Wigtownshire, Scotland, April 4, 1957

[TrumanB]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/declassified-cia-x-files-reveal-22369639

particularly this part:

Kept in closed CIA files for nearly 40 years, the 186-page document lists UFO sightings across the globe and includes a mysterious case in Wigtownshire, Scotland, on April 4, 1957.

It tells how three radar posts tracked a UFO which “dove and circled” at between 60,000 and 14,000ft.

The close encounter was described by Wing Commander W P Whitworth, based in Scotland, as: “Quite definitely this was no freak.

“It was an object of some substance and no mistake could have been made.”

I remember on this forum that I read that there is no radar evidence ever made on UFOs...What do you think of this? Should we trust The Mirror?

And here is the link to CIA stuff in general:

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/blog/2016/take-a-peek-into-our-x-files.html

Edited July 20, 2020 by TrumanB

[Hazzard]

UFOs are picked up on radar every day somewhere in the world, until its identified, then its not a UFO anymore.

If it remains unidentified, well, thats all there is to it... The U in UFO has never been, and will never be, the same as extraterrestrial visitors.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Hazzard

[ChrLzs]

1 hour ago, TrumanB said:

“It was an object of some substance and no mistake could have been made.”I

No mistake could have been made, using 1957 radar equipment?  Forgive my mirth.  Even today, radar gets 'fooled' or just interfered with by stuff like flocks of birds, foil helium balloons, even swarms of insects or rain or clouds.  If even the slightest mistake is made in identifying two or more returns and assuming they are the same object, then the report is useless.  A wing commander is almost certainly NOT a radar analyst, so such a report would need to be accompanied by the radar data, eg screenshots or actual raw data, and expert analysis.  Sadly, in 1957, that sort of data was rarely collected or kept.  So we have just an anecdote by some old dude who claims he was there... 

1 hour ago, TrumanB said:

I remember on this forum that I read that there is no radar evidence ever made on UFOs...What do you think of this?

There is radar evidence of UFOs, but NONE that is definitively shown to be non-terrestrial after expert analysis.

1 hour ago, TrumanB said:

Should we trust The Mirror?

Well judging by the other stories on that page, and the fact that at no point do they link back to the source documents for the story... Let's just say that I'm not digging any further.. 

[acute]

1 hour ago, TrumanB said:

Should we trust The Mirror?

The Mirror's ok. 

[L.A.T.1961]

Is there a link to the 186 page document ? I cant see one in the source article. 

[esoteric_toad]

27 minutes ago, L.A.T.1961 said:

Is there a link to the 186 page document ? I cant see one in the source article. 

Tried to find it on the net. Nada.

[psyche101]

6 hours ago, TrumanB said:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/declassified-cia-x-files-reveal-22369639

particularly this part:

Kept in closed CIA files for nearly 40 years, the 186-page document lists UFO sightings across the globe and includes a mysterious case in Wigtownshire, Scotland, on April 4, 1957.

It tells how three radar posts tracked a UFO which “dove and circled” at between 60,000 and 14,000ft.

The close encounter was described by Wing Commander W P Whitworth, based in Scotland, as: “Quite definitely this was no freak.

“It was an object of some substance and no mistake could have been made.”

I remember on this forum that I read that there is no radar evidence ever made on UFOs...What do you think of this? Should we trust The Mirror?

And here is the link to CIA stuff in general:

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/blog/2016/take-a-peek-into-our-x-files.html

I don't remember reading that.

There are plenty of UFOs on RADAR. Hessdalen has plenty of such records.

Not a single on has ever indicated it came from space, or left via space. They all have a very earthly trajectory. 

What RADAR illustrates is that UFOs are not related to space travel. They start here and end here. 

[ChrLzs]

Here ya go, enthusiasts:
http://www.martinshough.com/aerialphenomena/westfreugh.pdf

A couple of warnings, though.

It's NOT a reviewed paper, despite being presented in that format.

It has no source data, so we cannot verify the claims made, which date back to an older technical report.  It relies extensively on anecdotal and secondhand information.

It seems rather dismissive of mundane explanations, and is actually missing a couple of possibilities..

And while the author seems to have a fair knowledge of radar equipment, he admits "We do not know the precise specifications of these Bombing Trials Unit radars, but in general tracking radars are short-range (order of a few tens of miles) ...", before elucidating on the radar returns which are *several* tens of miles away, *and* at 50,000 feet (9.5 miles) or higher, in the realm of ice clouds...  Note that these were tracking radars, which are a bit different to the proverbial sweep radars you will see in old movies, and would require specialist interpretation.. 

Edited July 21, 2020 by ChrLzs