Command Palette

Search for a command to run...

Rendlesham Forest Official File

File

UK MOD records trace Halt memo provenance, police checks, parliamentary handling, and archival release of Rendlesham Forest.

Disclosure Rating — 8/10

The Rendlesham Forest official file chain is anchored by Lt. Col. Charles I. Halt's January 13, 1981 memorandum to the RAF, later preserved through UK Ministry of Defence handling, parliamentary answers, police records, FOI correspondence, and The National Archives release program.1234

  Document Provenance

The National Archives catalogues DEFE 24/1948/1 as a redacted digital copy of the MOD file titled UFO reports of sighting: Rendlesham Forest, December 1980, held as a public record and opened on August 17, 2009.1

The parent DEFE 24/1948 catalogue entry identifies the former MOD departmental reference as D/Sec(AS) 12/2/1 Part A, placing the file inside the Defence Secretariat registered-file system rather than later folklore collection.2

The National Archives highlights guide states that Halt's memo opens the released file and that much of the file consists of MOD correspondence with members of the public from 1983 to 1995.3

  Halt Memo as the Core Record

Halt's memorandum is dated January 13, 1981, carries the subject Unexplained Lights, and was written from Headquarters Combat Support Group to RAF/CC after reported events near RAF Woodbridge.5

The memo records a first episode in which USAF security police reported unusual lights outside the back gate at RAF Woodbridge, followed by descriptions of a luminous triangular object, ground depressions, radiation readings, and later star-like lights witnessed by multiple people including Halt.5

Because the memo is a signed, contemporaneous military communication routed into UK defence channels, it became the primary document against which later parliamentary questions, FOI releases, and skeptical or supportive interpretations were measured.356

  MOD Handling

In a July 24, 1996 House of Commons written answer, Defence Minister Nicholas Soames said Halt's report had been assessed by MOD air-defence staff and that no further action followed because it was judged to contain nothing of defence significance.6

In an October 16, 2001 House of Lords written answer, Defence Minister Lord Bach said the only USAF material held by the MOD was Halt's January 13, 1981 writing, that the MOD had no evidence of another official investigation or documentation, and that records showed no unusual radar returns from the same period.7

In a January 25, 2001 House of Lords answer, Baroness Symons said Special Branch would not have shown interest without evidence of a national-security threat, Porton Down archives showed no record of relevant visits or tests, and 1980 radar paper and recording records were no longer retained.8

  Police Counter-Record

A former Suffolk Constabulary publication, preserved in mirrored scan and text form, records a December 26, 1980 report from RAF Woodbridge and notes that police checks found no known aircraft, only Orford lighthouse visible in the area, and a negative search result.9

The same police-file material includes a later daylight follow-up in which an officer reported seeing nothing at the site and treated the occurrence skeptically, creating an important civil-police counter-record to the USAF narrative preserved in the Halt memo.95

  Later Release Chain

The National Archives research guide states that one of the first MOD UFO files released under the Code of Practice for Access to Government Information in 2001 concerned Rendlesham Forest, and that the dedicated Rendlesham file was opened at The National Archives in August 2009 as DEFE 24/1948/1.4

The same guide maps related records beyond DEFE 24/1948/1, including original Halt material and follow-up inquiries at DEFE 24/1512, Ombudsman-related release material at DEFE 24/2042/1 and DEFE 24/2028/1, witness-interview transcripts at DEFE 24/1995/1, MOD position-statement material at DEFE 24/1983, and House of Lords correspondence in DEFE 24/2033/1 and DEFE 24/2034/1.4

A 2015 MOD FOI response confirmed that some Rendlesham information was already available through The National Archives and listed remaining MOD UFO-related files then being prepared for transfer to The National Archives.10

  Why This File Matters

The official file matters because it preserves the governmental record chain rather than a single retold sighting story: a signed USAF memo, UK defence assessment, police counter-record, parliamentary accountability record, FOI release history, and archival catalogue trail can all be checked against each other.1345679

Its evidentiary value is strongest for provenance and institutional handling: it shows what Halt reported, what the MOD said it did with that report, what parallel police checks recorded, and how later disclosure mechanisms exposed the paper trail.4567910

  References

  References

  1. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk ↩ ↩2

  3. cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  5. defense.gov ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  6. api.parliament.uk ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. hansard.parliament.uk ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. api.parliament.uk ↩

  9. therendleshamforestincident.com ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk ↩ ↩2

Published on January 13, 1981

5 min read