Summary
Retired U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant who, as a Staff Sergeant on December 26, 1980, led a patrol into Rendlesham Forest outside RAF Woodbridge and made direct physical contact with an unidentified triangular craft — touching its surface, transcribing hieroglyphic symbols from its hull, and sketching it in his duty notebook. His account is the most physically detailed close-contact witness testimony in the Rendlesham Forest incident, the UK's most documented UAP case. In 2010 he disclosed a binary code sequence he claims to have received mentally during the encounter; when decoded the sequence contains apparent geographic coordinates and references to exploration. Penniston co-authored the definitive insider account of the incident alongside fellow witness John Burroughs and UK MoD investigator Nick Pope.
Roles
- -Staff Sergeant, 81st Security Police Squadron — RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge (1980)
- -Primary close-contact witness, Rendlesham Forest incident
- -Co-Author — Encounter in Rendlesham Forest (2014)
Organizations
Early Career
- -Enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1974
- -Trained as Security Police (SP) specialist; assigned to security patrol and access control duties
- -Posted to the 81st Security Police Squadron at the twin-base complex of RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk, England