Eighteen – Photo Flash Exercises at Jurby Range, IOM . November 1973 and January 1974

Jurby Range and Irish Sea
Freedom of Information Act Requests re: HM Coastguard log books RAF Jurby Head Operations Record Books
Our search for further Coastguard log entries involving photo flash exercises
In September 2016, after submitting a FOIA request to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, we received photocopies of every page of the Coastguard log book for the period 22nd October 1973 to 28th January 1974. The photocopies included the front and back covers of the log book, instructions to the coastguard personnel for writing up the operations log:
and how to record detailed weather conditions:
Photo Flash Exercise 14th November 1973
Having read through the Coastguard log book for that 3 month period we found an entry on 14th November 1973 indicating that a Photo Flash exercise was scheduled for that night. The entry appeared as follows: "Photo Flash exercise Jerby Range IOM. To-night" (see below)
The full log for 14th November 1973 was as follows:
The above “Photo Flash exercise Jerby Range IOM To-night” entry in the Coastguard log was the first of two referring to activity scheduled for Jurby Range, Isle of Man, in the three months covered by this particular log book. The above entry was penned by the same writer as that in the 23rd January 1974 log entry with the same incorrect spelling "Jerby" instead of Jurby.. (see below)
Photo Flash Exercise 23rd January 1974 was not unique
The Coastguard log book entry made on 23rd January 1974 – the night of the Berwyn Mountains UFO event/s – referring to a “PHOTO FLASH EXERCISE JERBY Range IOM” was not unique. That entry was as follows:
The full log for 23rd January 1974 was as follows:
The Maritime and Coastguard Letter of 2nd April 2000
A reminder here of what was included in the MCA letter to Russ Kellett, dated 2nd April 2000 and which mentioned ten aircraft and eighty flashes. This image was labelled "ANNEX 1" in the package received from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in response to our FOIA request in September 2016:
"Ten aircraft and at least eighty flashes" ?
The details about aircraft and flashes mentioned in the letter were not included in the Coastguard log of 23rd January 1974. So where had the information about aircraft and flashes come from? Could someone at Holyhead Coastguard station have fabricated those details? And if so, why? After all, it was Holyhead Coastguard that sent Russ Kellett the letter dated 2nd April 2000! Paragraph 1 of the Instructions For Writing Up The Operations Log states that the log has to include “all information received at or transmitted by the Station by any means”. So all Coastguard stations should have had the same information in their log books. The inside cover indicated that the coastguard log book had been certified correct as follows:
Great attention to detail
Having studied every page of the Coastguard log book in detail it was clear to us that great attention was paid to any lights recorded by Coastguard personnel, lights in reports between the Coastguard stations and lights in reports received via other sources such as the Police or public. As previously mentioned, paragraph 1 of the Instructions For Writing Up The Operations Log states that the log has to include “all information received at or transmitted by the Station by any means”.
Media Exaggeration?
In light of the information that we had acquired from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in September 2016 we looked again at what appeared in the Daily Post/North Wales Live on 27th of July 2019 and authored by Steve Bagnall. (See Berwyn 9 - Russ Kellett Pt.2) In the article, Mr. Bagnall wrote:
....a letter Mr Kellett received from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) appears to confirm a military operation, codenamed Photoflash, was scheduled for that night.The MCA headed letter said: “During the late afternoon and early evening of 23rd January 1974 there was an exercise from Jerby Range on the Isle of Man."The exercise was called ‘Photoflash’ and coastguards were advised to expect at least 10 aircraft taking part and at least 80 flashes around the Liverpool Bay area and the North Wales coastline.”
In the image above of part of Mr. Bagnall’s article the entry states “PHOTO FLASH EXERCISE Jerby Range IOM”. In the two “Photo Flash exercise” entries for 14th November 1973 and 23rd January 1974 recorded in our unredacted copy of the Coastguard log book there was only very basic information provided. All that the 23rd January 1974 entry said was “PHOTO FLASH EXERCISE Jerby Range IOM". The 14th November 1973 entry included the word “tonight”. No start and end times were mentioned in either. However, Steve Bagnall, the author of the July 2019 Daily Post article, was not the first person to use the title of “Operation Photoflash”. That honour goes to Geraint Jones of the North Wales Chronicle when he posted an article 8 years earlier on 31st January 2011. (See Berwyn 6 - Russ Kellett Pt.1) In his article Geraint Jones wrote:
The researcher (Russ Kellett), who has investigated the UFOs for 23 years, said that the Marine Coastguard document revealed that a military exercise called Operation Photoflash was underway from Liverpool Bay to the North Wales coast on the night of the Berwyn Incident.
