonald, James E. in “UFO's: A Scientific Debate” (1972) (edited by Carl Sagan and Thornton Page) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 70-90 (in Chapter 5) of the Barnes and Noble hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Norton paperback edition. |
21 |
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Menzel, Donald and Taves, Ernest in their “The UFO Enigma“ (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 90-92 (in Chapter 8, “The [Condon Report’s] ‘Unexplained Cases”), 125 of the Doubleday hardback edition. |
4 |
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Nixon, Neil in his “Pocket Essentials : UFOs” (2002) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 59-60 (in Chapter 4) of the Pocket Essentials softcover edition. |
2 |
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Page, Thornton in “UFO's: A Scientific Debate” (1972) (edited by Carl Sagan and Thornton Page) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages xxv-xxvi (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “Selected UFO Cases”) of the Barnes and Noble hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Norton paperback edition. |
2 |
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Picknett, Lynn in her “The Mammoth Book of UFOs” (2001) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 65 (in Chapter 2) of the Robinson softcover edition. |
1 |
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Randle, Kevin D in his “Project Bluebook Exposed” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 89-99 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “August 13, 1956” generally) of the Marlowe softcover edition. |
11 |
|
Randle, Kevin D in his “Scientific Ufology” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 51-60, 71 (in Chapter 3), 216 (in Chapter 8) of the |
12 |
|
Randles, Jenny and Hough, Peter in their “50 Years of UFO Encounters” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 50 (in unnumbered section entitled “1966: UFOs Under the Microscope”) of the Encounters Magazine softcover edition. |
1 |
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Randles, Jenny and Hough, Peter in their “50 Years of UFO Encounters” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 31-32 (in unnumbered section entitled “1956: The New Battle of Britain”) of the Encounters Magazine softcover edition. |
2 |
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Randles, Jenny and Hough, Peter in their “The Complete Book of UFOs” (1994) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 159-163 (in Chapter 12) of the Piatkus softcover edition. |
5 |
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Randles, Jenny in “The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 138 (in an entry entitled “British Government Interest in UFOs”) of the Robinson softcover edition. |
1 |
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Randles, Jenny in “The UFO Conspiracy” (1987) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 190-191 (in Chapter 31) of the Barnes & Noble hardback edition. |
2 |
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Randles, Jenny in “UFO: 1947-1997” (1997) (edited by Hilary Evans and Dennis Stacy) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 252-253 (in the section entitled “Aspects”, unnumbered chapter entitled “A Few Home Truths”) of the John Brown hardback edition. |
2 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “Alien Contact – The First Fifty Years” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 30-31 (in the chapter entitled “1956”) of the Collins and Brown hardback edition. |
2 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “From Out of the Blue" (1991) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 130-131 (in Chapter 16), 165 (in Chapter 18) of the |
3 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “Something in the Air” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 58-59, 60-64, 67 (in Chapter 5) of the Hale hardback edition. |
8 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “The Little Giant Encyclopedia of UFOs” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 50-51, 66-67, 92 (in Part 1, “A UFO Timeline”), 366-267 (in Part 3, “UFOs Worldwide”) of the Sterling softcover edition. |
7 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “UFO Crash Landing? Friend or Foe?” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 149 (in Chapter 12), 154-155 (in Chapter 13) of the Blandford softcover edition. |
3 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “UFO Reality” (1983) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 165 (in Chapter 12) of the Hale hardback edition. |
1 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “UFO Study” (1981) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 36 (in Chapter 2) of the Hale hardback edition. |
1 |
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Randles, Jenny in Jerome Clark’s “The UFO Encyclopedia: 1st edition: Volume 1 – UFOs in the 1980s” (1990) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 29 (in an entry entitled “British Ufology”) of the Apogee hardback edition. |
1 |
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Redfern, Nicholas in his “A Covert Agenda” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 48-57 (in Chapter 5) of the Simon & Schuster hardback edition. |
10 |
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Rehn, K Gosta in his “UFOs Here and Now” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 5-8 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “The Condon-Colorado Report”) of the Abelard-Schuman hardback edition. |
4 |
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Ritchie, David in his “UFO : The Definitive Guide” (1994) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 29 (in an entry entitled “Bentwaters incident, |
1 |
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Sachs, Margaret in her “The UFO Encyclopedia“ (1980 (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 32-33 (in an entry entitled “Bentwaters and Lakenheath, England”) and included in a list entitled “Chronological list of UFO sightings” at page viii of the Corgi softback edition. |
