Did a Triangular UFO, or Stealth Aircraft, crash near Bicester in 1967? Those of you who read Fortean Times magazine will have noted a curious reference last year in a report on a UFO conference, by Andy Roberts. It referred to an alleged UFO crash between Bicester and Upper Heyford during 1967. The report came from a former RAF engineer, who had been based at RAF Bicester as part of No 71 Maintenance Unit (71 MU). The original report confused many, by claiming that the engineer had recovered Vulcans and Tornadoes, and of course the Panavia Tornado was not even flying in 1967. However the ‘Tornado’ in question was an RB-45 Tornado, originally a ‘spyplane’ for the Strategic Air Command (SAC). The RB-45 Tornado was used by the RAF. However, to the main claim. The airman claims that on an unspecified date in 1967, 71MU were called out to deal with the recovery of a crashed ‘aircraft’, midway between Bicester and Upper Heyford, which was itself a major USAF base. On arrival at the site, the aircraft was not conventional. It was delta-shaped, looking like dull aluminium, having no cockpit or visible engine intakes or exhausts. It was not a large vehicle. The vehicle has apparently hit the ground hard, scraping across the ground, leaving an obvious trail, although no aircraft debris was reported. The unusual aircraft was lifted onto a low-loader, and transported back to RAF Bicester, where unusually it was not placed into hangar for the normal salvage/repair operations, but immediately taken to bomb a disposal shed, the doors of which were welded shut. It is intimated that there were USAF personnel overseeing the recovery operation. It seems strange that while there was an American presence at the recovery, no attempt was made to transport the vehicle to RAF Upper Heyford. Does this suggest that the aircraft was of British origin? No more was heard of this until last year when the airman came forward to make his claims. The claims have been investigated by various UFO and aviation researchers, such as Tim Matthews and Chris Gibson. Tim Matthews features the case in his recent book UFO Revelations – The Secret Technology Exposed. The case also featured in the local press at the end of March this year, although unfortunately a large photo of an F-117 Nighthawk was used to indicate the possible stealth connection. From the original description of a small delta, with no cockpit or obvious engines quite clearly indicate that this was not a manned aircraft, and may have been more of a lifting-body type of design. Perhaps similar to those used by NASA in the early days of research into re-usable space vehicles, and which ultimately led to the Rockwell design for the current space shuttle OSV. Chris Gibson believes that the aircraft was an English Electric prototype, the P42, designed as a Mach 5 aircraft – it was one of several hypersonic designs in Britain at the time. Also remember that in its short-lived space programme, Britain was working on possible ‘mini-shuttle’ vehicles, using lifting body designs – Project Mustard by Bristol Aerospace was well-advanced in its design, even to the point of launch platforms being built at Filton aerodrome. James Hill has been told by acquaintances that the crash site is still fenced off even today. A field trip tried to establish the fenced-off site, but as we did not have precise details, end the ground area is fairly large and difficult to see from the road, then we were unable to make progress. Recently, one source has come forward, claiming to have seen the 'downed' delta, before it was found by the RAF recovery team! This 'witness' has prepared some drawings of what he saw of the downed vehicle, and his descriptions suggest a natural-metal-coloured delta, about 4m long, with a 3m wingspan. There was no cockpit, nor engine intakes or exhausts. The significant part of this claim is that the rear upper surfaces were not the same as the underside, and was 'shaped' with more of a dorsal spine, that gave the impression of a slight wing and fin arrangement - although the surface was contoured. The site was supposed to be between Middleton Stoney and Bucknell, and trains could be heard on the nearby railway line. It should be noted that this type of 'craft' has been described in recent British books, such as UFO Revelation by Tim Matthews, and Cosmic Crashes by Nick Redfern.
I read with interest your report on the Bicester 1967 "Flying Triangle" UFO crash. It rang some bells with me, so I took a quick web-search for reconnaissance drones. And there it was, clear as day. Your mystery craft was a USAF D-21 supersonic reconnaissance drone. 31 of these are reported to have been built from March 1966 through to 1969 and the aircraft enthusiast historians list each by serial number, carrier aircraft and ultimate fate. Some are missing, presumed lost in crashes. Some are in museums on open public display.
The D-21 went into service in 1966 and was usually carried aloft under a B-52 bomber (and later on top of YF-12A Oxcart aircraft). It was released at high altitude to overfly soviet military establishments at supersonic speeds and then return to land where the reconnaissance media could be recovered. The aircraft were introduced to replace the Lockheed U-2 spy planes which had proven vulnerable to shoot-down when Maj. Powers was captured on a reconnaissance mission over Russia. The D-21 would have been in service in Europe and the UK in 1967. The D-21's were themselves later replaced by the Oxcart derivative SR-71 "Blackbird" manned aircraft. These are twin-engined aircraft that fly essentially the same mission and look just like an enlarged twin-engined D-21. In 1967 the D-21 would have been just about the most secret aircraft in the world and to lose one in a civilian area a serious embarrassment for the USAF. FROM Chris Burleigh, California USA
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The pilotless drone aircraft looked
EXACTLY like your rendering, maybe a bit more curvy along the leading edges of
the wings. It was also