Milton in F86D Manston, 1955.Milton

"It was a typical English night in Kent. The 406th Fighter Wing had been designated to a particular 'Sector' (RAF) and to have our F-86D's (Super Sabre jet fighter) stand alert (on QRA) as an operational requirement. The date was April 27th, 1957, and our Squadrons were considered combat qualified when they committed us to the operational requirement. My recollection seems to indicate that this function was rotated about England between the various RAF and USAF units. On this particular night, the 514th Fighter Interceptor had the Alert duty. Two F-86D's were on a 5 minute alert at the south end of the runway at RAF Station Manston, awaiting the signal to scramble .We had a 'scramble shack' assembled on the grass next to the 'birds'. The hour was late as memory serves me and the weather was IFR(Instrument Flight Rules). Looking back at the log book, a total of 30minutes of Night Weather was logged on a 1 hour and 15 minute flight. Some details, such as exactly what hour the scramble occurred or what we were doing just prior to scramble, totally escapes me, however the Auxiliary Power Units (APU) were on and the power was transmitted to the aircraft. (Note: This is normal practice for aircraft on QRA) We were ready for an immediate call to scramble and eager for the flight time hours.

I can remember the call to scramble quite clearly and we were given a vector of 120 degrees and a flight level of Angel 32. (32,000 ft .altitude.) We were airborne well within the 5 minutes allotted to us and we rapidly climbed upwards and levelled at FL320. Our vector took us out over the North Sea, just east of East Anglia. Normally my 'wingman', the other member of the set of two fighters, would be the lead ship. I can only suggest that I was now leading due to an 'in place' turn of some sort. I remember in quite specific terms, talking as lead ship to the GCI Site, whose call sign I cannot recall.

(I have now established that the GCI Unit location was No.144 Signals Unit. at RAF Bawdsey Manor on the Suffolk coast, just south of RAF Bentwaters and Woodbridge. Milton knew for sure that Bawdsey (now closed) was the GCI Site because, along with other pilots, he had previously been on an overnight pilot familiarisation visit to Bawdsey) DAC.

I was advised of the situation quite clearly! The initial briefing from the ground control (on radar) had been observing for a considerable time, a blip that was orbiting the East Anglia area. (In addition to Bawdsey, the main radar Station plotting the blip would likely be RAF Neatishead Early Warning Radar Station, in Norfolk). Apparently there was very little movement and from my conversation with the GCI, all the normal (identifying) procedures of checking with all controlling agencies, revealed that this was an unidentified flying object with very unusual flight patterns. In the initial briefing, it was suggested that the 'bogey' was actually motionless for long intervals! (This was over the Ipswich area!)

The instructions came to go 'gate' to expedite the intercept. Gate was the term used to use maximum power, in the case of the F-86D, that meant full afterburner and proceed to an initial point keeping at around 32,000 feet. By this time my radar was on and I was looking prematurely for the 'bogey'. The instruction came to report any visual observations, to which I replied, 'I'm in the soup and it is impossible to see anything!' The weather was probably high alto stratus but between over the North Sea and in the weather, no frame of reference was available, i.e. no stars, no lights, no silhouettes, in short nothing. GCI continued the vectoring and their dialogue describing the strange antics of the UFO!

The exact turns and manoeuvres they gave me were all predicted to reach some theoretical point for a lead collision course type, to enable any rocket release. I can remember reaching the level off altitude and requested to come out of afterburner, only to be told to stay in afterburner! It wasn't very much later that I noticed my indicated mach number was about .92. This is about as fast as the F-86D could go straight and level. Our final vector was toward the North.

I THEN RECEIVED THE ORDER TO FIRE a full salvo of rockets at the UFO! I was only a young Lieutenant at the time (Age 26.) and very much aware of the gravity of the situation. To be candid, I almost shit my pants! At any rate, I had my hands full trying to fly, search for 'bogeys' and now selecting a hot load on the switches. I asked for 'authentication' of the order to fire and I received it! This further complicated my difficulty, as the matrix of letters and numbers to find the correct (matching) authentication was on a piece of printed paper about 5 by 8 inches and with the print not much bigger than normal type. It was totally black and the lights were down for night flying. I used my flashlight, still trying to fly and watch my radar. To put it quite candidly, I felt much like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest!

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