RENDLESHAM: US commander feared attack after UFO fired lase and explosion in woods

Mr Halt added: "To the south were two bright white lights, almost like landing lights. One approached directly overhead at very high speed and sent down a laser beam at about 10 to 12 inch in diameter. We thought, is it a weapon, a communication, a warning, what do we do?"

To the south were two bright white lights, almost like landing lights. One approached directly overhead at very high speed and sent down a laser beam at about 10 to 12 inch in diameter. We thought, is it a weapon, a communication, a warning, what do we do

Former Lt Col Charles Halt

Mr Halt, who flew from Virginia to attend UFO conference in Suffolk, said they continued to observe for an hour before returning to base at 3am, where he recorded an account on a tape.

But his wing commander, who heard it, told him: "It happened off the base - It's a British affair - case closed."

He wrote a memo for the MoD, so they could investigate but they never responded.

Subsequent requests for MoD documents from the time came back with papers missing "from that exact time frame," he said.

He claimed Mr Burroughs and the two others have been unable to obtain medical records because of secrecy surrounding what happened.

Mr Burroughs this year won a court battle forcing the US Veterans Association to pay his legal bill for heart failure treatment amid claims he suffered radiation poisoning during the UFO search.

While still on scene, Mr Halt had radar checks done at Bentwaters, nearby RAF Wattisham, and even the "Healthrow Tower", but they all came back negative.

Subsequent checks by the MoD, in response to researcher's inquiries years later, also found no radar observations.

However, Mr Halt told the conference he now had statements from former operatives at RAF Bentwaters and RAF Wattisham, saying an unidentified object darted across their screens at the time.

He said: "I have confirmation that (RAF Bentwaters) radar operators saw the object go across their 60 mile scope in two or three seconds, that's thousands of miles an hour.

"It came back across, stopped near the water tower, they watched it and observed it go into the forest.

"At Wattisham, they picked up what they called a bogie - an enemy craft - and lost it near the Forest."

Mr Halt, who became an airbase commander at Kunsan in South Korea, claimed the former service people were too scared to speak out until after retirement.

JONAUSTIN Military fencing around the former RAF Bentwaters base

Alternative theories claim the light came from either the Orfordness lighthouse, military tests, a helicopter carrying a dummy Apollo capsule, or was even a UFO prank by airmen that spiralled out of control.

Sceptics have pointed to inconsistencies in various witnesses' accounts and more detail being added over time.

Mr Halt did little to dampen this, after refuting the accounts of several of his former colleagues made in various books.

The Suffolk UFO conference was organised by ex-cop UFO researcher John Hanson, who said Mr Halt was "a reliable witness" and backed the "cover up" claims.

He added the new radar evidence "undermined" Government suggestions the mass sightings were down to the lighthouse.

Members of the public also claimed to see lights heading towards the forest around the same time. 

But, two police officers also investigated the reports at 4:11am on Boxing Day morning 1980, but reported no trace of anything.

Nick Pope, who later investigated UFOs including Rendlesham, for the MoD, said: "One needs to bear in mind that he's the most senior military officer ever to have seen and reported a UFO while on duty. He's a man of the utmost honesty and integrity, and when he makes claims - however extraordinary they may sound - you can take it to the bank."

By Jon Austin