ACUFO-1933-07-05-SUSSEX-1
In the 2000's, Jan Aldrich of the Historical ufology website Project 1947 found a report claiming an aircraft and UFO encounter, dated July 5, 1933.
The report said that during a night cross country training flight over Sussex, England, a flight of four Hawker Fury I biplane fighters was broken up by a “huge” circular light that “dropped down from above their formation, into its very centre.” RAF Capt. Nigel Tompkins was forced to land after his engine quit. Lt. Bruce H. Thomas suffered burns to his face and hands after passing close to the light while trying to land his aircraft after his engine quit.
Project 1947 indicated that this report was published on the UFO BBS “Fidonet” on February 12, 1994, by one “Wayne Thompson”, and rated this report as dubious.
They indicated that “Wayne Thompson” claimed the source was “History of the III Fighter Squadron, RAF”, “printed by London Press, 1947.”
The “skeptical” British ufology bulletin MAGONIA Supplement No. 37 of 2001, took on the story and noted that their preliminary check for the alleged primary source “History of the III Fighter Squadron, RAF” with the library at the RAF Museum, and the British Library, has failed to trace this book.
I noted that this book would not have spelled “History of the III Fighter Squadron, RAF”, but “History of the No. 3 Fighter Squadron, RAF”, that no book with any such title or resembling title existed, neither the alleged editor “London Press”.
Even worse, I found out that the No 3 Squadron never flew any Hawker Fury aircraft.
| Date: | July 5, 1933 |
|---|---|
| Time: | Night. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | 1994 |
| Reporting delay: | 6 decades. |
| Country: | U-K. |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Sussex |
| City or place: | ? |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | ? |
| Number of named witnesses: | 2 |
| Reporting channel: | Wayne Thompson FIDOnet UFO BBS. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | ? |
| UFO action: | Approach. |
| Witnesses action: | Forced to land. |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 2 to 4.
[ ] Airborne radar: N/A. [ ] Directional ground radar: N/A. [ ] Height finder ground radar: N/A. [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [X] Failures: Engine stall. [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | CE2 |
| Armed / unarmed: | Armed. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 1 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 3 |
| ACUFO: | Probably invented in 1994. |
[Ref. prt1:] JAN ALDRICH - "PROJECT 1947":
The Project 1947 website indicates:
|
1933: # July 5, Sussex, England.
On July 5th 1933, during a night cross country training flight over Sussex, England a flight of four Hawker Fury I biplane fighters was broken up by a “huge” circular light that “dropped down from above their formation, into its very centre.” RAF Capt. Nigel Tompkins was forced to land after his engine quit. Lt. Bruce H. Thomas suffered burns to his face and hands after passing close to the light while trying to land his aircraft after his engine quit...
A/C Code: M
(Hawker Furies) GXE codes: _ X E
Source:
History of the III Fighter Squadron, RAF
Printed by London Press, 1947.
(From: Wayne Thompson. Submitted: 12 Feb 94 to “Fido UFO” BBS Network.)
The “#” indicates the report is of doubtful reliability, Aldrich indicated.
[Ref. gvo1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
1933, July 5
ENGLAND, Sussex
In the night, four Hawker Fury I biplanes flying in formation encountered a huge circular light above them. It came down from there in the middle of their formation. The engine of the plane piloted by Cap. Niger [sic] Tompkins of the RAF, failed, forcing him to make a forced landing. Then it was the turn of the plane piloted by Bruce H. Thomas. The light passed so close that not only was he forced to land, but his hands and face were burned, as if by radiant heat. (“UFO's - A century of Sightings” by Michael David Hall, Galde Press Inc. 1999, p 16)
[Ref. rhl1:] RICHARD HALL:
|
1933, July 5: Sussex, England. Night. (CEII/F) During an RAF cross-country training flight of four Hawker Fury I biplane fighters, a “huge” circular light “dropped down from above their formation, into its very centre.” Capt. Nigel Tompkins was forced to land when his engine quit. Lt. Bruce H. Thomas also experienced engine failure and suffered burns to his face and hands after passing close to the object while trying to land his airplane. (“History of the III Fighter Squadron, RAF,” London Press, 1947; credit: John Stepkowski)
[Ref. maa1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "MAGONIA SUPPLEMENT":
In the skeptical British ufology bulletin MAGONIA Supplement, No. 37, 2001, I read:
British researchers need to get access to History of the III Fighter Squadron RAF, London Press, 1947, for the following story from 5 July 1933, when at night a flight of four Hawker Fury fighters encountered a “huge circular light” which dropped down from above into the centre of their formation. Captain Nigel Tompkins's engine cut out forcing him to crash land. Another pilot, Bruce Thomas, came even closer, suffering not just an engine failure but bums to his hands and face. Clearly if the book can be traced and confirms that this account is reliable, then all efforts should be made to track down flight logs and other original documentation, check the local press for the period, and even try to track down descendants of those involved. (A preliminary check with the library at the RAF Museum, and the British Library, has failed to trace this book. JR)
[Ref. pre1:] PHILIP RIFE:
The Project 1947 report appears with the same alleged source in Philip Rife's book “It Didn't Start with Roswell”, 2001:
The following year (1933), a group of four British Royal Air Force fighters attracted some unusual company of their own during a training flight over the English countryside. They were flying in Sussex when all at once, a huge, circular lighted object dropped from above into the center of their formation. Two of the planes were forced to make emergency landings when their engines suddenly quit. The pilot who'd been closest to the object sustained burns to his face and hands. (217)
The “217” reference is described in the footnotes as “'History of the III Fighter Squadron, RAF' Printed by London Press (London:1947).”
