The Boy Who Cried UFO.
Leonard Cramp, on the Birch photo in Flying Saucer Review.
“...There is no doubt that the photographs are completely authentic.
It is inconceivable that the youngster or parent could have perpetrated a hoax.”
In the days of smog being the main resident of London and the Beatles being just a group of young men with a name to make,
1962 in Great Britain plodded on just like many of the years before. Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins accepted their Nobel
Prize for some complicated stuff connected to DNA and 'Dr. No' reveals to the world a horny spy called Sean Connery.
In America, there were growlings regarding Cuba and the pilot Francis Gary Powers was reacquired from the Russians.
President Kennedy announced that the USA should go to the moon and Marilyn Monroe is alleged to have popped one-too many
pills and called it a day.
But on the outskirts of the English industrial town of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, young Alex Birch focused on his year-old box
Brownie 127 camera and decided to go outside for a while. It was just another grey Sunday in March when the fourteen year-old
Alex, Stuart Dixon (16) and David Brownlow (12) trotted down to a field near The British Oak pub in order to practice Alex's hobby
of photography.
With a shot of passing dog and his friends cavorting in front of the camera, Alex snapped away until something caught his eye
through the viewfinder. Clustering together, five strange craft hovered high up and in plain daylight. With quick fingers and a calm
nerve, Alex took a picture of the saucer-shaped objects just before they sped off towards Sheffield.
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=5807]](http://rogue-nation3.com/attachment.php?aid=5807)
As the newspapers got wind of the encounter just as summer came around, Alex and his two chums faded into the background
as his father and a teacher-friend Colin Brook, took control, pushed the story and the single photograph as an offering to what
they believed in.
Alien visitation.
In a letter to Flying Saucer Review published in 1963, Birch senior wrote: “...I myself was a non-believer in these objects..
[but now] I am firmly convinced that we are being visited by flying saucers of other planets.”
UFO societies and the British tabloids jostled for Mr. Birch's attention and access to his son. Alex told the account over and over,
even agreeing to a daunting visit to London in order to address the inaugural meeting of the British UFO Research Association
(BUFORA) in Kensington.
Standing on the stage in front of two hundred members of different UFO groups from around the country, fourteen year-old Alex
Birch spoke faultlessly regarding the unusual observation for four minutes. The audience was enthralled with the small boy's story
that rivalled the American UFO sighting claims and felt it would put Britain firmly on the map of Ufology.
BUFORA agreed with their so-called expert Alan Watts that the shapes in the photograph were typical fairly normal Adamski-type
saucers and the editor of Flying Saucer Review, Waveney Girvan proposed the theory that if the occupants of flying saucers required
water to sustain themselves, then Sheffield's multitude of reservoirs was the obvious reason for the galactic forays.
1962 trundled on, with others claiming the skies above the city of steel cutlery was littered with out-of-this-world visitors.
Mr. Birch answered questions and Colin Brook eagerly confirmed the narrative. It would only be a matter of time before Alex's father
felt that the 'Big-Guns' should know what was going on in South Yorkshire.
The Air Ministry was contacted by Mr. Birch with the revelation of the photograph and assured them that he was 'awaiting instructions'.
Those of bowler hats and pin-striped suits in Whitehall London rolled their eyes at the suggestion of a field investigation, but eventually,
the Ministry reluctantly agreed to take a look at the boy's snapshot.
Accepting the sponsorship by The Yorkshire Post newspaper, Birch senior and his son -accompanied by a Journalist, followed the
path of Dick Whittington and went to the capital city. At the doors of the auspicious Ministry building in London, the Birch males were
welcomed and the Journalist was pulled aside to inspect the Ministry's Public Relations office.
In 1998, Alex recalled walking up the steps of Whitehall with his father where the pair were “met a man in a tweed jacket, flannels
and a Dickie bow. We went down long corridors into a room where there were some men and a doctor."
The questioning started almost immediately. Alex told his story to Flight Lieutenant R.H. White of S6 (an administrative office that
collated such information) and Flight Lieutenant Anthony Bardsley who was introduced as a 'consultant' with the Air Intelligence
department.
