UK UFO Research: BOAC Labrador Report (1954)

The BOAC Labrador sighting of June 29, 1954

One of the UK's respected and prolific (serious) researchers, “Martin Shough” recently authored a research report on the infamous 1954 BOAC UFO incident. I’ve been lucky enough to correspond with Martin a few times and his reasoned approach has always been fair, penetrative & erudite, whether you're aware of Martin Shough or not if you have read any reports involving UFO/UAP reports in the UK and if they were approached from a more scientific angle then you will undoubtedly have read some of the research that he has either personally conducted or assisted with, including the vast majority of radar-related (UK) UFO reports.

And to be honest it’s a little puzzling why I haven’t seen (m)any references to this particular report and if I were to hazard a guess then it’s perhaps its because its presented as a sober and scientific report and of course doesn’t wildly promote the ETH as the most likely explanation. If this is indeed the case then it‘s a sad reflection on the broader online UFO community, the majority of whom are quick to pick up on the most obscure of possible UFO reports often presenting no viable working hypothesis or even additional information regarding the report. Not of course that this is –always- necessarily a bad thing, but then to neglect exhaustive reports on historical UFO events such as this one, it just doesn’t make sense, does it?

Martin is listed (in his capacity as author of this report) as a, “UK Research Associate of the US National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP)”.

The report is published in its entirety on the Caelestia.be website which itself is an excellent resource to the serious UFO researcher as it offers a wealth of information on a wide variety of aerial phenomena.

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A short video clip of the pilot speaking about his experience is available at: Commercial Flight JFK to London BOAC UFO (1954) Video

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The following is posted on the lead page of the relevant section on Caelestia.be (summary):

BOAC 1954

This classic observation was made by crew and passengers of a 4-engine Boeing Stratocruiser of the British Overseas Airways Corporation. Flight 510-196 was a luxury flight bound for London on the "champagne and caviar run", departing New York at 17:03 local (21:03 GMT) on June 29, 1954 with 51 passengers aboard. Four hours later at sunset, 19,000 ft (5,791 m) over Labrador, Newfoundland, and en route for Goose Bay, an apparently huge shape-changing UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon) and a swarm of small attendant objects was seen against the bright sky off the left wing. The strange display persisted for 18 minutes.

After a refuelling stop at Goose where they were met and questioned by US Air Force intelligence officers the crew proceeded to London, where the story rapidly appeared in national papers and magazines. Capt. James R. HOWARD was filmed for BBC TV and cinema newsreels. It became big news and went around the world within days via the Associated Press syndicated wire. The standing of the witnesses, in particular 33-year-old Capt. HOWARD, a highly respected former RAF Squadron Leader with 7500 hours commercial flying on 256 Atlantic crossings to his credit at the time of the sighting, has never been called in question. They were convinced that their airliner was followed for 80 miles by a formation of solid flying objects under intelligent control. To this day the case is still hailed by many ufologists as unexplained and one of the most significant "British" cases.

Several theories have been advanced. Were these objects spaceships, a giant flock of migrating starlings, balloons, or perhaps a mirage? Whilst the evidence is not conclusive, we present evidence that the most likely explanation seems to be an unusual mirage of a type which, whilst rare, appears to have been observed several times in similar conditions in other parts of the world.

Source: Caelestia.be

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And here are three sketches that the pilot made after his sighting:

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The full report is available at the
Caelestia.be website.

IFOs Into UFOs - Chinese Lanterns In Sunderland (Again!!)

The Sunderland Echo recently (3rd October 2008) ran a story regarding a UFO report from a few days ago, they reveal the source of the sightings whilst also mentioning that BUFORA (whom I personally thought were practically defunct) have also revealed that Chinese lanterns were the likely cause.

I wrote about these lanterns at the beginning of July foretelling of the misidentifications I believed that they were going to produce over the summer months, now only a couple of months later and the vast majority of UK UFO reports it seems are (eventually) attributed to these Chinese lanterns.

The article I wrote was titled: “IFOs: (LITs) UFO Balloons, Chinese Lanterns & Misidentifications” and can be viewed here.

