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The Westerham Incident
Chapter 52 of R. V. Jones’ book Most Secret War contains a truly bizarre anecdote concerning the alleged crash of an object at Westerham in Kent, in 1946. Apparently a signal was received from General MacArthur’s staff in Tokyo, asking for confirmation of a report that a Russian flying bomb had recently crashed in England. The other Director of Intelligence on the Air Staff, Air Commodore Vintras, suggested to Jones that this might tie in with the “Westerham Incident”.
The Westerham Incident started, apparently, with an irate call to the Technical Intelligence Staff from a farmer called Gunyon who wanted the Air Ministry to come and remove one of these “darned contraptions” which had fallen onto his farm. The intelligence officers asked for directions and were told to drive from Croydon to Westerham, turning onto a lane when they reached a pub called The White Dog. Amidst great security, two staff cars were dispatched, but failed to find the farm. They located a pub called The White Hart and a farmer named Bunyan, who strenuously denied having made the call. This bizarre incident remains unexplained and although it appeared to be a hoax, few people would have had the wherewithal to get through to the Technical Intelligence Staff and convince them to make a field visit. Indeed, the intelligence officers believed that Jones himself had been behind the affair.
Is there a link between the Westerham Incident, General MacArthur’s enquiry about a crashed Russian flying bomb and Dorothy Kilgallen’s story? Could these be references to the same incident? Was it really a hoax? If so, it was one that went to the very heart of the British Establishment. As a final footnote, perhaps it is worth noting that Westerham is just a couple of miles from Chartwell, which was the home of Sir Winston Churchill.
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