Six Images From Government UFO Files Revealing The Secrets In The Skies Over Britain

Six Images From Government UFO Files Revealing The Secrets In The Skies Over Britain
I have read all the files in the Ministry of Defense UFO files. Here are six of my favourites.

Originally created after a request by Winston Churchill, the Ministry of Defense’s UFO Desk operated for over 60 years, collecting mysterious sightings and records of strange objects in the sky from observant, and sometimes imaginative, members of the public. Over the past 20 years , as a journalist and an academic, I have read all the files in these UFO files. In my new book, I have collected the best drawings and photographs.
Here are six of my favourites. Together they tell a story about the strange objects in our skies and the influence of popular culture on British life.

1. Birmingham, 1954

I like this drawing because it shows the naivety of the fifties. At that time we had not visited Venus or Mars, so we did not know for sure that there was no life there.

In 1953, the spiritualist writer George Adamski captured his imagination with his book Flying Saucers Have Landed, in which he claimed that he had communicated with creatures from Venus and Mars who had come to Earth to prevent nuclear war.

This drawing is the work of someone who claims to have seen a flying saucer over the rooftops of Smethwick in Birmingham. He has drawn it as an illustration from Adamski’s book.

So people imagined things in the sky based on the shape created in that book, showing how popular culture can change our perceptions of the world around us.

2.Wilmslow, 1960

This diagram is part of a three page report made by a police officer in Wilmslow near Manchester. He was sent to the UFO department in London, which sent an intelligence officer to interview the policeman about what he had seen. The man from the ministry was convinced that the policeman was telling the truth.

This is a typical example of what is in these files. Not much of a cover up. These are people who see things that have no explanation, which are then filed away and forgotten.

It is the human experience of the extraordinary. Historians today pore over accounts of witchcraft in the 17th century. For me, this is so interesting.

3. Sheffield, 1962

This photo of a classically shaped flying saucer was taken by a young man in Sheffield in 1962. It was published in the national press and he was taken to the air ministry in London for questioning.

In 1972, he confessed that the photo was a hoax, made by painting flying saucers on a piece of glass. Then, in the 1990s, he rescinded his confession and claimed it was real after all. I met him, and I think he believes.

People often ask me if I believe in alien spaceships, but I’m not interested in whether it’s true or not, they’re just good stories.

4. London, 1972

Anyone who says that TV and movies don’t influence how we see the world should check this out.

This image was drawn by a woman in North London in 1972 of a UFO that she saw in the sky. The letter she received from the UFO desk said that it was probably an optical illusion caused by an ordinary plane traveling abruptly into the sky.

What’s interesting here is the shape of the UFO, it’s exactly like a rocket ship from Thunderbirds, which was being replayed on TV at the time.

5. Cotswolds, 2000

Since the late 1970s we can see the shape of UFOs in the archive change from the traditional flying saucer to more of a triangle with lights, like this example from the Cotswolds in 2000.

There are two reasons for this change: popular culture and technology. In 1977, the opening scene of Star Wars featured a triangular spaceship. At the same time, the newspapers were full of stories about the new American bomber planes, which were also triangular.

Once again, we can see how popular culture was seeping into our collective subconscious and changing the way we perceive the world.

6.Sri Lankan, 2004

This photo was taken by a retired RAF soldier while on holiday in Sri Lanka in 2004. He said he believed it was an atomic bomb.

I showed this image to a meteorologist and they told me it was an iridescent ice cloud. About 10% of the reports in the UFO files can be explained by showing rare natural phenomena like this.

Ultimately, UFOs are something that people project onto their perception of the world. In 1957, psychologist Carl Jung was asked for his views on UFOs. He said: ‘There is an overwhelming amount of material pointing to its legendary or mythological aspect. As a matter of fact, the psychological aspect is so impressive, it’s almost a pity that UFOs appear to be real after all.

It is this willingness to believe, and the influence of popular culture, that I find so interesting.