UK Government Release UFO Files

The UK's Ministry of Defence has released two sets of previously classified files regarding UFO sightings dating back to the 1970s, including witness accounts and the government's response. On May 14th, the MOD released files to the National Archive as part of a four-year project to make them available to curious members of the public.

The documents include hundreds of police reports taken from witnesses who describe seeing lights or strange objects in the sky, from southern England and Wales up to Northern Ireland.The files cover reports from 1978 to 1987. The rest, dating from the 1950s and covering recent history, will be released over the coming years.

Nick Pope, the well known UFO investigator who once worked on the MOD's 'UFO Desk', has been involved in their release and appears in an official National Archives video regarding the release of the documents (which can be viewed below.)

A second batch of UFO documents were released in October 2008. 19 files have been declassified which are now available from the National Archives website.

There are several interesting documents, including an incident that involved a near miss between an Italian airliner and a UFO over the skies of Kent in April 1991. The report, which was filed by the Civil Aviation Authority, describes how the Alitalia flight, on its way to Heathrow, had a near miss with a 'missile-shaped' object that was beige in colour, which moved in an east to west direction, across their field of vision. The UFO must have been close to the plane as the pilot called out 'Look out, look out' to his co-pilot (who confirmed the sighting.)

Air traffic control also confirmed that their radar had picked up 'an object behind the aircraft quite clearly, primary return.'

This incident was not unique however, as there were two more incidents filed by the MOD in 1991 that involved near misses between aircraft and UFO's.

Four passengers aboard a Boeing 737 reported a 'wingless projectile', flying underneath the aircraft as they were taking off, whilst on a flight from Gatwick to Hamburg, in June 1991. They informed the pilot, who then reported the incident to the Ministry of Defence and the Civil Aviation Authority. Another report was made the following month by the crew of a 737 that was descending into Gatwick. The crew described seeing a 'dark, lozenge shaped object' zooming by the side of the aircraft. Air traffic control confirmed that they had a 'primary target' on their radar screens and warned another aircraft that was descending behind the 737 to take evasive action. This aircraft had to take a sharp turn to avoid the unidentified object, which appeared to be heading straight towards them, but then turned away.

There was a full investigation of both of these incidents. One of them was officially reported as a near miss, with a suggestion that the object may have been some kind of balloon or perhaps a meteorological balloon. Personally, however, I find it highly unlikely that such a device would be allowed anywhere near the busy airspace over Gatwick airport.

There are also a few reports in the files of military aircraft pilots seeing unidentified objects, which have been verified on radar.

A F-86D fighter jet - similar to the one flown by Milton Torres

One of the most interesting files tells of a US air force fighter pilot based at RAF Manston, in Kent, who was scrambled to intercept a UFO that was allegedly as big as a B-52 bomber on his radar screen! He was ordered to fire a full salvo of 24 missiles, but before he could, the object vanished over the skies of East Anglia. The incident happened during the Cold War, in the late 1950's, but the case didn't emerge until the 1980's, after the pilot revisited the air force base for a reunion, where he met with some of his former colleagues and started talking about their experiences.

The pilot, Milton Torres, from the 406th Fighter-Bomber wing, was on 24 hour alert during the height of the Cold War, and was ordered to scramble his Sabre F-86D jet fighter at around midnight. As his plane reached 32,000 feet, he was told to intercept a mysterious object that RAF ground control had been watching for quite some time. As he got within 15 miles of the object, his airborne radar locked on. However, he could not see anything visually, despite the object appearing on his radar screen as big as a B-52 bomber?

He was then ordered to fire 24 rockets towards the object. He questioned the order as he had never been requested to shoot any aircraft before, especially over the English countryside. After confirmation came back from ground control, he started to ready his weapons when the object suddenly started to move, and disappeared from the scope. He reported what had happened back to ground control, who confirmed that the object had disappeared from their scopes at a fantastic speed.

The day after the incident, an agent from the National Security Agency (NSA) arrived at the base to debrief the pilot. He was told in no uncertain terms that what he had seen was top secret and wasn't to be debated with anyone. He was warned that he would be grounded if he broke his oath of security. He decided to keep quiet for the next 32 years, until 1988.

When the story broke, ufologists wrote to the MoD for the official records on the incident. Unfortunately, according to the MoD, all records prior to 1967 were destroyed every five years. The USAF also claim to not have any records regarding this incident.

David Clarke, a UFO expert at Sheffield Hallam University, believes that perhaps the pilot was a guinea pig in a test of the secret CIA Palladium project which was developed in the 1960s. The project involved the creation of phantom aircraft on radar to fool the Russians so that the Americans could test the capabilities of the Russian radar systems.

The MoD released the files, covering 1986 to 1992, after a flood of requests from enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists who are convinced the truth is out there.

AN RAF expert has revealed how he tracked a whole fleet of “spaceships” on military radar. He has kept silent for more than 35 years, but now has come forward with the truth.

Wing Commander Alan Turner, 64, said colleagues sat stunned when 35 super-fast vessels appeared on their screens. Turner, who was a chief operator of the RAF’s radar system for 29 years, said the craft were equally spaced and shot from 3,000ft to 60,000ft at almost 300mph.

Incredibly, every few seconds one of the UFOs would suddenly vanish from radar and be replaced by an identical vessel moments later. According to Turner, six military radars, plus operators at Heathrow, spotted the UFOs east of Salisbury Plain and filed reports on the unexplained phenomenon in 1971.

The incident, which has baffled and haunted Turner for decades, took place at RAF Sopley on the south-west coast of England in the summer of 1971.

The RAF chief even drew a map charting their flight in between key sites like RAF Lyneham, Wilts, and the aircraft navigation transmitter at Brookmans Park, Herts. Three days later, the Ministry of Defence visited the RAF and instructed staff to “never speak about the incident again”.

Wing Cmdr Turner, who retired from the RAF in 1995, said: “UFOs are a fact — I tracked them on military radar units. What I saw defied all logic and was, quite frankly, extraordinary. It wasn’t just me."

Turner said: “I instantly knew this wasn’t a convoy of military planes. The only craft with that rate of climb were supersonic lightning aircraft but they wouldn’t have been able to hold such a perfect formation. They also make a lot of noise. No one heard a thing on the night in question.”

Turner, a former head of air traffic control at RAF Lossiemouth, insists it is "stupid and arrogant" to rule out the existence of extra-terrestrials and is open to the suggestion that he witnessed craft from another world.

"I have no idea what they were, but I certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility that they were UFOs. There is certainly a chance that we have been visited by extra-terrestrials," he said. "It is terribly arrogant and silly to think that we are alone in the universe."

He feels the time is right to end his silence and has accepted an invitation to be the keynote speaker at an international UFO conference in Pontefract, Yorkshire, in October.

"I have spoken to three ex-Air Force mates, who held senior positions, and they have seen similar things, but did not report them as they felt their personal integrity would be questioned. That is why I kept quiet for so long, but I know what I saw."