Aviation Ghosts and Mysteries
Wellington
Location: Aberdare (South Glamorgan) - Sky over Cwmbach estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1979
Further Comments: A witness outside their home heard engines but could see anything. They stepped inside their doorway but as the sound of the engines grew louder the witness stepped outside again. Looking up, the witness spotted a twin engine, dark coloured Wellington bomber fly over and past, as 'real looking and sounding as any solid aircraft'. At the time, the witness thought nothing was strange about the encounter as they were unaware that there were no flying airworthy examples of a Wellington that existed.
RF398
Location: Albrighton (Shropshire) - Cosford Aerospace Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The last remaining Avro Lincoln Bomber situated here is said to be haunted by a pilot seen in the cockpit, while a tape recorder left on board overnight picked up the sounds of a busy airport, though the hangar and the area were devoid of life.
Landing Craft
Location: Albrighton (Shropshire) - RAF Cosford (now Aerospace Museum)
Type: UFO
Date / Time: December 1963
Further Comments: This ufo report was based on a story made up by two young people returning late from a leave pass. As time went on, the story grew, and it eventually became that an UFO had touched down near a hangar on the base, and was recovered and removed for reverse engineering.
Run and Shout
Location: Anglesey (Gwynedd) - RAF Valley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970
Further Comments: Having just locked the main hangar, the key orderly heard a shout and the sound of running from within. He unlocked the hangar, but no one was could be seen.
Pilot
Location: Ansty (Warwickshire) - Ansty Aerodrome
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996, 19:00h
Further Comments: A figure wearing a Second World War pilot's suit walked past one witness as he stood by a photocopier. The figure then passed through a pair of closed doors leading outside and disappeared in a field. The pilot is rumoured to be a Polish airman who hanged himself.
Lancaster Bomber
Location: Barnoldswick (Lancashire) - Area near Rolls Royce's Bankfield factory, and area towards Craven
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 2004
Further Comments: Around thirty witnesses claimed to have seen a silent, grey coloured aircraft resembling a Lancaster Bomber moving silently through the sky. The accounts were virtually all isolated and spanned the month.
Young Men
Location: Barton under Needwood (Staffordshire) - Former RAF Tatenhill, now a business park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008-2010
Further Comments: A witness who works on the site has reported the smell of old aftershave in the corner of a warehouse which is only detectible at 20:30h, and the sounds of young men in disused buildings.
B-17 Crew?
Location: Bassingbourne (Cambridgeshire) - Former RAF Bassingbourne
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s, 1994, and 2004
Further Comments: There were a handful of reports of a phantom aircrew made during the 1960s, at this base once used by the USAAF. The B-17 may have been seen in 1994, moving silently overhead. More recently, a man who lived on the site of the former airfield reported seeing a pair of legs in dress uniform which manifested in his home, and the sounds of aircraft starting up.
RAF Pilot
Location: Belsay (Northumberland) - A696, just outside of village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 2015
Further Comments: Media outlets reported that Rob Davies and Chris Felton had filmed a figure which resembled a 'RAF pilot' standing on the roadside late at night. Although the footage was poor, the witnesses said the figure was dressed all in beige and held his arm out as if hitchhiking. When they turned the car around and drove back for another look, the figure had vanished.
Spitfire
Location: Biggin Hill (Kent) - Biggin Hill Airport & village
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 19 January (spitfire) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Observed flying overhead, and sometimes heard, a phantom Spitfire haunts the skies of Biggin Hill - January would appear to have become its favourite haunting month. Airmen dressed in trench coats have been reported in the village; they stop people and ask directions before disappearing.
Clubfoot
Location: Binbrook (Lincolnshire) - Former Binbrooke RAF Base
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The nickname given to an Australian worker on the base who blew himself up trying to sabotage a Lancaster bomber during the Second World War was maybe a bit too unkind, and he was seen for years after his death walking around on the perimeter road. A ghostly NCO also made a comeback at the former base. Sergeant Sinclair managed the loading of aircraft bombs during the Second World War; a mistake caused a bomber to explode on take-off, killing Sinclair while he was trying to flag the aircraft down to alert them to the error. For a short while his ghost was seen on the runway, arms waving wildly in the air.
Three Airmen Playing Squash
Location: Bircham Newton (Norfolk) - Wartime Airfield (owned by Construction Industry Training Board)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s onwards
Further Comments: Many ghosts are said to exist here, mostly coming into being during the Second World War. During the war, a car full of 'merry' (ie, very drunk) pilots crashed into a hangar, killing the driver and all the passengers; the scene is now re-enacted at irregular periods. Another group of ghosts were called into being when a bomber that crashed on the landing strip lost three of its crew - they now return to play their favourite racquet game! The sound of a squash ball echoing in the deserted building, and that of soft footfalls are more common than seeing the airmen, though one man in officer's clothing has been seen a few times.
