Summer 1966 – West Heath – Rectangular UFOs Sighting
Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 04/04/2022
In late March 2022 Sheila Winnall, an elderly lady from Knowle, got in touch with me via Facebook Messenger about an impressive UFO sighting she had back in the 1960s. As she lived in the local area I decided to drive over to visit her to discuss the incident face-to-face. This report is based on her detailed recollection of the incident.
Sighting Details
Back in 1966 Sheila was 24 years old and lived in Kings Norton. On a day in late summer she and her 3 year old son had gone round to stay at her parent’s house on Pitclose Road in West Heath.
It was between 7-8pm. Her parents were downstairs at the time. Sheila had just put her son to bed. As it was a pleasant and dry evening outside she decided to look out of the front bedroom window (something she would do regularly). When she did so she immediately became aware of two objects hovering in the sky to the South East.
The sun was low in the sky but due to the time of year it had not set. The house lay on a corner of the road, with a view to the houses on the opposite side of the street. In the sky visible beyond these houses she was amazed to see two rectangular shaped objects. They were positioned one above the other. They had a similar appearance, but the lower object looked significantly larger than the other. It was impossible to tell whether this was because it was closer or actually bigger in size.
The main body of the objects was dark in colouration, possibly dark grey. Along both of the objects was a line of brightly glowing round white lights or windows, giving them the appearance of two floating train carriages. They appeared to be at quite low altitude, approximately 50 feet off the ground. Sheila thinks they were quite close, within ¼ mile of her position. If they were indeed at this distance she estimated that the lower object was about 25 feet across by 7 feet in height.
Sheila had previously looked into the UFO subject and immediately felt that these objects were alien craft. With this realisation she felt that they were aware she was looking at them. She began to back away from the window, calling out for her parents at the same time. There was a camera in the house, but sadly she did not have it to hand, and she was too amazed by the presence of the objects to think about taking a photograph in the first place.
Sheila stared at the objects for at least several seconds, which felt much longer at the time. Then without warning they both instantly accelerated and shot away into the distance to the South East! They had vanished from sight in less than a second. This extreme manoeuvre confirmed to her that what she had just witnessed was highly unusual.
As her parents had not come up, Sheila ran downstairs and told them all about what she had just seen. They seemed to believe her, and her father was particularly interested.
Between the years of 1964-1967 a number of murders of young girls took place in the area of Cannock Chase. Prior to Sheila’s sighting, her father had reported seeing a suspicious parked car close to a local park. A couple of days later some police came round to interview him about this vehicle, and during their discussion he apparently mentioned the UFO sighting to them. According to Sheila the police mentioned that they themselves had seen things over the area of Clent Hills, although there was no sign that these other sightings were related to what Sheila had seen.
Sighting Analysis
This is a truly stunning sighting of what appear to have been two intelligently controlled craft. Their appearance puts most mundane explanations out of the question. They were clearly not normal civilian or military aircraft of any kind. It is also worth noting that the area is not within any airways, as confirmed by 360 Radar:
It also lies within controlled airspace, reducing the possibility of the objects being untracked aircraft:
While these maps are of course current, it is likely that the same applied at the time of the incident (although there is no easy way to confirm this). The sighting took place decades before drones existed, and the objects again looked nothing like drones. They were structured with straight edges and multiple independent lights along them, so natural explanations such as meteorites or earth lights can be discounted.
Blimps do not have glowing lights along them and tend to be oval in shape. Large lit novelty inflatables would have been a somewhat unusual possibility, if it wasn’t for the fact that the objects both accelerated into the distance at an incredible speed. This immediate and seemingly deliberate manoeuvre suggests that the objects were under powered and intelligent control. It is unknown if the objects were aware that they were being observed by Sheila or not, although I have investigated many cases in the past where UFOs have disappeared at very opportune moments suggesting that they are sometimes aware of witnesses in the vicinity.
As this incident took place mid-evening and the objects were quite large in size there is the possibility that they were also observed by other people who are yet to come forward. If you have any information about this historical case please get in touch. It is great that Sheila has finally reached out to get the details of this incredible sighting down on record.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022