Posted: September 26, 2008
Date: August 28, 2008
Time: Approx: 9:00 p.m.
Number of witnesses: 4
Number of objects: 6-7
Shape of objects: Unknown, orange orbs in slight V formation.
Weather Conditions: Partially cloudy with breaks.
Description: Off duty Police Officer was in his back garden having a barbecue with friends. Approximately 21:00Hrs the conditions of the evening were dark with partial cloud cover (2-3 octas). The house views NWW and is on top of a hill, viewing a valley like area containing most of the town of Chatham. There are no obstructions to this view and the visibility is approximately 4 miles to the further side of the valley (hills with tress on the other side).
At this time the main witness and 3 friends spotted the slight V-formation of 6 maybe 7 orange orbs high up in the sky. No estimation on height unfortunately, however no sound could be heard (this may be due to height of objects). There were no navigation lights visible and the orbs were orange in colour (much like the sodium street lamp colour). The objects were estimated to be flying approximately 2-3 miles from the witness location travelling NWW to SSE in a straight line.
It has been mentioned that should the lights be likened to a commercial plane then they would have been travelling too fast as the area is frequented by commercial aircraft, being placed in the middle of several London Airport approach paths, and these aircraft are seen all the time. Also the aircraft that pass over the area fly a minimum of 3000ft (local aircraft below that) to a maximum of 5000ft if on approach. Any higher than that and you can still see the NAV lights/strobes.
The witness stated that as the lights appeared to get closer to a direct-line-of-sight position in respect to where they were, the lights appeared to speed up, however this could be put down to a visual illusion based on their speed of travel and the observers position.
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UFOINFO Note: As with other similar reports I asked the witness to have a look at the UFO Balloons website to see if this is what might have been seen and received the following reply:
John,
Please find the updated description (original plus the bits missing) [the updated description is above - John @ UFOINFO] PLUS an update from another independent witness (one that called the Police). Note I have changed the direction of travel after looking at the map last night and discussing with witness 1 the direction of travel. I originally put NWW to SWW, just to show a bit of honesty, but have changed it in the description [above] (the original didn't even work out right as it would have been in a U shape! I just don't get on well with points of a compass). Please see the attached map image.
I did check out the website of UFO Balloons and can make very little comment as I did not witness the incident myself. However the original witness states that the lights stayed in formation, then split in several different directions. The only explanation, should they be balloons, would be that the lights entered an airborne Vortices of wind, which would have this effect. My hunch is that this is RAF activity, however the second account counters this (please see update below) and would back up the idea that it may have been balloons that entered a vortices of wind. Either way in each account the witnesses could not pin-point what it was they were watching, therefore in their eyes, a UFO.
Kind regards
UPDATE: Witness 2
A report was made to Police on the 29th August 2008 whereby a female witness from Rochester had a sighting on the 28th August 2008. She explained that she was walking her dog late at night with a friend when they saw 7 orange lights fly silently over them in the direction of Gillingham from Strood. She stated that her sighting lasted approximately 30 seconds and she watched the lights as they approached her location. After about 9 seconds she said that the outside lights rapidly changed position and started circling one light in the centre of the circle whilst still flying in the same direction. She then went onto say that after about 25 seconds all the lights suddenly flew Upwards until too dim to see. She reported this the following day.
UPDATE FURTHER: Research
I have read on this site alone, of many similar reports in Kent alone (especially the River Medway-Strood report from 27th July) and other recent Kent reports. They all seem very similar, orange coloured lights seen. It would appear that this is probably somewhere nearby that is launching UFO Balloons or that the RAF/MOD/Some kind of commercial venture, are now using the area, possibly County, as a flight path. It bugs me that no Navigation lights are seen if these are aircraft, and some of the maneuvers cannot be explained away too easily. Interesting enough to keep me hooked for the time being.
Thank you to UFOINFO for this report. http://www.ufoinfo.com/
