Briefing document: Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)

This briefing document, prepared by Dr. David Clarke for The National Archives, provides a historical overview of the British government's engagement with the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). The document traces the origins of the term 'UFO' to the United States in the late 1940s, noting the initial reports of 'flying saucers' in 1947. It explains that while the public often associated UFOs with extraterrestrial visitors, the British military's interest was primarily focused on national security and the potential for foreign aerial threats, particularly during the Cold War. The document details the evolution of British policy, starting from early 20th-century sightings of 'phantom airships' through the Second World War 'foo-fighters' and the post-war 'ghost rockets' over Scandinavia. It highlights the role of the Flying Saucer Working Party, established in 1950, which concluded that UFO sightings were misidentifications, optical illusions, or hoaxes, and recommended no further investigation. This sceptical stance set the template for subsequent British policy. The document further outlines the administrative history of how UFO reports were handled by various branches of the Air Ministry and later the Ministry of Defence (MoD), including the eventual consolidation of records and the eventual release of files to The National Archives. It discusses specific well-documented incidents, such as the 1957 RAF West Freugh radar tracking and the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident, often referred to as 'Britain's Roswell.' The briefing serves as a guide for researchers, listing numerous file references held at The National Archives, including policy files, parliamentary correspondence, and sighting reports, while noting that many early records were destroyed under a 'transitory interest' policy before 1967. The document concludes by providing a bibliography of relevant publications and articles for further study, emphasizing that the MoD's interest in UFOs was maintained primarily to address parliamentary and public inquiries rather than to investigate extraterrestrial phenomena.