| When flying for the US Air Force in February
of 1962, we were in orbit for refueling operations over the North
Sea at 30,000 feet in our KB-50 J tanker aircraft. At 9:00 PM,
London Control excitedly notified us that they had an unidentified
object hovering between Oxford and Stonehenge at around 1,000
feet altitude. We were asked if we were willing to investigate? Our refueling mission was about over, so we quickly agreed to chase their UFO. We were given an intercept heading and started to dive toward the UFO. This was really fun and exciting compared to a standard mission. I never could recall such speed and power as our six engines were advanced to full military power as we dove on the target. London Control was diverting commercial aircraft to clear our path for the intercept. Then we realized we were above our red lined maximum speed and had trouble slowing our aircraft. London Control started giving our distance to the hovering UFO. They called out your 100 miles apart, 60, and 40. At about 30 miles my APS-23 Radar seem to pick up the hovering UFO directly ahead. It was an exceptionally large radar return reminding me of a large bridge or a ship such as a destroyer. This craft was as big or bigger than anything I had seen in the air before. The return was sharp and solid as compared to the fuzziness of a rain cloud. I felt this craft must be made of steel or strong metal. We were doing around 425 mph as we approached to about ten miles, when it apparently realized we were intercepting. It was a dark night, we could only see a series of dim lights directly ahead. Now only five miles separated us. Suddenly the UFO seemed to come alive, the lights brightened and the UFO accelerated in a launch similar to the Space Shuttle at night. We saw much brighter lights and fantastic acceleration almost straight up and suddenly it was gone. We asked London Control, "If they had any rocket launches in the area?" London Control seemed as disappointed as we were. The controller said, "There are no rocket launches in that area, thank you for the intercept, you are now cleared to return to your mission." Our mission was no longer a priority and we had to fly the normal routine traffic patterns. It is clear they felt there was a strong return for the 20 to 25 minutes it had taken to reach the UFO. We had been cleared directly through various altitudes, airways and commercial traffic so they must have considered this mission very important. I can still see that return in my mind's eye and I've been chasing UFOs ever since. George A. Filer |
