UFO research guide, August 2011

The National Archives · 2011-08 · 15 pages · text from the file's own layer

The National Archives issued this UFO research briefing guide, written by Dr David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University in March 2008 and revised in August 2011. It traces British government interest in UFOs from the 1909 phantom airships and wartime foo fighters through the 1951 Flying Saucer Working Party, Air Ministry and MoD investigations, and the 1979 House of Lords debate. It lists key files held at Kew, including Rendlesham Forest papers, plus suggestions for further reading.

Open the PDF at page 10 Original source ↗

“Air Ministry intelligence”9 pages

p. 1 …The acronym UFO is an abbreviation for the US Air Force term ‘Unidentified Flying Object.’ It…
p. 2 …Initially intelligence officers at the Air Ministry believed the ‘flying bombs’ (RV Jones memoirs, ‘Most Secret…
p. 3 …Reports and correspondence between the Foreign Office, Air Ministry and the British air attaché in Stockholm…
p. 4 …Air Ministry investigations 1952-64 The sceptical conclusions of the Flying Saucer Working Party set the…
p. 5 …the Air Ministry Secret Intelligence Summary (AMSIS) during March 1955 (DEFE 31/118 and AIR 40…
p. 6 …Air Ministry became part of the new Ministry of Defence and the three separate service intelligence…
p. 8 …Policy files created by the former Air Ministry DDI (Tech) and their successor, the Defence Intelligence…
p. 11 …by the Defence Intelligence Staff branch DI55 and their predecessors, Air Ministry DDI (Tech). Policy files…
p. 12 …Intelligence Staff concerning UFOs as a potential hazard to civil aviation. AIR 2/19119 and AIR…

10
make selected reports available on request to members of the public was reversed in
1984 by defence minister John Stanley on the grounds of cost (DEFE 24/1517).
A total of 17 DS8 and Sec (AS) files were opened under the Freedom of Information Act
during 2008. DEFE 24/1925/1 contains public correspondence 1985-86. DEFE
24/1929/1, DEFE 24/1930/1, DEFE 24/1931/1, DEFE 24/1941/1, DEFE 24/1941/1,
DEFE 24/1942/1 DEFE 24/1949/1 DEFE 24/955/1 DEFE 24/1956/1 and DEFE
24/1957/1 contain correspondence 1986-1992 and can all be accessed through
nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos.
UFO reports files opened during 2008 include DEFE 24/1922/1, DEFE 24/1923/1, DEFE
24/1924/1 (1984-85), DEFE 24/1926/1-1928/1 (1986-88), (1988-89), DEFE 24/1939/1 –
40/1 (1989-1990), DEFE 24/1953/1 – 54/1 (1991-92). DEFE 24/1938/1, opened in March
2009, contains details of sightings reported between August and December 1989.
Files opened in August 2009 include DEFE 24/2086/1 (UFO incidents 30/31 March
1993) and DEFE 24/1972/1 (alleged UFO involvement in the crash of a Lightning F6
aircraft in September 1970)
UFO correspondence files opened in August 2009 include: DEFE 24/1962/1-1965 /1
(covering 1992-1993). Sightings reports files include DEFE 24/1959/1 (1993); DEFE
24/1960/1 (1994), DEFE 24/1961/1 (1995) and DEFE 24/1974/1-1976/1 (1996).
Files opened in February 2010 include: DEFE 24/1971/1(Parliamentary Questions and
Enquiries on UFOs); DEFE 24/1977/1, DEFE 24/1988/1, DEFE 24/1989/1, DEFE
24/1990/1, DEFE 24/2007/1, DEFE 24/2008/1, DEFE 24/2009/1, DEFE 24/2010/1 (UFO
sighting reports).
UFO correspondence files opened in February 2010 include: DEFE 24/1966-1969/1,
DEFE 24/1979-81/1 and DEFE24/1994/1 and files containing persistent correspondence
include, DEFE 24/2000/1, DEFE 24/2002-2003/1, DEFE 24/2016-2017/1, DEFE
24/2029/1, DEFE 24/2091/1 and DEFE 24/2030/1-2032/1 (opened in 2011).
16 files of public correspondence covering the period 1995 to 2003 were released in
August 2010 including DEFE 24/1973/1, DEFE 24/1978/1, DEFE 24/1982/1, DEFE
24/1992-3/1, DEFE 24/1995-6/1, DEFE 24/1998/1, DEFE 24/2012-15/1 and three files of
persistent correspondence: DEFE 24/2001/1, DEFE 24/2042/1 and DEFE 24/2045/1.
Ten further files in this series were opened in March 2011 including DEFE 24/2028/1,
DEFE 24/2040-41/1, DEFE 24/2044/1, DEFE 24/2062-63/1, DEFE 24/2085/1, DEFE
24/2046/1, DEFE 24/2030 and 2032/1.
Ten UFO correspondence files were opened in March 2011 including DEFE 24/1986/1
(1997) and DEFE 24/1997/1 and DEFE 24/1999/1 (1998).Files DEFE 24/2023-2027/1
and 2037-39/1 contain correspondence from 2001-2003. DEFE 24/2060/1, containing
correspondence from 2004 was opened in August 2011.
UFO sighting report files opened in March 2011 include DEFE 24/2021/1 (covering
2001, with two annexes containing colour images), DEFE 24/2022/1, DEFE 24/2036/1.
DEFE 24/2058/1-59/1 (2003-2005). Four files opened in August 2011 include UFO

Cited by

The Devon "Flying Cross" Police Chase 1967

Cases discussed

The British Phantom Airship ("Scareship") Wave of 1909 1909
In 1909 and 1913 phantom airships ... sighted at night
Foo Fighters of World War II 1944
American pilots dubbed these UFOs 'foo-fighters'
The Ghost Rockets (Spökraketer), Scandinavia, 1946 1946
mysterious ghost rockets sighted over Scandinavia
The Kenneth Arnold Sighting 1947
private pilot, Kenneth Arnold, reported seeing nine strange objects
Roswell Incident 1947
8 July 1947 a report came from Roswell, New Mexico
The 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO Flap 1952
UFOs were detected by radars in the US capital Washington DC
The RAF Topcliffe "Perfect Flying Saucer" During Exercise Mainbrace 1952
circular silver object appear above the airfield at RAF Topcliffe
West Freugh Radar Incident 1957
UFOs tracked by radars at RAF West Freugh, Scotland, in April 1957
The Condon Report and the NAS Review, 1966 to 1969 1966
The 'Condon report' ... main findings of the US study
Rendlesham Forest Incident 1980
the famous Rendlesham Forest incident, often called 'Britain's Roswell'
Project Condign: the MoD's secret study of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region 2000
DIS study 'UAPs in the UK Air Defence Region', completed in 2000
UK Ministry of Defence UFO Files Released to The National Archives, 2008 to 2013 2008
In 2008 MoD announced their intention to transfer all their remaining records

About this file

Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 15 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.