MOD file DEFE 24/2032/1

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1309 Unkhwtified [ 18 JANUARY 1979] Flying Objects 1310
debris, hut, my Lords, the phenomena can
be astonishing. illusions to 'vhich the noble Earl Lord
Halsbury referred. One scientist, whose
task inciudes watchinsr satellites, describes
how, when observing stars near moving
douds, he fincis it difdcult to escape the
Last April the Ministry of Deti.:nce
received reports of a large piece of debris
re-entering aciOss :he South of England.
Most reports were factual, but one spoke
of an 1 illusion that the stars an: flying past
I stationary clouds. The nobk Earl, Lord
! Halsbury, referred to the green flash.
! I used to see it myself in Alexandria when
i on leave. It was one of our evcnin~
•• ... oval thing with a white cockpit which bvercd
for a while then shot off at great speed ·•.
My Lords. we .:annot pro\e that this was
not a UFO. but it occurred ~d the same time 1
and place as known re-entry of debris.
pastimes to sit on the prom:;nadc and
\Vatch it go down over tlw sea.
Many reports relate to aircraft seen in My Lord~, in 1968, the United States
unusual conditions at unusual agglcs. Air Force commissioned the Univer~ity
One recent UFO was confidently reported of Coloradl) to C3.rry out an independent
on local radio. Again, my Lords, we study into UFO phenomena. Their
cannot prove that it was not a UFO, but report, which was published in 1969, was
we do know that an RAF Vulcan bomber very substantial and detailed and it
on a low-flying mission passed the same covcr~d some 50 examples of such
spot at the same time and on the same phenomena, but added that it was impos-
course as the reported UFO. Aircraft siblc and potentially misleading to try to
lights have led to UFO reports; as ha\e tabulate all of the possible causes of
distant aircraft with landing lights on-- UFO perception: there are simply too
I have seen them mvself-flarcs from many. The report's main come from the study of UFOs
aircraft. Other phenomena include in the p:m 21 ycllrs that ha; added to ~cicntifk
meteorological balloons. The Meteoro- knowledge.,_
logical Oftlce alone releases 50 such The findings of this report were cndors.:d
balloons every day, which expand to 40ft. by a panel of tb;;: National Academy of
in diameter and rise to 100,000 ft. and can Sciences.
be lit by the sun after dark. lViany other There really are tens of thousands of
organisations. such as universities, use strange things- to he seen. It is the custom
balloons, some much larger. Meteoro- to call such :-hcnomena '' UFOs ", and
logical searchJiglJts shine on clouds: the to transpose t'nis easily into H alien space
beam itself cannN be se;;:n; only a point 1 craft". Often the apptarancc is too
of light in the sky. There arc hot air, : fleeting and th~ description too imprecise
balloons ar~d kitt.'s: even birds have bten for a particuiar cause to be attributed.
reported as UFOs; lights on distant towers; What we can say is that there is a great
car headlights on distant hills; dust devils; variety of plain explanations. There is
and airborne debris carried by the wind. no need, I suggest, for the far-fetched
hypothesis of alien space craft.All these phenomena can be mis-
interpreted by the most sensible observers,
particularly when seen unexpectedly and
briefly and in unusual atmospheric con-
ditions. This is what opponents of the
natural explanations forget. With dis-
. tortions of light, and mirages, the most
commonplace things can be so changed
as to be barely recognisable. For instance.
I am told that the US Air Force attributed
the 1947 sighting by Arnold described by
- the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, to a
mirage effect.
Phenomena seen through glass are
suspect. There arc phenomena generated
within the eyeball and there are optical
To genuine' sightings we must, however,
add hallucinations: the excited tales of
the gullible: and the embellishments of
the born rom~ntic, There ·arc also in-
dications tlwt ufologists accept reports
of UFOs somewhat uncritically. The
noble Enrl, Lord Clancarty, referred to
a papyrus found among the papers of a
Professor Tulli recording Hying saucers
during the reign of Thutmose III. The
Colarado Report, which I mentioned ear-
lier, inquired in!o this story. The alleged
papyrus could not be traced, but internal
eYidence in the trans.l<!tion suggested a
fake; inquiries with the Vatican Museum
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