Many people throughout Leicestershire and Warwickshire reported seeing a “fiery object” in the sky. The official explanation given was a fireball meteor, in spite of a previous report that the object was probably a satellite decaying on re-entering the Earth’s Atmosphere.

Listed below are just a few of the sightings in brief:

51/71/01. 18 February 1971 - 19:15 - Nanpanton, Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK - A “ball of fire” was observed - white at the front - red at the rear - descended at a 20 degree angle. (DE-7B).

51/71/02. 18 February 1971 - 19:15 - Enderby Road, Leicester, UK - Two witnesses travelling by car along Enderby Road, Leicester, observed a “flare-like object” falling to Earth. (DE-7B).

51/71/03. 18 February 1971 - 19:15 - Aylestone Road, Leicester, UK - A newspaper reporter, whilst travelling by car along Aylestone Road, Leicester, observed a bright green object in the sky which appeared to be falling to Earth. (DE-7B). (Allan).

51/71/04. 18 February 1971 - 19:15 - Ashby Parva, Leicestershire, UK - A witness observed what they described as a “long oblong object” falling out of the sky, the front of which appeared pointed in shape, consisting of the colours yellow and white, whilst the rear was described as “definitely sparkling” - object appeared to come from the general direction of Leicester, and finally come down in the Pailton area. (DE-7B).

51/71/05. 18 February 1971 - 19:15 - Baddesly Ensor, Leicestershire, UK - A lone male witness, whilst walking his dog, observed in the sky what he first assumed was a plane on fire - closer inspection revealed however, a round, black object surrounded by flames - object descended on a “curved” course, and eventually was lost to view. (DE-7B). (Dexter).

77/71/06. 18 February 1971 - 19:15 - Meridon, Warwickshire, UK - A witness motoring south along the B4102 towards Meridon, reported observing a blue/green object through his windscreen, descending in the direction of Knowle. (S,W.) - It was surrounded by a reddish glow and was view for approximately 30 seconds. (DE-7B).

77/71/07. 18 February 1971 - 19:15 - Nuneaton, Warwickshire, UK - A fluorescent white ball of light with a tail was observed to cross the sky on a straight course from north- east to south west - object moved away and then ‘dropped’ towards the ground in the direction of Ansley. (DE-7B). (Squires).

51/71/08. 18 February 1971 - 19:15 - Thurmaston, Leicestershire, UK - An amateur astronomer was studying the constellation of Orion through 10x50 binoculars, when he observed what he believed to be a very large meteor falling from the sky. The “meteor” was described as round, with a tail, and was travelling on a south-westerly course approximately 20 degrees above the horizon. The main object was coloured white/yellow, whilst the “tail”, which was estimated as being 4 times bigger than the main round object, was said to be red/orange, and appeared to be “sparkling.” (DE-7B). (Jolliffe).

77/71/09. 18 February 1971 - 19:20 - Arley, Warwickshire, UK - 2 witnesses driving along station Road, Arley, observed a round object falling from the sky towards the south-west. It was ‘perfectly round’, and “fluorescent blue”, and when just above the tree-tops, it “disintegrated” in a shower of sparks that fell towards the Earth. (DE-7B).

77/71/10. 18 February 1971 - 19:20 - Arley, Warwickshire, UK - A male witness driving a security vehicle observed an aerial object which he described as a “vivid blue ball the size of a dinner plate” - The object was falling from the sky, and on reaching a point just above the tree-tops, it “went out”, leaving just a puff of smoke in the sky where the object had been. (DE-7B).

77/71/11. 18 February 1971 - 19:30 - Rugby, Warwickshire, UK - 2 witnesses independently observed from the 5^th. Floor of a block of flats, an aerial object ‘shaped like an egg’. it was silvery in colour, and surrounded by a green haze. (DE-7B).