Note! Mr. Jones made no mention of 10 aircraft or 80 flashes in his article but did use the word "Operation". It does seem that the various media were victims of the fanciful content of the MCA letter - as was Mr. Kellett himself, who received the letter from Holyhead Coastguard in early April 2000. Mr. Jones just took things one step further, spawning the idea of "Operation Photoflash".
What about the Green Flares?
What about the Green Flares that had been suggested as the possible cause of the lights seen on the night of the 23rd January 1974 as recorded the following day in the Liverpool Daily Post? Where had that theory come from?
The right hand side of the news cutting was lost in the photocopying but should read:
....Wales and this was confirmed by Anglesey coastguard who described it as green in colour. Coastguards in Formby, the Isle of Man, Anglesey and Cumberland all received calls reporting "green flares". But a spokesman from Formby said 'we are pretty certain it was a meteorite shower. We ourselves witnessed. The end of one of them it was too bright to have been lightening. And the weather conditions don't point to the likelihood of of lightening'. Emergency services were inundated with calls throughout North Wales. But there were no reports of any injuries or damage.
So why was there no mention of supposed “green flares” in the Coastguard log entry for 23rd January 1974? After all, previous entries had indeed included green flares.Green flares are mentioned in an entry in the Coastguard log for 14th December 1973:
The full log for 14th December 1973 was as follows:
Green flares are also mentioned in the Coastguard log for 22nd January 1974, just one day before the Photo Flash exercise entry for 23rd January 1974 which had given rise to the “Operation Photoflash” myth:
The full log for the 22nd January 1974 was as follows:
So how did green flares become a possible explanation by the Liverpool Daily Post for the lights seen on the night of the 23rd January 1974 if nothing was recorded in the Coastguard log of that night?
Did the Photo Flash exercises actually take place?
Another issue of some importance is whether or not those Photo Flash exercises scheduled for 14th November 1973 and 23rd January 1974 actually occurred, so our attention turned to the bombing range on the coast of the Isle of Man. This is especially important for the 23rd January 1974 photo flash exercise as it was that upon which the whole story of the "Operation Photoflash" was based.
RAF Jurby Head, Isle of Man
RAF Jurby Head bombing range located just offshore of the NW coast of the Isle of Man was used by British and American air forces for target practice both night and day.This map by ©John Wornham shows the Jurby Head area as it was until 1993. The original 1940s range area is marked with the red boundary.
See John Wornham’s web page: http://www.island-images.co.uk/index2026.html
John Wornham writes: “The bombing targets were triangular rafts on the sea. Constructed of wood with buoyancy tanks, with an armour plated superstructure and a mast with a wicker sighting mark. The actual target buoy was surrounded by three others to show the area that the trainees were supposed to land their bombs in.” (Right: Image from video on Culture Vannin Youtube channel showing the construction of the sea targets at Jurby Bombing Range.)
As shown in the above map on John Wornham's website, the bombing range was a limited area within which the triangular targets were moored with buoyancy tanks. As noted in the RAF Jurby Head Operations Record Book for January 1974, one of those targets had broken loose and become beached in the stormy weather that had persisted during the winter of 1973 and 1974: "On 5th (January) RMAS Mandarin arrived from Greenock to tow away the No.2 Target which broke away from its moorings and had been beached since 13th December. However the weather was such that Mandarin was unable to connect a tow and she left for Greenock after three days to meet her maintenance programme. On 16th January Mr.D.Mitchell arrived with two salvage officers and they anchored the target, which was in danger of being swept away from the island, and on the 21st (January) the target was taken in tow by RMAS Uplifter." (See "Target Maintenance" - Section 5, on page 3 and part of page 4 of the RAF Jurby Head record book below.)
Construction of sea target at Jurby Bombing Range, Isle of Man. (click on image to enlarge)
Freedom of Information Request, National Archives (UK)
In September 2016 we contacted the National Archives in Kew and made a FOIA request for RAF Jurby Head Operations Record Books for November 1973 and January 1974. They kindly scanned the archived records for us for a nominal charge.
