The true events that inspired The Saucer
The true events that inspired The Saucer
Embedded Files
In 1967 the UK economy was in a dire state with an £800 million balance of payments deficit for the year, leading to a devaluation of the pound. Charles de Gaulle dashed UK hopes of boosting exports by joining the Common Market, forerunner to the EU. Despite that, it was a hugely confident, optimistic, creative and liberating time socially, with historical taboos being decriminalised or legalised, Beatlemania and so on.
Prime Minister Harold Wilson looked to the “white heat of technology” to solve the UK’s economic ills, with the RAE at Farnborough at the forefront of UK satellite and supersonic aeronautical engineering. RAE apprentices had a talent for headline grabbing rag week stunts for charity; marching from Farnborough to Whitehall with Rodnee the walking robot; dumping a fake NASA rocket stage by the Thames at Hammersmith.
Throughout the 1960s, space travel gripped the public’s imagination, with daily reports of UFO sightings from the UK public, police officers, the military, pilots etc.The NASA satellite tracking station at Winkfield, operational throughout the 1960s and up to 1980, was vital for NASA’s goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. A CADS member worked at the Winkfield Satellite Tracking Station.
In 1967 a Winkfield resident discovered a “flying saucer” in a paddock near the tracking station. An engineer from the tracking station investigated, lobbing coins at the saucer to check for force fields and countermeasures.
A further five saucers were discovered along the 51st degree latitude: the Isle of Sheppey, Bromley, Welford (near Newbury), Chippenham in Wiltshire and at Clevedon in Somerset, exposing the authorities' chronic lack of preparedness. The MoD was alerted, and helicopters scrambled. When disturbed the flying saucers discharged a foul smelling gunge. The discoveries made headline news in the national newspapers.
Queen Frederica of Hanover, Queen Consort of Greece, such a colourful and interesting character, actually visited the Winkfield Tracking Station in 1963. She was the wild child of the German court. Queen Victoria and Kaiser Wilhelm were among her ancestors. She was cousin to both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip. She enthusiastically conducted "foreign affairs", with notable figures such as CIA chief, Allen Dulles and South African statesman, Jan Smuts.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse