British gov't releases files of secret UFO study.

[Orpheus]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38566733/ns/technology_and_science-space/

 

 

 

 

Britain released hundreds of previously secret "UFO files" on Thursday, including a letter saying that Winston Churchill had ordered a 50-year cover-up of a wartime encounter between an unidentified flying object and military pilot.

 

The files, published by the National Archives, span decades and contain scores of witness accounts, sketches and classified briefing notes documenting mysterious sightings across Britain.

 

One Ministry of Defense note refers to a 1999 letter stating that a Royal Air Force plane returning from a mission in Europe during World War II was "approached by a metallic UFO."

 

The unidentified author of the letter says his grandfather attended a wartime meeting between Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower during which the two expressed concern over the incident and "decided to keep it secret."

 

The Ministry of Defense subsequently investigated the case but found no written record of the incident, the files say. In a 1999 note, the ministry said it "does not have any expertise or role in respect of 'UFO/flying saucer' matters or to the question of the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial lifeforms, about which it remains totally open-minded."

 

Latest in a series of releases

Britain has been slowly releasing long-classified files related to sightings of mysterious craft in the skies above its cities, compiled and investigated by the Ministry of Defense over past decades.

 

Some cases subsequently received rational explanations, such as meteors burning up in the atmosphere, but many are unsolved.

Story continues below More below

Sponsored links

Advertisement | ad info

Advertisement | ad info

 

One memo, dated 1997, contains reports of "sonic booms" and a mysterious plane crash in northern England. No wreckage was found in an ensuing search by the police and rescue teams.

 

Another incident refers to sightings of a "black triangular UFO" over the home of the shadow home secretary in Kent in the late 1990s. An investigation showed no breach of security.

 

In a case filed in 1995, the captain of a plane approaching Manchester's airport reported a near-miss with an "unidentified object," and a witness on the ground separately provided a sketch showing a UFO "20 times the size of a football field."

 

An inquiry failed to indentify the object, the memo said.

 

Cold War incidents

Buried deep among meticulous sketches and ministry memos, some files refer to curious episodes in Britain's history. During the Cold War, Britain sent fighter jets to intercept Soviet aircraft as often as 200 times a year, one document from the ministry showed.

 

The note, filed in 1996, said mystery sightings picked up on radar during the Cold War were invariably proved to be Soviet anti-submarine or long-range reconnaissance planes.

 

"Prior to the demise of the Former Soviet Union, aircraft were scrambled some 200 times annually to intercept and investigate uncorrelated tracks penetrating the UK Air defence region (AKADR) from the north," it said.

 

The last such scramble was in September 1991 around the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

 

 

 

Site that has the documentation behind this: http://ufos.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

 

So I guess it's all but confirmed that UFOs exist. Anyone wanna pose some theories as to what these UFOs are spotted around Earth for? Maybe it's another lifeform of sorts?

[Pirate_Felix]

Righto.

If it was a different lifeform they would be just as corrupt as us because if they have the money/resources to come here they need to be just as capitalistic as we do.

So what would we do if we found out a different planet?

Kill one half of the population, be the first one to make love to aliens, kill the other half, repopulate their planet with humans.

[Alg]

"The last such scramble was in September 1991 around the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union."

I'm beginning to think that a lot of the secret UFO/alien conspiracy theories were a part of the cold war. There were a metric [cabbage]load of ufo stories from then, all ending in a government coverup. Chances are what was really found were Soviet/American spy planes and technology... Which of course the gov't didn't want the public to know about, probably for good reason.

[The Observer]

Note that UFO = unidentified flying object = not necessarily alien lifeforms.

 

Still interesting though, and I do have to agree with local guy here, most of it is just probably cover up from the cold war.