British and American Air Forces
The Operations Records Books indicated that RAF Jurby Head bombing range was used by British and American air forces for target practice both night and day. Looking at the Operations Record of RAF Jurby Head Range for November 1973 and January 1974, the RAF made no night flights. At the time there was fairly severe fuel rationing plus there were very inclement weather conditions. The US Air Force F4s were not using the Range much as they were doing photo flash exercises on the east coast. NOTE: In January 1974, the RAF logged NO flights at all. The following are the first two pages of RAF Jurby Head Operations Record Book for November 1973:
The following are the first three pages and part of page 4 of RAF Jurby Head Range Operations Record Book for January 1974. Note that on page 3, Section 5 - "Target Maintenance" - it is mentioned that one of the sea targets had broken loose on 13th December 1973 and was beached due to the stormy weather of that winter. As previously noted, the RAF made no night flights during December 1973 and January 1974 - and NO flights whatsoever in January 1974. So the RAF could not have been involved with any photo flash exercises, should they have even occurred, on the dates of 14th December 1973 and 23rd January 1974.
If we refer to the ebook written by Steven Lumley with Russ Kellett and published in 2014, the area that was alleged to have been involved with the huge “Operation Photoflash” was from the NW coast of Great Britain, down through the Irish Sea to Puffin Island which is just a short distance off the East coast of Anglesey. It was at Puffin Island where all the action allegedly occurred! The image (right) links to Steven Lumley's book.
However, in an attempt to support the above claims made in the ebook, Lumley wrote about photo flash exercises dating back to 1967: “But this photoflash exercise isn’t the first time such activity has been recorded in the area. The Merseyside UFO Bulletin from February 1968 gives great detail about a UFO flap which occurred over Liverpool and the North Wales coast between October 25th to the 27th in 1967. Part of the official explanation for sightings made on October 25th at 7pm at Huyton, Wallasey and Mossley Hill, and later over North Wales, is that there was a formation of four RAF planes undertaking a photoflash exercise ‘over and around’ the Isle of Man. On those three dates, there are lots of reports from people who saw strange objects in the sky and some also report a strange ‘whining noise’ that occurred at various points and some describe being awakened by a sound ‘that sounded like an express train rushing through a tunnel’. Witness say the objects they saw not only changed colour when in the sky but also changed their shape too.”
So photo flash exercises were known to be common occurrences!
As we now know, photo flash bombing exercises were quite regular occurrences at the Isle of Man’s Jurby Range, so it is likely that such exercises would coincide with celestial happenings! Bombing ranges are for bombing practices! Night and day!
Right: Short video (2003) showing the remnants of Jurby Range looking out over the Irish Sea. (Culture Vannin Youtube channel) Comment below from under the video:
Feasibility of a military operation around Puffin Island
As regards the alleged massive operation of January 1974, we must take a look at feasibility. Below are two maps of the area in question.
Map showing Puffin Island off the East coast of Anglesey
Chart indicating depths of water (blues), sandbanks (green), shipping channel (purple) and shipwrecks (Wk)
The claim of warships engaging in a military operation, presumably within a generous 5 miles of the Welsh coastline specifically centred on Puffin Island - an islet 500 yards off the coast of the Isle of Anglesey - and the fact that in the area of sea claimed where this event occurred is far too shallow even at the highest tides possible for such vessels to operate. In fact much of it dries out on an ebbing tide. Russ Kellett has clung to the story that the event did in fact happen. What indeed has happened is despite that tenacity, a huge chunk of the story simply cannot be true based on the tidal information alone.
Somewhere near Puffin Island it is claimed that warships forced USOs out of the sea and an altercation took place with both sides firing on each other. Again, no one seems to have seen or heard anything.In the map/image (upper right) we get to see just how difficult it would be for any large ship to operate freely in the waters there off the southern east coast of Anglesey.The exposed sandbank areas are in green.The darker blue which in this image is some twice as large in area as the images above is clearly marked in depth.The lighter blue area is deeper water.However, the largest ships need to use the shipping channel marked purple. Only further north of this is any water found deep enough where the likes of tankers, warships and the like operate freely.Note the shipwrecks (Wk) which are scattered across the area.
