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HOME/CASES/DUFO-055 · LAKENHEATH–BENTWATERS RADAR CASE
FILE OPENEDTIER A · CLASS — DECLASSIFIED
DUFO-055 · DOSSIER · 2026 EDITION
FILE DUFO-055·FIELD REPORT·UK·FILED 08.13.1956·UPDATED 05.06.2026
CASE FILE

LAKENHEATH–BENTWATERS.

RAF Lakenheath · UK · On the night of August 13–14 1956, multiple ground radars and a RAF night fighter tracked unidentified objects over RAF Lakenheath and Bentwaters.
declassifiedtier · AFILE COPY · 55 / 64
archive · military · 1956
EXHIBIT A · 01 / 07
“primary witness on record” — Flt. Lt. David Chambers (Venom pilot)
DEBRIS
PRESS
MAP
WITNESSES
GOV DOCS
MEDIA
// SUMMARY · BY THE DESK

On the night of August 13–14, 1956, multiple radar stations in eastern England — RAF Bentwaters, RAF Lakenheath, and RAF Sculthorpe — tracked a series of unidentified targets moving at speeds variously reported between 4,000 and 9,000 mph and at altitudes up to 60,000 feet.

Royal Air Force Fighter Command scrambled an de Havilland Venom NF.3 night fighter from RAF Waterbeach. The Venom's airborne intercept radar acquired one of the targets at approximately 6 miles range. As the pilot, Flt. Lt. David Chambers, attempted to close on the target, the unknown apparently maneuvered behind the Venom — and then matched the pilot's evasive turns from the rear position for approximately 10 minutes despite the pilot's best efforts to reverse the geometry. Lakenheath ground radar tracked the cat-and-mouse movements throughout.

The case was investigated by US Project Blue Book and reviewed by the University of Colorado UFO Project (the Condon Committee) for its 1968 Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects. The Condon Committee's principal investigator on the Lakenheath case, Dr. Gordon Thayer, wrote in the report's section on radar–visual cases that "in conclusion, although conventional or natural explanations certainly cannot be ruled out, the probability of such seems low in this case and the probability that at least one genuine UFO was involved appears to be fairly high."

Lakenheath–Bentwaters is one of the very small number of cases the Condon Committee — whose overall conclusions were generally dismissive of UFO reality — judged to be likely anomalous. The combination of multiple ground radar stations, an airborne intercept radar, ground visual observation, and the cat-and-mouse intercept geometry make it one of the most evidentially robust military UFO cases on record.

// CHRONOLOGY · KEY EVENTS
Aug 13 1956
Incident reported · primary record
1957
First independent investigation
2023
Senate UAP testimony reopens record
May 2026
Spielberg release · disclosure cycle
// WITNESSES · 3 ON RECORD
portrait
Flt. Lt. David Chambers (Venom pilot)
ON RECORD
▸ AFFIDAVIT →
portrait
Bentwaters tower personnel
ON RECORD
▸ AFFIDAVIT →
portrait
Lakenheath ATC radar operators
ON RECORD
▸ AFFIDAVIT →
// PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
University of Colorado UFO Project — Condon Report (1968)▸ ARCHIVE
Project Blue Book — Lakenheath case file▸ ARCHIVE
James E. McDonald — Statement to House Science and Astronautics (1968)▸ ARCHIVE
Gordon Thayer — Astronautics & Aeronautics (1971)▸ ARCHIVE
FILE DUFO-055 · LAKENHEATH–BENTWATERS RADAR CASE · DECLASSIFIED EDITION 2026PG 01 / 04
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