[dusky]

All of these 'UFO Conspiracy Theories' seem completely implausable to me. Politicians are people too, believe it or not, so naturally they would most likely be just as shocked as any joe to discover evidence of UFO's. So does anyone truely think that they would just cover it up and think nothing of it? No, such beliefs potray the government as an all knowing entity, unsusceptible to any human emotion. Also, by the looks of it this 'evidence' has been kept secret for many years, so isnt it inevitable that one agent wouldve just 'spilled the beans' at some point along the line? People are just naturally [cabbage]ting secret keepers. So the government having 'super secret' knowledge of other life forms? no...just...no

[ember3579]

Yeah, most of the stuff is probably stuff that people made as an experiment (whether government-sanctioned or not is anyone's guess). Personally, if any of them WERE Off-world design, the pilots would probably have the tech and skill to be able to do whatever they wanted to without even needing to get into the earth's atmosphere, let alone close enough that they could make an in-air collision with a jet. However, you never know, especially with something like this. Probably, if off-worlders really HAVE had a presence here in any respect for as long as some people say (referencing a lot of the weird [cabbage] that is floating around on this planet as proof), then they've probably also made some sort of interaction with the world's major governments and got some sort of "we keep off each others' business" treaty with them at the very least. I personally think the biggest problems with interspecies relations with almost anything will start from humans (look at the Middle East, you'll get my point). Assuming that the off-worlders have any control over the situation, they'll probably avoid exposure to the public as much as possible. The only situations I can think of where they'd pop out and say "Hi" on international television are almost all bad ones (either they're helping us advance (unlikely, for the previously stated reasons), invading us, or they need all the help they can get, either as refugees or fire support in some sort of conflict).

[Giordano]

All of these 'UFO Conspiracy Theories' seem completely implausable to me. Politicians are people too, believe it or not, so naturally they would most likely be just as shocked as any joe to discover evidence of UFO's. So does anyone truely think that they would just cover it up and think nothing of it? No, such beliefs potray the government as an all knowing entity, unsusceptible to any human emotion. Also, by the looks of it this 'evidence' has been kept secret for many years, so isnt it inevitable that one agent wouldve just 'spilled the beans' at some point along the line? People are just naturally [cabbage]ting secret keepers. So the government having 'super secret' knowledge of other life forms? no...just...no

Don't be so romantic, neither. In a carefully planned system where bureaucracy reigns supreme, one man cannot inflict much damage before being stopped, legally. Illegally you can see how mobsters hush up witnesses against them: threats. A combination of the two, a government agency most likely a specialized department within the US Army (so, really, the Senators and Representatives don't have much insight into it), a government hiding UFOs could exist, there's no doubt in my mind.

 

And the "people are just naturally [cabbage]ting secret keepers" made me chuckle. While it is true that most humans can't keep their mouth shut, spies and the like certainly can and with the built-in restrictions of a planned system, only the few spy-like leaders could ever know everything going on.

 

 

 

Now wheither or not it's true, is a different story. I'm merely stating it's certainly possible. Much so, ignoring the fact a government can do such a thing just like praising it can, can lead it to become it.

[Racheya]

While how real these documents are, we may not know, it doesn't really change anything for me. It doesn't change the fact that the odds are DEFINITELY in favour of there being 'something' out there. Of course it's not little men on Mars, but out of the billions of other planets in this universe and possibly other universes... there's got to be someone else out there. I wouldn't be so arrogant to assume that we're the one in a billion planet out there.

 

And if you ask me, they're not going to be hostile. They'll be curious, just like we are. They'll be looking up at the sky wondering if there's someone else out there just like we do.

 

All these UFOs and stuff are probably nonsense, we're a long way away from finding alien life, even if it comes to our doorstep. We've only reached the Moon once.

[Giordano]

And if you ask me, they're not going to be hostile. They'll be curious, just like we are.

Unless they already know there's millions of intelligence specices and we're faced with an Avatar-like situation...

 

But WE'RE the Navi! :ohnoes:

 

 

I bet that thought amuses some people...

[Racheya]

And if you ask me, they're not going to be hostile. They'll be curious, just like we are.

Unless they already know there's millions of intelligence specices and we're faced with an Avatar-like situation...

 

But WE'RE the Navi! :ohnoes:

 

 

I bet that thought amuses some people...