77/71/12. 18 February 1971 - 19:30 - Bilton, Warwickshire, UK - A female witness living in Bilton, Warwickshire, observed a silvery coloured object, which she described as similar in shape and size to a cricket ball. It travelled on a low arc from north-east to south-west, and was eventually lost to sight. (DE-7B).

77/71/13. 18 February 1971 - 19:30 - A42 Alcester to Stratford Road, Warwickshire, UK - Two Police officers on patrol, observed a round object in the sky “as big as a coffee table”, travelling from the direction of Stratford, - NE - Initially white, the object gradually changed colour to “blue/red”, as it got lower in the sky before finally disappearing over the horizon. (DE-7B).

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CASE/COMPUTER REF: 51/77/71/01-13 - Selected Associated Media Items:

(1). March 2^nd., 1971 - Meteorite Shower on the Arley area - Coventry Evening Telegraph.

LATEST reports of light-in-the-sky sightings from people around Arley have led to a suggestion that the area may have been bombarded by a meteorite shower. Discrepancies in sighting times have led Mr. Micheal Jones, assistant keeper of geology at Leicester Museum, to think that this may be so. The 27^th eye-witness of a supposed meteorite at 7.17 p.m. on Thursday, February 18, telephoned the “Evening Telegraph” today. He was Mr. G. Caviel (44), of Beech Grove, Arley, who was driving a Securicor vehicle along the Birmingham - Ansley road at about that time, when he saw a yellow-blue light travelling from the south south-east direction. “It got larger and brighter, became bright blue when about 100 feet from the ground, then over Arley the flame went out and that was it,” said Mr. Caviel. (77/71/10). Whizzing noise - The museum is interested in trying to retrieve any meteorite that may have fallen, because only 18 had been found in Britain since 1795. A different kind of incident was reported by Mr. George Hill (66), of Spring Hill, Arley. His story relates to the morning of the same day - about 7 a.m. Mr. Hill told Mr. Jones that when he got up to go to work he heard a whizzing noise then a thud, which were followed by a temporary dimming of the house lights. When he went out to the verandah, “there was an awful smell of sulphur.” Mr. Jones said that about half-a-dozen Arley people had spoken of seeing what they thought was a meteorite at about that time. “What we would like now is to hear from anyone on the Coventry side of the trajectory. All the ones we have had so far were from people to the east of it,” he said.

(2). March 6^th., 1971 - LIGHT IN SKY PUZZLE AT ARLEY - Coventry Evening Telegraph.

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The reports initially began with a sighting made by Mr. Dennis Jollife of Thurmaston, Leicestershire. He is an amateur Astronomer and a member of Leicester Astronomical Society.

An account of his sighting (Ref: 51/71/08 above), appeared in the Leicester Mercury newspaper on the 20^th., February 1971.

Mr. Jolliffe reported his sighting to Mr. M. D. Jones (Assistant keeper of geology at the City of Leicester Museum), and Mr. H. G. Miles (Director of the Artificial satellites section of the BAA), who in turn appealed in the Leicester Mercury, Nuneaton Evening Tribune and Coventry Evening Telegraph, for witnesses who may have spotted where the “meteorite” landed. An appeal was also made to farmers in Warwickshire, particularly to those in the Nuneaton areas, where the object was first thought to have fallen. This assumption was based on reports from a number of people around Arley who claimed to have seen a fiery object “disintegrate”, but because discrepancies in sighting times, it was suggested that the area may have been ‘bombarded’ by a meteor shower. According to a newspaper report, about half a dozen Arley people had spoken of seeing what they thought was a meteor on the Thursday morning at 7 .a.m. At about the same time, Mr. George Hill of Spring Hill, Arley, got up to work when he heard a ‘whizzing’ noise then a “thud”, which were followed by a temporary dimming of the house lights. When he went out onto the veranda, ‘there was an awful smell of sulphur’. These events led Doctor Miles to visit Arley to talk to local residents. However, it was established that the residents had not seen a meteor on the Thursday morning, but had in fact seen a ‘brilliant flash’ followed by an ‘explosion’, which in actual fact had been caused by a breaking power cable.

