Posted: May 9, 2010

Location of Sighting: Ely, Cambridgeshire
Date of Sighting: 6 July 2009
Time: 2300hrs

Witness Statement: I watch the skies here a lot, mostly out of interest in the comings and goings of military aircraft, shooting stars, planets and so on. Walking north on the Lynn Road, a bright light caught my eye, on a rapid trajectory from very high up, which looked, at first, like a large meteor. But it lasted too long, and then slowed down. Then, it changed direction slightly, two or three times, although continuing to move roughly NE to ENE - that is, toward RAF Lakenheath. No running lights, silent, far too fast for a helicopter. I was able to observe this for about five minutes.

For comparison, an aircraft flew past S to NE while I was watching. No comparison between them at all. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to include a drawing of it, but it was - like many others reported - bright orange. However, I could also clearly see bright red "rods" extending above and below the main light.

A former UK Special Forces friend has seen the same thing regularly, always around 2230-2330hrs, following the same trajectory, in N Yorkshire. I described it to another friend (former Royal Navy, lots of experience with aircraft, missiles etc), who said he was aware of a BAe secret project that is the likely explanation for this, and other similar sightings. But he also had other far weirder stories to tell...