EVOte on The Sun!

Q: Do you believe in extra-terrestrial life? Yes 81% No 13% Not sure…phone home! 6%

(Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1336870.ece)

THIRTEEN UFOs spinning in the skies

A SHAKEN soldier told last night how he saw THIRTEEN UFOs spinning in the skies above his military barracks.

Corporal Mark Proctor was among three squaddies who spotted the objects while out on night patrol.

He filmed them on his mobile phone and reported the close encounter to Army top brass.

Ministry of Defence experts were studying his report and video yesterday — after ordering Mark and his pals NOT to say anything else about the incident.
…

(Full Article: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1336870.ece)

Base chief breaks silence on UFO mystery

A VETERAN air force chief has spoken out for the first time about the night he saw an alleged UFO at a Suffolk airbase.

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt was deputy base commander at RAF Woodbridge in December 1980 when patrolmen from the United States Air Force (USAF) claimed they saw a small, triangular shaped craft moving backwards through the woods before taking off. The incident has been dubbed Britain’s Roswell and was documented by the Ministry of Defence.

A report by Lt Col Halt detailing what he and his men saw in the early hours of Boxing Day 1980 is already part of the National Archives.

But a video posted on internet site YouTube shows Mr Halt going into more details about the alleged sighting when he spoke at the National Press Club in America.

The retired Lieutenant Colonel tells the conference: “I have no idea what we saw that night but I do know with great certainty that it was under intelligent control.”

…

(Full Article: http://www.eadt.co.uk)

More UFO sightings revealed

A WRAGBY woman has said she saw the same UFO that featured in a report on last week’s front page.
Andrea Ward, one of our village correspondents, said she saw the same UFO revealed in a secret MOD file published for the first time on May 14 by the National Archives.
…

(Full Article: http://www.horncastlenews.co.uk)

MoD reveal the number of reported UFO sightings in the UK has risen

The number of reported sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects in the UK has soared in the last year with people calling the Ministry of Defence with concerns about bright white lights, strange triangular-shaped objects and even alien abduction.

The MoD took details of 135 events in which mysterious objects were seen in our skies by witnesses including three pilots. Just 97 were reported in 2006.

In the last year, there have been reports of a flying saucer in Staffordshire, small stationary aircraft in Derbyshire and a fast moving triangular shaped object in West Yorkshire.

In the West Midlands in December, a woman was terrified when a UFO shone a light into her window. She said the UFO then “shot off fast at first to the North East and then started to move at a slow pace”.

Meanwhile in Duxford, Cambridgeshire, on April 12, a witness reported seeing fifty objects, each with an orange light, assembling in the sky before ascending.

On another occasion, two pilots in different planes flying over Alderney in the Channel Islands reported seeing two bright orange aircrafts and another pilot reported seeing a strange “balloon-like” object when in the air.

Hilary Porter, from the British Earth and Aerial Mysteries Society (BEAMS) said she is not surprised by the rise in the number of UFOs reported to the MoD, as they have been inundated with similar reports.

“We have had call after call, from business people right down to ordinary folk in their cars. There have been some very close encounters that have been quite unnerving for the people involved. We have had other people reporting orb sightings.”

(Source: http://www.cosmicparadigm.com)

UFO riddle over Uckfield

By Miles Godfrey

Masses of mysterious red lights have sparked another UFO riddle.

More than 60 of the glowing orbs were spotted throbbing and hovering above Uckfield on Saturday night.

Resident Jamie Smith, 20, from London Road, said he “thought the town was about to be invaded by aliens”.

He said: “It was like something out of Space Invaders.

“My dad said to come out into the garden and what I saw was the amazing thing I’ve ever seen.

“There were at least 60 of these lights right above us, all in close formation. There was no way they were planes or anything like that.

“Then they moved off and just two remained. Then they too totally disappeared.”

Mr Smith said the lights hovered for around five minutes before zooming off and he was by no means the only person to spot the lights.

Stephanie Gibb, also spotted them above her home in Uckfield. She said: “Me, my mum and my sister saw them as well it was so creepy but it was also brilliant.

“I couldn’t believe it. It was so amazing.”

Ryan Jackson, also from Uckfield said: “I walked out of my friends house and saw them. I didn’t know what they were. My friends said that it was helicopter but there was no sound.

“I then realised that more kept flying over into Uckfield.”

It is the latest in a series of UFO sightings reported by Argus readers. Numerous sightings have been reported, including over Brighton, Chichester and large parts of East Sussex in the last few years.

Recently published Ministry of Defence records show that between 1998 and 2006 there were 52 reports of UFOs flying over Sussex.

Each year more than 100 UFO sightings are reported to the MoD, which is required to investigate every sighting in order to establish whether or not the UKís air space has been compromised.

An MoD spokesman told The Argus: “The MoD examines reports solely to establish whether UK airspace may have been compromised by hostile or unauthorised military activity.

“If required, sighting reports are examined with the assistance of the departmentís air defence experts.

“Unless there is evidence of a potential threat, there is no attempt to identify the nature of each sighting reported.”

Curiously the official records show that similar sightings to the one made over Uckfield were also made above the town five years ago.

An object with “red and green flashing lights” was spotted by people in May 2002.

However not all reports of UFOs turn out to be little green men.

Hundreds of people jammed emergency services switchboards last December saying they could see UFOs hovering over the sea at Hove.

However it turned out to be Chinese lanterns drifting out from the shore.

(Source: http://www.theargus.co.uk)

Can’t explain everything happening up there with Chinese lanterns folks. Some cases, very most likely, but not all. Keep your eyes in the sky, you’d be surprised how many unexplained object you will see.

Nick Pope, former head of the government’s UFO investigations, isn’t so sure. He talks to Raf Sanchez about the great ‘unexplained’.

