File:Gliewe op Rendlesham-tuig uit Jim Penniston-notaboek.png

English: A representation of a series of glyphs, 2 to 3 ft wide in all, which were seen, touched and photographed on the left front side of a black triangular craft which was 3 meters wide by 2 meters high with a smooth, glassy surface. The landed craft was encountered in Rendlesham Forest by USAF service men Jim Penniston, and apparently seen by John Burroughs and Edward Cabansag, as they ventured out from the East Gate of Woodbridge Airfield at about 03:00 (a.m.) on 26 December 1980 to investigate an apparent aircraft crash, reported by John Burroughs and Bud Stefens. The individual symbols in the top row were some 3 inches high with a sandpaper texture, were very warm to the touch and raised from the craft's vertical, glassy black surface. Sgt. Penniston's drawing of the glyphs in the original notebook is quite rudimentary, and while an exact reconstruction of their shapes and sizes is not possible, they are given here in their correct relative positions, based on that notebook.

Woodbridge RAF is named for Woodbridge town, just to the west, and Rendlesham Forest for the town of Rendlesham just to the north, where the twin base, Bentwaters RAF, is also located. American nuclear weapons were in storage at both bases at the time. On the early morning of 28 December 1980 Lt. Col. Charles Halt's search party saw 4-5 roundish elliptical objects in the sky, apparently conducting a grid search.[1] One of these approached them and dropped a light beam to the ground, a foot in diameter and some 8-10 feet from the observers. They watched as another object then dropped similar beams into or near the weapons storage areas of Woodbridge Base.

  Dates reported by both Penniston and Halt were one day ahead of the actual dates. It is also perplexing to note that despite all three in Penniston's search party reported seeing intermittent lights[2] on their direct, easterly route, Burroughs[3] makes no mention of any solid object in his official report, while Cabansag only reports momentarily seeing an object early on, despite Penniston relaying a "definite mechanical object" and then an "object" to Fred Buran on radio[4]. Penniston's official report[5] also does not mention direct contact with the object.[6] These initial accounts by the three servicemen detailing their search in an easterly direction, which took 54 minutes maximum,[7] can hardly be reconciled, and were likely the outcome of their immediate debriefing.[8] Penniston took a separate route, apparently retracing his steps as they returned to their vehicle.
  E. Cabansag relates: We were about 100 meters from the [westerly?] edge of the [first/second?] forest when I saw a quick movement, it looked visible for a moment. It looked like it spun left a quarter of a turn, then it was gone. I advised [P & B, who supposedly did not see this]. As we entered the [second] forest, the blue and red lights were not visible any more [though this is where P encountered the craft]. ... We figured the lights were coming from past the [second] forest. ... nothing was visible when we passed though the woody [second] forest.[9]   J. Burroughs relates: We stopped the truck where the road stopped & went on foot. We crossed a small open field that lead into the trees [second forest] where the lights were coming from & as we were coming into the trees [second forest] there were strange noises, like a woman was screaming [perhaps deer], also the woods lit up & you could hear the farm animals making a lot of noises & there was a lot of movement in the woods. All three of us hit the ground & whatever it was started moving back towards the open field & after a min or 2 [i.e. very short time, allowing little confusion] we got up & moved into the trees & the lights moved out into the open field. We got up to a fence that separated the trees from the open field & you could see the lights down by the farmer's house. We climbed over the fence & started walking towards red & blue lights & they just disappeared. Once we reached the farmer's house we could see a beacon going around so we went towards it. We followed it for about 2 mins before we could [see] it was coming from a lighthouse. We had just crossed a creek & were told to come back [3:54] when we [all three] saw a blue light to our left in the trees. It was only there for a min & it just streaked away. After that we did not see anything so we returned to the truck.

  The Bentwaters security guard, Richard Bertolino, happened to see a bright meteor earlier [at about 0:30], while performing their perimeter check, and before the presence of the UFO was announced. From bunker hill Bertolino observed the unusual light sphere touching and illuminating the ground, followed by the blue and orange beacon lights when the latter went out. This makes it quite clear that the appearance of the meteor appearing shortly before this paranormal event was unrelated to, or is not to be confused with later event, and merely represents an interesting coincidence.[10] It also illustrates that the presence of a lighthouse in Penniston's line of sight had little to do with the observation. The lighthouse light was merely another light which the Americans, all new to the area, had to identify. Bertolino visited the landing site later that morning, and noted peculiar animal behaviour in the vicinity.