Regular readers may remember that one of the three UFO reports I referenced to highlight the fact that these Chinese Lanterns/UFO balloons were predominantly reported as UFOs was in fact an earlier 2006 Sunderland report.

Anyway, here's the recent explanation of the September 2008 Sunderland UFO report:

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Teen party sparks UFO alert

(Last Updated: 03 October 2008 11:14 AM)

An 18th birthday party sparked a series of apparent UFO sightings across Wearside, it emerged today. Shocked residents told last month how they watched as eerie glowing orbs appeared over Hetton and Easington Lane .

As reported in the Echo, more than a dozen witnesses were left stunned after spotting nine "fireballs" in the night sky. Mum Sharon Johnston captured the orange lights on her mobile phone camera. The 33-year-old, from Hetton, said they appeared to be travelling in formation and were in the air for about 10 minutes before suddenly vanishing from sight. However, the British UFO Research Association later revealed it was likely the lights were Chinese sky lanterns, which are often released into the air at public events and celebrations.

Today it emerged that 30 lanterns were lit at Elemore Golf Club, Hetton, where Yasmin Renwick was marking her 18th birthday.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw the article in the paper…..It was a complete shock…..The lanterns were a surprise on the night and it was surprise the next day when I heard how many people had seen them…..It was a great birthday party, though, and I'll never forget it."

Often used as an alternative to fireworks displays, the lanterns – made of paper and bamboo – are known to rise as high as 1,500metres and can travel miles. Yasmin's gran, Yvonne, also from Hetton, helped organise the surprise party with the birthday girl's mum Zoe. She said:

"I was at a wedding about a year ago where I saw about 150 lanterns released into the air. It was so dramatic…..They went down well at the party, but the day after my phone didn't stop ringing. Apparently, people were rushing into their gardens with video cameras…..But we all had a laugh about it afterwards…..It is something to remember Yasmin's birthday by."

Source: Sunderland Echo

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When I wrte this Blog post the earlier article by the Sunderland Echo was unavailable online, this has now been rectified so here is the article that preceded the one above.

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Light thrown on UFO sightings

(01 October 2008)

UFO researchers today identified the mysterious orange lights spotted floating in the sky over a village.

Shocked residents last week told how they watched in awe as the eerie glowing orbs appeared over Easington Lane . As reported in the Echo, more than a dozen witnesses were left stunned after they saw up to nine "fireballs" on Saturday.

Mum Sharon Johnston captured the orange lights on her mobile phone camera. The 33-year-old, from Hetton, said they appeared to be travelling in formation and were in the air for about 10 minutes before suddenly vanishing from sight. The British UFO Research Association says it was likely the lights were Chinese sky lanterns, which are often released into the air at public events and celebrations. Often used as an alternative to fireworks displays, the lanterns, which are made of paper and bamboo, are known to rise as high as 1,500 metres and can travel miles. They are regularly seen at weekends and mistaken for UFOs.

After viewing the footage, a spokesman for the association said: " I see nothing at all here to suggest anything other than lanterns. The colour, appearance and behaviour of the lights unfortunately fit an all too familiar – and, from our perspective, annoying – pattern."

There have been similar sightings in Bristol, Lincolnshire and Wrexham.

The spokesman added: "It is not the fault of such witnesses that so much time ultimately becomes wasted on these reports as the general public are by and large, and perhaps understandably, unfamiliar with the behavioural traits of these things."

Source: Sunderland Echo

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Report on Aerial Phenomena observed near the Channel Islands, UK (April 23 2007)

Independent UFO Researchers Release Report On Guernsey UFO
(April 23rd 2007)

Jean-Francois Baure, David Clarke, Paul Fuller & Martin Shough released their findings on the UFO that pilot Ray Bowyer witnessed on a routine flight in April 2007.

The file is being hosted at UK-UFO.org and is available to download as a (.pdf) document at: http://www.guernsey.uk-ufo.org/

It's a thorough and detailed report presented in a methodical and scientific manner, I also believe it’s a report that certainly warrants investing some of your time in reading it.