So what did Pope see during his time at the UFO Project that not only converted him from a skeptic but has turned him into something of a campaigner for a scientific approach to Ufology? The answer lies in a proportion of 5%. Pope found that of the 200-300 reports of UFO sightings that came across his desk every year, 80% could be explained away as “misidentifications of something ordinary, such as aircraft lights, satellites, airships, weather balloons or planets.” In a further 15% the information was too sparse to make any real judgements. Yet, in the remaining 5% there was enough information, usually in the form of radar signatures and visual sightings by trained observers like RAF pilots, yet still no one was able to identify the object. To Pope these incidents were “very interesting and by definition ‘unexplained’“.

(Full article: http://www.nouse.co.uk)

You can see in this article, that Pope has a military background. His reaction is to think that Extraterrestrial would “call the shots”. And with this type of thinking, is starting a relationship on a very wrong foot.

What if, they are just neighbors and wanted to say hi? What if they wanted to help us go through our current energy and ecological crisis? I could see countless of benevolent situation, yet our chimp brain kicks in and creates the worst scenarios possible…We gotta grow up from those habits.

he Real X-Files: the Inside Story of the MoD’s UFO Project

By Society of Chemical Industry
SCI Liverpool & North West Lecture

The Ministry of Defence receives more Freedom of Information Act requests relating to UFOs than on any other subject, including the war in Iraq. The MoD is shortly to begin releasing some of its most sensitive UFO files, relating to Defence Intelligence Staff investigations into the phenomenon. After that, many expect the MoD to declassify and release their entire archive of UFO files. What’s in the files? Why was the MoD investigating the subject at all? What did they conclude? What are the most fascinating cases in the government files? Why do so many people believe the government is covering up the truth about UFOs?

To find the answers to these questions, come along to the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre on Mersey Road in Widnes, WA8 0FD, on Saturday 13 October at 11am. Nick Pope, who ran the MoD’s UFO project for much of the early Nineties, will be giving a talk and answering questions on the subject. Entry is free.

After Nick’s talk you can tour the Catalyst Discovery Centre at the reduced rate of £2.50 for adults and £2 for children.

(Source: http://www.firstscience.com)

he Real X-Files: the Inside Story of the MoD’s UFO Project

By Society of Chemical Industry
SCI Liverpool & North West Lecture

The Ministry of Defence receives more Freedom of Information Act requests relating to UFOs than on any other subject, including the war in Iraq. The MoD is shortly to begin releasing some of its most sensitive UFO files, relating to Defence Intelligence Staff investigations into the phenomenon. After that, many expect the MoD to declassify and release their entire archive of UFO files. What’s in the files? Why was the MoD investigating the subject at all? What did they conclude? What are the most fascinating cases in the government files? Why do so many people believe the government is covering up the truth about UFOs?

To find the answers to these questions, come along to the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre on Mersey Road in Widnes, WA8 0FD, on Saturday 13 October at 11am. Nick Pope, who ran the MoD’s UFO project for much of the early Nineties, will be giving a talk and answering questions on the subject. Entry is free.

After Nick’s talk you can tour the Catalyst Discovery Centre at the reduced rate of £2.50 for adults and £2 for children.

(Source: http://www.firstscience.com)

It’s true… UFOs really do exist out there

A TOP UK government official admitted the existence of UFOs in a secret document about a dramatic sighting.

The Ministry of Defence boss made the astonishing claim after dozens of eyewitnesses reported a “hovering” flying saucer in the skies in Shropshire.

His confidential report features in a new book by Timothy Good, who is regarded as a world expert on alien phenomena.

Good’s book, Need To Know, features previously secret government papers about UFO sightings which have taken place around the world.

A whole section is devoted to a mystery craft which “shot beams of light” near RAF Shawbury, Shropshire, in the early hours of March 31, 1993. It had earlier been spotted in the skies above Devon, Cornwall and South Wales.

Up to 70 credible eyewitnesses later came forward to report the sighting, including some military personnel and police officers.

The newly obtained document shows that a Head of Secretariat for the Ministry of Defence wrote to the Assistant Chief of Air Staff following the chilling encounter on the night and was convinced it was a genuine UFO.

The release of the book comes as the MoD prepares to publish other UFO reports dating back to 1967.

The documents to be released also include witness accounts from civilian pilots and military personnel.

(Source: http://www.independent.ie)

This is some great news! It’s welcome to see such release and also the release from the French space agency.

It’s true… UFOs really do exist out there

A TOP UK government official admitted the existence of UFOs in a secret document about a dramatic sighting.

The Ministry of Defence boss made the astonishing claim after dozens of eyewitnesses reported a “hovering” flying saucer in the skies in Shropshire.

His confidential report features in a new book by Timothy Good, who is regarded as a world expert on alien phenomena.

Good’s book, Need To Know, features previously secret government papers about UFO sightings which have taken place around the world.

A whole section is devoted to a mystery craft which “shot beams of light” near RAF Shawbury, Shropshire, in the early hours of March 31, 1993. It had earlier been spotted in the skies above Devon, Cornwall and South Wales.

Up to 70 credible eyewitnesses later came forward to report the sighting, including some military personnel and police officers.

The newly obtained document shows that a Head of Secretariat for the Ministry of Defence wrote to the Assistant Chief of Air Staff following the chilling encounter on the night and was convinced it was a genuine UFO.

The release of the book comes as the MoD prepares to publish other UFO reports dating back to 1967.

The documents to be released also include witness accounts from civilian pilots and military personnel.

(Source: http://www.independent.ie)

This is some great news! It’s welcome to see such release and also the release from the French space agency.

Space Aliens Cut Their Visits to Britain

Official figures reveal sharp drop in UFO sightings over our skies

ALIENS are growing less keen on Britain, according to newly-released government figures that log UFO sightings.

