In part two, i have added links to the many BBC articles/posts on the MOD Ufo files, and later i have added other references to the files(a selection), some of which are better reported than others (i cannot add them all,as there were many links to these files,from all other the world).
National Archives File 1 (released may 2008)
Secret files on UFO sightings have been made available for the first time by the Ministry of Defence.
The documents, which can be downloaded from the National Archives website, cover the period from 1978 to 1987.
They include accounts of strange lights in the sky and unexplained objects being spotted by the public, armed forces and police officers.
One man explained in great detail his “physical and psychic contact” with green aliens since he was a child.
For decades the Ministry of Defence kept what it knew about UFOs locked away in its archives. Now, the contents of what have been called Britain’s X-Files are finally being revealed. One of the UK’s leading UFO experts told Radio 4’s Today programme about his hunt.
Nationl Archives File 2 (released October 2008)
A passenger jet bound for Heathrow Airport had a near miss with a UFO, Ministry of Defence files reveal.
The captain of the Alitalia airliner shouted “Look out” to his co-pilot at the sight of a brown missile-shaped object shooting past them overhead.
Civil Aviation Authority and military investigations could not explain the 1991 incident near Lydd in Kent.
The unsolved close encounter features in UFO-related military documents made available by the National Archives.
Details of UFO sightings around the UK, including a number in Northern Ireland, have been released by the Ministry of Defence.
A total of 19 files covering sightings between 1986 and 1992 have been made available online.
One of the file details three unidentified flying objects near Belfast International airport in December 1989 and January 1990.
Another relates to a sighting over nearby Glenavy in 1989.
RAF Aldergrove said there were no fixed wing aircraft in the area at the time, but that two helicopters were in the vicinity within five minutes either side of the sighting.
UFO Sightings Revealed (BBC newsline-23rd october 2008)includes video
UFOs over London? (BBC London- inside out- february 2009) **general discussion
Recently declassified files reveal that 285 UFO sightings were reported to the Ministry Of Defence (MoD) in 2008 – twice the number in the previous year.
Many of these reports were filed by Londoners who claim to have seen bright lights, spherical objects in the sky – and even little green men.
Dr Who link to UFO sighting rise (BBC 8th April 2009) *not referring to a particular UFO file release,but more general
Science fiction and fantasy dramas like Doctor Who and Torchwood may be behind a rise in UFO sightings in built up areas of Wales, an expert has said.
Nick Pope, the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) former UFO project head, was commenting on figures released by the MoD which show sightings have gone up.
He said other sightings reflected the growing popularity of Chinese lanterns.
In 2006, 97 UFOs were reported across the UK. This rose to 135 in 2007 and 285 in 2008, with 18 Wales sightings.
“I received text messages from numerous friends a couple of days after the event saying that there was a large picture in the Democrat of a mysterious sighting in Coalisland at around half eleven last Saturday night.
“The lanterns were lit in memory of our close family and friends that predeceased us.”
Details of UFO sightings around the UK, including a number in Northern Ireland, were released by the Ministry of Defence last October.
One of the file details three unidentified flying objects near Belfast International Airport in December 1989 and January 1990.
National Archives File 3 (released march 2009)
UFO files reveal close encounter (BBC 22nd march 2009)
A boomerang-shaped object seen from an airport control tower and a woman’s encounter with an “alien” are among the secrets revealed in official UFO files. The woman reported seeing a glowing, spherical object rise into the air in Norwich after meeting a man who said he came from a planet similar to Earth.
A photo of a UFO hovering next to an RAF jet over Scotland was treated seriously, newly-released Ministry of Defence files show.
Officials briefed ministers on the sighting of a diamond-shaped object near Pitlochry, Perthshire, in 1990.
A memo suggested the media be told “no definite conclusions” could be reached.
The documents show officials were more concerned about secret weapons being developed by other countries rather than alien visitors.
The sightings were brought to the attention of the MoD by the Daily Record newspaper.
National Archives File 4 (released August 2009)
The Government has released its UFO files from the 1990s when UFO sightings suddenly increased.
Investigators believe the television programme The X-Files may be to blame, rather than an increase in aliens.
A former head of the armed forces told the defence secretary a UFO claim known as Britain’s Roswell could be a “banana skin”, newly released files show.
In 1985 Lord Hill-Norton wrote to Michael Heseltine about the “Rendlesham incident” in 1980, when US airmen in Suffolk said they saw strange lights.