[Ref. dwn1:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:
French ufologist Dominique Weinstein compiled a catalogue of the cases of UFOs observed from aircraft. The first case in February 2001 (6th edition) catalogue appears as:
|
| DATE | 33.07.05 |
|---|---|
| TIME | night |
| COUNTRY | UK |
| PLACE | above Sussex |
| M | |
| TYPE OF PLANE AND WITNESSES | 4-Hawker Fury fighters pilots |
| DESCRIPTION OVNI | a huge circular light dropped in the center of the aircraft formation. One a/c forced to land |
| Radar | |
| G | |
| X | X |
| E | E |
| SOURCES | 03 |
The source “03” is referenced at the end of the catalogue as:
03 Project 1947 Reports, newsclippings and documents (cases from Jan Aldrich and Barry Greenwood)
[Ref. prn1:] PETER ROGERSON:
In the 1970's, British ufologist Peter Rogerson published in Magonia magazine a long catalogue of close encounter cases, with little details and no research into the veracity or real strangeness of these cases; in the 2010's; he republished it on the Web, sometimes with additional evaluation - he had become a “skeptic” in the meantime. He added some new cases; including this one:
|
July 5 1933. Night.
(SUSSEX:ENGLAND)
A group of four Hawker Fury biplanes were on a flight when a huge circular light descended among them. Two of the pilots Captain Nigel Tompkins and Bruce H Thomas were forced to land when their engines cut out. Thomas suffered burns on his hands and face when trying to land, as if by radiated heat.
[---]: OTHERS:
Some website copied the Project 1947 version, generally without credit. Example:
https://uforesearchnetwork.proboards.com/thread/1321/pilot-ufo-sightings
The story also appeared in the Atlantis Rising magazine #135 of May / June 2019, on the Website Think about it, etc.
See the discussion below: the pilots of the unit allegedly witnesses to this alleged case have never used the Hawker Fury, it is useless for me to introduce this aircraft.
|
No 3 Squadron has its roots in the earliest days of aviation, in 1910, when the War Office arranged for two privately owned aircraft to be used experimentally during Army training. The Balloon School became the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers and on 12 May 1912 this in turn was superseded by the Royal Flying Corps, when the “No 2 Company” became the “No 3 Sqn Royal Flying Corp”; the only squadron possessing airplanes, making it the oldest aircraft unit.
After WWI, the No 3 squadron was disbanded and reformed several times.
In 1921, the squadron re-formed at RAF Manston as a fighter unit. It continued in this role throughout the inter war years.
Indications of hoax are numerous in my opinion:
In the 1980's, long before the World Wide Web, before email, computers could already communicate with one another when equipped with a modem and relevant software. A communication protocol called “Kermit” allowed one's computer to share files with other computers, connected on users demand by analog phone lines; at the cost of phone communication. The BBS (Bulletin Board Services) were born. As an IT professional; I used this at the time; though not for ufology purposes as i was not yet interested in the matter. People would share many text-only articles about UFOs. Before the World Wide Web had started, usenet networks (a system of networked forums, set up in 1979) like Fidonet, Keelynet, collected these texts, and later in the 1990's, they started to be archived on the newborn World Wide Web.
In the UFO BBS files shared back then, one found texts of very different values, from crackpots (remember the “Commander X” saga?) and conspiracist rants to extracts of the more serious UFO literature. The information was of course much more difficult to cross-check back then.
Probably invented in 1994.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 23, 2023 | Creation, [prt1], [maa1], [pre1], [dwn1], [prn1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | September 23, 2023 | First published. |