In 1995 128 strange events in the skies over the UK were reported by the public, but by 2006 that figure had dropped to 97. As a comparison, in the same period, human tourism to Britain increased by close to 10 per cent.

London didn�t escape the lame alien invasion. In north London on 5 August 2006, orbs were reported shifting about in odd directions before hightailing it towards outer space, while in nearby Hastings on 17 May, there were reports of an alien staring through the kitchen window of two innocent natives.

�Sometimes UFOs are weather balloons, sometimes they are military jets, sometimes they are optical illusions,� said a killjoy spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority, before opening the door marked X-Files slightly with: “But sometimes we just don’t know what they are.”

The good news for UFO spotters is that from now on the government plan to publish reports of sightings by the following year, instead of the inexplicably secretive practice of waiting 30 years as previously.

(Source: http://www.londonnet.co.uk)

Timothy good reports: "Thousands of UFOs remain unreported"

REGARDING “Green Men Myth” (Cornwallis column, Evening Mail, August 7), the following should be noted.

The acronym UFO stands for unidentified flying object — NOT “alien spaceship” — and while the vast majority (about 95 per cent) of UFO reports are explainable, the rest are not, a fact conceded by defence ministries throughout the world.

Contrary to the statement that “there is not a scrap, not a shred of evidence for the existence of UFOs”, well over 4,000 military and civilian pilots (as well as numerous naval officers, astronauts etc) have reported encounters with unknown flying craft — frequently confirmed by radar — and thousands go unreported owing to military or other professional security restrictions.

In addition, thousands of previously classified intelligence papers (many Top Secret) prove how seriously the subject is taken by officialdom.

As former CIA director Admiral Hillenkoetter stated in 1960: “Behind the scenes, high-ranking air force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense.”

Regarding film/video footage, most can be explained in terms of hoaxes or misidentifications, but certainly not all. As for hardware, plenty exists — including several vehicles recovered prior to the 1947 Roswell incident — though such hardware remains highly classified to this day.

“The classification was, from the outset, above Top Secret, so the vast majority of US officials and politicians — let alone a mere allied minister of defence — were never in the loop,” declared former Canadian defence minister Paul Hellyer two years ago.

As to “why do they not reveal themselves?”, thousands of witnesses throughout the world — including high-ranking military personnel — have reported encounters with extraterrestrial beings.

Again, probably the majority can be explained, but not all.

Readers may be interested to know that my latest book, Need to Know: UFOs, the Military and Intelligence (published in July by Pan Macmillan) reveals all this information in depth.

TIMOTHY GOOD

(Source: http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=534010)

Information Kept from Us

In the borough of Bromley, U.K. a strange thing occurred. A metropolitan police helicopter, on routine patrol, was on the way to a very unusual sighting of a UFO. They would see flashing red lights that made sounds like something spinning around in the air. Shaken by the incident, they reported it officially. For many of the standard reasons, this report was shelved, and no details were released to the public for four years, until that is, this month. This is only one of many U.K. sightings that have come to light through the Freedom of Information Act.

It is very interesting to note that these reports are kept under wraps by a government that, by their own admission, does not investigate UFO reports, unless they pose a threat to the national security. My question is: “How does one know whether or not a UFO poses a threat, unless someone investigates it? What are we looking at here? One man gets a report, reads it over, and says, “Oh well, no threat there!” and that’s the end of it. Obviously, there is no follow-up of any kind. This sounds a lot like Project Blue Book here in the States. Maybe the British and American governments do have a lot in common after all. They decide what is worthy for the general public to know. We cannot handle the truth, according to our government.

(Source: http://ufos.about.com/b/a/256953.htm)

Strange orange orbs in the sky

Mystery lights have been spotted over Chadsmoor – the latest in a long line of UFO sightings around the town.

Sighting comes just days after Ministry of Defence officially declared Cannock Chase as a UFO hotspot.

A Smillie Place resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “It was about three minutes to ten on Saturday night.

“I looked into the sky and there were these three orange orbs.

“I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

The resident said that she watched the scene for about a minute and a half, during which time the lights put on a strange display before vanishing.

“One of them, the first in the line, came across the sky and then just stopped dead.

“The two lights behind it followed a second or two later.

“When they were all close together, the first light vanished. Just disappeared completely. Like it just shut down into nothing.”

And at the same time, in nearby Cemetery Road, resident James Douglas also spotted the mysterious lights.

“They were more or less in a straight line,” he said.

“It was a couple of minutes to ten. “The lights weren’t very big – they didn’t look all that far away but they didn’t look too big, either. They weren’t making a sound.

“The first one just stopped dead. The other two sort of dawdled up to the first one, and as soon as they did, the first light just switched off, kind of thing. Just vanished. Didn’t drop or rise or anything.

“I called my wife, but when she came out on the garden there were just two of them left.

“I’ve absolutely no idea what it was.”

l Did you see the strange lights above Chadsmoor last Saturday night? Did you catch them on camera? Write to: The Post, 103-106 High Green Court, Newhall Street, Cannock, WS11 1AB.

MoD issues gag order on armed forces

New restrictions on blogs, emails, websites and text messages

British troops on patrol in southern Afghanistan.
Photograph: Andrew Parsons/PA

Sweeping new guidelines barring military personnel from speaking about their service publicly have been quietly introduced by the Ministry of Defence, the Guardian has learned.

Soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel will not be able to blog, take part in surveys, speak in public, post on bulletin boards, play in multi-player computer games or send text messages or photographs without the permission of a superior if the information they use concerns matters of defence.

They also cannot release video, still images or audio – material which has previously led to investigations into the abuse of Iraqis. Instead, the guidelines state that “all such communication must help to maintain and, where possible, enhance the reputation of defence”.