He said an unauthorised aircraft may have entered and left UK airspace.
In 2003, an ex-US security policeman said he and another airman had shone patrol car lights as a prank.
The case is among the latest MoD files on UFOs released by the National Archives.
A figure with a lemon-shaped head told two boys to follow it in an apparent close encounter with aliens in Staffordshire, government files say.
The figure told the boys: “We want you, come with us,” according to a report from 1995 which has been released by the Ministry of Defence.
The boys told police they had seen the figure in a field just before midnight on 4 May in Chasetown.
However the farmer who owned the field later told police he had seen nothing.
UFOs sighted over Devon and Cornwall could have been an American spy plane or a Russian rocket, files released by the National Archives suggest.
Ministry of Defence reports include details on sightings across the region of a large, low-flying object, which made a humming sound, on 31 March 1993.
Witness descriptions are similar to a secret US spy plane, the files reveal.
A UFO was seen hovering over a Cheshire cemetery before firing laser beams, according to a police log released by the government.
The sighting was made by a young man on his way home after a night out in Widnes on 15 July 1996.
Police described the man as a “sensible sort of lad and genuine”.
He is said to have seen a yellow light four storeys high, which made a high-pitched noise “like cats wailing” and fired beams at a railway line.
According to the police log the bright yellow light followed the youngster as he crossed a footbridge from Avondale Drive into Upton.
Newly released documents show that UFO sightings in the UK leapt five-fold in the same year that the alien invader blockbuster Independence Day was released. So is there a link between UFOs and science-fiction?
In 1996, the Earth was under attack from an alien mothership. Do you remember?
Fortunately, Will Smith was on hand to save the planet. This did happen. At least in cinemas.
Independence Day was the blockbuster film of the year, but the fiction it portrayed may have had an impact on the real world – a huge jump in the number of reported sightings of UFOs.
It wasn’t ET, but a UFO sighting in County Down in 1996 had aspects of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The latest declassified series of MoD reports on UFO sightings contains one from Northern Ireland.
The report, from the Aeronautical Information Section, lists four sightings reported to the authorities.
The National Archives has released details of UFO sightings reported between 1981 and 1996.
Most reports are for the UK but there are also reports of sightings in Belgium, just a few miles from British waters.
Dr David Clarke from Sheffield Hallam University explains some of the reports to the BBC’s David Sillito.
Evan and Ed’s review (BBC Radio4 today audio on Rendlesham Forest-17th August 2009)
Is the truth out there? As official UFO files are released online by The National Archives, including papers relating to the Rendlesham Forest sightings and the MoD’s final position statement on the incident, the National Archives’ consultant Dr David Clarke explained what the newly-released records tell us. [the audio is the 6 audio down on the page].
National Archives File 5 (released February 2010)
In his account to police he described how a “tube of light” surrounded his car in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, and later how he was sick.
The incident on 27 January, 1997 is detailed in Ministry of Defence papers.
Such an episode is classed by ufologists as a “close encounter of the second kind” – UFO sighting followed by an associated physical effect.
Reports of a UFO hovering over former Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard’s home are among thousands of odd sketches, strange sightings and alleged close encounters detailed in newly released UK documents.
More than 6,000 pages of reports describe people’s experiences with unidentified flying objects, mainly between 1994 and 2000.
Among them are details of how the Ministry of Defence (MoD) received reports of a large, triangular unidentified flying object hovering in the sky above Mr Howard’s home near Folkestone, Kent, on 8 March 1997.
Government correspondence, local newspaper reports and details of an RAF investigation into the sighting all feature in the files.
Defence officials’ insulting remarks about the public had to be blanked out of government UFO files before they were made public, a memo has revealed.
The Ministry of Defence had agreed to publish its full archive of reported sightings in response to a deluge of Freedom of Information Act requests.
National Archives File 6 (released August 2010)
A ‘near miss’ between a passenger plane and a UFO near Manchester Airport is included in a number of secret files released by the government.
The ‘close encounter’ was officially reported by the flight crew of a Boeing 737 back in January 1995.
The pilot and first officer described seeing a ‘large grey object’ fly so close past the plane it made them duck.
The details are included in the latest batch of MoD files to be released on alleged UFO sightings.
A gambler appealed to the government for help after a bookmaker refused to pay out on a bet that aliens would land on Earth, newly-released files show.