So it seemed that the assumption that the object may have fallen somewhere in the Nuneaton area of Warwickshire was not, as initially suspected, the case, and although the press appeals etc. resulted in no physical evidence of a meteorite being found, they did however, result in many people reporting a similar object, and, from this gathered evidence, it was becoming more and more apparent that the object had been observed over a much wider area of the country.

According to a further report that appeared in the Coventry Evening Telegraph of March 6^th., 1971, Doctor Miles had received further reports from Blackpool down to Kent, and, from his analysis of these latter reports, which included plotting their geographical positions, he concluded that a very brightly lit aerial object had crossed the central regions of England, passed over the Bristol Channel and quite likely fallen into the Irish Sea. The same newspaper report went on to state that there were two further apparent fireball events at about 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 23^rd., and another at approximately the same time on Tuesday, March 2^nd.

As I have already mentioned, the official explanation given for the sightings was a fireball meteor which may have landed. Most of the witnesses that I interviewed said that they had observed the object for 3 to 4 seconds, while others maintained that they had observed it for periods of 7, 10 and even 30 seconds. The latter durations are remarkably slow for a meteor, as these usually remain visible for only a few seconds or less.

It appears that the object was large, and most of the witnesses were of the opinion that its rate of speed was too slow for its size. On sighting the object they had no idea what it was, but afterwards, they were willing to except the meteor explanation, which seems to have been influenced by the initial newspaper reports.

Although most of the sightings in this report are characteristic of a (fireball) meteor, each of the witness’s descriptions of what was seen are somewhat comparatively disparate, in spite of the fact that all witnesses observed an object travelling from south-east to north-west. The dissimilarity in the descriptions could indicate the presence of more than one object in the skies at the time. Alternatively of course, this could also indicate how unreliable sighting reports can be.

On contacting Mr. M. D. Jones, it was evident that he had no knowledge of these reports; he told me that the sightings he had received were of an object travelling from south-east to north-west. This directional discrepancy could indicate again, the presence of more than one object. This is supported by the fact that the object was reported over a wide area of the country, from places as far apart as Blackpool and Kent. I would also mention here that a witness at Burton reported not on seeing a ‘fiery object’ at approximately the same time as the other sightings, but also claims to have sighted a second, similar aerial object at 9.00 p.m., only one and a half hours after seeing the first.

To conclude, it seems that according to the above newspaper report from Doctor Miles that the object, or objects, have once again been lost to the Irish Sea, which is only a repetition of what was said about the fireball of April 25^th., 1969. However, although fragments from this were alleged to have found in Northern Ireland, so far, no meteoric fragments of February 18^th., 1971 fireball have yet been found. As for the fireball events of February 23^rd., and March 2^nd., 1971, I have no knowledge of these, but it does seem from all accounts that a minor ‘fireball flap’ manifested itself during the latter part of February and the beginning of March.

51/71/17. 2 April 1971 - 22:53 - Leicester, UK - A descending aerial object was observed - description “as the full Moon”, and greyish-green in colour - travelled very fast on a slightly curved flight path from S.S.E. to N.N.W. in the direction of Melton or Loughborough. It was in view for only a second, and was lost to view behind clouds. (DE-7B). (Taylor).

51/71/18. 5 May 1971 - 05:20 - New Parks, Leicester, UK - A multi-coloured aerial object, was observed to fall out of the sky in daylight. Witness stated: “It was in view for 3 to 4 seconds and their was no noise - it was quite daylight at the time, I have seen hundreds of ‘shooting stars‘, but this not one - if it had been dark, I think it would have lit the Earth up.” (DE-7B). (Gandy).

51/71/19. 5 May 1971 - 05:25 - Snarestone, Leicestershire, UK - An aerial object, described colour - white-hot, was observed to fall out of the sky in daylight at terrific speed leaving a green/blue trail. (DE-7B). (Holt).

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