Secret MoD reports released to end claims of cover-up
UFO files show truth out there in Scottish skies
Published:
An astonished pilot flying from Aberdeen to Sumburgh saw a “a red rocket with a yellow trail” at 20,000ft about a mile in front of him.
What made the UFO sighting in November 1984 so special is that the captain’s account was corroborated by his co-pilot and by air traffic control at Sumburgh, which reported “a bright flash” in the sky to the south at about the same time.
So is there really something out there? Believers may well feel justified by official reports of unexplained “aerial phenomena” over Scotland that were released last night by the National Archives in Kew.
Files detailing hundreds of sightings of UFOs – unidentified flying objects – across the UK have been moved from the secret confines of the Ministry of Defence in an effort to end allegations of a cover-up.
They include official reports from the north and north-east from coastguards, aircrew and witnesses regarded as pillars of the local community.
On January 25, 1985, Kirkwall Coastguard reported seeing “one spherical object, very bright with long tail” to the north-west, travelling south-east, splitting into two, a report confirmed by Aberdeen Coastguard.
Police at Kingussie passed on a report on December 31, 1984, of a sighting of “a bright, diamond-shaped object” with its points connected by a halo with a pinkish tinge travelling slowly towards Newtonmore.
On October 17, 1984, the operations room at RAF Kinloss recorded a report of an “orange-yellow flame”, 3-4ft wide and 50ft long, seen from Tomintoul descending slowly towards Grantown.
On September 14, 1984, an observer in Drimsdale, South Uist, saw “a white light hanging in the sky” low on the horizon near Barra.
And earlier in January 1982 a “round, crimson object, shining brightly” was seen near Old Deer Road, Peterhead.
The MoD has been very careful to avoid giving any credence to theories about visitors from outer space, insisting its only interest has been to ensure there was no risk to the defence of the realm.
And a briefing for a minister responding to a debate on UFOs in the Lords said that while there really were “many strange phenomena in the sky” seen “by rational people”, “there is nothing to suggest to Her Majesty’s Government that such phenomena are alien spacecraft”.
Some recorded incidents are even more curious.
US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt, based at RAF Woodbridge in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, reported that he and three guards had seen “a strange glowing object” in nearby woods, hovering on three legs. The next day he found three depressions in the ground measuring one-and-a-half feed deep and seven inches across.
