Post by swamprat on Nov 19, 2016 20:09:35 GMT -6
Bill Sone is a Polk County, Florida Deputy Sheriff who back in the day "before" the Bentwaters "famous sighting" of 1980, had two experiences of his own while stationed at RAF Bentwaters Base from 1971 - 1974. He talked about these experiences at a Florida Mufon meeting I attended in Lakeland today.
Bill worked night shift security at the Air base. During his tenure there, supposedly unbeknownst to their British hosts, the U.S. Air Force had F-4 Phantom jets stationed there that were armed with atomic bombs. As you can imagine, security around there was quite rigid! These Phantoms were about 45 minutes from Moscow. They could fly there that fast, but would have no fuel to return. One time, Bill asked one of the pilots how in the heck he would get back? The pilot's response was, "Hey, if we have to drop bombs on Moscow, what's gonna be left here to come back to?"!
OK, on with the incident accounts. The first one, Bill was in his guard shack near the F-4 Phantoms when, all of a sudden, his shack was lit up with a bright light coming thru the window. He glanced out, the light was coming from near the end of the runway. He assumed a plane was approaching (as they often did) with landing lights on. A few minutes later, he realized the light was still there! It had not moved! He went outside; there was NO SOUND! There, a short ways off from the end of the runway, was this brilliant white light which appeared to be a few hundred feet off the ground and about 100 feet in diameter! After watching this for several minutes, Bill heard sirens; here came two fire trucks rumbling down the runway, lights flashing. They stopped at the end of the runway and started shining their spot lights at the light. Eventually, the bright light began to fade and soon faded to nothing. At this point, the spot lights revealed nothing. The phenomenon was gone. The fire trucks shut down and returned to the station. The next morning, at daily debriefing, someone asked about the event. The response was, "Do not talk about it; it DID NOT HAPPEN!"
Incident # 2: A couple of years later, Bill and another airman saw a strange light up in the sky, directly over the base. They watched it for like 10 minutes; it appeared to move around over the base. At that point, two fighter jets appeared and headed for the light. As they approached it, the light faded out and disappeared. Then, it showed up again way over in the other part of the sky. The jets then headed for it again. This went on for numerous iterations until finally the light disappeared all together. At this point, the jets left. Again, the next day at debriefing they were told not to talk about it, it DID NOT HAPPEN!
Note: These accounts are "to the best of my recollection"! I drove 250 miles to the meeting and then drove 250 miles home so my dogs could have dinner! (The wife is visiting her mother.) So I am just a wee bit tired..... All in all, it was well worth the trip. I found Deputy Sone to be a very credible gentleman.
Swamp
Bill worked night shift security at the Air base. During his tenure there, supposedly unbeknownst to their British hosts, the U.S. Air Force had F-4 Phantom jets stationed there that were armed with atomic bombs. As you can imagine, security around there was quite rigid! These Phantoms were about 45 minutes from Moscow. They could fly there that fast, but would have no fuel to return. One time, Bill asked one of the pilots how in the heck he would get back? The pilot's response was, "Hey, if we have to drop bombs on Moscow, what's gonna be left here to come back to?"!
OK, on with the incident accounts. The first one, Bill was in his guard shack near the F-4 Phantoms when, all of a sudden, his shack was lit up with a bright light coming thru the window. He glanced out, the light was coming from near the end of the runway. He assumed a plane was approaching (as they often did) with landing lights on. A few minutes later, he realized the light was still there! It had not moved! He went outside; there was NO SOUND! There, a short ways off from the end of the runway, was this brilliant white light which appeared to be a few hundred feet off the ground and about 100 feet in diameter! After watching this for several minutes, Bill heard sirens; here came two fire trucks rumbling down the runway, lights flashing. They stopped at the end of the runway and started shining their spot lights at the light. Eventually, the bright light began to fade and soon faded to nothing. At this point, the spot lights revealed nothing. The phenomenon was gone. The fire trucks shut down and returned to the station. The next morning, at daily debriefing, someone asked about the event. The response was, "Do not talk about it; it DID NOT HAPPEN!"
Incident # 2: A couple of years later, Bill and another airman saw a strange light up in the sky, directly over the base. They watched it for like 10 minutes; it appeared to move around over the base. At that point, two fighter jets appeared and headed for the light. As they approached it, the light faded out and disappeared. Then, it showed up again way over in the other part of the sky. The jets then headed for it again. This went on for numerous iterations until finally the light disappeared all together. At this point, the jets left. Again, the next day at debriefing they were told not to talk about it, it DID NOT HAPPEN!
Note: These accounts are "to the best of my recollection"! I drove 250 miles to the meeting and then drove 250 miles home so my dogs could have dinner! (The wife is visiting her mother.) So I am just a wee bit tired..... All in all, it was well worth the trip. I found Deputy Sone to be a very credible gentleman.
Swamp