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welcome to the 8th collection of

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Ministry of Defense UFO FILES released

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by the National Archives I'm dr. David

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Clarke author of the UFO FILES and

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consultant to the National Archives UFO

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project this collection contains 34

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files that contain eight thousand six

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hundred pages of material covering UFO

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policy press stories parliamentary

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questions sighting reports and Freedom

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of Information requests yes one snowy

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night in January 2004 our notting of

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Sherman took a series of color slides

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showing Retford Town Hall these were for

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submission to a photography competition

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he saw nothing unusual at the time he

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took the photographs but on examining

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the transparencies he was amazed to find

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an image showing what appears to be a

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classic flying saucer or at least an

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elliptical shaped object in the sky

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having ruled out lens flares an aircraft

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he contacted the Ministry of Defense to

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see if they were interested in looking

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at his photographs they said defense

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experts would like to take a closer look

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of the mysterious elliptical eyed film

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he delivered the slide to the Minister

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of Defense in March that year and it was

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sent to the defense Geographic and

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imagery intelligence agency in July

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after subjecting the image to detailed

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scrutiny the DJIA said they were unable

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to reach any definitive conclusion about

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the nature of the mysterious image but

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they did say that it might be

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coincidental that the illuminated plane

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of the object passes through the center

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of the frame which indicates a possible

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lens anomalies such as a droplet of

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moisture there are some other examples

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of the mo D calling upon image analysis

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experts to help them evaluate UFO

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photographs in 1994 VHS footage of a

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strange object in the sky near Bali

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Bridge in Scotland was sent to experts

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at RAF Brampton they concluded that it

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cannot be determine whether this object

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is real or a hoax it is possible it is a

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hoax using a kite or video studio

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effects this type of work triggered a

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sharp exchange of views within the

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minute

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in public mo D policy was that there did

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not spend public money on UFO research

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but in private desk officers at the

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Defense Intelligence staff were keen to

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take a look at photographs and films

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showing you first there have been

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obtained by members of the public in

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order to do so mo D would need to

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approach people in order to gain access

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to their footage this was seen as a

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risky strategy as the press and new

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follow gist would interpret any visits

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from the men from the ministry as proof

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that a cover-up was underway similar

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problems bedeviled attempts to use

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public money to put details of UFO

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sightings received by the mo d on to a

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computer database for scrutiny one early

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attempt to use an mo d computer to study

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ufos in 1987 was halted after senior

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officials decreed that all work should

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cease as it was in contravention of

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ministerial statements to the effect

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that UFOs did not pose the threat to the

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UK but the idea was revived in 1993 when

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a limited study was proposed by the

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intelligence staff despite the potential

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for political embarrassment if news

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released out ironically one official

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described the potential for what he

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called disbelief and embarrassment

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since few people will believe the truth

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that lack of funds and higher priorities

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have prevented any study of the

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thousands of reports they had received

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over the last 30 years the files show

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that the Ministry of Defence was also

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drawn into the controversy over the

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potential threat to the earth posed by

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near-earth objects such as comets and

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asteroids in 2000 the minister of

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science Lord Sainsbury set up a task

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force to assess the hazards and during a

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visit to the Pentagon in March three

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scientists from the task force discussed

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future plans with officials from the

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Department of Defense NASA and the u.s.

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AF Space Command on return to the UK

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they asked for a meeting to obtain an

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overview of the Ministry of Defense's

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current and possible UK contribution to

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international collaborative efforts but

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comments on the files suggests that the

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mo D felt that they had

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no remit to defend the earth against

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asteroids or little green men for that

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matter and one added quote it may be

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that our answer is that we are doing

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nothing about it have no money to spare

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and are content to leave such matters to

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the British National Space Center one of

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the best-known stories in the UFO

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literature concerns unexplained

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phenomena that were recorded on British

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and American radars RAF Lakenheath in

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Suffolk

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during August 1956 these files contain a

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first-hand account of this incident from

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a retired RAF fighter controller Freddy

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Wimbledon he was on duty at RAF neeti

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said in Norfolk when the American Air

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Force reported a fast-moving blip on

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their airfield radars at Lakenheath to

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his amazement Wimbledon said that this

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UFO was also clearly seen on RAF radars

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RAF Fighter Command ordered a venom

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interceptor controlled by Wimbledon's

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radars to intercept this UFO Wimbledon

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says quote it was vectored towards the

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object and the venom pilot called

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contact followed in a short while by

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Judy

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which meant that the radar navigator had

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the target on his airborne radar but

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then he called lost contact more help

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he was then told that his target was now

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behind him and it remained glued in that

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position following the venoms every move

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a second venom was scrambled but it

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never got within 20 miles before the

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target sped off climbing at terrific

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speed and disappeared from the defense

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radars Wimbledon said afterwards all

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those involved in the incident were

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quizzed by a senior officer from Fighter

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Command who stressed the need for

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absolute secrecy when I quizzed the

