Nineteen - A tiny base stone upon which was built a skyscraper
Or how a one-line Coastguard log entry spawned the elaborate tale of a massive battle, spanning land, sea and air, between the military and alleged multiple extra-terrestrial craft
Image: Scott Felton standing just below Garth Goch from where Mike Saville and family observed the glowing object
As I write this, it is actually the 23rd of January, 2026. I usually have a stroll up to the Berwyn UFO landing site and or wild camp near the spot. (See page 14 for wild camp on 23rd Janary 2022) The weather isn't always kind and today, it is awful. Not a great start to 2026 weatherwise.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency log books
I'm penning this after several false starts. The actual subject matter concerns Maritime and Coastguard Agency log books which I and another obtained through dogged refusal to accept the official narrative that such didn't exist. The clue was that in order for self-styled UFO researcher Russ Kellett to obtain a letter from the MCA dated April 2nd 2000, a log book in part or whole must have existed even if the content was a lie.
The Infamous MCA Letter
In April 2000 Mr Kellett received a letter from the Holyhead Coastguard station claiming that a log existed suggesting a military photoflash exercise took place off the North Wales coast on the night of 23rd Jan' '74 - the night of the Berwyn UFO event. This was meant to suggest that a previous claim made to UFO researcher Mrs Margaret Fry in 1996 and later by 1999 to Russ Kellett that a naval exercise took place off the North Wales coast hunting UFOs hiding on the sea bed. This was a hoax pushed by a man known as John Williams aka JW or JW Conway. Essentially, Mr Kellett swallowed the hoax story when every other researcher laughed it off. In turn he was fed fake information culminating in a tip off that Holyhead Coastguard station had information proving the exercise (which became known as "Operation Photoflash") actually happened. The story relating to the hoax and its connection to the Berwyn UFO 'crash' is documented elsewhere throughout this website.
The fake coastal ET Hunt
The main problem with the fake coastal ET hunt and ensuing shoot out between military forces - and flushed out UFOs resulting in an alien craft crashing in the Berwyn hills - is that by the mid-1990s, evidence was emerging that the UFO presence on the slopes of Cader Berwyn/Moel Sych was in fact a controlled landing with the craft taking off after a period of around 100 minutes. If it took off, there was no catastrophic crash, secret clean up and recovery of dead and alive aliens. It didn't help of course that to date, the alleged UFO "crash" site was moved at least three times in order to head off new, emerging evidence of such a controlled landing. (See Scott Felton's critique page about Russ Kellett's Alien Invasion book.)
The original crash site as related to Margaret Fry in 1996 was in an undisclosed location just outside Llandrillo but aside the main road passing through the village. This was in total defiance of even the original crash claim which was obviously viewable from the B 4391 road some 5 miles away at least.
The ever-changing Story
It is my belief that whoever concocted the story did so initially remotely with no idea of the area and simply invented the story and centred it at Llandrillo for no other reason than that village was the focus of Police and indeed covert military activity.
The story altered by 1999 and the location moved three miles down the road to the outskirts of Llandderfel village to tie in with the obvious issue of the real UFO location be it crash or landing. Incredibly, Russ Kellett accepted the revised crash location, still beside the same road, but in the full knowledge the story had changed significantly.
Exploration of the revised crash/landing area
I spent a day exploring the revised spot and indeed produced a video of it. (see right) I knew the location had changed and I knew the revised land the craft allegedly crashed on to. I also knew of a string of things which made that very site impossible. Mr Kellett became aware of my claims, then he himself tried to move the site from a field one side of the River Dee to a field on the other side when he realised it was not possible for a UFO to crash in the farther field and be sustained by the other claims to uphold it. In turn, he wrote a book trying to further uphold and cling on to the Operation Photoflash hoax years after everyone realised the crash was never true and a controlled landing and departure took place.
John Williams, source of disinformation
Mr Kellett was told by John Williams, who was the sole conduit for fake information being seeded into the UFO community about the Operation Photoflash lie, that HHCG station had supporting information. Going back to my earlier mention of log books, later enquiries produced information that under the MCA's own rules, all log books should have been destroyed by 1999. Yet, later that year or in early 2000, John Williams whom I've connected to HHCG station, told Mr Kellett to contact the station. He did and in time received the infamous letter.
The convenient discovery of a Coastguard log book
The problem here is that Russ Kellett, already mesmerised by the hoax claim, simply accepted the content of that letter, even going so far as to proclaim it a sort of Holy Grail. It was completely fake. An associate of JW Conway (more like conman) within the HHCG station staffing was expecting Mr Kellett's enquiry. The trap was set. Mr. Kellett received the letter but amazingly didn't publish it for several years, probably at the behest of John Williams. The reason why was obvious as a flood of enquiries would come in and too many eyes scrutinising the letter will have exposed it for what it was almost immedately.
