|
There
were certainly no firework displays visible in the night sky when
we left home around 7.00pm to visit our friends in Ipswich during
a torrential downpour of rain which was set to continue for the
most of the night.
 |
| Dave
Feakes |
My
wife Ann and I left our home in Needham Market, drove the short
distance along Barking Road before bearing right over Grinstead
Hill then turning right onto the Ipswich Road at the Barking Lion
Public House.
Negotiating
the S bend as we approached the Bizon Tractor depot on the outskirts
of the village, and immediately before climbing the short hill facing
us, we were confronted with something very unusual coming into sight
on the brow of the hill.
What
appeared to be a great big glowing red ball, was moving along the
hilltop, from our right and towards the Ipswich Road.
I slowed down for two reasons, first as I did not know what the
object was, and second, for safety as I had no idea what it was
likely to do.
The
object seemed to be flying just above ground level so could not
possibly have been a tractor or any road vehicle, yet was both too
low and too slow to have been any conventional aircraft
The
object itself was silent and as it reached the apex of the hill
it seemed to alter course and head off across the fields at a greatly
accelerated speed and height before disappearing into the darkness
beyond the distant trees, barely visible in the gloom of the night.
I am
absolutely certain that, despite the weather, I could have identified
any object which came into view such as a planet in the sky, a firework
display, a road vehicle, a helicopter or an aeroplane. It was none
of these things.
Objectively,
it could not have been a planet because of the heavy rain falling
from the overcast sky and it was unlikely to be any kind of firework
on two counts, that Guy Fawkes night was a wash out and it would
have had to be really massive in size to match what we saw.
As far as vehicles where concerned the red glowing ball could possibly
have been a red rear light on, perhaps a tractor, except even with
the distorted vision caused by the rain on our windscreen, it could
be dispelled as the object sped off and disappeared over the trees
in the distance.
That
just leaves the possibility of an aircraft. At that stage the RAF
still occupied Wattisham but none of their jets would have been
flying as low in such atrocious conditions let alone so slow.
If the red glow was from the jet engine then the aircraft would
have had to be flying backwards to begin with.
So could it have been a helicopter? Although I do not believe any
were based at Wattisham at the time, any pilot flying that low and
close to electric cables and pylons would deserve to be grounded
and helicopters are extremely noisy but the object in question was
totally silent.
It
looked like a great big glowing red round ball so, it was an unidentified
object, and a flying one at that!
Whatever it was, it seemed to be flying from the general direction
of RAF Wattisham, eastwards before veering south east towards Barham
or Claydon and then in the direction of the dual USAF Bentwaters
and Woodbridge airbases and the Suffolk Coast.
Despite
scanning the local press and listening to local radio over the following
days, there were no reports of any UFO activity or mysterious aircraft
in the area.
We
did not say anything about the incident for fear of ridicule yet
I now believe we should have reported the sighting at the time and
perhaps have received some explanation for the sighting.
Obviously
intrigued by what we witnessed, at no time were we alarmed or frightened
by our strange encounter.
Suffice to say in these days of alleged alien abductions, I can
safely say that we did not experience anything like that nor was
there any missing time from our Saturday evening schedule.
The question will always remain, though. Did we see a real alien
spaceship in the wet Needham Market sky, a secret military experimental
aircraft, or was it some inexplicable phenomena which will always
remain a mystery?
I believe
I know.
|
The
Queen 
