The Lakenheath-Bentwaters radar incident
On the night of 13 August 1956, radar operators at RAF Bentwaters and RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk tracked fast targets. Much of the detailed account comes from a later letter by a watch supervisor.
The incident began at RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk, a base used by the USAF, on the evening of 13 August 1956. Wikipedia says the night was dry and largely clear, with an unusually large number of shooting stars from the Perseid meteor shower.
Sky HISTORY reports that at about half past nine radar operators began tracking a target they likely took for an ordinary aircraft, until its speed came out at above one thousand miles an hour. At five to eleven Bentwaters detected another target, which Sky HISTORY puts at roughly two to four thousand miles an hour.
Wikipedia says the watch supervisor Perkins claimed that two RAF Venom interceptors, built by de Havilland, were sent up toward a radar target near Lakenheath. Much of the detail in later tellings of the night rests on Perkins's own account.
"The incident began at the USAF-tenanted RAF Bentwaters, Suffolk, on the evening of 13 August 1956. This was a dry, largely clear night with, observers noted, an unusually large number of shooting stars, associated with the Perseid meteor shower."
- Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident: The UK's Roswell, Sky HISTORY (history.co.uk)
- Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident (Perkins account), Wikipedia