It would be interesting something like that. If there IS already a Galactic community out there, we may very well be screwed :lol: Then again, I can't imagine why aliens would want Earth. Our planet is dying and I don't think that humans would make very good slaves for them. We complain too much :P

[Giordano]

Considering the Earth's core is a buttload of iron and nickel... Their Toys R Us might want more toy building material.

[frakir_staer]

It'd probably be easier just to lasso a couple asteroids than tear the crust off a planet. Also, they'd be less likely to die of chicken pox.

[Lenticular_J]

Where is Will Smith? Someone call Will Smith!

[Mirror]

Where is Will Smith? Someone call Will Smith!

You know you have been on facebook for too long when you want to like a comment on forum.tip.it... >.<

 

But yeah, I'm cool with UFO's. I think it'd be cool.

[Furah]

One thing that I don't get with UFO sightings. If they're alien spacecraft why do they travel for god knows how long and visit some place in the middle of [bleep]ing nowhere. The least they could do is park out the front of a government building and talk with the head of that country.

 

I personally wouldn't want to be the person who first makes contact with the aliens. They may end up experimenting on you or another Mark David Chapman could come along.

[das]

Reading this has made my night fellas, spent a LONG time on http://ufos.nationalarchives.gov.uk/tonight.

 

So in closing

 

[The Dark Lord]

Didn't Germany experiment with disc-shaped aircraft during the 40s? It's not a particularly new concept, so isn't it just possible that the UFO research was really just reconnaissance on German war machines during World War II?

 

Google "Haunebu".

[Pirate_Felix]

What didnt Germany experiment with?

[Lenticular_J]

They're probably just aliens that want to make fun of our "Mostly harmless" world. There are paintings from medieval times that show people flying in disks and arrows and shapes. Which means crazy aliens, time travel, or leftover Roman and Greek technological wonders. Definitely.

[Danqazmlp]

Note that UFO = unidentified flying object = not necessarily alien lifeforms.

 

Still interesting though, and I do have to agree with local guy here, most of it is just probably cover up from the cold war.

 

 

I agree. I would bet that many were experimental aircraft by either the Soviets or the British (most likely British). People are willing to believe they see the strangest things in this country. How often do we get 'sightings' of big cats only to turn out to be a dog or a normal cat? Loch Ness?

[Dupin]

I see no solid evidence of the existence of alien spacecraft. However, it would be ridiculous to think we are the only intelligent life form in existence.

 

A friend of mine recently explained an interesting concept to me. According to some scientist who did the maths, aliens could not possibly visit our planet. I forget the details, but basically, the galaxy is too young for any civilization to have reached the point where it can travel large distances through space. Whichever star it is that's closest to us is too young to have supported life forms for long enough that they would build spaceships, and the rest are ridiculously far away.

[Seraphi]

That, of course, is assuming that these lifeforms have not discovered the all important aspect of interstellar travel which alludes humanity: The ability to travel faster than light.

 

Now, I don't want to turn this into a physics debate, but I think it sounds very unlikely that, given a universe so very vast, not a single lifeform has found a method to acheive FTL travel.

 

Although aliens coming here just to sit in the clouds and giggle at us is a stupid concept. They would at least try to make contact, I would hope.

[Alg]

Although aliens coming here just to sit in the clouds and giggle at us is a stupid concept. They would at least try to make contact, I would hope.

Maybe they're bigger [wagon] than we are? :lol:

[Seraphi]

I dread to think about that :blink:

[dusky]

I see no solid evidence of the existence of alien spacecraft. However, it would be ridiculous to think we are the only intelligent life form in existence.

 

A friend of mine recently explained an interesting concept to me. According to some scientist who did the maths, aliens could not possibly visit our planet. I forget the details, but basically, the galaxy is too young for any civilization to have reached the point where it can travel large distances through space. Whichever star it is that's closest to us is too young to have supported life forms for long enough that they would build spaceships, and the rest are ridiculously far away.

Isn't it possible that possible other life forms are much smarter than us, so therefor developed more quickly?