Close Encounters Off The Isle of Man - Are The Aliens Back? No Just The MOD!

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

Manx Radio reports on strange happenings in the skies near Kirk Michael could the aliens be back after over 50 years?

The report below is from the Galloway Gazette (a Johnson paper same as the IOM Newspapers) in September 2009.It recounts the so called West Freugh incident in 1957 when mysterious objects were tracked by several sources off the N W Coast of Mann.

The Gazette report says the MOD (Ministry Of Defence) kept the incident under wraps but my understanding is it was reported at the time by some Scottish newspapers apparently sourcing the story from civilians employed at the various radar stations around the North Irish Sea.

A more plausible explanation for the recent Kirk Michael sighting is activity at the West Freugh range now operated by Qinetiq the private contractor who took over from the Defence Evaluation Research Establishment (DERA).

Qinetiq is into all sorts of secret development work and the description by the lady reported on Manx Radio does seem to describe some sort of parachute pyrotechnic linked to aerial reconnaissance photography. This was quite common in the days of the Jurby range but even then took place at West Freugh and South of Luce Bay as RAF Jurby (Range) closed at night.

Galloway Gazette story below:

“The recent publication of a top secret 'X-File', buried until now in the bowels of the Ministry of Defence, suggests that more than one unidentified flying object was tracked by radar at West Freugh, near Stranraer, in 1957.

The mystery deepened when the document, released last month by the National Archives, admits that no plausible explanation for what happened that night was forthcoming at the time - and that it defies explanation to this day.

On the night of April 4th, 1957, radar operators around RAF West Freugh, the air force's bomb test range headquarters, were scanning the skies while waiting for one last aircraft to appear from RAF Farnborough in Hampshire. Hearing it was delayed, the mobile radar units surrounding the range were asked to stand down by the range co-ordinator.

But one operator, stationed at Barscalloch, did not receive the message and had picked up something strange on his radar screen over the Irish Sea, about 20 miles from Stranraer.

The radar operator at Ardwell, a few miles to the south, also confirmed he had a solid echo on the screens. The mystified range co-ordinator then asked other units to verify what was happening and the Ministry of Supply operator came right back to him saying: "We've locked on to more than one."

The officer at Barscalloch watched with mounting incredulity as he tracked a large object hovering for 10 minutes at a height of 50,000 feet, rising to 70,000 feet, then moving at phenomenal speeds and making "impossible" turns.

All the radar operators were spellbound as the UFOs they had locked on to began to move in a easterly direction, picking up speed as they headed towards Newton Stewart. The objects then turned in the direction of the Isle of Man and accelerated again.

The radar signals then became contradictory, with Barscalloch following a large single object at high altitude while Ardwell tracked four smaller UFOs following each other in a line at around 14,000 feet.

As the echoes disappeared, all the radar operators fleetingly traced four smaller UFO trailing behind the larger object. They had been tracked for a total of 36 minutes.
UFO investigator Ron Halliday, the author of several books on the subject, said: "A very large number of incidents have rational explanations but West Freugh is different.

"It is a 'solid' object, registering on equipment, which is incredibly interesting and exciting. It is evidence of an episode that cannot be rationalised."

Fellow UFO author, Dr David Clarke of Sheffield Hallum University added: "It is certainly one of the most interesting cases on record and it cannot be explained properly. What is interesting and anomalous is that - whatever it was - it was independently picked up by three radar units.

"Historically the Government did not begin any official inquiry into UFO mysteries until 1950. In June 1951, a working party produced a final report that debunked sightings and concluded that 'flying saucers' did not exist.

"But the Joint Intelligence Committee initiated inquiries into aerial phenomena on two occasions during the late 1950s - including West Freugh. The JIC and the Air Ministry were unable to explain the UFOs tracked by radar and that remains true to this day."

Photograph: Enclosed radars at West Freugh site of top secret testing off Western Scotland and over the Irish Sea

BERNARD MOFFATT

Issued by: The Celtic News

20/01/16

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