Tide Table for January 1974
As is observable in this image (left), at low tide large expanses of sand are exposed due to the shallow nature of the sea here. In fact, the largest vessels - including all medium to large warships - can only use the shipping channel into Liverpool which is ten miles or so north of Puffin Island, and the nearest permanently deep water allowing free unrestricted passage of large vessels is a minimum 15 miles north of Puffin Island. It is also the case that even in 1974, the coastal area as seen in this image was quite heavily populated, yet not one person has ever come forward publicly to claim that flashes or bangs were seen or heard.
Water depths - Tidal ebbs and flows
From the water depths chart (upper right), it is clear that no large ships of the calibre suggested could operate in the green and darker blue areas and only with extreme caution in the lighter blue area. The touch of white is indicative of water deep enough to operate in at all states of the tide.For those unfamiliar with tides, essentially the tide comes in and goes out (flows and ebbs) twice a day. The lowest a tide can be is 00.00 ft/metres. Although the sea is deepening at the average rate of 6mm/annum, a 10.5 m tide in Britain is the highest we will get. Approximately 34 ft. That means that when the tide goes out to its lowest possible point 00.00 ft, if it was a 34 ft tide 6 hours later, the water would be 34 ft deep directly above that 00.00 point at maximum high tide, where after it will start to ebb again and the water will shallow.This is crucial to the claim that warships hunted and forcibly exposed USOs anywhere near Puffin Island on January 23rd 1974. In the image upper right, when the tide is in, the green bits are under water and when the tide goes out, the sand is exposed again. You can see clearly that 0 ft or m is at the edge of the green. This shows that at those points, the tide will be at its maximum lowest point. So, if the highest tide possible was to occur, directly above those 0 points, the water can only be 34 ft deep.In the darker blue areas, the water can only be 34 ft deeper and also for the two other shades.In the lighter blue area, only the shipping lane is regarded as the safest area for shipping, benefitting from deeper water as each tide increases depth.Depth throughout the month varies as tides are dependent on the Moon's gravity and to a lesser extent, the Sun's gravity. But generally, the further away the Moon, the less height in the tide. So the highest tides of the month occur when the Moon is closest to the Earth.Now that might sound basic, but in this case, it is quite crucial.
The Tide Table for January 1974 above right is of the local tide times affecting the area claimed in the book. The 23rd of January 1974 (image right) not only shows the times of the tides at both high and low water points at Beaumaris, just two miles from Puffin Island, but it shows that the tide did not turn to flow until 17.20 hours. It was dark then, but crucially, all the green area on the chart image above would have been green. The water would have deepened at the rate of some 3.5 ft/hour over the six hours to high water, making high tide at 23.02 hours. At high water at that time, the depth of water above 0 on the edge of the green areas was just under 23 ft. That tide coincided with a New Moon which produces only the lowest of the high tides, so this tide was only 23 ft deeper than at low tide. The water in the darker blue area also could only have been 23 ft deeper at 23.02 hrs than at 17.20 hrs. As soon as that maximum is reached, the tide turns to ebb and starts to shallow over the next 6 hour period.
Tidal data for 23rd January 1974
NOTE: Not only was it impossible for shipping to be present at the location claimed, but the tide was also out anyway making the water as shallow as it almost could be.The Berwyn Event on Cader Berwyn technically started at 20.38h.
What we now know
In summary, we know that Jurby Range, Isle of Man, held bombing exercises both night and day. That was the purpose of a bombing range. Air crews from various RAF stations and USAF bases around Great Britain used Jurby Range, as well as other ranges such as Donna Nook and Wainfleet on the east coast. The Photo Flash exercise that was mentioned in the Coastguard log for 23rd January 1974 was just one of many no doubt. Just like the entry in the 14th November 1973 Coastguard log. Nothing special. No RAF flights occurred in the month of January 1974. It does seem rather remiss for entries made in said Coastguard log books to omit entering the start and end times of the exercises, given how particular the Coastguards were with regard to recording green, white and orange flares plus other unusual lights seen out over the sea.
As regards the story about a massive military operation - allegedly somehow connected to Jurby Range, Isle of Man - and a naval altercation taking place around the area of Puffin Island off Anglesey, the probability of that having ever occurred would appear to be zero.
Berwyn 19 - Tiny base stone to skyscraper
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