Depending on which account is used, Alex and his father were interviewed between two hours and seven! Mr. Birch claimed
later in a UFO magazine that his son was 'sick with fear' and he recognised a type of brainwashing taking place. It seemed the
Ministry-men had doubts regarding the whole incident and Mr. Birch felt that he and his son were getting the runaround.
Alex confirmed this as an adult, when he also said they took the negative and the camera for analysis, assuring the boy that what
he saw wasn't flying saucers -but Russians.
Perusing the Air Ministry file which was released in 1993 under the 30 year rule, researchers discovered that Lieutenant White
-writing to a department colleague, said "...it is a relatively simple task to reproduce an identical photograph to the one
we were shown... the sequence of exposures on the two strips of negatives we saw do not exactly fit the boy’s story.”
Flight Lieutenant Bardsley warned in a memo "...perhaps this brief outline of these doubts will assist you in deciding what
on earth you can write to Mr Birch.” The Ministry felt that it was obvious that little Alex's account didn't add-up, but the two officials
seemed reluctant to counter his father's enthusiasm of spacemen encounters.
Presumably in the spirit of fair-play and conservative control, the Air Ministry sent Mr. Birch a letter that his family were only too
pleased to quickly release to the Press. In the letter, the Ministry suggested that what young Alex had actually photographed were
ice particles in the atmosphere, an explanation that was rejected by just about everyone including Charles Bowen, the editor of
Flying Saucer Review.
Mr. Bowen questioned the Ministry whether they actually believed such an outlandish claim and enjoyed the confident feeling
with Mr. Birch that in reality, they were dealing with a cover-up.
............................................
1972.
After a decade had passed and Alex's fifteen minutes of fame had waned, the Sunday visitation of off-worlders in their flying
machines remained in the 'Unexplained' basket. But the now-grown Alex Birch had grown weary of the occasional dogged
devotee with their questions who caused him to resort to moving home with his wife and child a couple of times to find some
obscurity.
Alex had had enough and explaining to The Daily Express newspaper via the telephone, he'd realised that the ridicule would
not go away and so, he had decided to confess what really happened back in 1962.
The article stated that Alex simply cut out 'flying saucer' shapes, pasted them on a sheet of glass and then photographed them.
Mr. Birch Snr. was said to have only learned of the the trickery a day before The Yorkshire Post were about to run the story and
pleaded with his son not to continue the scam.
A bit strange considering his verve back then!
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=5806]](http://rogue-nation3.com/attachment.php?aid=5806)
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=5808]](http://rogue-nation3.com/attachment.php?aid=5808)
As the seventies story blossomed, The Sheffield Telegraph quickly tracked down David Brownlow, who admitted that the whole
thing was a joke which just got out of control. Alex's guilt was over, his Ministry-fooling chicanery had no potency now and any
serious interest in the phenomena was tossed back into the 'silly season' basket.
Story over.
............................................
But... as the popular X-Files series entertained millions with its conspiratorial episodes and sightings of triangular-shaped craft
flitted across the British Isles, the fifty year-old Alex Birch stepped forward once more.
Now a successful antiques dealer, Alex announced to Pete Moxon of Sheffield-based White’s News-agency that in order to ease
the pressure from UFO-buffs, he'd said his photograph was fake... when really it was genuine.
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=5805]](http://rogue-nation3.com/attachment.php?aid=5805)
Wanting the public to know that is important that the truth is out there, Alex assured the wary media that this time he was on
the level.
However, The Sheffield Star newspaper wasn't so sure, so contacted the only two other witnesses, David Brownlow and Stuart
Dixon. Both men independently dismissed Alex’s new claim, although it was said that Stuart Dixon later retracted his original
statement due to meeting Alex for the first time since 1962.
Brownlow maintained his narrative, "We painted them on glass. We were just messing around in Alex’s dad's greenhouse
when we had the idea to do it...". He also stated: "...It was Alex’s idea to take the photo but then his dad and a teacher
at the school got hold of it and we all got swept along with the hoax which just snowballed."
Alex Birch's U-turn enjoyed a small flurry of interest by the media along with some UFOlogical interest and then once again,
the story was over.
............................................
But... Tuesday evening, 27 January 2004.