I think the bar has just been raised for serious UFO researchers as this report undoubtedly shows how it can, and should be done. Also, don’t forget it’s all done by independent researchers. Hopefully one day all serious investigations into UFO reports will be as well presented, disciplined and meticulous as this one is.

Due to a few people experiencing difficulties accessing the document from locations in South America, Kentaro Mori in Brazil is also hosting the report at the following webpage.

http://forgetomori.com:80/2008/ufos/uk-channel-islands-ufo-report/

Mori also provides a commentary on the report which is worth reading.

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Ray Bowyer - Guernsey UFO (April 2007)

Ray Bowyer on Richard And Judy (UK)

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The release of this research coincided nicely with a Channel 5 programme which concentrated on the UFO witnessed over the Channel Islands. The most recent episode of, “Britain 's Closest Encounters” was shown on Channel 5 (UK) on Wednesday July 30 th (2008). It's a four-part documentary series claiming to, 'examine the most astonishing and baffling UFO stories from around the UK.'

The latest instalment looked at the case of pilot Captain Ray Bowyer, who reported seeing two enormous disc-shaped objects in the sky over the Channel Islands on 23 April 2007. The sighting was further confirmed by passengers on the Aurigny Airlines flight, and by another pilot who was in the area at the time. As they neared the UFOs he could see a second disc beyond the first.

Captain Bowyer dismissed the chance of the objects being lenticular cloud formations as well as the reflection from one of the many winery greenhouses, Ray discounted both as has always maintained that what he witnessed emanating from the object/s was most definitely an emission of light and not a reflection of any description, as well as stating that both of the objects had sharp, defined edges.

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Finally, here's a quick recap of the incident in question, on the 25th April 2007 the BBC News website ran the following story:

Pilot spots 'UFO' over Guernsey

Pilots have reported unusual foreign objects since the 1940s. A commercial airline pilot has reported seeing two unidentified flying objects in the sky near Guernsey. The bright yellow flat disc shapes, estimated to be twice the size of a Boeing 737, were spotted on Monday, 12 to 15 miles north east of the island. Captain Ray Bowyer was flying an Aurigny plane from Southampton to Alderney when he saw the objects through binoculars. Mr Bowyer said he was "pretty shook-up" by the sighting.

"This is not something you see every day of the week - it was pretty scary."

At first he thought it was the sun reflecting from greenhouses in Guernsey . He said the objects were bright like the sun, but did not hurt his eyes when he looked at them. The stationary objects were also observed by other aircraft and the passengers on the plane.

John Spencer, deputy chairman of the British UFO Research Association, said: "These types of sightings have been reported by pilots - generally accepted to be reliable and sensible observers - since the 1940s and they have excited attention to this day…..Such light effects are often popularly thought to represent alien visitors but many UFO researchers believe they more likely represent natural, atmospheric, phenomena not yet fully understood by science…..However, a similar encounter in 1978 over the Bass Straits in Australia, where the pilot was in radio contact with the ground throughout, resulted in the pilot never being heard from again, so these phenomena are important to study."

Nick Pope, who used to investigate UFOs for the Ministry of Defence said: "While no witnesses are infallible, pilots are trained observers and less likely than most people to misidentify something mundane…..The MoD's UFO case files contain several reports from civil and military pilots, some of which were correlated by radar. This is the sort of sighting that is taken seriously and should be investigated thoroughly…..While most UFOs can be explained as misidentifications of aircraft, weather balloons, satellites and suchlike, a small percentage are more difficult to explain. This is one of the most intriguing sightings I've heard about in recent years."

A current spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence, said that while it does monitor air space for any unusual foreign objects which might pose a threat, they would not be carrying out an investigation in this instance. Source

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(Original Source,ChannelOnline.tv)

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To see earlier posts relating to Ray Bowyer and The Channel Islands UFO then visit here.

(Video) Stephenville, Texas - UFO Investigation Won't Go Away

UFO Investigation Won't Go Away

Fox News recently aired another video report (13th February 2008) concerning the ongoing Stephenville , Texas UFO flap which commenced January 2008.