The regulations, issued by the Directorate of Communication Planning, come in the wake of the row over the MoD allowing two of the HMS Cornwall sailors held captive in Iran to be paid for their stories. Receiving money for interviews, conferences and books which draw on official defence experience has now been banned.

The MoD document, circulated last week, covers “all public speaking, writing or other communications, including via the internet and other sharing technologies, on issues arising from an individual’s official business or experience, whether on-duty, off-duty or in spare time”.

The rules have provoked consternation among the ranks, with human rights lawyers saying yesterday that they could be in contravention of Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, which allows for freedom of expression. The rules apply not only to full-time forces but to members of the Territorial Army and cadets whilst on duty, as well as MoD civil servants.

Service personnel are currently bound by Queen’s Regulations, which mean they must seek permission before speaking to the press but are free to blog and take part in online debates. However, many have spoken out anonymously on issues such as poor kit, housing and the treatment of wounded service personnel evacuated from combat zones. Criticism of the RAF in Afghanistan and the state of the ageing vehicles being used there have all appeared in the press.

An unofficial soldiers’ website, arrse.co.uk, was full of angry debate about the issue yesterday. One poster said: “Why does it not occur to MoD that if it did things properly, and treated its people well, they wouldn’t feel the need to bring things into the public arena quite so often, and they wouldn’t need to spend so much time covering-up?”

Another suggested that the rules were intended to silence the average “tommy” while senior personnel were free to speak to the media without fear of reprimand. “Every single leak of significant information to the media, certainly in the last six months, has come from the top down. Not the other direction,” he said. “Should Cpl Bloggs, or Major Good Bloke in some Platoon House in downtown Helmand-on-Styx complain in a private letter that he hasn’t enough ammo to despatch the Queens’ enemies, or the RAF really should try harder to deliver it, it’s ‘March in the guilty B*stard’ and ‘conduct prejudicial to good order’ and discipline and finger-wagging all round.”

The MoD’s director general of media communications, Simon McDowell, denied that the guidelines were a form of censorship or gagging.

“We are trying to give straightforward, clear guidance that is up to date. The existing regulations were confusing and didn’t include things like accepting payment. It applies to communicating about defence matters, not personal things. Particular things can impact on operational security; information which somebody can get a hold of. Even a little photograph sent from Afghanistan on a mobile phone could endanger people’s lives and break operational security.”

He added: “It is not gagging. It is setting out procedures so people know what the rules are.” Those infringing the rules would be dealt with on a case by case basis, he said. “There is now far less of a chance of having the kind of mishaps that we had with Iran now there are clear guidelines.”

Mr McDowell said that the MoD was experimenting with authorised blogs from Afghanistan. It was also seeking “legitimate outlets for people to express themselves”.

Geoffrey Robertson, QC, a leading human rights lawyer, said that the guidelines were likely to contravene the Human Rights Act. He said they reminded him of the “catch-all” section of the old official secrets act, which made it a criminal offence to disclose information without lawful authority. The discredited section, which was repealed in 1989, “stopped soldiers from revealing the brand of tea served in the MoD canteen”, he said.

“It’s increasingly important, given Britain’s escalating foreign troop engagements, often in conjunction with less-disciplined forces, that soldiers, officers and officials can speak frankly to the media about their engagements without having their honest briefing subject to any spin,” Mr Robertson said.

(Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk)

Best way to hide things, or at least to minimize the sharing on how bad the situation is and to hide their original mistake to invade Iraq. Now, what are they planning to do, they wouldn’t want the population to know about…

Strange lights return to Greenham

Another UFO sighting in Greenham, as family claims orange lights hovered over the common

IT WAS a clear, balmy night as Avril Mason, 27, left her parents’ house shortly before 11pm last Thursday. There was not a cloud in sight.

As her parents said goodbye on the doorstep, the three of them looked into the night sky and saw a baffling sight.

Two orange lights, round like globes and at the height of light aircraft, hovered silently in the east, above Greenham Common.

After a few minutes, a third light appeared, and the three lined up in formation.

“First of all we thought they were helicopters but there was no sound. They were just hovering there for about five minutes,” said Mrs Mason.

“They were kind of like stars, round in shape. Obviously we knew they weren’t normal. They were really bright – brighter than stars, and they twinkled.”

Mrs Mason’s father, Steve Hillen, 57, said: “I know for a fact they weren’t aircraft. There was no sound and there was no flashing lights.”

After hovering for about ten minutes, they glided slowly off towards the disused airbase, and disappeared.

Both the Met Office and the Ministry of the Defence claim to have no knowledge what could have been caused the mysterious lights.

And RAF spokesman Karl Mahon said that none of their aircraft would fit the family’s description.

But the sighting tallies with a string of similar incidents in West Berkshire.

In September 2006, a triangular-shaped formation of glowing lights was seen drifting across the sky above Greenham Common.

Some witnesses said the lights formed a V-shaped formation, hovering over the common for three minutes before disappearing into the night sky at lightning speed.

Neither the MoD nor the Met Office was able to explain the sightings, or the power cuts and bright flashes that accompanied them.

And in another startlingly similar incident, a Swindon taxi driver spotted four bright orange shapes in the sky, drifting at low altitude, in June this year.

A few weeks before that, a Newbury man told Newbury Weekly News he had spotted circles the size of four football pitches hovering in the sky above Henwick Fields, Thatcham. He said his son had also seen the lights.

Local astronomer Steve Harris offered a range of possibilities for UFO phenomena, but said none seemed to fit the latest sighting.

“The International Space Station went overhead a couple of times on Thursday, but it doesn’t flash and moves at the speed of aeroplane. It doesn’t sound like burning-up space junk either,” he said.

“It might be helicopters – the Apache helicopters can be quite quiet nowadays, but honestly I haven’t got a clue” he added.