Man in Flying Kit
Location: Bitteswell (Leicestershire) - Asda distribution warehouse, Magna Park (site of former airbase)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The warehouse was constructed at the end of the runway at Bitteswell. It is reported that in the toilets is a permanent stain on the floor in the shape of a man, and an airman in flying kit has been repeatedly seen in there.
Trolley Lady
Location: Bletchley (Buckinghamshire) - RAF Bletchley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s (trolley lady), 2008 disembodied voice heard
Further Comments: Throughout the 1950s, patients would report a ghostly woman in a green apron pushing a trolley through the sick quarters, disappearing through a door. In 2008, during a visit to Bletchley Park, four visitors sitting in a car heard a disembodied voice giving instructions to fill in log sheets.
Avro Lancaster
Location: Bonby (Lincolnshire) - Skies over the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 24 August 2015, 19:00h
Further Comments: A large aircraft moved silently over the treetops, so low that the witness thought it would land or crash into a field. It was later identified by the witness as an Avro Lancaster.
Wet Footprints
Location: Boscombe Down (Wiltshire) - RAF base
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1947
Further Comments: A pilot killed when his new aircraft crashed into the sea was heard walking about his hut at night, his wet footfalls slopping on the floor.
Manchester
Location: Bottesford (Leicestershire) - Second World War Airfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: It is thought that the sound of droning sometimes reported over the former airbase is that of a Manchester bomber - a high loss ratio ensured that these aircraft were later replaced with Lancasters. A phantom light source has also been reported moving in the tower, and a pilot in full kit was seen once.
Hazy Airman
Location: Bridgend (Mid Glamorgan) - RAF Stormy Down (abandoned)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June 2005 (man and son encounter), 08 April 2012 (photograph)
Further Comments: A man and his twelve year old son watched a hazy figure dressed in a Second World War uniform walking towards them, even though the figure did not actually move closer. The uniformed man then reached down to the ground as if to pick something up and slowly faded away. Other people have seen an airman near the former Hangar One and have also heard an air raid siren. A photograph taken in 2012 is said to show a phantom figure.
Airman
Location: Burn (Yorkshire) - Wheatsheaf public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, but said to be most likely to appear on Mother's Day
Further Comments: This pub is said to be home to a phantom airman wearing a great coat, most likely to be seen on the fourth Sunday of Lent.
Pipe Smoking Man
Location: Burscough (Lancashire) - Burscough airfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1950s / 1960s?
Further Comments: When farmers worked the land where a Second World War airfield once stood, it was reported that they would occasionally be approached by a young man smoking a pipe. This figure would wish them a good evening before vanishing. It was said that this ghost was once a pilot who worked here, though no one can be quite sure of his true past.
Headless Airman
Location: Burtonwood (Cheshire) - Old airfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: An airman has been observed standing around with no head - it is thought that he was decapitated as he tried to bail prior to crash landing.
Helicopter
Location: Buxton (Derbyshire) - Skies above Harpur Hill area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 1973-1974
Further Comments: A phantom helicopter was reported flying around the area at night several times over a two year period. Press and police were unable to discover who or what was behind the mysterious craft.
Second World War Pilot
Location: Cambridge (Cambridgeshire) - Cambridge Airport
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A few buildings on this site have reports of phantom pilots in their flying gear or RAF uniforms. Sounds of footsteps in empty areas are not uncommon, and there is also a story of ghostly singing.
Wellington
Location: Cannock (Staffordshire) - Skies over private area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000, 22:00h
Further Comments: A man sitting in his living room at home heard an old fashioned aircraft approaching. The sound grew louder and louder, finally deafening and items within the house began to shake. The man went out to investigate, and found other people outside trying to spot the aircraft. Despite the weather being clear, no one could see the aircraft, although one old man was convinced that the sound was of a wellington bomber.
Sounds of Driven Coach
Location: Castle Donington (Leicestershire) - Donington Hall (currently Nottingham East Midlands Airport HQ)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to death (coach), man and woman in January and November 2020
Further Comments: It was once said that when the head of the household hears a phantom coach approach but is unable to see it, a member of the family will die within a year. The hall is also reported to be haunted by a hand, possibly belonging to Lady Catherine Hungerford. During 2020 a figure was spotted on the road outside, vanishing when approached, and an air hostess wearing an old fashioned hairstyle silently moved along a hallway.
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