Late Christmas night of 1980 had been eventful for the personnel of the twin Airbases of RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwoods, currently on loan to the United States Air Force, in Rendlesham Forest not too distant from the city of Ipswich in Suffolk. An unearthly flying craft had been spotted and tracked by the guards at RAF Woodbridge as the strange lights had dropped into the Forest. Security, including the on-duty Shift Commander had ventured into the woods and found it only to have it suddenly fly off into the sky when Staff Sargeant James Penniston actually touched the side of the craft.

The following day the Deputy Base Commander of the Woodbridge-Bentwood airbase complex, Lt. Colonel Charles Halt, was skeptical of the reports he got of the previous night's activities. It was, however, his job to know about everything that went on in the bases under his command. Despite knowing the people involved were dependable and honest soldiers, he found the entire incident hard to credit but he took the reports and interviewed the men personally. The next evening, December 27, 1980 found him in attendance at a Combat Support Group awards dinner as events conspired to shake his disbelief.

This night A1C Gregory Battram and three others were on patrol at the back gate of RAF Woodbridge when they saw lights in the sky that did not conform to any type of aircraft they were familiar with. The lights dipped into the forest and their red coloration looked like a fire among the trees. A1C Battram knew that in light of the previous incident they had to investigate. He contacted Central Security Control for permission to go into the forest and the fire department in case what they saw was a blaze.

Parking their vehicle at the edge of the forest they began to walk towards the lights. They noticed a "thrumming" sound being carried through the air and began to experience the tingling of what felt like a high electromagnetic field, the hair on their arms and heads trying to stand on end. Coming to the far edge of the Forest they witnessed the lights, orange, red, white, and blue, coning from the center of what appeared to be a circular patch of ground fog. Becoming uncharacteristically scared, the men decided to return to the airbase and report their findings.

Meanwhile another group, led by Sgt. Adrian Bustinza, had been alerted to this second UFO sighting and had headed into the forest as well. Encountering A1C Battram's group, they decided to go get the higher-ups involved in any further attempts. Lt. Bruce Englund was with Sgt. Bustinza's group and he immediately headed to the location of the awards dinner to inform his superior officers. Reporting to Base Commander Ted Conrad. Lt. Englund told him, "It's back. The UFO is back!" Commander Conrad ordered Lt. Colonel Halt to go "...put an end to this nonsense."

Heading back to the base, Lt. Colonel Halt began assembling a team to get to the bottom of all the excitement and confusion running rampant over the two airbases. Little did he know that soon the encounter would escalate dramatically.

Written by: Douglas Mefford

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