The now-grandfather was settled in his armchair in his bungalow and enjoying the television with his wife. Alex still enjoyed his
hobby of photography and had joined a local photographic society. Glancing out of the window, he recalled the club were having
a competition.
It was snowing heavily outside and appreciating the atmospherics of a snow-covered market at night, Alex pondered whether
capturing such a scene would grab first prize.
Alex made the decision and without telling his wife, left the comfort of his warm home just after 9.00.pm and drove to the
Nottinghamshire market town of Retford. Arriving in the quiet town square, the man who'd fooled the world twice snapped-off
images of snow-laden street lamps and the old architecture of the buildings that surrounded the Chesterfield canal.
Alex wasn't a fan of digital photography and so with his trusty 35mm Fujia Sensia 200ASA reversal film -a type used for slides,
looked for the shot that would win him the competition. After using-up the roll of thirty-six frames, he decided to call it a night.
The snow had stopped, but the clock on the centuries-old Town Hall told him it was late.
When the slides came back from processing, Alex examined them through a small battery operated viewer with an eye on the
prize from his photograph club's competition. Deciding on three shots that he hoped would make the judges ponder, he glanced
again at the night-time image of Retford's old Town Hall.
As the clock tower in the image shows the time at 23.08.pm, Alex looked to the right-side of the town hall slide and there just
where the street-lights lose their potency, was the same phenomena that had tracked his growing up . A strange craft.
Alex had been through the gauntlet of the media and the UFO societies, he was seen as a bilker, a deceiver in the subject and
he knew this latest piece of evidence would just be ignored.
![[Image: attachment.php?aid=5809]](http://rogue-nation3.com/attachment.php?aid=5809)
It wasn't long before Mr. Birch began his own investigation and his first stop, Sheffield's University’s Department of Physics and
Astronomy. After examining the photograph, the University boffins ruled out any astronomical phenomena and after receiving
information from local airfields that no aircraft flew over Retford on that Tuesday evening, Alex wondered if the famous Kodak
company could regain him the credibility he'd left in the seventies.
Kodak Laboratories in Lincolnshire agreed to analyze the slide. Their technical experts ruled out a double exposure, a lens flare
and other reactions that involve chemicals exposed to light. Kodak placed its usual emphasis on re-touching and deliberate
chicanery, but found nothing ambiguous.
The unknown object in the slide had the same density pattern, colour and grain as the surrounding picture. The Kodak analysts
agreed that whatever was this 'thing' was, it was in the sky when photographed. Robert Smith of Kodak’s laboratories went so far
as to write on the back of Alex's photo, ‘This image has not been altered or manipulated in any way.’
Feeling that an established company had backed his claim, Alex decided to vindicate the fourteen year-old boy who'd been doubted
by another member of that same establishment. So he contacted the Ministry of Defence.
Again.
Not taking a 'no thank you' for an answer, Alex made several phone calls to the MoD’s Whitehall building and eventually made an
appointment to see the UFO desk officer, Linda Unwin.
Ms. Erwin arranged to hold a meeting with Mr. Birch on 9th March 2004 and suggested that Alex certain ‘defence experts’ would be
interested in viewing the unusual slide. Accompanied by his friend Andy Roberts and son-in-law, Alex repeated a task that had only
been done once before.
The only other time a UFO witness had been interviewed by MoD personnel -and actually visit the MoD Main Building, was way back
in 1962 and that was a kid called Alex and his zealous father!
A book-end of time.
However, the paragraph above isn't exactly true and the meeting didn't go to plan. Linda Erwin and a colleague did meet Alex and his
guests in the reception area, but she was unaware of an arranged meeting with any defence experts. But in an effort to keep the
appointment jovial, Linda said she'd be happy to take a copy of the slide for analysis.
Feeling crestfallen, Alex agreed to allow the MoD a reproduction of his image to be taken and left without an interview. A hearing -he
believed that was cancelled because of bringing his two friends.
The Graphics and Digital Imaging Section completed their assessment on 2nd August 2004.
A scan at 2,400dpi allowed them to investigate ‘at greater magnification the structure of the anomaly’
but found no indication of reflections or lens flares.
