Rudloe Manor
Secrecy Shakedown On Christmas day Paul Damon and I had our lives threatened at what is proving to be Britains most Top-Secret base. (GROOM LAKE2?)
On 25th December 1994, Paul Damon and I decided to make a yuletide visit to Britain's favourite Ultra Top Secret base - Rudloe Manor near Corsham in Wiltshire. We arrived at 17.00 hrs and drove around the lower perimeter as best we could. I was driving but stopped the car periodically to take the odd slide photo, for use in conferences and lectures. In passing a stone wall I noticed a quite peculiar feature - outside the fencing of the manor there was a small stone shed which had
a small black aerial on the top of it. As this shed was inside M.O.D. property, but still outside any fences I still thought it would have been silly to get out to have a look on foot. Reports in Tim Good's book "Above Top Secret" state that he was picked up for walking outside the area by "men who came out of nowhere."
Instead of a fence jump, we decided to drive around and see if there were any other vantage points to view the base. By this time we had come again to the main road entrance to the base. I remembered the times that I had been followed by cars and vans that had then gone back inside this entrance (See Truth Seekers issue 1). Looking at the entrance, which was a road leading inwards to a further checkpoint we saw a sign stating
that from the driveway onwards was subject to the official secrets act. I thought about this and decided that there were lots of other places I had been to which had been subject to the official secrets act but allow your movement around inside them, as long as you stay to the roads!
One such place is Porton Down, the Chemical and Bio-Chemical warfare research and development base, which has a main road straight past the base which is all M.O.D. Official Secrets Act property with displayed Anti Photography signs. Rudloe Manor has no Anti-Photography signs so our being there on a photo mission does not break any rules per se. I explained to Paul why I thought we could proceed inside the base, even if it meant questions being asked by the authorities. (Well infact it
was more of a spur of the moment "go on, lets get in there and see if we get caught" type of attitude. He agreed with what I was saying and so we drove inside.
On the road up to the guardhouse there are speed bumps, and the road splits off into two driveways for visitors (?) and badged personnel. Although the area is fenced off we managed to pass a "husband and wife" walking a dog. This is very interesting because I have been informed that sometimes "people out for a walk" are often used for cover for security near sensitive bases. (Paul and I are involved in an active
investigation of another base at the moment which lends credence to the dog walking theory. (It may sound crazy but if you had seen what we have seen going on at this other secret base, you would agree with this!)
Just before the Rudloe 1 guardhouse was a dual lamp Infra Red camera watching us on our drive up to the guardhouse. We drove near the road split but chose neither, instead reversing the car into a dirt track and then started to take photos of the guardhouse. All of this was obviously observed from the guardhouse by a security man who was joined by a soldier with an automatic machine gun. The soldier was playing peek-a-boo from round the doorway and did not venture forth. This probably means that security of the guardhouse and Rudloe is so important that the security guard must be used to investigate suspicious
circumstances and not the soldier. The security guard made a quick phonecall and then stepped outside the guardhouse. He very slowly walked over to our car keeping a close eye on us, after all we could be I.R.A. as far as he was concerned.
The conversation that now follows is an approximation and not verbatim due to the visit not being planned in any great detail and subsequently we did not have a tape recorder with us.
Firstly guard the said "Hello", whilst the soldier had now started to move slowly out of the guardhouse and towards a forward position thinking he was obscured by the security guard. The guard asked us what we were doing and we explained that we were UFO researchers who were interested in the base for it's UFO analysis sections. He seemed to know what we were talking about, although he decided to answer this by stating that all Low Flying Complaints and Air Accidents were reported to and investigated from Rudloe. (First time admission!) We then stated
that we believed there was a lot more going on than just standard
aircraft reports. To this he gave no reply but instead told us that this was also where all the Security Vetting was done. Does this mean M.I.5. M.I.6. and higher agencies use Rudloe Manor as a headquarters for all intelligence information checking? Another first time admission!
We asked the guard if he knew about the "Underground Town" supposedly beneath Rudloe Manor or Rudloe Manor Site 2. (Private research and also the Television Programme "Schofields Quest" have made mention of the Underground Town complex) He stated that there was a quarry at Rudloe site 2 but from what he had seen, it was simply a quarry and no more. Paul pointed out that if it were just a quarry then surely it would not represent a threat to national security to let the Scofields Quest cameras in for a look. He stated that this was not the way the M.O.D. worked and that the television crew were misguided. I reminded the guard that he would probably not be allowed to know about such an underground facility if one did exist due to the high secrecy surrounding it. He party agreed but still tried to convince us that there was nothing at Rudloe Site 2 but a quarry. Why do the R.A.F. operate a quarry? Does it have something to do with weapons storage, and if so one would expect some sort of underground storage area inside the quarry. There is a weapons storage facility next door to Rudloe Site 2, so we can assume
that this is the case. SO how big an underground facility? The questions go on.
I would rather go with what I have heard by way of leaked information from staff who built the underground "town" than the official denial given by the government.
Whilst quietly engaged in this low key but interesting conversation Paul called to my attention a white van that had raced up the driveway and parked itself in a blocking position in front of my car. The doors slid open and two soldiers emerged armed with semi automatic machine guns. The driver of the vehicle quickly got out and ordered his men to stand guard over our vehicle by motioning to them with his hands. The driver then came over to our car and leaned in and said "Good day gentlemen,"
with a nod to the security guard who then departed. The driver was dressed in camouflaged gear and appeared by his rank to be a sergeant. He did not identify himself directly.
