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In
early June 1956, as three Lowestoft schoolboys were about to go
to the beach, one of them saw what he first thought was a glider
in the sky high above.
Turning
their gaze upwards, all three saw what appeared to be a glider with
a fat fuselage. It
orbited two or three times before heading west as if following the
River Waveney to Beccles.
As
they walked to the beach, there was much discussion between the
boys as to what it might have been. First they agreed it wasn’t
a glider, as all three noted the whine of a jet engine from the
mystery plane.
Remotely
secret
One
of the boy's fathers regularly bought Flight magazine, which was
subsequently read by the young boys who took cuttings and stuck
them in their scrapbooks. Anything that might be remotely secret
and American was particularly sought after.
Concluding
that the aircraft they spotted was the Lockheed U-2, described in
Flight magazine as a ‘weather research aircraft’.
Anything that might be remotely secret
and American was particularly sought after
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One
of the boys had an uncle who lived in Brandon near to the American
Air Base at Lakenheath, who had done his National Service in the
RAF and was very interested in aircraft.
He
would often cycle to Lakenheath after work to meet with other local
plane spotters and note what aircraft were
visiting the Suffolk base.
Guarding
bananas?
A few weeks before the sighting at Lowestoft, in mid May, the spotters
had noted
some rather strange packing cases out on the North side of Lakenheath
airfield marked 'Fyffes Bananas'.
But
just as strange was the fact that the ‘bananas’ were being guarded
by armed USAF Air Police!
On
a warm day in mid June the spotters were cycling from Brandon to
the base when overhead passed 'a glider with an engine.' After pedalling
as fast as they could in the hope of seeing it on the ground, they
were only in time to see the strange visitor pulled into the T2
hangar on the airfield.
More
about the Suffolk spy plane»
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