Anyone who has seen other strange sights over West Berkshire or can offer an explanation should contact Liam Sloan at liam.sloan@newburynews.co.uk

(Source + Video: http://www.newburytoday.co.uk)

Police chopper’s UFO encounter

IT was likely to be a night like any other for the crew of a Met police helicopter on patrol over Bromley borough..

But suddenly they found themselves in the middle of something resembling a science fiction film. All around them were flashing and pulsating red lights that made whirring noises.

Their report was filed among hundreds of others in a secret government storage facility. Now, less than four years on, their story can be finally brought to light thanks to a freedom of information request.

However Met police were reluctant to elaborate any further on what was released by the Ministry of Defence.

The accounts are varied and in some cases bizarre. A massive light, shaped like an iron that hung in the sky without moving was spotted in Orpington in 2005.

In Grove Park, Bromley, witnesses saw a black ruler-shaped object ‘move across the moon’ and disappear in 1998.

Most of the sightings are little more than just an entry in a log that gathers dust on military shelves, but some are willing to speak of their experiences.

The Kentish Times reported how in April this year, a couple Stacy Shaw, 19 and her boyfriend Gavin Drummond, 22, saw ‘burning balls of fire’ in the sky.

They had seen them hovering over the Tollgate Hotel roundabout, next to the A2. Astounded, they followed one light to the site of an old BP petrol station in their car.

She said: “When it got there it just shot up into the sky really quickly. That was the most amazing part, the way it moved so fast.”

In south east London witnesses spoke of a ‘cigar-shaped’ object that looked like a disc side on, which accelerated to a speed that would outstrip a fighter jet.

Information on UFOs has previously been exempt from freedom of information requests because it was considered a matter of national security.

A spokesman for the MOD said that it would only retain information on potential threats.

Nick Pope who recently just stepped down from the government’s UFO project complained that the project had been ‘virtually closed’ and lack of investigation of reports had left Britain ‘wide open to attack’.

However a spokesman for the British UFO Research Association remained sceptical.

He said: “If you work on the basis that anything considered to be of potential significance would be retained by the Ministry for any period of time they deemed necessary, then anything freely released into the public domain will ultimately have been viewed as worthless.”

(Source: http://www.bromleytimes.co.uk)

Police chopper’s UFO encounter

IT was likely to be a night like any other for the crew of a Met police helicopter on patrol over Bromley borough..

But suddenly they found themselves in the middle of something resembling a science fiction film. All around them were flashing and pulsating red lights that made whirring noises.

Their report was filed among hundreds of others in a secret government storage facility. Now, less than four years on, their story can be finally brought to light thanks to a freedom of information request.

However Met police were reluctant to elaborate any further on what was released by the Ministry of Defence.

The accounts are varied and in some cases bizarre. A massive light, shaped like an iron that hung in the sky without moving was spotted in Orpington in 2005.

In Grove Park, Bromley, witnesses saw a black ruler-shaped object ‘move across the moon’ and disappear in 1998.

Most of the sightings are little more than just an entry in a log that gathers dust on military shelves, but some are willing to speak of their experiences.

The Kentish Times reported how in April this year, a couple Stacy Shaw, 19 and her boyfriend Gavin Drummond, 22, saw ‘burning balls of fire’ in the sky.

They had seen them hovering over the Tollgate Hotel roundabout, next to the A2. Astounded, they followed one light to the site of an old BP petrol station in their car.

She said: “When it got there it just shot up into the sky really quickly. That was the most amazing part, the way it moved so fast.”

In south east London witnesses spoke of a ‘cigar-shaped’ object that looked like a disc side on, which accelerated to a speed that would outstrip a fighter jet.

Information on UFOs has previously been exempt from freedom of information requests because it was considered a matter of national security.

A spokesman for the MOD said that it would only retain information on potential threats.

Nick Pope who recently just stepped down from the government’s UFO project complained that the project had been ‘virtually closed’ and lack of investigation of reports had left Britain ‘wide open to attack’.

However a spokesman for the British UFO Research Association remained sceptical.

He said: “If you work on the basis that anything considered to be of potential significance would be retained by the Ministry for any period of time they deemed necessary, then anything freely released into the public domain will ultimately have been viewed as worthless.”

(Source: http://www.bromleytimes.co.uk)

City’s a UFO sighting hotspot, say MoD

They could be little green men or something far less mysterious but one thing is for sure – they are more common than you think.

Information released by the Ministry of Defence, following a Freedom of Information request, has revealed several sightings of UFOs in the region with experts describing Norwich as a “hotspot.”

Spotters of unidentified objects describe “orange lights that appeared to be in formation and travelling quite slowly, in East Dereham, as well as a white light which was “as bright as mars” in Great Yarmouth.

There were 14 official sightings reported to the MOD in the last 10 years, including two over Norwich, but John Sayer, of the Norfolk UFO Society said these are just the ones we know about.

Mr Sayer said: “When people think of UFOs they think of the traditional flying saucers but it’s not something the general public are really aware of.

“Generally speaking I would say that these kinds of sightings are much more common than people realise. Since I have become interested in the subject I’ve realised there’s quite a lot going on.

“Of course we must remember these sightings are only the ones that have reached the MOD – it’s just the tip of the iceberg and in my experience most people don’t report what they see.”

Other sightings across Norfolk include two in Norwich of “an object that looked a bit like a star at first and then split into about half a dozen lights” and “a single flashing light.”

In Great Yarmouth a “bright white light with an orange light at the rear” was spotted.

Defence officials keep records of these sightings because of the possible implications for national security and analyse them all in detail but most of the UFOs reported either have a rational explanation or none at all.

In June the Evening News reported how the sightings of mysterious orbs floating silently over Norwich, believed to be UFOs, turned out to be nothing more sinister than paper lanterns with messages – one of the latest crazes for summer parties and barbecues.

