Documents / Document
This MoD file, titled UFOs - Persistent Correspondence - Dr David Clarke, holds Dr David Clarke's Freedom of Information requests and emails to the Directorate of Air Staff from 2005 to 2008. Clarke asked for the DI55 report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region and for Rendlesham papers. He also sought records about Nick Pope. Other items include an internal review that released redacted passages on plasmas, the MoD's statement that it had no report of the 2008 South Wales police helicopter sighting, and a 2009 disposal form.
“UFO Research Society”3 pages
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What about 9/11? Shouldn't the MOD be taking all reports of unidentified objects seriously given the ongoing terrorist threat? Isn't this the wrong time to take your eye off the ball?
The MOD takes its duties to defend UK airspace extremely serious. The integrity of the UK's airspace in peacetime is maintained through continuous surveillance of the UK Air Policing Area by the Royal Air Force. This is achieved by using a combination of civil and military radar installations, which provide a continuous real-time "picture" of the UK airspace. Any threat to the UK Air Policing Area would be handled in the light of the particular circumstances at the time (it might if deemed appropriate, involve the scrambling or diversion of air defence aircraft). These measures are not connected to, or dependent on, the MOD receiving UFO reports from the public.
Is Nick Pope aware of this report, and if so did he have any input into it? No, Nick Pope would not have had any input into this report and would not have been aware of it. He left the department which deals with UFO matters in 1994 and this study was part of a policy review between 1996 and 2000.
The report suggests that there is a possibility that unexplained RAF aircraft accidents or near miss incidents may have been caused by the sudden appearance of UFOs (UAP). Why was this not considered when these were first investigated? [Volume 1, Chapter 4, Paragraphs 19-21] During investigations into aircraft accidents and near miss events, all available evidence is examined. The possibility that the aircrew could have been surprised or startled by the sudden appearance of an object (identified or unidentified) in their vicinity it taken into consideration. In the course of this study RAF Aircraft Accidents over a 30 year period were examined to identify those where aircraft had impacted the surface, due to what appeared to be sudden and inappropriate control inputs by the crew. It was concluded that for various reasons as detailed in the report none of these could be directly correlated with evidence of UFO sightings. Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 160 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.