"So what really happened over the skies of Stephenville and Erath County when dozens of people reported seeing a UFO last month? We may be getting a little closer to some real answers. FOX 4's Richard Ray is delving deeper inside the investigation and has this report."

Source: Fox News

To view ALL Blog posts regarding the Stephenville, Texas UFO Flap,
then just click anywhere on this text.

UFO Photographed 10th September 2007 – Rugby UK

UFO Report Rugby , Warwickshire, England. (10th September 2007)

Submitted to UFO Casebook by Geoff Pottle

The above image was submitted to UFOCasebook.com, with this accompanying email.

“This photo was taken at about 2.30pm on 10th September 2007 just out in my back garden. The weather was clear, warm and almost cloudless.

I was just really testing out how my digital camera would take the sun, and without really looking (more point and hope). (I did not at any point look directly into the sun for obvious reasons). Anyhow after transfering a couple of shots on the last picture I saw a shape in the bottom left of the image. Wasn`t sure if it was a plane or a satellite maybe?

Thank you.”

Source: ufocasebook.com/rugby.html

UFO Report Rugby , Warwickshire, England.

Below is part of the image after having being ran through several filters to try and enlarge/clean it up a little.

(Original, unaltered image is at the top left.)

Stratford UFO sightings brings town to a standstill

UFO sightings bring town to a standstill

Originally Posted on the Daily Mail Website

A crowd of 100 stunned stargazers brought a town centre to a standstill when five mysterious UFOs were spotted hovering in the sky.
Drinkers spilled out of pubs, motorists stopped to gawp and camera phones were aimed upwards as the five orbs, in a seeming formation, hovered above Stratford-Upon-Avon for half an hour.

The unidentified flying objects lit up the otherwise clear night sky above Shakespeare's birthplace in Warwickshire on Saturday. Although Air Traffic Control reported no unusual activity, some witnesses were convinced they were witnessing an extra-terrestrial spectacle.

Crowds gathered to gawp at the strange lights that hovered silently over Stratford for 30 minutes. The strange episode started just after 10.30pm, when the lights were seen hovering slowly over the town before three of them formed a triangular shape with one positioned just to the right.

A few minutes later a fifth came into view travelling towards the others at breakneck speed before slowing down and stopping a short distance away. Sceptics dismissed the UFOs as nothing more than hot air balloons, fireworks or even lanterns which had broken loose from a local rugby club.

Others, however, claimed the speed and agility of the objects was unlike any known aircraft and said the odd movement, lack of noise and the length of time in the air discounted any man-made explanation.

Tom Hawkes, who captured these amazing images, spotted the lights during his girlfriend Kate Lyall's birthday at the One Elm pub.

He and the 15 other revellers were in the bar when they spotted some commotion outside. Tom, 30, said: "We walked outside and there was at that time a growing crowd of about 60 people looking up at something in the sky.

"I saw this light appear, then three others. They came over our heads in formation but then manouvered into different positions.

"Three had formed a triangular shape and one was to the right. Then another one came hurtling towards the rest at what looked like a very fast speed. But as it neared them it suddenly slowed and stopped altogether.

"By this time more people had poured out onto the street. Two pubs had emptied, some people had come out of their houses and drivers slowed their cars. Were flying saucers like this one hovering over Stratford under the cover of darkness?

"The objects were there for about half an hour. It was very eerie because they didn't make any sound and they stayed still before moving slowly beyond the horizon. There were no stars in the sky, just them.

"It was the most extraordinary thing I've ever seen and the way in which everyone gathered in the street to watch them reminded me of a scene from Independence Day." The extraordinary scenes were also witnessed by some of the staff of the One Elm pub.

Chef Kern Griffiths, 26, said: "I saw five lights, we all thought they were hot air balloons at first because the glowing spheres looked like a burst of flames. But I couldn't see any outline of the balloon itself and they were travelling far too fast. "Suddenly someone shouted 'look' and there were these bright dots fizzing across the sky. "It was weird, they way they moved did look alien. Some people reckon they're fireworks but they were lit up in the sky for far too long, the local rugby club say they were lanterns that blew loose over the weekend but these objects were far too fast and too high up.

