19/05/2024 - Walsall – White Orbs, Possible Military Intercept
Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Year: 2024
Last Updated: 14/10/2026
In May 2024 a man named Oscar got in touch via the BUFOG website sightings report form to report some unusual objects he had witnessed several nights earlier. He mentioned that he had experienced other previous sightings but this was the first time he had decided to get in touch as he had only become aware of the existence of Birmingham UFO Group recently.
Sighting Details
At 10:50pm on the evening of 19th May 2024 Oscar was out of a roof hatch in the loft of his flat on Woodside Close, Walsall. It was a very clear night, with a ¾ moon, which made the sky appear quite light.
He noticed a slow moving star-like orb of white light slowly come into view. Initially he thought it was a trick of the eye, but he continued to watch and confirmed that it was indeed moving slowly on a North Eastern course.
Suddenly the object changed course and began moving West. He realised at this point it could not be a satellite or the International Space Station. His hair began to stand up on end as he wondered what it could be. After a number of seconds it halted again, then began to move South West. Again after a number of seconds it once again halted, and then faded out.
Oscar did wonder whether the object had been a distant drone. He says that a local drone club occasionally meets up in a location visible to him. But he was not certain, something seemed odd about it. He thought to himself “Thanks for that, but would be nice to see something more convincing.”
A couple of minutes later another white orb of light again appeared in the same position that the first had appeared. It looked identical, but this time moved to the North in a meandering manner, almost like how an eel swims. It rose very high in the sky and then moved Westward quite a distance. He turned to continue watching it.
Suddenly it halted for several seconds. Then without warning it instantly increased in acceleration and shot off extremely fast to the South West on a straight course! As it went it faded out.
Seconds later a very bright blue coloured light again appeared in front of him. At the same time he began to hear a loud rumbling sound, which seemed to be coming from the object. He initially assumed it was a helicopter (despite the fact that helicopters do not have any blue navigation lights). It was travelling eastward.
He then noticed an aeroplane travelling in the opposite direction. It almost looked like they were going to collide. As he kept watching the noise got louder and he realised it sounded more like the jet engine of an aeroplane than a helicopter. It was also travelling much faster than a plane would usually fly at.
It seemed to pass beneath the other aircraft, and as it passed by he saw the silhouette of a jet. As it moved away to the East he realised that the blue colour was the flames of an afterburner. He wondered if what he was watching was the attempted intercept of the orb he had previously seen.
Thinking back to what had happened and the speed the second object had left the vicinity, Oscar said that it left him feeling “completed baffled and quite emotional to be honest.”
Sighting Analysis
Although the witness did not manage to capture any photographs or video footage of what took place, I have no reason to doubt its authenticity. Oscar comes across as rational and honest in the way he has reported the incident, and has clearly considered mundane explanations himself. By his own acknowledgemet he is experienced at looking at the night sky so would be used to seeing a variety of aerial objects after dark at different distances.
Looking into drone clubs in Walsall, it is likely that Oscar was referring to Grey Arrows Drone Club, who regularly meet up at Barr Beacon North car park, several miles East of Woodside Close.
Google AI confirms that the Grey Arrows Drone Club did not meet at Barr Beacon on the date of the incident:
However, it is possible that the first orb which Oscar saw was a privately flown drone, this cannot be completely ruled out. The manoeuvres it was performing sound very much like the movements drones often make. Perhaps it faded out because of the distance it was at, or maybe it moved behind a cloud that could not be seen due to the time of night.
Another possibility is that it was a distant helicopter, with all the lights bleeding into a single point. No helicopters or other aircraft showed up at the date and time on Flight Radar 24:
It is possible that it was a helicopter with transponder switched off, although due to the proximity of Birmingham International Airport 12 miles to the South East this is less probable. Even though this is technically legal, the airport asks most pilots to have their transponders on when in the vicinity.
However, the wavy meandering movements of the second orb do not sound like a drone at all, drone’s tend to fly in straight lines when moving from one position to another. These movements sound more like those of a drifting white LED balloon or bird reflecting ground lights. But it cannot have been these either because of the way in which it suddenly shot away. This manoeuvre suggests that the object was under intelligent and advanced control.
The military jet which Oscar both saw and heard is another interesting aspect of the sighting. I have not been able to locate either the military jet or the plane travelling in the opposite direction on Flight Radar. The only planes which do show up are a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at 11:37pm and a Bomardier Global 6000 at 11:58pm:
Both of these are passenger jets, and both were travelling in a South Eastern direction, not East or West. They were also clearly present much later than the witness stated the events transpired.
Military jets often have their transponders off, so it is not surprising that I have not been able to locate it. However, I am mystified as to why I cannot see the other aircraft. There is a chance that both were military, and both there because of the UFO, although neither can be confirmed at present.
If a military jet was launched, the most likely location it came from would have been RAF Cosford.
As this lies roughly 12 miles to the West of Walsall, it would make sense that it approached from this direction and flew away to the East.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2026
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