Document · 28 July 1952
Churchill's minute on flying saucers and the Air Ministry's reply (PREM 11/855, 1952–55)
Also known as PREM 11/855, Churchill flying saucers memo, “What does all this stuff about flying saucers amount to?”
A short Prime Minister's Office file: Winston Churchill's famous one-line minute of July 1952, written days after radar and visual reports of UFOs over Washington DC made world headlines, and the Air Ministry's reply that the subject had been fully studied in 1951 and explained. Its mention of a 1951 study was the first public clue to the Flying Saucer Working Party, whose report was found only in 2001. A 1955 exchange with Duncan Sandys about an Air Ministry intelligence article completes the file.
Source: The National Archives, PREM 11/855 (our copy is The Black Vault's mirror); release date from The National Archives' UFO research guide (2013)
Facts and claims
- documented On 28 July 1952 Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent a personal minute to the Secretary of State for Air and Lord Cherwell: “What does all this stuff about flying saucers amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth” and asked for a report at their convenience. Source: prem11-855.pdf
- documented The Secretary of State for Air replied on 9 August 1952 that the reports had been “the subject of a full Intelligence study in 1951”, which concluded that all incidents could be explained as known astronomical or meteorological phenomena, mistaken identification, optical illusions and psychological delusions, or deliberate hoaxes, and that “Nothing has happened since 1951 to make the Air Staff change their opinion”. Source: prem11-855.pdf
- documented Lord Cherwell, Churchill's scientific adviser, wrote on 14 August 1952 that he had seen the minute and agreed “entirely with his conclusions”. Source: prem11-855.pdf
- documented In March 1955 Duncan Sandys sent Churchill an article on flying saucers from the Air Ministry Secret Intelligence Summary; Churchill replied that he was “indeed much interested” in it. Source: prem11-855.pdf
Connected files
Organizations
- The National Archives (UK) (released in) — Opened under the 30-year rule in 1988
- Ministry of Defence (UK) (about)
Documents
- “Unidentified Flying Objects”: report by the Flying Saucer Working Party (UK, June 1951) (about) — The Air Ministry's reply rests on the working party's 1951 study
Incidents
- Washington, D.C. UFO incident (response to) — The National Archives' research guide says the July 1952 Washington radar scare led Churchill to send his memo
Mentioned in this file
- National Archives and Records Administration (Organization)
More documents
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 21 June 2013 (25 files)
- The National Archives: guides to the Ministry of Defence UFO files (2008–2013)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 12 July 2012 (25 files)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 11 August 2011 (34 files)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 3 March 2011 (35 files)
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