3 |
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Shough, Martin Lawrence in “Phenomenon“ (1988) (edited by John Spencer and Hilary Evans) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 82-96 (in Part |
15 |
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Shough, Martin Lawrence in “UFO: 1947-1987” (1987) (edited by Hilary Evans with John Spencer) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 213-214, 219-227 (in Chapter 3.4.4, entitled “RADAR and the UFO”) of the Fortean Tomes softcover edition. |
11 |
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Smith, Marcia S in her “The UFO Enigma: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, UG 633, 76-52 SP” (1976) at pages 10-11 (in Chapter 1) of the Congressional Research Service stapled edition. |
2 |
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Sparks, Brad in version 1.7 of his “Comprehensive Catalog of 1,500 Project BLUE BOOK UFO Unknowns” (2003) as Case Number 984 and Case Number 985 on pages 133-134 of the PDF edition (with the same page numbering in the Microsoft Word edition). Both editions are available online, respectively at the following links: |
2 |
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Spencer, John and Spencer, Anne in their “Fifty Years of UFOs” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 22 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “1947-1957”) of the Boxtree hardback edition. |
1 |
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Spencer, John in his “The UFO Encyclopedia” (1991) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 41 (in an entry entitled “Bentwaters/Lakenheath”) of the Guild hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Avon softcover edition) at page 49 of the Headline paperback edition. |
1 |
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Spencer, John in his “UFOs: The Definitive Casebook” (1991) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 86 (in the unnumbered section entitled “ |
1 |
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Story, Ronald in “The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 304-305 (in an entry entitled “Lakenheath-Bentwaters radar-visual UFO”) of the New American Library softcover edition, at pages 297-298 of the pdf edition (with the same page numbering in the Microsoft Word edition). |
2 |
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Story, Ronald in “The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 304-305 (in an entry entitled “Lakenheath-Bentwaters radar-visual UFOs”) of the New American Library softcover edition. |
2 |
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Story, Ronald in “The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pagess 364-366 (in an entry entitled “Lakenheath-Bentwaters radar-visual UFO”) of the Robinson softcover edition. |
3 |
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Story, Ronald in “The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 364-366 (in an entry entitled “Lakenheath-Bentwaters radar-visual UFOs”) of the Robinson softcover edition. |
3 |
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Story, Ronald in his “UFOs and the Limits of Science” (1981) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 124-129 (Chapter 6 generally) and included in a list of ten “best” cases offered at pages 21-22 of the NEL Hardback edition. |
6 |
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Strickland, Joshua in his “Extra-terrestrials on Earth” (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 45-46 (in Chapter 3) of the |
2 |
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Sturrock, Peter in his “The UFO Enigma“ (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 28-29 (in Chapter 3, section entitled “Radar-Visual Cases”) of the Warner Aspect hardback edition. The relevant chapter is based on Peter Sturrock’s article “An Analysis of the Condon Report on the Colorado UFO Project” Journal of Scientific Exploration 1, pages 75-100, which is available online at: |
2 |
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Thayer, Gordon David in “The Encyclopedia of UFOs” (1980) edited by Ronald Story (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 200-202 (in an entry entitled “Lakenheath Bentwaters (England) radar/visual sightings”) of the NEL hardback edition. |
3 |
|
Thompson, Richard in his “Alien Identities: Ancient Insights into Modern UFO Pheonemena” (1993) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 90-91 (in Chapter 3) of the GHP revised softcover edition. |
2 |
|
Von Buttlar, Johannes in his “The UFO Phenomenon” (1980) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 79-80 (in Chapter 7) of the Book Club Associates hardback edition. |
2 |
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Warren, Larry and Robbins, Peter in their “Left at East Gate” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK)at pages 305-306, 308 (in Part 4, Chapter 2), 433-443 (in Appendix 3) of the Michael O’ Mara Books hardback edition. |
14 |
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Watts, Alan in his “UFO Visitation” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 8-9 (in Chapter 1) of the Blandford softcover edition. |
2 |
Other Material
Listed as Project Blue Book Case Number 4294 on the redacted US National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) microfilm records of Project Blue Book, released to the National Archives in 1975 – see National Archives Microfilm Publication T1206 roll number 1. An image of the relevant index page has been given the unique Page ID (“PID”) of NARA-PBB1-151 (page 151 of 1014) at the link below.
Listed (without a Project Blue Book Case Number) on the unredacted Maxwell Air Force Base (“Maxwell”) microfilm records of Project Blue Book – see Maxwell microfilm roll number 30,363. An image of the relevant index page has been given the unique Page ID (“PID”) of MAXW-PBB2-385 (page 385 of 1352) at the link below.
http://www.bluebookarchive.org