Two new Cold War era stories concerning mysterious ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’ (UAP) have been added to my RADAR pages.
Both form part of my personal archive of interviews, archive documents and FOI materials that cover radar detection of UAPs from the WW2 era to the present day.
The first is an exclusive first hand account provided by Ronald Burr who was the chief engineer responsible for the team who designed the powerful Type 80 radars that provided an Early Warning screen for the British Isles for almost 40 years.
Ron describes how he was present in the control room of the prototype Type 80 at RAF Trimingham in Norfolk when the antenna detected a large target travelling at Mach 2 at a range of 220 miles over the North Sea towards the English coast. No known aircraft operated by NATO or USSR was capable of flying at this speed at that time. Burr says:
“I can hazard no explanation for what had been an extraordinary event and I do not attempt one now.”
The second story is a summary of my archived interview with fighter pilot Michael Forrest (1931-2018) who flew jet aircraft with the RAF in Europe and the Far East for two decades. Forrest describes an incident in October 1954 when he and another pilot were scrambled from their base at RAF Sek Kong to intercept an ‘unusual target’ that was approaching the British territory from China.
Forrest and his wingman were directed by ground control towards this strange target that had ‘supernatural manoeuvring capabilities’. At one point they were on a collision course with the ‘object’ but never at any stage were they able to see it, despite a clear view in daylight.
On return to base they were told the probable explanation was ‘anaprop’ created by unusual atmospheric conditions in the atmosphere. But Forrest told me that the incident remained the strangest experience in his entire military career. The entry in his logbook simply reads: “Scrambled for bogies – no contact.”
My feature article Echoes and Angels: UFOs on Radar was published in the March 2021 edition of the magazine Fortean Times (FT 403). The article covers some of the best known radar UAP incidents in the past 80 years including the USS Nimitz/Princeton incidents in 2004, the Belgian flap of 1989-90 and earlier cases investigated by the USAF Project Blue Book.
David Clarke is Associate Professor in the Department of Media Arts and Communication at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He teaches media law and his research specialism is contemporary legend. Previously he worked as a journalist for The Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Post and spent four years working as a Press Officer in local government. His PhD in Folklore and was completed at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, in 1999. From 2008-13 he acted as consultant and curator of the MoD UFO files project with The National Archives. His books include The Angel of Mons (2004) and How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth (2015). In 2018 he co-founded the Centre for Contemporary Legend at Sheffield Hallam University. This blog covers his twin research interests in journalism and folklore. The views expressed in the contents are entirely his own.
drdavidclarke.co.uk 
Regarding unusual radar echoes, today from East Anglia I’ve been listening to and watching ‘pings’ from the French GRAVES space radar surveillance system on 143.05 MHz. Plenty of reflections from sporadic meteors (even though we’re not in a shower right now) and also Doppler reflection from the ISS and other LEO satellites.
There’s a lot of stuff up there, and it’s not too expensive or difficult for a radio amateur to watch this activity, many of whom do – 24/7.
I must keep a lookout for echoes from those ‘fast-walkers’…!