Documents / Document
This National Archives research guide on Unidentified Flying Objects was written by Dr David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University in March 2008 and revised in 2010 and 2011. It traces British official interest in UFOs from the phantom airships of 1909 and 1913, through the 1950 Flying Saucer Working Party, to Air Ministry and MoD investigations. It also points readers to key record series, including Freedom of Information releases and the Rendlesham Forest files. The guide notes that most reports had ordinary explanations.
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. Two additional files containing correspondence from 2006 and 2007 were opened in July 2012 at DEFE 24/2084/1 and DEFE 24/2089/1. 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 sightings 2001 at DEFE 24/2020/1, sightings reported in 2002-3 at DEFE 24/2035/1, sightings 2006 at DEFE 24/2082/1 and sightings in 2007 at DEFE 24/2081/1. Two files containing sighting reports from March 2006 and December 2007 were opened in July 2012 at DEFE 24/2083/1 and DEFE 24/2088/1. The 10th and final tranche of UFO files opened in 2013 included files on sightings reported in 2008 (DEFE 24/2623-27/1) and 2009 (DEFE 24/2459-65/1). A file of correspondence from 2007-8 can be found at DEFE 24/2628/1 and 2009 at DEFE 24/2451-52/1, opened in 2013. One file containing Press Cuttings on UFOs from 1996-2002, collected and annotated by MoD UFO desk officers, was opened in August 2011 at DEFE 24/2047/1. A second file, covering press cuttings 2004-2008 was opened in July 2012 at DEFE 24/2093/1. DEFE 31 contains a series of UFO records created by the Defence Intelligence Staff branch DI55 and their predecessors, Air Ministry DDI (Tech). Policy files are DEFE 31/118 and DEFE 31/119. UFO report files include DEFE 31/171 (1975-76) and DEFE 31/163 through to DEFE 31/167 (1979). Four files in the DI55 UFO reports sequence were opened in May 2008. These are DEFE 31/172/1 (UFO reports 1978-1983), DEFE 31/173/1 (UFO reports June 1983-March 1985), DEFE 24/174 (UFO reports April 1985- December 1986) and DEFE 31/175/1 (UFO reports December 1986-November 1987). Six DI55 UFO files were opened in March 2009. DEFE 31/1976/1 - DEFE 31/181/1 contain details of reports received by DI55 between November 1987 and April 1993. Seven DI55 files were opened in August 2011, covering sighting reports received from April 1993-July 1996. These can be found at DEFE 31/182/1-DEFE 24/187/1. The remaining UFO incidents files containing reports copied to DI55 between August 1996 and February 1999 were released in July 2012 at DEFE 31/189/1-DEFE 31/194/1. DI55’s report ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region’ was completed in 2000. From that point onwards the branch were removed from the distribution list of UFO reports received by MoD. Details of some well-documented UFO sightings investigated by the Air Ministry and Ministry of Defence can be found by searching the reports files. AIR 2/18564 and AIR 20/9320 contain reports from various RAF stations including RAF West Freugh in 1957. The West Freugh incident involved the tracking of UFOs by a number of trailer-mounted radar units at a RAF bombing range in southern Scotland. It led to national interest when the story leaked to the press. Newspaper stories led to questions in Parliament and at the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC). A report on the incident prepared by DDI (Tech) contains in its conclusions what is possibly the closest the Air Ministry ever got to 11
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 15 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.