Rendlesham UFO case - Suffolk UK, Dec-1980

Sketch of the UFO (described as triangular/pyramid) which reportedly landed on 26-Dec-1980 3:00AM in Rendlesham forest. Taken from USAF SSgt Jim Penniston's official witness statement in 1980 (declassified in 2001 under the FOIA). "Size: 9ft long, 7-8ft high. Fabric: black, smooth, glass-like. Bluish/white glow underneath the UFO, red blinking light on top. No sound. High electric static filled the air, you could feel it on your skin as we approached the object." Next day, triangular 2.5m apart landing indentations on the ground where the UFO landed were discovered, photographed and plaster casts taken.

In December 1980, the 3 nights after Christmas (26-28 Dec 1980), a series of UFO incidents occurred in the Rendlesham forest area, which lies between the twin RAF/USAF Bentwaters and Woodbridge bases in Suffolk England, which reputedly held the largest stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe. A UFO sighting at two of UK's most sensitive military sites.

What is the Rendlesham Forest incident?

Early morning (around 3:00AM) of 26-Dec-1980 in Suffolk England, a two-man USAF security patrol near the East Gate of RAF Woodbridge observed strange coloured lights above the forest in the direction of Orford Ness. Assistance was requested and a security unit was sent out from Bentwaters. The lights were now deep inside the pine wood and three men, Sargeant Jim Penniston, his driver, Airman Ed Cabansag, and one of the two original security officers, airman (later sargeant) John Burroughs, drove down a logging track that led into the forest, proceeding the rest of the way on foot owing to the frozen terrain.
All three men closed in on an object that resembled an "aircraft on fire", or, as Burroughs described it, a "multiple series of lights." At closer proximity, the lights solidified. Penniston went close enough to see an actual object looming from within the glow (ref: sketch and testimony).

Two nights later (night of 27 - early morning 28 Dec 1980) the bizarre lights were spotted again. A small group of 5 men, headed by the deputy base commander LtCol Charles Halt, left the base to investigate, this time armed with more equipement. Later on in the night they encountered a red pulsing object - apparently navigating between the trees, which after disturbing nearby animals, silently exploded and separated into smaller bright lights. The lights which had broken off the original object began to beam 'pencil thin' beams of light down onto the ground, some reportedly landed near the bases' Weapons Storage Area.

According to airman Larry Warren, in a different location, in a field at the edge of the Rendlesham forest, another group of 40 men from the bases, watch a large 30ft across, 20ft high rounded pyramid craft on the ground. The main part was 'pearl-white' with a rainbow colour effect.
Note: original witness statements in the days right after the event, are misleading. These same military witnesses later testified that they signed prepared statements, minimizing the events (and in some cases threatened -"bullets are cheap"-).

"The first of these areas concerns the original witness statements made by Penniston, Burroughs, Cabansag and Chandler. James Easton makes much of the fact that these statements are fairly bland, and points out that some of the witnesses seem to have added to their stories over the years. However, based on my own official investigations of other cases I can tell people that this is entirely consistent with the way in which junior military personnel report UFOs. They do so tentatively if at all, as they are unsure on official policy and unclear as to what ramifications there may be for their careers. They will be more forthcoming in telephone conversations and face to face meetings, and much more inclined to speak out once they have left the service. Sadly, a number of sceptics do not seem to understand the way in which the military operate." src -- Nick Pope, former UK MoD UFO Project

Since the official documents have surfaced in 2001, several important witnesses have come forward.
The credibility of any report of any event, mundane or anomalous, is especially enhanced by convergent testimony of multiple witnesses. But in this case, there is more than that:

When I initially came across the Rendlesham case, I had never heard of a triangular UFO before. So I searched around in greek-speaking (Greece and Cyprus) Internet forums, mailing-lists and old BBS archives, looking for anything similar. And indeed, found UFO sightings, of people encountering small triangular UFOs, dating back to 1992-1993. One case was over a village in Cyprus, at very close range of a few meters, hovering outside his front door, at about his house's terrace level. He ran upstairs and saw the UFO from above as well. he described it as a "3m per side triangular craft with a low-pyramid on top", "initially the sides of the craft looked like hundreds of very-very small yellow lights, which turned to red before it started to gain altitude and then shot upwards at bullet-like speed".

reference : best ufo ressources. ncas.org