"They were unlike any aircraft I've seen. It's a mystery." Hillary Potter from The British Earth Aerial Mystery Society (BEAMS) said they were being inundated with similar calls from across the country but said it was rare for such phenomena to be witnessed by so many people.

She said: "Such incidents have been on the increase recently. There are reports at the moment coming in from all over the country. "We've had many reports of people seeing quite large unidentified objects in the skies. It's not going away, It seems these incidents are becoming more bold. "People don't know what to do when they witness such sights and that's what we're here for. We take the reports very seriously."

A Mod Spokesman said: "The MoD does not have any expertise or role in respect of UFOs or flying saucer matters or to the question of the existence of extra terrestrial life forms, about which we remain totally open minded. "I should add that to date the MoD knows of no evidence which substantiates the existence of these alleged phenomena. The MoD examines any reports of unidentified flying objects it receives solely to establish whether what was seen might have some defence significance.

"Namely whether there is any evidence that the UK air space might have been compromised by hostile or unauthorised foreign military activity. "Unless there is evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom from an external military source, and to date no UFO report has revealed such evidence, we do not attempt to identify the precise nature of each sighting reported to us.

"We believe that rational explanations such as aircraft lights or natural phenomena could be found for them if resources were diverted for this purpose but its not the function of the MoD to provide this kind of aerial identification service." Frankie Spray, from Wellesbourne Airfield, just outside Stratford, added: "The lights were nothing to do with us. None of our aircraft fly at night at this time of year.

"It's very bizarre but I've got no explanation as to what the lights were." Birmingham Air Space which covers the skies over the town said they had not heard of any unusual activity showing up on the radar.”

The Daily Mail also have an, “Exclusive” video clip of the incident linked from the original article.

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And here is a widely circulated, "Free" Newspaper article on the UFO’s.

To view the larger and complete image of the newspaper article or to further discuss this article, then visit the Stratford thread on our UFO Forum here.

Download the Isaac/CARET UFO letter and documentation as PDF

Download the Isaac documentation condensed into a couple of pdf's by Clicking/ Here (Zip File)

There's only two PDF's, the letter and the scanned/photocopied documents, but I left the scans at their original size which makes it very easy to zoom right in on the finest of details. Also it makes looking through the typed photocopies a lot easier.....

California UFO Flap 2007 – Chad UFO, Lake Tahoe UFO, Rajman1977 UFO, Big Basin UFO, Isaac UFO Explanation (CARET – Fortunecity.com)

The California UFO Flap Of 2007 Continues Unabated!!

To read about the previous Californian UFO sightings then please follow the links below. (You can also discuss the sightings or express your theories and views at our UFO Forums (HERE)

• Chad UFO (Coast To Coast),
• Lake Tahoe UFO (MUFON),
• Rajman1977 UFO (Capitola UFO – Flikr Account)
• Big Basin UFO (UFOCasebook – Stephen)
• Isaac And His UFO Explanation (CARET – Fortunecity.com)

(The Isaac/CARET UFO) Explanation of the Recent "Strange Craft" Sightings

We have another name to add to the increasing list of witnesses/informants of the current Californian UFO Flap. The informants name is Isaac and he adds another complex twist to the already convuluted story, which until now comprised solely of witness statements and photographs the legitimacy of which are still being hotly contested.

The California UFO flap is turning into the UFO story that won't go away, just when even the believers of this particular sighting were starting to doubt the validity and the integrity of the witnesses (mainly due to the lack of verifiable information.)

And once again, right on cue we have an infinitely more detailed report, this time proffering reversed alien technology as the answer. Isaac also includes an incredibly lengthy and detailed correspondence as a, “companion to numerous document and photo scans.”

Indeed, if only a small percentage of what Isaac claims is true, then the disclosure of such information will have effects that will change the way we perceive the world, for ever!!

And that's not to mention that the information has profound implications for every part of society, from Physicists to Religious leaders!!

Isaacs account is too lengthy for a Blog post, so to read the account and view the scans and photos, visit Our UFO Forums (HERE)

And here's a little taste of what's on offer............................