Area 51 The Revealing Truth of Ufos, Secret Aircraft, Cover-Ups & Conspiracies
Expressing concern about “what he was going to do,” West watched in amazement as what she described as “an aerial construction” appeared out of nowhere. “One moment it was not there, the next it was,” West explained. “It seemed to come down quite rapidly, on the other side of the hedge from the man, but very close to it.” What, precisely, was it that Dame Rebecca West saw? Her description was curious, to say the least.
Stressing to the MoD that the object was “strangely shaped,” she stated: “It consisted of something like a metal band, grey-blue in color, flattened at one point so as to seem almost leaf-like, crossed with a sort of herringbone system of metal strips.” She elaborated further: “There was also somehow attached to these an odd object like a bag with an opening that had points, made of yellowish material. As I looked the whole thing collapsed toward the ground. “I saw it crumpling downwards, but crumpling is not quite the word. The metal band seemed to cut backwards and disappear while the curious bag looked as if someone were squeezing the air out of the lower portion of it, so that all the points stood up, and then fell back. Comparing the height of the object with the height of the man, I should put it as something [between] fifteen and twenty” feet.
Also playing on West’s mind was the identity of the mystery man. Stressing that his behavior was “very odd,” she continued that “he seemed to be watching the thing come down, and the minute it was down, he turned round and followed the hedge track down to the valley. Once or twice he looked to his left as if he were scrutinizing the valley, and he did not seem to see me.
But at the bottom of the track he stopped again and looked all round the slope on which I was standing, and this time he seemed to see me. We stood and looked at each other for quite a long time, and I had an uncomfortable feeling and went home.” The key question centered on the identity of the strange object. In her letter to the Ministry of Defense, West wrote that a farm laborer had informed her that he had seen a helicopter flying in the vicinity earlier on that same day. West, meanwhile, ventured the possibility that it was “some gadget sent out by the Meteorological Office.” West signed off: “I feel most apologetic for burdening you with such an improbable story.
But I did not like to report it to the local police, as I think you will agree that an elderly woman who went to the local police with a story of having seen the equivalent of a flying saucer would be adding considerably to the difficulties of her life.” On arrival at the MoD, West’s letter (and accompanying drawing) was forwarded to a particular office known to have been involved in the collation of UFO data in the 1960s, referred to as s4f (Air). As the records show, however, one L. W. Ackhurst of that office then dispatched all of the relevant data to a Flight Lt.
Mercer of the Defense Intelligence staff. For his part, Mercer was inclined to accept that “Dame Rebecca West saw a helicopter, possibly of the Bell 47 or similar type, which in conditions of poor visibility appeared to have some unusual characteristics.” West was far from convinced by the MoD’s explanation and fired a letter back to Ackhurst. “To have appeared where I saw it a helicopter would have had to fly twenty or thirty yards with its lower half deeply embedded in the earth.” She also maintained: “There was at this time complete silence [italics mine]” and that “visibility seemed to me not poor at all, for I spotted several birds at a considerable distance.
I do not expect an answer to this letter.” West concluded: “I reported the incident partly because I feared the object might be a parachute or some such construction which was being used to drop something or somebody for criminal purposes, and partly because the construction I saw or thought I saw puzzled me, as I could not conceive how it could be got into the air, could stay in the air, or be brought down out of the air.” Ackhurst’s response was short and to the point. “No further evidence has become available concerning this particular sighting, so there is nothing further I can add.”
The case was closed. For its part, the Ministry of Defense seemed satisfied with the explanation that the object was simply a helicopter—and its staff did indeed make a good case for the craft being a helicopter. However, West’s letters clearly demonstrate that she had dismissed the notion that the object was a helicopter (“I have seen many in my time, and I can’t imagine how I could have seen a helicopter from any angle which would have made it present such an appearance,” she stated). She had also given much consideration to the idea that the object was some form of man-made “gadget,” yet she was equally well aware of the fact that her report seemed to fall squarely into the flying saucer category, too, as well as the glaring observation on her part that the object had been flying in total silence.
Dame Rebecca West continued to write with vigor almost until the time of her death at the age of ninety in 1983, and her contribution to British literature is more than well recognized. It seems that more than half a century on, however, this particularly curious aspect of her notable life will remain forever unresolved.
Now it’s time to take a look at a wave of black helicopter encounters that occurred in 1975, which may well have been orchestrated out of Area 51.