The brief report ends with these words:
‘No definitive conclusions can be gathered from evidence submitted, however, it may be coincidental that
the illuminated plane of the object passes through the centre of the frame, indicating a possible lens anomaly
e.g. a droplet of moisture.’
............................................
Story definitely over.
Leonard Cramp, on the Birch photo in Flying Saucer Review.
“...There is no doubt that the photographs are completely authentic.
It is inconceivable that the youngster or parent could have perpetrated a hoax.”
In the days of smog being the main resident of London and the Beatles being just a group of young men with a name to make,
1962 in Great Britain plodded on just like many of the years before. Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins accepted their Nobel
Prize for some complicated stuff connected to DNA and 'Dr. No' reveals to the world a horny spy called Sean Connery.
In America, there were growlings regarding Cuba and the pilot Francis Gary Powers was reacquired from the Russians.
President Kennedy announced that the USA should go to the moon and Marilyn Monroe is alleged to have popped one-too many
pills and called it a day.
But on the outskirts of the English industrial town of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, young Alex Birch focused on his year-old box
Brownie 127 camera and decided to go outside for a while. It was just another grey Sunday in March when the fourteen year-old
Alex, Stuart Dixon (16) and David Brownlow (12) trotted down to a field near The British Oak pub in order to practice Alex's hobby
of photography.
With a shot of passing dog and his friends cavorting in front of the camera, Alex snapped away until something caught his eye
through the viewfinder. Clustering together, five strange craft hovered high up and in plain daylight. With quick fingers and a calm
nerve, Alex took a picture of the saucer-shaped objects just before they sped off towards Sheffield.
As the newspapers got wind of the encounter just as summer came around, Alex and his two chums faded into the background
as his father and a teacher-friend Colin Brook, took control, pushed the story and the single photograph as an offering to what
they believed in.
Alien visitation.
In a letter to Flying Saucer Review published in 1963, Birch senior wrote: “...I myself was a non-believer in these objects..
[but now] I am firmly convinced that we are being visited by flying saucers of other planets.”
UFO societies and the British tabloids jostled for Mr. Birch's attention and access to his son. Alex told the account over and over,
even agreeing to a daunting visit to London in order to address the inaugural meeting of the British UFO Research Association
(BUFORA) in Kensington.
Standing on the stage in front of two hundred members of different UFO groups from around the country, fourteen year-old Alex
Birch spoke faultlessly regarding the unusual observation for four minutes. The audience was enthralled with the small boy's story
that rivalled the American UFO sighting claims and felt it would put Britain firmly on the map of Ufology.
BUFORA agreed with their so-called expert Alan Watts that the shapes in the photograph were typical fairly normal Adamski-type
saucers and the editor of Flying Saucer Review, Waveney Girvan proposed the theory that if the occupants of flying saucers required
water to sustain themselves, then Sheffield's multitude of reservoirs was the obvious reason for the galactic forays.
1962 trundled on, with others claiming the skies above the city of steel cutlery was littered with out-of-this-world visitors.
Mr. Birch answered questions and Colin Brook eagerly confirmed the narrative. It would only be a matter of time before Alex's father
felt that the 'Big-Guns' should know what was going on in South Yorkshire.
The Air Ministry was contacted by Mr. Birch with the revelation of the photograph and assured them that he was 'awaiting instructions'.
Those of bowler hats and pin-striped suits in Whitehall London rolled their eyes at the suggestion of a field investigation, but eventually,
the Ministry reluctantly agreed to take a look at the boy's snapshot.
Accepting the sponsorship by The Yorkshire Post newspaper, Birch senior and his son -accompanied by a Journalist, followed the
path of Dick Whittington and went to the capital city. At the doors of the auspicious Ministry building in London, the Birch males were
welcomed and the Journalist was pulled aside to inspect the Ministry's Public Relations office.
In 1998, Alex recalled walking up the steps of Whitehall with his father where the pair were “met a man in a tweed jacket, flannels
and a Dickie bow. We went down long corridors into a room where there were some men and a doctor."
The questioning started almost immediately. Alex told his story to Flight Lieutenant R.H. White of S6 (an administrative office that
collated such information) and Flight Lieutenant Anthony Bardsley who was introduced as a 'consultant' with the Air Intelligence
department.
