In late May 1948 Sergeant T.G. Jones, a wireless operator with the RAF, was one of four officers and two crew aboard a York transport aircraft. This had left home base at Tangmere, Sussex, accompanied by a formation of six meteor jets. The time was 11.40 am and they were cruising at 10,000 feet above scattered cloud on a typical English summer's day. Below them lay the Oxford/Bicester area and they were bound for RAF Acklington in the north-east, where they had a scheduled firing practice into the North Sea.

Suddenly someone noticed a glinting object, high above them. Communicating on the intercom all six people in the York and the six meteor pilots quickly established visual contact. It looked at first like a small silvery ball. As they discussed it, Jones, who had a pair of Barr and Stroud' 6x 30 binoculars, was able to focus on the object and see that it was oval-shaped and an estimated 100 feet in diameter. There were also three 'bumps' or protrusions, in a triangular formation, inset into the underside. Ground control further advised that they had it on radar and nobody knew what it was. It was stationary and above 25,000 feet.

All the meteors had oxygen equipment (perhaps the Mantell crash a few months before had left its mark even on the RAF!). Amongst the pilots, three had flown in the Battle of Britain, one was a Squadron Leader an another a visiting US Major (now a General). He was called Robin Olds, and Jones recalls his name because he married a Hollywood film star, Ella Raines, who visited the base and caused a stir.