Southend and Thames Estuary area, Essex, England
Incident period: 14 October 1954, after a 16:15 departure from RAF North Weald
A Royal Auxiliary Air Force pilot climbing over Essex saw two unusual objects pass near other fighters, then a third apparently heading straight towards his own cockpit. Flight-Lieutenant James “Jimmy” Salandin’s account helped launch Flying Saucer Review in 1955. The earliest published report, a later interview and North Weald’s museum history preserve the encounter—and a camera that was ready, but never used.
A weekend pilot in the jet age
Salandin served with No. 604, County of Middlesex Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, at North Weald. The description of him as a weekend pilot refers to his auxiliary service, rather than someone borrowing an unfamiliar aeroplane for a recreational flight. He was flying a Gloster Meteor F8, a twin-jet fighter.
The district council’s North Weald history places the squadron within the airfield’s post-war transition into the jet age. Its account of Salandin’s experience is part of an aviation history, alongside photographs and descriptions of the squadron’s aircraft. It provides a useful local institutional source beyond later paranormal anthologies.
The first published sequence
The spring 1955 first issue of Flying Saucer Review dates the flight to 14 October 1954. It says Salandin reported for duty after lunch and took off at 16:15. The sky was blue and cloudless. Climbing south towards the Thames Estuary, he watched two Meteors flying in formation above him, leaving vapour trails.
At a little over 16,000 feet, with Southend coming into view beneath him, he saw two circular objects move between the higher aircraft in the opposite direction. He described one as silver and the other gold. They passed towards his upper left and disappeared from view.
When he looked forward again, he saw a third silvery object approaching at his own level. The report describes a rounded upper part, a projecting middle and another rounded section underneath. It changed direction and passed to his left before a collision occurred.
How close was the third object?
The magazine compared the apparent width with the Meteor’s windscreen. It noted that the fighter’s thirty-seven-foot wingspan would fill that view at about 150 yards. This was an illustration of angular size, not a range measurement made by an instrument during the encounter.
The distinction is important because a familiar-sized object at one distance and a differently sized object at another can occupy the same amount of a windscreen. Salandin’s description conveyed an alarming apparent proximity. It did not supply the unknown object’s dimensions, and the illustration should not be converted into a proven miss distance.
The original presentation includes a photograph of Salandin beside his aircraft and a graphic explaining the windscreen comparison. Those published items are part of the contemporary source trail. They are not photographs of the object in flight.
The radio report and the unused gun camera
The 1955 account says Salandin was shaken enough to spend about ten minutes flying quietly before reporting the encounter over the radio. He regretted not operating the camera-gun button while the object was in his sights. The speed and surprise of the event had occupied his attention.
That missed opportunity became a recurring element of the story. The case is sometimes remembered through illustrations so vivid that they can seem like surviving frames of film. No such footage is supplied by the consulted accounts. The loaded camera represents a possibility that did not become a recording.
The report appeared only months after the flight, giving the case a relatively early public account. Later recollections can be compared with that publication rather than treated as the sole surviving description.
Dempster’s connection with the squadron
Derek Dempster, who became Flying Saucer Review’s first editor, had a direct connection with No. 604 Squadron. The North Weald museum account describes him as its intelligence officer and states that Salandin related the details to him after landing. It says a report was sent to the Air Ministry, without a further explanation returning to the pilot.
Dempster’s position helps explain the route from an airfield conversation to a specialist magazine. It also distinguishes the published case from an incident reconstructed decades later entirely from rumours. The magazine’s account nevertheless remains a publication about the report; this file has not located a surviving signed Air Ministry assessment that resolves it.
The first issue’s editorial made clear how strongly the new journal regarded pilot testimony. Its enthusiasm belongs to the history of the publication, while the encounter itself is best followed through the specific observations attributed to Salandin.
The later interview and a persistent date error
Patrick Gross’s source collection reproduces material from Timothy Good’s 1985 interview with Salandin. In that version, the pilot described objects coming through higher contrails, two moving away to his left and the third continuing towards him. He said he tried to turn and follow after it passed, but it had gone.
The later description retained the silvery, rounded form and the absence of familiar features such as portholes or flames. It also retained his frustration over the unused camera. The interview is a later recollection, and this file uses Gross’s reproduction rather than claiming to have inspected Good’s original interview notes.
Some retellings give 4 October instead of 14 October. The actual first issue of Flying Saucer Review inspected for this article prints 14 October, as does the North Weald history. Those sources support using the fourteenth; the mistake should not be attributed to the first magazine account when its printed date says otherwise.
The Essex setting and the remaining questions
The broad location is the Southend and Thames Estuary area described in the flight account. North Weald was the departure base, not the claimed position of the close passage. The UKPX marker therefore uses a Southend locality reference rather than placing an apparent mid-air encounter on the airfield runway.
Salandin’s case remains a detailed visual report by a named military pilot. The source trail preserves the sequence, his immediate reaction, the equipment available and his later recollection. It does not add a radar interception, another pilot’s matching report or a strip of gun-camera film that the surviving accounts do not contain.
Timeline
14 October 1954, 16:15: Salandin takes off from North Weald in a Meteor F8.
Later in the climb: he reports two circular objects near higher aircraft and a third close passage over the Southend area.
After the encounter: he reports by radio and relates details on returning to base.
Spring 1955: Flying Saucer Review publishes the case in its first issue.
1985: Timothy Good interviews Salandin; the account is reproduced in later source collections.
Later local history: the North Weald museum’s airfield series retains the incident.
Sources & further reading
Flying Saucer Review, spring 1955: Week-end Pilot in Near Collision — Original account, page 2, with the inaugural editorial and windscreen graphic.
The Spirit of North Weald: booklet 7 — Epping Forest District Council and North Weald Airfield Museum history; Salandin account on printed page 7.
Patrick Gross: Salandin source collection — Includes a reproduction of the later Timothy Good interview and a press bibliography.
Southend-on-Sea geographical reference — Verified broad locality for the reported airspace.
Related case files
Manchester Flight 5061, 1995: the wedge-shaped object and the unresolved airmiss report
Little Rissington, 1952: three objects above the clouds and the RAF record that survived
Location note: Broad Southend locality for an encounter reported at altitude over the Thames Estuary area. This is not an exact flight-track position; North Weald was the departure base.
UKPX historical case file. Researched and checked 4 November 2026. Explore the UK case map · Links & Sources.