Depending on which account is used, Alex and his father were interviewed between two hours and seven! Mr. Birch claimed
later in a UFO magazine that his son was 'sick with fear' and he recognised a type of brainwashing taking place. It seemed the
Ministry-men had doubts regarding the whole incident and Mr. Birch felt that he and his son were getting the runaround.
Alex confirmed this as an adult, when he also said they took the negative and the camera for analysis, assuring the boy that what
he saw wasn't flying saucers -but Russians.
Perusing the Air Ministry file which was released in 1993 under the 30 year rule, researchers discovered that Lieutenant White
-writing to a department colleague, said "...it is a relatively simple task to reproduce an identical photograph to the one
we were shown... the sequence of exposures on the two strips of negatives we saw do not exactly fit the boy’s story.”
Flight Lieutenant Bardsley warned in a memo "...perhaps this brief outline of these doubts will assist you in deciding what
on earth you can write to Mr Birch.” The Ministry felt that it was obvious that little Alex's account didn't add-up, but the two officials
seemed reluctant to counter his father's enthusiasm of spacemen encounters.
Presumably in the spirit of fair-play and conservative control, the Air Ministry sent Mr. Birch a letter that his family were only too
pleased to quickly release to the Press. In the letter, the Ministry suggested that what young Alex had actually photographed were
ice particles in the atmosphere, an explanation that was rejected by just about everyone including Charles Bowen, the editor of
Flying Saucer Review.
Mr. Bowen questioned the Ministry whether they actually believed such an outlandish claim and enjoyed the confident feeling
with Mr. Birch that in reality, they were dealing with a cover-up.
............................................
1972.
After a decade had passed and Alex's fifteen minutes of fame had waned, the Sunday visitation of off-worlders in their flying
machines remained in the 'Unexplained' basket. But the now-grown Alex Birch had grown weary of the occasional dogged
devotee with their questions who caused him to resort to moving home with his wife and child a couple of times to find some
obscurity.
Alex had had enough and explaining to The Daily Express newspaper via the telephone, he'd realised that the ridicule would
not go away and so, he had decided to confess what really happened back in 1962.
The article stated that Alex simply cut out 'flying saucer' shapes, pasted them on a sheet of glass and then photographed them.
Mr. Birch Snr. was said to have only learned of the the trickery a day before The Yorkshire Post were about to run the story and
pleaded with his son not to continue the scam.
A bit strange considering his verve back then!
As the seventies story blossomed, The Sheffield Telegraph quickly tracked down David Brownlow, who admitted that the whole
thing was a joke which just got out of control. Alex's guilt was over, his Ministry-fooling chicanery had no potency now and any
serious interest in the phenomena was tossed back into the 'silly season' basket.
Story over.
............................................
But... as the popular X-Files series entertained millions with its conspiratorial episodes and sightings of triangular-shaped craft
flitted across the British Isles, the fifty year-old Alex Birch stepped forward once more.
Now a successful antiques dealer, Alex announced to Pete Moxon of Sheffield-based White’s News-agency that in order to ease
the pressure from UFO-buffs, he'd said his photograph was fake... when really it was genuine.
Wanting the public to know that is important that the truth is out there, Alex assured the wary media that this time he was on
the level.
However, The Sheffield Star newspaper wasn't so sure, so contacted the only two other witnesses, David Brownlow and Stuart
Dixon. Both men independently dismissed Alex’s new claim, although it was said that Stuart Dixon later retracted his original
statement due to meeting Alex for the first time since 1962.
Brownlow maintained his narrative, "We painted them on glass. We were just messing around in Alex’s dad's greenhouse
when we had the idea to do it...". He also stated: "...It was Alex’s idea to take the photo but then his dad and a teacher
at the school got hold of it and we all got swept along with the hoax which just snowballed."
Alex Birch's U-turn enjoyed a small flurry of interest by the media along with some UFOlogical interest and then once again,
the story was over.
............................................
But... Tuesday evening, 27 January 2004.
The now-grandfather was settled in his armchair in his bungalow and enjoying the television with his wife. Alex still enjoyed his
hobby of photography and had joined a local photographic society. Glancing out of the window, he recalled the club were having
a competition.
