Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 22 March 2009 (7 files)

The third release of Ministry of Defence UFO files, opened at The National Archives in March 2009: seven files of 1987–1993, six of them from the Defence Intelligence Staff branch DI55 (DEFE 31/176–181) and one of the UFO desk's sighting reports (DEFE 24/1938). Each is a digital copy of an MoD registered file with the names of members of the public and witnesses redacted; ours are the Archives' own digital copies, downloaded from its catalogue, and are OCR'd for search. Page numbers are those of the PDFs; the Archives' highlights guide numbers run one higher.

We hold four of the seven:

• DEFE 24/1938: UFO reports — 1989 Sep 01 - 1989 Dec 31 (pp. 5–8: the Belfast Airport report of 21 December 1989, a missile-shaped object with a green flame seen for two seconds by one observer, which the UFO desk sent to DI55 for its “implications for security”; a single civilian witness, so not filed as a case)
• DEFE 31/179: UFO incidents — 1990 Jan 02 - 1991 Jun 05 (the Calvine brief for ministers; the Belfast checks)
• DEFE 31/180: UFO incidents — 1991 Jun 20 - 1992 Mar 10 (the Tornado crews' report, Calvine, Cranwell)
• DEFE 31/181: UFO incidents — 1992 Feb 20 - 1993 Apr 26 (Heathrow, Louth, Elba, Cosford, Schaffner)

Not yet on file: DEFE 31/176, 177 and 178 (DI55, November 1987 to December 1989).

Source: The National Archives (UK), DEFE 24/1938, DEFE 31/179, 31/180 and 31/181, released March 2009