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Ministry of Defence about this traumatic

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incident in 2001 they said an archive

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search had confirmed that all records of

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the Lakenheath sightings had been lost

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or destroyed this Lakenheath incident is

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also mentioned by a retired Ministry of

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Defence official ralph noise in this

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collection of files who in a letter to

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the Minister of Defence in 1986 said

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that he had been shown gun camera film

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of UFOs taken by RAF venom

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air crew during a secret screening at

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the mo D main building in 1970 the mo D

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say no trace of these films has been

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discovered Ralph's noise also said that

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he was the private secretary to the Vice

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Chief of Air Staff during the summer of

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1952 when news reached the air ministry

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and the then Prime Minister Winston

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Churchill of a spate of dramatic UFO

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sightings over Washington DC according

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to noise the ministry's scientific

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adviser Robert Coburn was instructed to

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make inquiries with the Americans but

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the report that came back convinced the

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Air Ministry that it was all quote

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American hysteria and Churchill was

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advised that there was nothing in the

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UFO nonsense as it they described it

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noise adds that after the events of 1952

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quote no further official notice was

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taken of the subject within the air

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ministry but all the subsequent events

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suggested to some of us that a UFO

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phenomenon of some kind or another

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certainly existed but there were never

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solid grounds for regarding it as a

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defense threat or as justifying official

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steps such as the establishment of a

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Standing Committee of Inquiry as a

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result the subject remained according to

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noise something of a joke albeit an

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uneasy one on occasions the UFO report

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files in this collection include details

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of a particular type of sighting that

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became common in Britain during the

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summer of 2006 these are descriptions of

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formations of orange lights drifting

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slowly across the night sky they are

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almost certainly observations of Chinese

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lanterns or mini hot-air balloons that

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are often released at wedding parties

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and music festivals during the summer

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the Ministry of Defense received many

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reports and these types of UFO sightings

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from 2006 one account from Herne Bay

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Kent filed in August of that year

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describes eight yellow orange spheres

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that looked like they had flames coming

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out to the back of them another from

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London describes hundreds of fireballs

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that were an amazing sight in the night

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sky Chinese lanterns almost certainly

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explained a report of revolving lights

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that were spotted above the Pyramid

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stage at the

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every festival one night in the summer

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of 2003 however all the sightings are

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little more difficult to account for one

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of those more difficult one unexplained

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incident was a report submitted to the

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Civil Aviation Authority by the pilot of

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a trial under aircraft during April 2007

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he described seeing a long cigar-shaped

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object sparkling yellow in color

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hovering in the sky as the prop driven

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plane approached Alderney in the Channel

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Islands in broad daylight

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the captain estimated the size of this

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UFO as being about that of a Boeing 737

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this strange object was also seen by a

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number of passengers on the small plane

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as it hovered above the sea just 15

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miles from the small aircraft as they

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prepared for landing the pilot reported

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his sighting to air traffic control in

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Jersey who asked other pilots to look

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out for anything unusual as we were

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speaking to the ground control the trial

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under pilot then saw a second UFO

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identical in shape to the first that

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appeared to be further away the Ministry

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of Defence file on this incident also

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includes an account from the pilot of a

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jet stream aircraft who alerted by air

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traffic control looked out and saw a

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similar unusual object in the sky above

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the English Channel at the same time but

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the Royal Air Force said nothing was

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seen on radar and no further

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investigation was required as the

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sightings occurred in French airspace

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again this unexplained sighting remains

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one of the more intriguing puzzles in

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the mo DS x-files

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the Rendlesham forest incident is

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possibly Britain's best known course

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celebra for the UK UFO community and is

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often referred to as Britain's Roswell

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there are two files devoted almost

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entirely to the mo Dee's increasingly

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exasperated attempts to answer a long

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series of parliamentary questions tabled

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by the retired Chief of Defence Staff

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the late Lord Hill Norton between 1998

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and 2001 one ministry defense official

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describes Hill Norton as pursuing this

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campaign with evangelical fervor and

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notes that he

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seen as a champion of the Rendlesham

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forest case by proponents of the

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extra-terrestrial hypothesis for you

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firs although the papers do not contain

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any smoking gun they do include a copy

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of a black-and-white photograph taken

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several days after the sightings in 1981

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by an American airman based at RAF

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Woodbridge these show a British police

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officer inspecting the landing site

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within the forest one file also includes

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a letter sent by a Suffolk police

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inspector to the author

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georgina Bruni who was writing a book on

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the Rendlesham incident during the

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summer of 1999 he describes his officers

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role in the incident as minimal and says

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that as the years passed witness

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testimony had become substantially

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embellished the inspector said the area

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was swept by the powerful beams from the

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Orford ness lighthouse and he said that

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he knew from personal experience that at

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night in certain weather and cloud

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conditions these beams were very

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pronounced and caused strange visual

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effects all 34 files can be downloaded

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from the National Archives website at

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www.nasa.gov a UK /uf