1980 in UFO history
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📅 Year
Contents 5
| Year | 1980 |
|---|---|
| Events | 7 |
| Decade | 1980s |
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Disinformation & hoaxes (topic), Beings & bodies (topic), Crashes & retrievals (topic) |
| Timeline | 1980 on the UAP Timeline |
1980 in UFO history — the UAP Timeline records 7 events in 1980, mostly about secrecy & cover-up and disinformation & hoaxes. People named in these events include Richard Doty, Paul Bennewitz, William Moore, Linda Moulton Howe, John Lear.
Overview
1980 produced the most famous British UFO case and the book that made Roswell famous. In December 1980 U.S. Air Force personnel just outside RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk, England, including deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt, reported unexplained lights in Rendlesham Forest, later linked to alleged UFO landings. The case is sometimes called "Britain's Roswell."[1] The Ministry of Defence said it posed no threat to national security and never investigated it as a security matter. Sceptics have explained the lights as a fireball, the Orfordness Lighthouse and bright stars.[1] See Rendlesham Forest incident. In the United States that year, witnesses in the Cash–Landrum incident said a UFO had damaged their health and property. The case went to court but was dismissed, and several skeptical investigators questioned it.[2]
The book The Roswell Incident (1980) by William Moore and Charles Berlitz popularised Jesse Marcel's account and added claims of alien bodies.[3] In July the film Hangar 18 told the story of a government cover-up of a crashed UFO, loosely based on Robert Spencer Carr's claims.[4][5]
The timeline's 1980 entries focus on disinformation. In July Air Force Office of Special Investigations officer Richard Doty delivered a forged anonymous letter, the Weitzel letter, to the civilian group APRO.[6] On 17 November Doty gave a forged document to physicist Paul Bennewitz, who had observed a secret project at Kirtland Air Force Base. Doty said he had been ordered to confuse him.[7] The fake document then spread into books and media. Doty also said an Air Force intelligence group ran psychological operations, including staged alien abductions, on citizens who had inadvertently seen classified projects.[8] See Bennewitz affair. On 18 November an NSA official filed affidavits explaining why the agency's UFO documents could not be released in a lawsuit by Citizens Against UFO Secrecy.[7]
Events
- Spread of the Bennewitz disinformation (1980s Undefined) — Doty's fake document spreads to the public and into books and media.
- Doty's psychological operations claim (1980s) — Doty says an Air Force unit ran psychological operations on people who saw secret aircraft.
- Weitzel letter (1980) (July 1980) — Air Force counterintelligence officer Richard Doty delivers a forged letter to a civilian UAP group.
- Hangar 18 (film) (July 1980) — The film Hangar 18 depicts a government cover-up of a crashed UAP.
- Bennewitz affair (17 November 1980) — Doty gives physicist Paul Bennewitz a forged document to confuse him.
- NSA Yeates affidavits (1980) (18 November 1980) — In a lawsuit, the NSA files a public and a secret affidavit about its UAP records.
- Larry W. and the 1968 capture claim (14 December 1980) — A source says a former soldier witnessed a UAP capture in 1968.
People
- Richard Doty — Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent who fed disinformation to UFO researchers in the 1980s.
- Paul Bennewitz — Albuquerque physicist targeted by Air Force disinformation in the Bennewitz affair.
- William Moore — Researcher who admitted in 1989 that he cooperated with intelligence agents in the Bennewitz affair.
- Linda Moulton Howe — Journalist and filmmaker who runs the Earthfiles website and has reported many crash-retrieval claims.
- John Lear — Pilot and son of Bill Lear who spread claims of alien treaties in the late 1980s.
- Bill Cooper — Author of Behold a Pale Horse.
- Brad Sparks — UFO analyst known for his catalogue of Blue Book unknowns and work on the CIA lawsuit.
- Craig Weitzel — Civil Air Patrol member whose 1980 UFO photos led to the forged Weitzel letter.
- Barry Goldwater — U.S. senator and Air Force Reserve general who said he was denied access to UFO material at Wright-Patterson.
- Eugene Yeates — NSA official whose 1980 affidavits explained why UFO records were withheld.
Nearby years
1979 in UFO history · 1981 in UFO history
References
- Rendlesham Forest incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Cash–Landrum incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Roswell incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Hangar 18 (conspiracy theory) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- UAP timeline published with Michael Shellenberger's 2024 congressional testimony, entry for July 1980 (Hangar 18) · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entry for July 1980 (Weitzel letter) · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entries for 17 November to 14 December 1980 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entries for the 1980s (Doty) · oversight.house.gov
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “Rendlesham Forest incident”, “Cash–Landrum incident”, “Roswell incident”, “Hangar 18 (conspiracy theory)”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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