We were asked many questions about our being there and who we were. We did our best to provide as much information as we could using our gleaned information about the base and it's activities and how all of this fitted into UFOLOGY. After our Oscar winning performance, this stone faced cold war hero then proceeded to declare that he was "Not satisfied with our explanation and he would need to see proper identification and would be making security checks with "Civvy" police as to our status."
Again we did our best to help and gave him as much I.D. as we could, including my B.U.F.O.R.A. membership card. Just before he left to make his checks he made the following disturbing statement, "I am going to check your details. Do not get out of your car whilst I am gone, do you understand?" US - "Yes, no problem" "Do not attempt to drive away in the vehicle whilst I am gone, do you understand?" US - "We won't go anywhere." "Because if you do try to get out of the vehicle OR try to drive away you WILL BE TAKEN OUT OF CIRCULATION!" (my empahasis added).
Both Paul and I were stunned at this. What law had we broken and what powers did this man have to keep us there simply for going up a driveway and taking photo's in an area that we were allowed to do so?
Whilst the Sergeant was away at the guardhouse one of the soldiers standing guard paced near our car and we got his attention in order to have a talk. He told us that we had got the whole base on full alert and there was a real stir. We said that we were sorry but we could not see that we had done anything wrong. We asked him questions about UFO's - had he seen any, did he know what went on at Rudloe. We ended up filling him with good information and he did come back with the enigmatic statement of "Well who knows what they get up to, but I am not allowed to say anything anyhow." This was said with a knowing tone in his voice.
When the sergeant returned he said that our details had checked out but he was not happy with us being there. He told us that we were not allowed to take photos as it was prohibited. I disagreed and stated that there were no anti photography signs posted so there was no restriction. He argued that there were signs posted and that I had not seen them. I said that I had checked very carefully that there were no anti photography signs up before taking photo's, to which he submitted, but then went on to say that in future we should seek the permission of base
commanders of any base that we wish to take photographs of. He also said that the base commanders would more than likely not give us such permission and that if we came back to this base in the future to take photos we would be blocked!
I think the challenge has been set and we may have another Groom Lake on our hands. The trouble with this Groom Lake is that they will try to stop you taking photo's with what appears to be no legal power to do so... Cameras at the ready I say.
I do agree now that in future it may be polite to advise the base commander of our intentions in order not to start any major security alert but there will obviously be times that we will not want to give such information due to the time lost in perhaps securing important photo's.
So we left Rudloe Manor and started on our way back to Alton Barnes. We were followed back part of the way but got rid of our tails by driving round and round roundabouts so they knew we weren't having any of it.
One of the vehicles that followed us was a police car, and yes they do have police cars at Rudloe Manor ready for enforcing police powers or what ever they get up to in their MI5 secret squirrel activities. It is interesting to point out that the fleet of security vehicles that Rudloe possesses is easy to see by driving by the base. Most are white and unmarked. These are easily converted by putting signs on the sides into all manner of trade vehicles, such as Bloggs Window cleaners etc, for
covert activity. (See Truth Seekers Review edition one for a story of how I was followed by one such vehicle which I then followed all the way back into the base.)
If they are this interested in security of the base then it is obvious that they are hiding something good there. I know of no other obvious base which takes such measures. In our conversation with the sergeant, Paul fired the question of why Rudloe Manor was the only U.K. base which still had a state of emergency called "Bikini Black Alpha", which he knew previously from an inside source which signifies ultimate threat paranoia coupled with the security forces being given live ammunition in
sub automatic machine guns. The Sergeant was plainly taken aback by this question as it is supposed to be an "Official Secret", and all he could pipe up was "Because it is!".
Looking back Paul and I wish now that we had put on Irish accents and asked where they kept the bombs. This would have seen us inside the base and given us a damn good look of the inside with a probable free meal.(And a possible head massage with thier peace sticks?) Perhaps not.
If anybody is interested in viewing the base, read Tim Goods book, "Above Top Secret", or you can get in touch with us and we may be able to help advise you. Always make sure that you check what the security level is, as they may decide to make the driveway off limits and then put up the anti-photography signs after all. Don't use this as a guide on what to do there, use your own initiative and keep yourself abreast of the legal situation and your rights in case you do get into trouble. With that aside you should be able to get a damn good look at this
interesting place. Have fun and be sure to let this publication know what you see or hear, or experience, we could well want to publish it. In issue 3 of Truth Seekers Review, we will be publishing the photographs "we should not have taken".
It stands to reason that it is about time a concerted effort was put together to expose the secrets of a base the government and military are too ashamed to talk about therefore deeming them secret, or above top secret as the case maybe. Paul and I have carried on where Timothy Good finished, and I can assure you that this will not be the last report on
R.A.F. Rudloe Manor, the most secret base in Britain.
[For those of you who dont know, vetting for Secret Positions is done in two ways, positive vetting and negative vetting. In both cases every part of your history is researched along with extra research into your family history. Positive vetting means looking for all your good points and making sure there are no glaring bad points, and then judging your merits against other applicants for the position. Negative vetting takes
note of all bad points that you have, and psychological profiles are made up from your records and they determine if you are safe to have the position based on just how bad your "bad" score is. Squeaky clean is usually required and even school reports have been known to get you rejected. Most people cannot get in to secret projects from the street - they have to have some sort of military or civil service record which details their ability to conform. Those who can probably jump in directly from the street are those who belong to special groups (Freemasons, high ranking church officials or friends of the state such as royals or successful businessmen etc.) Mostly these are tested for
character defects.]