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MOD file DEFE 24/2032/1

The Black Vault · 492 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Ministry of Defence file, released through The National Archives and published by The Black Vault, holds the MOD's 2002 handling of Dr David Clarke's requests for UFO documents under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. It includes the MOD's 9 December 2002 reply, which covered reports from 1976, 1980, 1993 and 1996 and charged £260. It also contains internal emails and file requisitions, plus Foreign Office and United Nations papers from 1978 on Grenada's proposal for UFO research.

  • p. 255 …Following this report, I contacted the Police Control Headquarters at Exeter, Devon and was informed by…
  • p. 256 …a report of this event with their headquarters. After this call, I contacted the Plymouth police…
  • p. 285 …This type of report need not be referred to Headquarters and may be forwarded direct to…
  • p. 323 …Following this report, I contacted the Police Control Headquarters at Exeter, Devon and was informed by…
  • p. 324 …a report of this event with their headquarters. After this call, I contacted the Plymouth police…
  • p. 353 …This type of report need not be referred to Headquarters and may be forwarded direct to…
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(8)
This indicates that they were not normal jet aircraft trails,
but do seem synonymous with something like the trail of a
'shooting star'-.-
After evaluating these reports and giving due regards to
peoples different perspectives of the objects, it is reasonable
. - t
to assume that they, like the police officers, had also
observed the spent rocket on its south easterly travels.
As a footnote, I have also received a report from Mr
......,of the British Astronomical Association, that two people,
one in Belgium and one from the south of France, also observed
some bright objects flying in a south easterly direction. The
French report indicates a number of objects (6 or 7) and this
I believe is the breakup of the original two seen earlier over
Ireland and the south west coast of England. The Belgium report
is not very comprehensive, but the 'sighter' is believed to
have seen them from his location, most probablj over France,
but not over Belgium.
What is evident here, is that ~lthough I cannot be absolutely
certain that the two objects seen was the re-entry of the
Russian Space Rockets, their presence at this time and their
reported locations, must be a strong consideration. Given the
known height of these objects - between 80kms and lOOkms, and
the time they would have taken to traverse from horizon to
horizon, some 2 to 3 minutes and certainly not less than one
minute, then it can be reasonable assumed that from their known
flight path i.e. from Ireland over Lands End and on over
France, they would easily have been seen from as far away as
Somerset and most probably even further! On the night in
question there was very little cloud cover, which would have
afforded all of the 'sighter~' a clear view for many miles.
(9)

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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 492 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.