The punter from Leeds had £17 placed at 100-1 with Ladbrokes on aliens being found by the end of the 20th Century.
The bookie said it would not pay up as the United Nations had not confirmed the existence of extraterrestrials.
The government took the threat of UFOs so seriously in the 1950s that UK intelligence chiefs met to discuss the issue, newly-released files show.
Ministers even went on to commission weekly reports on UFO sightings from a committee of intelligence experts.
The papers also include a wartime account claiming prime minister Winston Churchill ordered a UFO sighting be kept secret to prevent “mass panic”.
The files show reports of UFOs peaked in 1996 – when The X Files was popular.
The Joint Intelligence Committee is better known for providing briefings to the government on matters relating to security, defence and foreign affairs.
But the latest batch of UFO files released from the Ministry of Defence to the National Archives shows that, in 1957, the committee received reports detailing an average of one UFO sighting a week.
National Archives File 7 (released March 2011)
Intelligence papers on a reported UFO sighting known as the “Rendlesham incident” have gone missing, files from the National Archives reveal.
The missing files relate to a report of mysterious lights from US servicemen at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk in 1980.
The disappearance came to light with the release of 8,000 previously classified documents on UFOs.
Officials found a “huge” gap where defence intelligence files relating to the case should be, the papers show.
There is a standard letter, which is found throughout the files with minor variations, which was sent to hundreds of people who entered into correspondence with the government about unusual phenomenon.
There was also a desk set up at the RAF which sometimes dealt with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and their possible implications for air defence. Officials who were devoted to defence intelligence also dealt with UFOs from time to time.
So the government has felt the urge to go through the motions for UFOs – even if there was a definite lack of actual spacecraft buzzing over Whitehall.
The National Archives have released thousands of documents relating to sightings of UFOs and the way the UK government chose to deal with the paranormal reports.
Dr David Clarke, UFO consultant to the National Archives, explains how parliament debated UFOs in the House of Lords in 1979 and discusses fears about the sightings in the Cold War era.
National Archives File 8 (released August 2011)
Newly-released government documents have shown how three Ministry of Defence police officers spotted a UFO over Blackburn in 1979.
The files include a written description of how the object flew over the Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) on 24 February 1979. They also include a drawing.
The object was said to be about 30ft (9m) across. As it flew off over Darwen, it lit up several streets.
Nine orange bright lights were also seen in the Lytham area in June 2006.
Details of UFO sightings across Wales in the last 25 years are revealed in files made public by the Ministry of Defence.
A UFO spotted over St Tudwal’s Islands in the Llyn Peninsula in Gwynedd and a “slow-moving disc” seen at a festival in Llanfyllin, Powys, are included.
The 34 files released by the National Archives cover 1985 to 2007.
Accounts of sightings over Anglesey, Denbighshire, Cardiff and Swansea are also detailed.
The files include requests for information about UFO sightings in south Wales made by various newspapers and confirmation that a reported UFO incident over Swansea in 1998 was either RAF Sea Kings or Vampire planes.
Main Building—The Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, Westminster, London (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Newly released government files on UFOs show a lack of will and resources to study thousands of reported sightings.
The Ministry of Defence files released by the National Archives cover reported sightings of UFOs from 1985 to 2007.
In one, a military officer predicts embarassment if the public discovered a “lack of funds and higher priorities” were stopping UFO investigations.
The 34 files include sightings of lights over Glastonbury and a “flying saucer” in Nottinghamshire.
On 27 January 2004 there was a light snowfall in Nottinghamshire. Alex Birch, a local photographer, grabbed his camera. He wanted to take a picture of his local town hall, Retford, for a competition.
He got the shot – the picturesque winter scene you can see above – and he says he did not notice anything out of the ordinary. When he developed the picture though he saw a clear flying saucer shape.
This was not the first time Alex had taken a picture of a UFO. In 1962, as a 14 year-old schoolboy, he had taken a picture which showed five saucer shaped objects in the distance.
National Archives File 9 (released July 2012)
A spectral Luftwaffe World War II jet over Gower, questions about Anglesey’s nuclear plant, and terrified Flintshire motorists.
These are just three of the cases uncovered in files released by the National Archives examining UFO sightings across Wales.
The papers span four decades, and include nearly 7,000 documents.
But one of the biggest Welsh UFO mysteries, the ‘Dyfed Triangle’, may have been an elaborate practical joke.
