Inside Britain's Area 51: The RAF base that's a mecca for UFO hunters

Inside Britain’s Area 51: The secluded RAF base where UFO hunters believe it government scientists examined alien corpses and spacecraft wreckage

• EXCLUSIVE: RAF Rudloe Manor in Wiltshire visited by UFO fans after being left
• Declassified government papers show it was centre of alien sighting research 

A former top secret military base dubbed Britain’s Area 51 has become a magnet for UFO enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists after lying abandoned for more than 20 years.

Fed-up locals have complained that the eerie RAF Rudloe Manor in Wiltshire has been plagued by break-ins after remaining sealed off behind security fences topped with razor wire.

In 2010 declassified government files revealed the isolated base was the centre of investigations into UFO sightings in Britain.

The documents show behind-closed doors briefings were held over reports of an underground complex lying beneath the site.

It led to ufologists speculating that spacecraft wreckage was taken there to be examined along with alien corpses.

Rudloe Manor near Corsham, Wiltshire which for years the RAF’s secret service worked at across espionage and counterintelligence operations, but also… UFO investigations

Keep out: Razor wires and high fences keep our intruders at the top secret site in Wiltshire  

Locals John Price and Vanessa Vingoe say they are fascinated by the history of RAF Rudloe 

Around 40 prefabricated buildings, huts and storerooms are dotted around the sprawling site, many with boarded up windows and doors.

The isolated location was soon being compared with Area 51 – the US Air Force highly classified military base that has long been associated with UFO sightings and government cover-ups.

Shocked visitors have told how it appears ‘time has stood still’ at the 30-acre former RAF base set in an area of outstanding natural beauty near Corsham.

Around 40 prefabricated buildings, huts and storerooms are dotted around the sprawling site, many with boarded up windows and doors.

The rusted former main entrance gates are emblazoned with signs warning: ‘Private. Keep out.’

Just yards away is a concrete pillbox where armed guards would have been stationed when the base was operational.

Outside, the former road leading to the base has been abandoned and is overgrown with weeds. But 20 mph signs remain in place along with markings on the road which show ‘non pass holders’ were directed down a separate lane as they approached the camp.

Previously manicured lawns are now overrun with thick tangled brambles and stinging nettles while the once bustling base is shrouded by an eerie silence.

There are also giant abandoned oil tanks capable of holding 6,000 gallons along with rusted pipes raised above ground level and apparently now leading nowhere.

Amateur investigators are convinced the base has remained off limits since it was decommissioned in 2000 as it holds the secrets to extraterrestrial life.

The mystery surrounding the site led to enthusiasts making videos of themselves breaking into the grounds and trawling through rubble strewn buildings including the original 17th century Grade II-listed Manor House.

A caretaker at the base told MailOnline: ‘You go on YouTube, there are guys who dedicate their lives to it. They break in all the time – we had it this week. 

Amateur investigators are convinced the base has remained off limits since it was decommissioned in 2000 as it holds the secrets to extraterrestrial life

Former workers say RAF Rudloe Manor’s main purpose was as an administrative establishment providing accommodation and support for a number of defence organisations

A gate lined with barbed wire at the property’s edge with a sign saying: ‘Private. Keep out’

‘There was one bunker that the Royal Family were supposed to go to that had been done out for them,’ said local resident Patricia Kelly

In one video posted on YouTube two men are shown entering a hanger on the site they called ‘The Registry’ they claimed was used to store row after row ‘from floor to ceiling’ of cabinets containing ‘X Files’ documents.

The men go on to enter a hut which they said was the secret office where UFO sightings were investigated.

Along with online amateur films, the American television series Ancient Aliens featured an episode on the base which was screened on Sky History Channel.

A caretaker at the base told MailOnline: ‘You go on YouTube, there are guys who dedicate their lives to it. They break in all the time – we had it this week.

‘They come from all over the country and a lot from America.

‘The first sign you see is when you find the fence down.

‘The lengths they go to to get in at times is astounding. They will go through thick brambles and trample them down for ages and you think “What the b***** hell they are doing?”

‘It’s derelict. There’s nothing here. It’s madness.

‘I don’t think it will ever stop. They’ve been doing it for 20 years.’

The manor house was originally bought by the Air Ministry in 1941 and became a Second World War RAF command centre for directing Battle of Britain operations.

An underground operations room was later built in an old quarry there.

The base is one of many government sites in the area made up of operational and decommissioned MoD establishments.

At the height of the Cold War in the late 1950’s, a secret underground city was built 100 feet beneath the ground linking bases across the area.

At the height of the Cold War in the late 1950’s, a secret underground city was built 100 feet beneath the ground linking bases across the area.

Giant abandoned oil tanks capable of holding 6,000 gallons can be found on the abandoned site

The fuel level indicator for a rusted oil tank which has been empty for a long time

The sign at the entrance to Rudloe Manor near Corsham, Wiltshire

The massive subterranean complex was designed to safely house up to 4,000 central Government personnel and members of the Royal Family in the event of a nuclear strike.

After the war, Rudloe Manor became the headquarters of the RAF’s police and secret service covering espionage and counterintelligence operations.

It also took part in the operation of the UK military communications satellite system and became home to the Flying Complaints Flight which gathered reports of UFO sightings from RAF bases and passed them to the MoD HQ.

Declassified files show that during the 1950’s, ministers commissioned weekly reports on UFO sightings from a committee of intelligence chiefs.