It was snowing heavily outside and appreciating the atmospherics of a snow-covered market at night, Alex pondered whether
capturing such a scene would grab first prize.
Alex made the decision and without telling his wife, left the comfort of his warm home just after 9.00.pm and drove to the
Nottinghamshire market town of Retford. Arriving in the quiet town square, the man who'd fooled the world twice snapped-off
images of snow-laden street lamps and the old architecture of the buildings that surrounded the Chesterfield canal.
Alex wasn't a fan of digital photography and so with his trusty 35mm Fujia Sensia 200ASA reversal film -a type used for slides,
looked for the shot that would win him the competition. After using-up the roll of thirty-six frames, he decided to call it a night.
The snow had stopped, but the clock on the centuries-old Town Hall told him it was late.
When the slides came back from processing, Alex examined them through a small battery operated viewer with an eye on the
prize from his photograph club's competition. Deciding on three shots that he hoped would make the judges ponder, he glanced
again at the night-time image of Retford's old Town Hall.
As the clock tower in the image shows the time at 23.08.pm, Alex looked to the right-side of the town hall slide and there just
where the street-lights lose their potency, was the same phenomena that had tracked his growing up . A strange craft.
Alex had been through the gauntlet of the media and the UFO societies, he was seen as a bilker, a deceiver in the subject and
he knew this latest piece of evidence would just be ignored.
It wasn't long before Mr. Birch began his own investigation and his first stop, Sheffield's University’s Department of Physics and
Astronomy. After examining the photograph, the University boffins ruled out any astronomical phenomena and after receiving
information from local airfields that no aircraft flew over Retford on that Tuesday evening, Alex wondered if the famous Kodak
company could regain him the credibility he'd left in the seventies.
Kodak Laboratories in Lincolnshire agreed to analyze the slide. Their technical experts ruled out a double exposure, a lens flare
and other reactions that involve chemicals exposed to light. Kodak placed its usual emphasis on re-touching and deliberate
chicanery, but found nothing ambiguous.
The unknown object in the slide had the same density pattern, colour and grain as the surrounding picture. The Kodak analysts
agreed that whatever was this 'thing' was, it was in the sky when photographed. Robert Smith of Kodak’s laboratories went so far
as to write on the back of Alex's photo, ‘This image has not been altered or manipulated in any way.’
Feeling that an established company had backed his claim, Alex decided to vindicate the fourteen year-old boy who'd been doubted
by another member of that same establishment. So he contacted the Ministry of Defence.
Again.
Not taking a 'no thank you' for an answer, Alex made several phone calls to the MoD’s Whitehall building and eventually made an
appointment to see the UFO desk officer, Linda Unwin.
Ms. Erwin arranged to hold a meeting with Mr. Birch on 9th March 2004 and suggested that Alex certain ‘defence experts’ would be
interested in viewing the unusual slide. Accompanied by his friend Andy Roberts and son-in-law, Alex repeated a task that had only
been done once before.
The only other time a UFO witness had been interviewed by MoD personnel -and actually visit the MoD Main Building, was way back
in 1962 and that was a kid called Alex and his zealous father!
A book-end of time.
However, the paragraph above isn't exactly true and the meeting didn't go to plan. Linda Erwin and a colleague did meet Alex and his
guests in the reception area, but she was unaware of an arranged meeting with any defence experts. But in an effort to keep the
appointment jovial, Linda said she'd be happy to take a copy of the slide for analysis.
Feeling crestfallen, Alex agreed to allow the MoD a reproduction of his image to be taken and left without an interview. A hearing -he
believed that was cancelled because of bringing his two friends.
The Graphics and Digital Imaging Section completed their assessment on 2nd August 2004.
A scan at 2,400dpi allowed them to investigate ‘at greater magnification the structure of the anomaly’
but found no indication of reflections or lens flares.
The brief report ends with these words:
‘No definitive conclusions can be gathered from evidence submitted, however, it may be coincidental that
the illuminated plane of the object passes through the centre of the frame, indicating a possible lens anomaly
e.g. a droplet of moisture.’
............................................
Story definitely over.
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.