It is the latest in a growing number of documents released detailing the UK’s obsession with claims of extra-terrestrial sightings that began to surge in post-war Britain.
The papers reveal that between 1996 and 2008, more than 20 detailed sightings were reported to the police and Ministry of Defence in Wales.
Five years ago, the Ministry of Defence started releasing their files on UFO sightings which had once been kept secret.
The Today programme’s Sanchia Berg has been keeping an eye on them.
Prime Minister Tony Blair was briefed on the UK’s files about UFO sightings in 1998, newly declassified MoD documents have revealed.
Writer Nick Redfern urged him to “consider making available for public scrutiny all of the many and varied UFO reports compiled by the government”.
The request came as the government began to implement Freedom of Information (FOI requests).
Some 6,700 pages of UFO documents have been released by the National Archives.
Chelsea FC sighting
The documents also include details of a briefing made before a House of Lords debate on UFOs in 1979, and reveal that former prime minister John Major had been asked by a fellow MP in 1996 whether the government would set up a national inquiry into UFO sightings.
Files released by the National Archives reveal for the first time detail of the role of UFO Desk officers, what they really thought about the possibility of alien visits, and their briefings to Tony Blair on UFO policy.
Between 1950 and 2009 a special Ministry of Defence unit investigated more than 10,000 UFO “sightings” – a rate of one every two days.
Most, it appears from papers released on Thursday, had an everyday explanation, from aircraft, to balloons, reflected lights or other innocent activity.
One of the newly-released papers, from December 2008, shortly before the desk was transferred to the RAF’s Air Command, indicates what life was like for those posted to UFO duties.
Other references to the MOD files
2008
The Sun British X files papers revealed also with video from sky news… it mentions
“UFOs hovering over Waterloo Bridge? Green men known as Elgar? This can only mean the British ‘X-Files’ have been opened up to the public for the first time” (extract from article).
Metro Revealed: The British X-files
Daily Telegraph “British government releases UFO files” including video (1min 53secs). it mentions: “The most comprehensive Government files on UFO activity are opened to the public for the first time today and they disclose that even air traffic controllers and police officers have seen mysterious craft in the skies over Britain”
Reuters “Green aliens, ufos said to visit“
“Aliens from outer space have been visiting Britain for years and UFO sightings doubled after the film Close Encounters was released in 1977, according to secret files collating reports by members of the public.
The alien craft come in all shapes, sizes and colors but their occupants are uniformly green, the Ministry of Defence files show” (extract from article).
The Guardian “The truth is out there: National Archives lifts lid on UFO files“ “The files consist of a variety of documents, including numerous individual sightings, accounts of investigations and briefings prepared by MoD staff for ministers on the subject. “There are a lot of conspiracy theories that have grown up about the military interest in UFOs. What we are getting to see in these papers are the actual facts,” said Dr David Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, in a podcast prepared for the National Archives on the release” (extract from article). Included is a podcast at the bottom of the article.
news.scotsman.com “Truth is out there as government releases ufo files“
“ACCOUNTS of bright lights in the sky and even alien abduction have been made public for the first time in a batch of “X Files” released by the Ministry of Defence.
Defence chiefs have kept files on 11,000 sightings dating back to the 1950s.Briefing documents for government ministers facing questions about policy on unidentified flying objects also form part of the release at the National Archives in Kew.Defence intelligence staff were more interested in checking that UFOs were not, in fact, signs of earthly covert spying missions by other countries, the documents reveal” (extract from article).
vancouver sun “
Things we learned this week““Aliens from outer space have been visiting Britain for years and UFO sightings doubled after the film Close Encounters was released in 1977, according to secret files collating reports by members of the public” (extract from article).
Although I was repeatedly invited—pestered, actually—by Stephen Bassett to participate in the hearing, I chose not to lend my name and credible research to the event. Over the past 40 years I have interviewed more than 140 U.S. military veterans, regarding their involvement in UFO incidents at nuclear weapons sites. Seven of those individuals participated in my September 27, 2010 “UFOs and Nukes” press conference in Washington D.C., which CNN streamed live:
” As the National Archives reveal enough reports of mysterious Unidentified Flying Objects to keep Mulder and Scully in business for some time, here is the list extracted from the reports ” (extract from article).
” New Unidentified Flying Objects statistics show the numbers of sightings each year – plus the official explanations for them. So, what is the effect of science fiction in the movies and on TV? ” (extract from article).