The letter suggested there were virtually no log books available, but just enough, coincidentally, to back up the photoflash claim. Various FOIs were submitted and despite huge frustration tactics, the MCA eventually admitted in September 2016 that such log books existed and copies were supplied. Years of them. By chance, log books had been put in storage and escaped the incinerator or shredder. Despite some being open and some being redacted depending on the applicant and their geographic address, complete log books were supplied and the content damning. (See Page 18 - Photo Flash Exercises at Jurby Range, IOM)
Conspirators within HHCG staff did indeed hold a copy in part or whole of a relevant log book and probably had done so for several years. Keep in mind the hoax was initiated to Margaret Fry in 1996 so it is reasonable to assume log book entries were held back with the intention of promoting the hoax further. It is imperative to note also that Margaret Fry was always the intended target, I believe to use her influence at the time within the UFO community to spread disinformation into said community then destroy her by pulling the rug from under her when the time was right. That failed so Russ Kellett became the stooge. However in 2001, once that letter emerged, John Williams re-approached Margaret Fry claiming new evidence had come to light to show the UFO crash was real. She rejected it again and the disinformation agents were stuck with Russ Kellett and a hoax in its death throes
The Daily Post, a North Wales circulation newspaper has a history of running anti-UFO stories and supporting the hoax claim. It has been happy to support Mr Kellett's persistence with the crash claim originating from the alleged  "Operation Photoflash" but then it is happy to denigrate Ufology with fringe subject matter like Russ Kellett being an abductee who is then used as a super soldier fighting in an extra terrestrial war before being returned to his home ready for the next call up.
Why no cross-referencing?
Russ Kellett was so enthralled by the HHCG letter of April 2nd 2000, he didn't see what I and others did, that being a reference to log books. The Holyhead Coastguard station as are all others part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, government bodies with authority. The various stations dotted around the Irish sea are linked to a main station. In this instance Holyhead. Each station has staff who record everything and conduct their own sea and sky watches. Anything unusual or mundane is recorded in the log book of the day. Such records might be small boats telling where they are departing and what time they are expected back. Commercial shipping too. Whatever the info', it is then relayed to all the other coastguard stations. Lights in the sky are important as they might be distress flares and members of the public might phone in saying they've seen something odd. It is all recorded and shared. (See Page 18 - Photo Flash Exercises at Jurby Range, IOM)
MCA Letter was kept in Station scrapbook
This latter, sharing, is something that was lost on Mr Kellett. He accepted the content of the April 2nd 2000 letter wholesale. He never once considered verifying it with records from other stations. As it was tailor-made for him and never officially existed, even though HHCG passed it off as a fact in FOI requests for example, it would not be duplicated in any other log book. (The letter was actually kept in the "Station scrapbook" according to Raymond Carson, the station manager. See right.) The only thing which could be duplicated correctly was the official notifcation from Jurby bombing range that on the evening of 23rd January 1974 there was a scheduled photoflash bombing exercise planned at the Jurby range in the Isle of Man.
The Isle of Man and Jurby Bombing Range
For the uninitiated, the Irish sea is quite different to other parts of the British coastline. The western flank is mainly of the Republic of Ireland, a bit of Northern Ireland (UK) and within the sea is the Isle of Man, not part of Great Britain. For that reason, the bombing range existed at Jurby. Jurby itself was spelled incorrectly by the HHCG as "Jerby" (an obvious red flag) along with the fake letterhead and incorrect format. The bombing range is in the north west of the island and only visible by line of sight to the Irish coast and part of the Scottish coast. It is invisible to all but a bit north west England and certainly not visible from anywhere on the north Welsh coast. Anyway, the Isle of Man is best part of seventy miles from Holyhead and the nearest auxillary coastguard station at Porth Dinllaen on the Llyn Peninsula. The next nearest auxillary station was at Formby in Merseyside.
Google Earth map showing the Isle of Man with distances to two Coastguard stations and Jurby Range, Isle of Man.
Mr Kellett was also led to believe that photoflash bombs were submarine devices which in this case could light up the seabed and expose the hiding UFOs or USOs if you prefer?
Did the Photo Flash exercise of 23rd January 1974 happen....or not?
In truth, the retrieved log books suggest that photoflash exercises at Jurby were frequent but often postponed or cancelled due to bad weather. There was indeed a scheduled bombing event that night but it may not have happened. HHCG was informed and the information recorded in the log book. I personally have been suspicious of the log entries anyway as the reported planned event at Jurby was recorded correctly, but there was no entry mentioning any cancellation or indeed had the event occurred, closure. This would be imperative to allow the coastguard to differentiate between military lights and distress flares. Of course the record mentions only a photoflash bombing exercise at Jurby and not any bombing event anywhere else such as off the North Wales coast. Also, the number of flashes had they been visible would have been classified so little chance of any coastguard employee having access to that info'. The same would apply to the number of aircraft mentioned in the letter.
"Operation Photoflash" was born
It took Police over 24 hours to make the public claim that lights reported in the North Wales skies "might" have been lights from a photoflash event at Jurby despite the obvious distances involved. No mention of such an event off the North Wales coast, unseen by thousands of potential witnesses. No mention of explosions or warships in seawater too shallow to permit them. No mention the Jurby event never happened because of bad weather. And out of this in time was born the "Operation Photoflash" event, based on a manipulated log entry, a tiny base stone upon which was built a skyscraper of a structure, a fantastic story of how the Berwyn UFO came to crash in the Berwyn range of hills.
Scott L. Felton 23rd January 2026 (updated 27th January 2026)
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