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A5 Trunk Road, Dordon, North Warwickshire. SK 254 003.

I visited Mr. John Spencer of Baddesly Ensor, Near Atherstone, Warwickshire, on February 28^th., 1973, to discuss his sighting of a craft on Friday, February 16^th. A report of the sighting was published in the Tamworth Herald newspaper on February 23^rd. There were no other reports of a sighting by other people in the next issue of the paper on March 2^nd. Mr. Spencer is married and has a family. He lives approximately one mile from the A5 trunk road. Before the event he did not believe in the existence of UFOs, but his wife did have an interest in the subject. On returning home from work that evening he told his wife about the events of the morning. Mrs. Spencer telephoned the Tamworth Herald to see if there had been any other reports of the incident, and related details of the event, hence the report in the newspaper. Mr. Spencer told me that he works at the Dunlop works in Birmingham and since the report had appeared, he has been subjected to quite a bit of ridicule and leg pulling from his workmates. He said he wished that his wife had never mentioned the sighting to the newspaper.

Mr. Spencer left for work as usual, at approximately 5.00 a.m. in his Ford Escort and made his way from his home down onto the A5, travelling in the direction of Wilnecote. It was dark that time of the morning, and the weather conditions were fine and clear as he by passed Dordon, travelling along a section of duel carriageway. Shortly after the road leaves the built up area, the street lighting ceased, over to the right at this point there are two or three houses standing opposite Birch Coppice Colliery entrance. It was at this point that Mr. Spencer noticed something strange in the sky over to the right. The time was approximately 5.05 a.m., and the witness estimates that he was travelling at about 40 m.p.h. There were no other vehicles although the road normally carries a very large amount of heavy traffic. The witness states that he is not easily frightened, but he realised that this was something unusual and he said that he really started to perspire as it seemed that the descending object was going to crash down onto the A5 in front of him. When he observed that the object was apparently coming across the road in front of him, he dropped down to second gear and proceeded at approximately 20 m.p.h. The object, which had come across a small line of houses known as Birchmoor, and, after that, about half a mile of open fields, crossed the A5 at treetop height. Mr. Spencer estimated that the nearest he approached the craft as it passed in front of him was about 200 yards. He said that he did not stop the car at any time, but he did lower the window to listen for noise, and could hear nothing. The witness said that the craft was oval in shape, and was approximately 150 feet in diameter, although it could have been bigger. When asked what had first attracted his attention, he said that the whole craft was a vivid orange in colour, and that a cone-shaped flame was ejecting from the lower centre part of the UFO. The flame appeared to in the form of a single jet, and it did not appear to start until it was 10 or 12 feet from the object. Mr. Spencer estimated the flame to be some 9 feet from the base of the cone to the apex. The inner section of the cone of flame appeared to be white, while the outer layer was a pinkish yellow. He described it as similar to the flame emitted when lighting an oxyacetylene torch. As regards the craft, the witness did not think it was spinning, but said that it seemed as if it were being driven forward. He gained the impression that it was certainly descending when he first noticed it to his right. It then seemed to level out as if coming in for a landing when it came over the A5. When asked if he had seen anything else unusual about the craft, Mr. Spencer said that he could see no portholes or doors, and the whole thing was just orange in colour. The estimated duration of the sighting was given as 3-4 minutes. When asked if the performance of his car engine had been affected, he said it had not. At the interview Mr. Spencer seemed a honest straightforward individual, and the event certainly seems to have frightened him. Prior to his experience he would have not entertained the idea of the existence of UFOs. He said that he had been to Farnborough Air Show a number of times, and was conversant with aircraft and balloons; he states that what he saw was definitely “Not of this Earth”. He is still the subject of ridicule, and seemed relieved that someone had come to talk with serious aims about his sighting.

ABOVE LEFT: Flying Saucer Review Case Histories, Supplement 14, April 1973. This particular A5 case was featured as a front cover illustration. - ABOVE RIGHT: Photograph of the M42 Motorway taken from a bridge in the village of Birchmoor, Near Polesworth - Uncannily, The UFO appeared to follow the same path as this section of the new motorway, even though it’s construction wasn’t due to begin for another 11 years.

See also outside link: Flying saucer.

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