Case Directory - Category: 10; Sightings, Nuclear Radiation

Subject:	Rendlesham Forest Encounter
Date:	December 27-30, 1980
Location:	RAF Bentwaters AFB, England

The Rendlesham Forest Incident is the name given to a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights and the alleged landing of an extraterrestrial spacecraft in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England in late December 1980. It is perhaps the most famous UFO event to have happened in Britain, ranking amongst the best-known UFO events worldwide. It has been compared to the Roswell UFO incident in the United States and is commonly referred to as "Britain's Roswell" or the "English Roswell".

Following the event, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) denied that it posed any threat to national security and stated that it was thus never investigated as a security matter. Later evidence indicated that there was a substantial MoD file on the subject and this led to claims of a cover-up. Some interpreted this as part of a larger pattern of information suppression concerning the true nature of unidentified flying objects, by both the United States and British governments (see the UFO conspiracy theory). However, when the file was released in 2001 it turned out to consist mostly of internal correspondence and responses to inquiries from the public, and therefore confirmed that the case was never taken seriously by the MoD.