The first object was found at Whelford near Hungerford, and soon after came a report of the second 'landing' at Chippenham. An hour later a third 'spaceship' was reported down at Clevedon. Adding to the mystery is the fact that the three places are almost in a direct line equidistant.
More reports of 'landings' continued to come in this afternoon, one in Kent and the other at Ascot. They followed the previous pattern of a straight line and at regular intervals. The obvious conclusion seemed to be the usual one, parts of aircraft such as a fuel tank, but this theory was well and truly torpedoed by one of the RAF experts.
Commenting on the Chippenham 'arrival,' Flying Officer David Pepper, of RAF Colerne told an Evening Advertiser reporter he had never before seen anything like it. It did not come from an aircraft as it had no attachments. The object is made of fibre glass and contains a liquid. When the object is tilted it makes a peculiar humming noise almost like a motor car starting up.
All three objects are silver grey and made of smooth fibreglass. They weigh almost 1cwt, and if moved make a peculiar whining noise. Size of the 'spaceships' is about 3ft wide, 4ft 3in long and about 30in high with a dome at each side.
This is how they were found. Mr Richard Jennings, a farmer, discovered one soon after nine today in one of his fields in Saltersford lane, Chippenham. He started to tilt it, then decided to leave well alone.
He dashed home and aroused his teacher daughter, Mary, a keen photographer. Miss Jennings, who teaches at Southbroom
School, Devizes, told an Evening Advertiser reporter: 'Daddy dashed into the house and said "Quick Mary if you want
the picture of the year get your camera, there is a flying saucer in the farm field."
Mary and her
ten-year-old brother Martyn drove to the field, where she recorded full details. The Jennings family telephoned the
police. "When we arrived there was a peculiar whining noise," said Miss Jennings.
The object was given a police guard and traffic was not allowed to stop. Army disposal unit experts at Salisbury have been contacted. A postwoman, Mrs Eva Rood, on her rounds at Easton, near Hungerford, found one of the objects in a cornfield. Hungerford police have taken the 'saucer' to Newbury. PC James Hennessy of Hungerford, said he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw it. "It makes you think when you see things you don't understand," he said.
American Air Force police from RAF Whelford nearby took photographs. Their ammunition supply depot is only a short distance away. "I have never seen anything like this before," said PC Hennessey. "It was completely sealed, out there was a while sticky substance coming from it which gave off a terrible stink like a bad egg. When I put my ear to it there was a slight buzzing noise."
Confirming that the object was in Newbury police station, a spokesman there told an Evening Advertiser reporter that it had not been identified. Quoting an official Press statement he said: "A metal container has been found in a field at Whelford, near Newbury, and is believed to have come from an aircraft. So far it is unidentified "When it is identified it will be handed to the appropriate authority.
A spokesman at the Ministry of Defence (Royal Air Force) told an Evening Advertiser reporter that the object found at Whelford had been reported to them and Ministry of Defence personnel were looking at it. The third was found by a schoolboy on Dial Hill, Clevedon.
"The object does look just as one imagines a spaceship should look," said Sgt John Dursten at Clevedon. "It looks a bit like a flying saucer, is silver grey and looks as if it is made of perfectly smooth fibreglass. "It weighs almost a cwt and if it is moved it emits a sort of whistle. "I have contacted my headquarters and they are getting in touch with all sorts of people."
In Kent too Air Ministry experts were called in today after another mystery object was found on Sundridge Park golf course, Bromley, Kent. The object was also four foot long and silver grey and had no obvious joins in the material, yet a constant bleeping noise came from within. A squad car took the object to Bromley police station, said a police spokesman. "We are pretty certain it is a student hoax, but it is so cleverly made and there are mystifying features."
Air Ministry men were due to examine the objects with x-ray equipment later today.
Mrs Cynthia Tooth 45, of Pines Walk, Bickley, Kent, said that she saw an object fall from the sky between 1am and 1.30am today. "I was awakened by a noise. It had a lower pitch than a jet, but higher than a propeller from an aircraft. "Then I saw a white flash surmounted by an intermittent red light streak across the sky in a north-westerly direction. It disappeared behind some trees."
During the past few weeks, there have been reports of an orange glow being seen in the sky above Bromley in the early hours, and local radio hams have spoken of a constant 'beep' disturbing communications.
The 'Thing' which was found at Chippenham on Monday turned out to be a stinker of a hoax. A unit of the Southern Command bomb disposal squad was called in to explode it. The first explosion opened the lower half of the shell and out poured a mixture resembling pig swill and smelling much worse. A second explosion opened the top dome, inside which was a battery connected to a 'bleeper' and loud-speaker. The event took place, appropriately enough, in the Chippenham refuse dump. In the picture police and bomb disposal men take a look at the foul-looking liquid pouring from the object after the second explosion.
Six 'flying saucers' were discovered in a straight line across Southern England, and all have been revealed as an elaborate hoax. They were the work of students at Farnborough Technical College who distributed them, including one at Chippenham, another near Newbury and one at Clevedon, as part of a rag stunt.
The hoax was exposed when the 'saucer' found at Bromley, Kent, was opened up and found to contain an evil-smelling mixture and a bleep mechanism. The principal of the Technical College telephoned Chippenham police later on behalf of the students, asking for the bits and pieces of the flying saucer to be returned as a national paper has offered them money for their rag if the Chippenham 'thing' is returned.
At the moment it is still in police custody, awaiting a decision whether or not to 'land the thing back on the students' own doorstep. Chief Insp Frank Dummett, of Chippenham, told us: "It was obviously a very elaborate hoax, exceedingly well organised and must have cost a good deal of money to carry out."