AN abandoned RAF site dubbed Britain’s ‘Area 51’ is a magnet for UFO hunters, urban explorers and conspiracy theorists who believe it was once home to government investigations into aliens.

From the outside, Rudloe Manor in Wiltshire looks like your typical 17^th century Grade II listed house set in quiet rural surroundings.

But in 1950 it was taken over and became home to the RAF’s police and secret service personnel, covering espionage and counterintelligence.

And thanks to documents released in 2010 it emerged it also dealt with sightings of UFOs, leading to rumours it was hiding parts of flying saucers and even extra-terrestrial corpses recovered from crashes.

Urban explorer Gareth Smith told The Sun: “I’ve been to Rudloe a total of five times in the past 15 years. The last time I went was a year ago, and it’s almost like nature is taking it back.

“I’ve been there in the daytime and at night, and it’s pretty spooky. Inside the buildings there are brambles growing through the walls, upturned desks and chairs, and you definitely feel on edge, as well as the adrenalin pumping.

“Seeing it over the years, every time I went there I went into a different building, and the change is kind of apocalyptic.”

The base was also featured on an episode of the American TV show Ancient Aliens that explores the theory that this was top-secret government research on aliens.

Top secret documents declassified in 2010 confirmed RAF Rudloe, between Corsham and Box in Wiltshire, WAS used as a UFO intelligence base.

It was home to the Flying Complaints Flight, a unit of the RAF Police which gathered reports of UFO sightings near RAF bases and passed them to the Ministry of Defence headquarters.

Ministers heard weekly reports of UFO sightings and Churchill once even ordered one reported meeting between RAF planes and a UFO to be kept secret for at least five decades in order to prevent “mass panic”. 

This is what led to it being dubbed the country’s ‘Area 51’, after the US Air Force’s military base associated with extra-terrestrial  activity including the infamous Roswell incident and government cover-ups.

Wiltshire has long been an epicentre of strange activity, including crop circles, UFOs, and mysterious ancient sites like Stonehenge. 

And to add further intrigue, the base sits on top of a vast maze of underground tunnels and bunkers built in old Bath Stone quarries that was essentially a city able to house as many as 4,000 people.

Government ministers would also have been evacuated to here in case of a nuclear attack on Britain, and there was even a section dedicated to the Royal Family. 

There was also a BBC TV studio that the government would have used to broadcast to the nation while war raged above ground.

Top secret

Although Rudloe Manor is now a separate dwelling belonging to a local family, the RAF site and its 40 prefabricated buildings still lay abandoned, surrounded by security fences topped with razor wire.

Today, a metal gate covers the old entrance bearing the sign ‘private, keep out’, windows of the huts are boarded up or smashed out, while several oil tanks capable of holding 6,000 gallons lie peeling, covered in graffiti and vandalised.

Dog walkers use the old access road for exercise, but locals remain tight-lipped for fear of inviting more conspiracy theorists or intruders.

Despite the efforts made to secure the compound, those determined enough to battle through the brambles and scale or slip through the fencing have been able to explore the eerily quiet site and its abandoned buildings.

Gareth added: “I’ve explored the camp but never got into the house itself, it would have been pointless. It was left for 20 years in a state of dilapidation. I know someone who’s really into UFOs who got into Rudloe Manor, but it was just a shell, just rooms blocked off with breeze blocks and in a complete state of disrepair.

“I’ve only been in the old RAF buildings though. I just find the way somewhere can be left as it was with signs of what used to go on there just fascinating.

“It became known as the UK’s Area 51 because of the rumours of UFO investigations and then some suggested there were old parts of the spacecraft or even aliens. 

“It doesn’t make sense there was anything like that, because it was a non-flying military base, it had no runways. They would have investigated reports of the unexplained in the air, and I’m sure that’s still done somewhere else today.

“We’ve all seen videos of unexplained objects in the air, or UFOs, but personally I think most things can be explained, so I think it’s a pretty bold claim there was ever anything like that at Rudloe, other than documents.

“Last year when I went, I didn’t get past the boundary because there was security to stop the many people they had breaking in there.”

UFO reports

A source close to the new owners of Rudloe Manor claims the property, which lay empty for 20 years before it was renovated, is still regularly targeted for its historical link to the UFO reports.

They told The Sun: “People talk of Rudloe Manor like it’s still connected to the RAF base, but it’s just a family home now and has been since it was sold in 2021.

“That hasn’t stopped people breaking in sadly. It’s happened at least twice in the past few months, with people even trying to take pictures of the children.”

One woman who did not want to be identified said: “We’ve always known about the UFO rumours, some people want it to be true because it’s more interesting.

“The tunnels have long been closed, some of them are believed to be demolished when some of the old Rudloe buildings were crushed into the ground.

“Some people believe parts of a spaceship housed there, but I don’t think it is true.

“I’d love for them to open it for tours, especially to see what the Queen’s chambers would have looked like.”

Other locals suggest the land is ear-marked for development, but no planning applications have currently been submitted.