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Unidentified Flying Objects

1 Sometime in 1950/1 I saw a silver 'barbell' shape which was travelling silently into wind and between clouds. This was in Great Barr, Birmingham. There was one other witness. This was mid afternoon and the wind was quite strong.

2 A little time later, say 1952/3, I saw a dense black smoke trail which began overhead and travelled most of the way to the horizon. It was at some height and the effect was similar to a condensation trail apart from the colour. There was some kind of object at the head but it was impossible to make it out. This was close to the same location as above, at about the same time in the afternoon and seen by the same other witness.

3 Around 1968/9, in Aston, Birmingham, I saw a travelling light in the sky which may have been a satellite, but had an odd motion. It seemed to proceed in spurts. It would move forward, slow down and then accelerate again. It was too large and bright to be a satellite. There is evidence that the same, or a similar, device was seen 1-2 hours earlier by children. This could have been a hot air balloon (model), but it seems unlikely. This was about 10pm.

4 In July 1974 at Lakehurst, New Jersey, I saw what appeared to be several hundred small silver spheres in close formation, stationary in the sky. I have a colour transparency of this and it was seen by three other people, who also have pictures. The locals said that this was a cloud formation caused by high humidity. It was the only object visable in an otherwise clear blue sky.
I'll add the picture here when I have a usable copy.

5 Some time in 1975 I saw a white light, which was about the same size and brightness as the planet Venus, which travelled rapidly across the sky, horizontally, and then abruptly winked out. There was no sound. This was in Rickmansworth around 1am.

6, 7 & 8 Between 1975 and about 1980, on three separate occasions, I saw green flares falling slowly through the sky. This was always in the early hours of the morning and in remote locations.

9 In about 1985, while working in St Albans, I heard the unmistakable sound of twin Merlin engines and rushed to the window to see an aircraft turning onto an approach to Hatfielld main runway. I described the aircraft as, 'A Mosquito with a short nose and straight tapered tailplane.' In other words, a DH Hornet. To my knowledge, no such aircraft could have been flying at the time. This was around lunchtime.

10 In 1997, while flying an R/C helicopter at Bedmond, I saw something enter the earths atmosphere. It first became visible as what appeared to be a falling red very light. It rapidly changed to orange, yellow, white and disappeared with a bright blue/green flash, leaving a faint white trail. It was falling vertically so could not have been satellite debris. Mid afternoon.

11 In 1998 (27/6/98) while emerging from the back door of my Watford flat, I saw a bright pinpoint of light flash across the sky at a downward angle. It was bright sunlight, with a clear blue sky, at the time and the object was 'down sun' from myself. Late afternoon.

Comment

As a keen aeromodeller and observer of full-size aircraft for the best part of 60 years, I regard myself as an experienced observer. As an amateur astronomer, I know what planets and stars look like. In 1960, I saw the american ECHO satellite on numerous occasions. I also have vivid memories of German aircraft (Heinkel 111), with bombs falling from them, outlined by searchlights.

A curious phenomenon is the total lack of curiosity at the time. Afterwards it is normal to think, "Why didn't I do so-and-so?" Others who have observed strange objects seem to have the same experience.

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