• Those who believe they have seen an unidentified flying object can report it to the Norfolk UFO Society on 01603 755331 or to the Ministry of Defence.
• Do you have an unusual or quirky story? Contact reporter Rebecca Gough on 01603 772428 or email rebecca.gough@archant.co.uk

(Source: http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk)

City’s a UFO sighting hotspot, say MoD

They could be little green men or something far less mysterious but one thing is for sure – they are more common than you think.

Information released by the Ministry of Defence, following a Freedom of Information request, has revealed several sightings of UFOs in the region with experts describing Norwich as a “hotspot.”

Spotters of unidentified objects describe “orange lights that appeared to be in formation and travelling quite slowly, in East Dereham, as well as a white light which was “as bright as mars” in Great Yarmouth.

There were 14 official sightings reported to the MOD in the last 10 years, including two over Norwich, but John Sayer, of the Norfolk UFO Society said these are just the ones we know about.

Mr Sayer said: “When people think of UFOs they think of the traditional flying saucers but it’s not something the general public are really aware of.

“Generally speaking I would say that these kinds of sightings are much more common than people realise. Since I have become interested in the subject I’ve realised there’s quite a lot going on.

“Of course we must remember these sightings are only the ones that have reached the MOD – it’s just the tip of the iceberg and in my experience most people don’t report what they see.”

Other sightings across Norfolk include two in Norwich of “an object that looked a bit like a star at first and then split into about half a dozen lights” and “a single flashing light.”

In Great Yarmouth a “bright white light with an orange light at the rear” was spotted.

Defence officials keep records of these sightings because of the possible implications for national security and analyse them all in detail but most of the UFOs reported either have a rational explanation or none at all.

In June the Evening News reported how the sightings of mysterious orbs floating silently over Norwich, believed to be UFOs, turned out to be nothing more sinister than paper lanterns with messages – one of the latest crazes for summer parties and barbecues.

• Those who believe they have seen an unidentified flying object can report it to the Norfolk UFO Society on 01603 755331 or to the Ministry of Defence.
• Do you have an unusual or quirky story? Contact reporter Rebecca Gough on 01603 772428 or email rebecca.gough@archant.co.uk

(Source: http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk)

More reports of UFO lights

Aug 14 2007

REPORTS of UFO sightings have come flooding in to the South London Press following trails of bright lights being spotted in the night skies.

A number of witnesses have come forward after we reported on the mysterious lights being spotted flying in formation above East Dulwich on August 4.

Mike Hall, 62, of Therapia Road, East Dulwich, was in his back garden when the UFOs passed directly overhead.

He said:

“I counted at least 20 and the light was intense, but as they passed over me they were completely silent. “The night was still and there was no breeze, there was absolute silence. “I have never seen anything like it in my life.”

Anton Raes, of Sydenham, caught the string of lights on his camera phone. But he said despite their brightness they hardly showed up in pictures. He said:

“I never have believed in UFOs or aliens or anything like that before.
“I would normally laugh at things like that. “I could clearly see it was not a plane or a star. “You could see planes flying past and instantly notice the difference.”

Despite several reports of the unexplained lights, the Ministry of Defence has remained silent on the matter, saying that it will only investigate such an incident if there is a perceived threat.

(Source: http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk)

UFO seen above Hungerford…again

by Sarah

A Swindon taxi driver recently added to the growing list of supernatural occurrences spotted by locals in the district.

Having just dropped off a fare in Hungerford, Neil Whitby spotted four bright orange shapes in the sky.

Drifting silently across the sky at what he believed was a fairly low altitude, the lights began to flicker before suddenly disappearing.

A few weeks earlier, a man from Newbury rang the Newbury Weekly News claiming to have spotted circles in the sky the size of four football pitches hovering above Henwick Fields in Thatcham for five minutes. He said his son had also seen the lights.

The inexplicable phenomena are the latest in a whole string of local UFO sightings dating as far back as 1909, when an organist from St Michael’s Church in Lambourn spotted a shape coming from the East that he said intermittently let off loud explosions.

Three years ago locals in Hungerford were left baffled by a giant fireball attached to a solid cigar-shaped structure (pictured above), which some saw plummet to earth before rising into the night sky again.

People said pets were behaving strangely twenty minutes before the fireball appeared and police even dispatched helicopters to look for debris while firefighters scoured the area in search of a point of impact.

The mystery was never explained and a man even saw a similar ball of flame above Thatcham a year later.

In September 2006, a triangular-shaped formation of glowing lights was seen drifting across the sky above Greenham Common.

Some witnesses said the lights formed a V shaped formation, hovering over the com-mon for three minutes before disappearing into the night sky at lightning speed.

The MOD and Met office were left scratching their heads, unable to explain the Greenham sightings or the power cuts and bright flashes that accompanied them.

In the summer of 1968, a Newbury man was drawing his curtains when a huge circular object flashed across the horizon at break-neck speed. On the same evening, two policemen in Kent spotted an object of a similar description also travelling abnormally fast.

Fifteen years earlier the same man spotted a large cigar-shaped object moving through the sky while he was walking his dog in Love Lane.

In 1971, after two sightings, the man was so impressed that he founded the Newbury-based South-West Aerial Phenomena Society (SWAPS), members of which made it their mission to record and investigate UFO sightings in West Berkshire.

One of the club’s first investigations into the bizarre night time phenomena was to set up a “skywatch” to chart the movement of orange lights seen by people in May 1972.

SWAPS sent investigators to the home of Wickham actress Coral Atkins, who had told the Newbury Weekly News: “I saw a ball of orangey white light coming towards me. It seemed to come straight through the window and into my head.

“It was very painful but for a few seconds it seemed as if I was standing back from the world and I could see everything as it should be.”