Winston Churchill was so concerned about one reported encounter between a UFO and RAF bombers, that he ordered it be kept secret for at least 50 years to prevent ‘mass panic’.

Reports included an incident dubbed the ‘Welsh Roswell’ in 1974, where members of the public sounded the alert after seeing lights in the sky and feeling a tremor in the ground.

A mountain rescue team was called to investigate the ‘crashed UFO’ in the Berwyn Mountains.

In another infamous encounter known as the ‘Rendlesham incident’, three US officers based at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk claimed a ‘triangular shaped craft’ landed in neighbouring woods in the early hours of December 26 1980.

Years later it emerged intelligence papers on the incident had gone missing.

Despite the intrigue surrounding the base, locals have blasted the alien-hunting invaders insisting they are on a misguided mission.

Former workers say RAF Rudloe Manor’s main purpose was as an administrative establishment providing accommodation and support for a number of defence organisations.

The once secret tunnels in the area were decommissioned in 2004 with parts of the site sold off including a section which was turned into an expensive wine merchants’ cellar.

MailOnline can reveal the former base was sold by the MoD after it closed and was bought by a private equity real estate business in 2005 for £1.5 million.

At one stage detailed plans were drawn up to turn the entire site into a new science park which would have been part of Bath University but the scheme fell through.

It was later divided into three plots with one five acre site containing the Manor House sold off to developers.

In 2010 planning permission was given to build a housing development of three detached homes each worth more than £1million and six terraced mews houses.

Owners began moving into the properties which are now fully occupied in 2016.

The manor house was later put up for sale with celebrity chef Marco Pierre White – who owns the nearby Rudloe Arms hotel and restaurant – reportedly among potential buyers.

In the end it was bought by a family who are still carrying out extensive refurbishing and repair works on the property.

The caretaker at the abandoned site said: ‘There’s nothing classified about it. We walk around and look after it and if there’s any issues we sort them out.

‘It was closed in 2001 and has been derelict ever since. This Area 51 thing has been talked about by making it more exciting than it is.

‘You boost your YouTube to get advertising and you start making money – and we get more people coming here.’

A woman who claimed she worked on the base from 1983 until 2000 said: ‘It’s just derelict buildings. There’s nothing here.

‘There are no UFO’s and there never have been.

‘The buildings here had various uses. Some were accommodation, sergeant’s mess, officer’s mess things like that.

‘The provost were based here. It was too expensive and they moved elsewhere.

‘They had the flying complaints here but it was an admin centre. All the stuff about Area 51 came later.’

Another local said of the site: ‘When it was originally closed it was bought by a consortium. That folded in 2008 and it was hived off in three lots. People have come here and tried to get planning permission but have not been successful and sold it on.

‘It’s laid derelict for 20 odd years. It’s an area of outstanding natural beauty.

‘I would imagine the main issue with planning is the access from the main road.’

A woman who lives on one of the new properties on the site said: ‘All I know is it’s ex-MoD. Our developer acquired some of the land and built their houses. We are original owners and moved in about seven years ago.

‘There’s lots of abandoned huts at the back of us and quite a lot of broken glass. It’s just an abandoned site. I don’t know how the site got separated like it has been.

‘It would be nice if they could do something with the place and tidy it up.

‘There are theories going around about UFO’s and if you’ve seen them good for you.

‘If there were aliens there I hope they have moved on because there are better places to hang around.’

Locals remained baffled by the Area 51 comparisons while many admitted the secret military history surrounding the area had led to the intrigue.

Local resident Patricia Kelly, 77, said: ‘I’ve lived here all my life. I was employed by the MoD and had to sign the official secrets act.

‘I worked in the stores underground at one of the bases for five years before I got married.

‘It was all top secret which is maybe one of the reasons why people have been coming up with all these crazy ideas about what was going on there.

‘I never uncovered any great secrets. It was all very routine.

‘I was in the offices, just doing paperwork and that. It was unusual working underground. There were no windows. You just went straight down in the lift. After a while you got used to it.

‘There’s miles and miles of it underground.

‘There was one bunker that the Royal Family were supposed to go to that had been done out for them.’

There are also giant abandoned oil tanks capable of holding 6,000 gallons along with rusted pipes raised above ground level and apparently now leading nowhere

KEEP OUT: Would-be intruders are warned about entering the abandoned site, believed by conspiracy theorists to where government scientists examined alien corpses 

A boarded up window of a hut which has sign attached with ‘Private. Keep out’ written on it

An aerial view of the Rudloe Manor site near Corsham, Wiltshire where the RAF had a secret military base

Retired accountancy worker Vanessa Vingoe, 60, said: ‘There’s lots of underground tunnels where top secret stuff has gone on but we will probably never know what some of it is.’

The mother-of-four added: ‘I had no idea I was living in Area 51. I hadn’t heard about UFO’s at all. There’s a lot of conspiracies going round at the moment – aliens are the least of my worries.’

Father-of-three John Price, 56, said: ‘When I was at school I hated history but when I learned about the local history it was fascinating – with all the tunnels and nuclear bunkers.

‘There’s always been a lot of military bases in the area.’

Mr Price, who works for a medical supplies company, added: ‘When I left school I was on work experience and went to one of the bases and went down into the ground.

‘That’s when I first learned that some of these places join up through tunnels. There’s miles and miles of them.

‘It used to be secret but now they arrange visits to go down there. It’s all in books that have got maps and everything in them.

‘It was hidden. It was all secret for a long long time but it’s come into the public domain in recent years.’

Wiltshire Council declined to comment on the planning status of the land.

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