Charles Halt
USAF deputy base commander who wrote the Rendlesham memo
- Service
- US Air Force
- Post in 1980
- Deputy base commander, RAF Woodbridge/Bentwaters, Suffolk
- Known for
- Memo to the UK Ministry of Defence on the Rendlesham Forest lights
- File
- MoD file DEFE 24/1948, UK National Archives
- Also
- Audio tape recorded during the search
US Air Force officer whose memo on lights in Rendlesham Forest in December 1980 made it Britain's best-known UFO case.
What is Charles Halt known for?
Charles I. Halt was a US Air Force lieutenant colonel and deputy base commander at the twin bases of RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk, England, in December 1980.
After airmen reported strange lights in Rendlesham Forest outside the Woodbridge perimeter, Halt led a search on a later night and said he saw lights himself. He recorded part of the search on a micro-cassette and took radiation readings near three depressions in the ground. In January 1981 he wrote a memo to the UK Ministry of Defence describing the events. It is the key document in MoD file DEFE 24/1948, released through the UK National Archives.
The Ministry of Defence concluded that the events were of no defense significance. Skeptics have argued that the lights were a nearby lighthouse, bright stars and other ordinary sources, and point out that Halt's memo has dates off by a day. Halt has continued to say the events were unexplained.
Wrote the 1981 memo that is the core record of the Rendlesham Forest incident.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeRendlesham Forest and the Halt Memo
- PersonIan Ridpath
- PlaceRAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters
Sources
- The National Archives (UK), 'UFO reports'Primary text
- Wikipedia, 'Charles I. Halt'Reference
- Wikipedia, 'Rendlesham Forest incident'Reference
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