The next recorded sightings occurred in February 1972 when two UFOs were spotted above Kintbury and Brightwalton on the same night.

Witnesses who chased the mysterious oval-shaped objects on scooters until they vanished into the night sky said the UFOs had beams of light radiating from them and red diodes flashing sporadically.

(Source: http://www.cosmicparadigm.com)

UK-MoD Report Says Ufos Do Not Exist In The Uk: Some British Pilots And Military Members Might Disagree

Written by Bill Knell

Saturday, 09 June 2007

According to a once secret report released by the British Ministry of Defense in April of 2007, UFOs are not anything to get excited about. The MoD report claims that all the incidents they have investigated show the objects in question to be without mass, no danger to air traffic and not under intelligent control. Despite the four hundred pages of nay saying, not everyone agrees. For almost two decades, a number of British Intelligence Analysts and former UK military consultants working for the MoD have leaked documents which reveal that UFOs are intelligently-controlled vehicles of extra-terrestrial origin. The MoD leaks, recent reports that former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin saw a UFO from his aircraft in 2004 and statements from other Canadian officials which indicate UFOs are alien spacecraft may be the reason for this latest piece of disinformation. While the MoD may believe that there is nothing to this whole UFO thing, they might have considered checking with at least two UK Commercial Airline Pilots that recent saw one. Captain Ray Bowyer, 50, of Aurigny Airlines, spotted a “bright-yellow light” 10 miles west of Alderney at about 3pm during a flight from Southampton while his aircraft was 30 miles from the island at 4,000 feet on Monday, April 23, 2007. Captain Bowyer: “It was a very sharp, thin yellow object with a green area. It was 2,000ft up and stationary. I thought it was about 10 miles away, although I later realized it was approximately 40 miles from us. At first, I thought it was the size of a [Boeing] 737. “But it must have been much bigger because of how far away it was. It could have been as much as a mile wide.” While on approach to Guernsey, Bowyer noticed a “second identical object further to the west”. He said: “It was exactly the same but looked smaller because it was further away. It was closer to Guernsey. I can’t explain it. At first, I thought it might have been a reflection from a vinery in Guernsey, but that would have disappeared quickly. This was clearly visual for about nine minutes. As I got closer to it, it became clear to me that it was tangible. I was in two minds about going towards it to have a closer look but decided against it because of the size of it. I had to think of the safety of the passengers first. I’m certainly not saying that it was something of another world. All I’m saying is that I have never seen anything like it before in all my years of flying.” Bowyer reported the incident to Paul Kelly, 31, an Air Traffic Controller on duty. Kelly indicated that nothing appeared on his radar. However, ATC Paul Kelly received a “similar report” from a Blue Islands pilot en route to Jersey at the same time. Kelly explained that as the pilot went past Sark he “described an object behind him to his left”. Kelly continued: “The description was very similar to Captain Bowyer’s and they described it as being in exactly the same place. But they were looking at it from opposite sides.” The other pilot said that the UFO was 1,550 feet lower than his aircraft, which was at 3,500ft. “Both pilots placed it at the same altitude”, Kelly added. In 1987, I published a phone interview that I did with an official for the British Ministry of Defense in The New York UFO Report. The official was an assistant to a person involved with nuclear investigations. Because I knew the person which arranged the phone interview very well, there was no doubt that I was speaking with a very important source of insider information when it came to the MoD. The official told me that there were numerous incursions into areas where nuclear weapons and other sensitive materials were stored. These incursions involved unidentified aircraft and physical beings of unknown origin. He refused to elaborate about the beings fearing that any further descriptions might help identify him. According to him, general stories about the creatures and crafts that made the incursions were common knowledge to many in the MoD. Recent statements by Nick Pope may have helped to validate those stories. In November of 2006, Nick Pope (the former head of the MoD UFO research project) told the British Press that his Country was vulnerable to invasion or infiltration by extra-terrestrial forces. Pope felt that the shutting down of UFO research at the MoD Directorate of Defense Security has left his nation unprepared to defend against Aliens. As a result, he resigned his position with the Directorate. On previous occasions he has stated that the MoD wasn’t hiding anything from the British Public. I wonder how he feels now? My own source at the MoD said that the organization was of two minds when it came to UFOs. Many UK Military Officers feel there is ample evidence to believe that Aliens exist and are visiting the Earth without respect for national boundaries or security. That makes them a national security concern. Others at the MoD believe the entire matter is without merit and should be ignored. Time either heals all wounds or wounds all heals. In this case, time has been a friend to my source. Over the past twenty years since that interview with him, I have watched the UK Government split hairs over UFOs. When the UFO incident took place near the Bentwaters Base and NATO Facility in 1980, it was confirmation that UFOs are making incursions into security sensitive UK military facilities. The aftermath also revealed a clear split among military members and their hierarchy when it came to the subject of UFOs. Officially, it seemed that no one was really sure what happened at Bentwaters. Everything from Light House Beacons to reflective tree bark was rolled out to explain away the incident. But most of the people on the ground when it happened seemed convinced this wasn’t an ordinary event involving a conventional explanation. As with Roswell and hundreds of other cases involving military bases, aircraft, ships and UFOs, you had the choice of believing those who were there or people writing reports about it later to suit there own political and philosophical needs. Even if you have spent just a few minutes researching UFOs and have an open mind, will not be fooled by the MoD Report. As with other self-serving documents like the 1997 Air Force Report on the Roswell Crash and the recent UFO files released by France, these papers are designed to create doubt and mask any other information government agencies possess about UFOs and Aliens. Read more true stories about the Unexplained at http://www.UFOguy.com Author: Bill Knell

(Source: http://pr-gb.com)

Could we have hitched a ride on UFOs?

Newly released files may put one mystery to bed, but in doing so others are left unanswered

James Randerson
Thursday February 22, 2007
The Guardian

It is not the sort of discussion you imagine among the grey-suited ranks of Whitehall – defence analysts debating the existence of little green men and speculating about whether they have visited Earth.

But a set of newly released internal Ministry of Defence documents gives a fascinating insight into the military’s interest in UFOs. They tell the story of the MoD’s decision to investigate the threat they might pose and whether alien military technology could be used in the defence of the realm. They also reveal the conflicting attitudes within Whitehall to the subject and the lengths that officials went to in order to keep the project secret.

The documents, many marked “Secret UK Eyes A”, lay out the rationale for the three-year Project Condign report which analysed more than 10,000 possible UFO sightings collected over several decades – many from military personnel. The existence of the 460-page report was revealed last year following freedom of information requests by David Clarke, a lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, and his colleague Gary Anthony. It was more FOI sleuthing on their part that turned up the current slew of papers.

The documents show that the internal lobbying effort for a UFO study began in 1993. In a briefing note from the secret UFO investigation branch of Defence Intelligence – called DI55 – an unnamed author wrote: “The national security implications are considerable. We have many reports of strange objects in the skies and we have never investigated them.

Paranoid response

“I also believe that it is important to appreciate that what is scientific ‘fact’ today may not be true tomorrow … If reports are taken at face value then devices exist that do not use conventional reaction propulsion systems, they have a very wide range of speeds and are stealthy. I suggest that we could use this technology, if it exists.”

And he speculates: “If the sightings are of devices not of the Earth then their purpose needs to be established as a matter of priority … possibilities are: 1 Military reconnaissance. 2 Scientific. 3 Tourism.”

According to a former MoD intelligence analyst who asked not be named, the MoD was paranoid in the late 1980s that the Soviet Union had developed technology that went beyond western knowledge of physics. “For many years we were very concerned that in some areas the Russians had a handle on physics that we hadn’t at all. We just basically didn’t know the basics they were working from,” he said. “We did encourage our scientists not to think that we in the west knew everything there was to be known.”

Material that was held back from the original FOI release of the Project Condign report, but which was published in October after an appeal, suggests that the MoD suspected that this scientific knowledge came from studying UFOs – or unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) as the MoD prefers to call them. “Russian, former Soviet republics and Chinese authorities have made a co-ordinated effort to understand the UAP topic. Several aircraft have been destroyed and at least four pilots have been killed ‘chasing UFOs’.”

One of Project Condign’s conclusions was that UAP events could be put down to poorly understood phenomena called plasmas. The report says that the Russian military was doing research using plasmas as reflector antennas, aerodynamic drag reducers, stealth absorbers and using them to produce “saucer-shaped volumes”.

The initial request in 1993 for an MoD research project into UFOs was shelved, but in a later memo dated June 19 1995 following a surge in UFO reports, the same unnamed wing commander at DI55 wrote: “Until we conduct some analysis of the files we will not have any idea what the many reports represent. If at any stage in the future UAPs are shown to exist then there is the potential for severe embarrassment.”

Clarke, whose book Flying Saucerers: The Social History of Ufology will be published in April, says: “They knew that because no detailed study of the subject had ever been carried out – and consequently they had no idea what UFOs were – they could not justify the claim they were of no threat.”

Nick Pope, who worked on the MoD’s public UFO desk until 1994 and features in the correspondence, adds: “This was always the big debate. How could you possibly fulfil the remit of looking at the issue properly to see if there was anything of defence significance, without carrying out research and investigation? I think it is one of these subjects where it is low probability, high consequence,” he adds. “For the want of spending a little bit of money, the potential wins if there were anything of any defence significance here would be worth having.”

But how much money did the MOD spend? One document refers to a £35,000 cost estimate, while in another from 1996, the head of Defence Intelligence (Scientific and Technical) estimated £80,000 for a year-long study. Project Condign when it was eventually begun took more than three years to complete. So does that mean a price tag of at least £240,000?

No, according to the MoD, although it would not release the true figure. “This assumption that the sum will tally up to £80,000 a year isn’t supported and is inaccurate. It was funded from an existing contract within existing budgetary levels,” it adds.

The project was given to a trusted defence contractor and although details of the contract have not been revealed, the documents suggest that it was handled so as not to expose Project Condign to scrutiny. In the initial 1993 correspondence on the subject, a memo from DI55 refers to the potential “political embarrassment” of the project becoming known. It goes on: “I believe that opening a new contract especially for this study and using competitive tendering would potentially expose the study to too wide an audience.”

But Pope believes this was simply a practical measure. “Using an existing contract is always going to be easier than actually commissioning a new one,” he says. “It wasn’t an attempt to take it outside scrutiny. It was a quick fix.”

Suspicious minds

The internal memos and briefing notes are peppered with hints of the considerable scepticism the DI55 wing commander encountered from superiors. In the original August 1993 brief he writes: “I am well aware that anyone who talks about UFOs is treated with a certain degree of suspicion. I am briefing on the topic because DI55 have a UFO responsibility, not because I talk to little green men every night!”

And in a later document he describes a briefing by DI55 on the subject. “The scientists and engineers present treated to [sic] topic seriously while non scientists (or those without a physical science background) made the usual jokes about little green men and mass hallucination!”

When Project Condign was eventually completed in 2000 it concluded that there was no evidence that UAPs were of extra-terrestrial origin. But there was a limit to what the author could do, because he was not allowed to interview people who had witnessed UAP events or talk to experts.

“The nature of the security classification meant he was unable to discuss the study with scientists who might have been able to advise him on the credibility of the conclusions he reached,” says Clarke. This explains Project Condign’s baffling conclusion – that UAPs are real, but caused by strange plasmas, which are on the fringes of scientific understanding. “He ended up trying to explain one mystery by reference to another,” says Pope.

(Source: http://technology.guardian.co.uk)