Person
Milton Torres
Also known as Torres, Milton Torres, Dr. Milton Torres
- Lieutenant and F-86D pilot, 514th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, U.S. Air Force, RAF Manston (1957); later Major (ret.)
Milton Torres was a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force's 514th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, flying the F-86D Sabre from RAF Manston in Kent. On the night of 20 May 1957, by his account, he was scrambled, ordered to fire a full salvo of 24 rockets at a radar target over East Anglia, and saw it leave his radar seconds before he could fire. He says a civilian swore him to secrecy the next day.
He kept quiet for some thirty years, until a reunion with his fellow pilots in May 1988, after which he wrote out his account; a British solicitor investigating the case sent it to the Ministry of Defence that July. The MoD released it, with his name redacted, at the National Archives in October 2008, when he spoke to the press from his home in Miami. A later interview introduces him as a retired major who became a professor of civil engineering.
Sources: MoD file DEFE 24/1931 (National Archives, released October 2008) · AP via NBC News, 20 October 2008 · interview by Ron Laytner
Facts and claims
- claimed In his written account, kept in the MoD file DEFE 24/1931, he says that after the order to fire was authenticated he locked on at 15 miles to a blip that “was burning a hole in the radar with its incredible intensity”: “I had a lock on that had the proportions of a flying aircraft carrier.” — Milton Torres Source: defe-24-1931.pdf
- claimed He writes that a civilian who “looked like a well dressed IBM salesman” debriefed him the next day and “threatened me with a national security breach if I breathed a word about it to anyone.” — Milton Torres Source: defe-24-1931.pdf
- claimed When the files were released in October 2008 he told Sky News: “It was some kind of space alien craft. It was so fast, it was so incredible ... it was absolutely death-defying.” — Milton Torres Source: nbcnews.com (archived)
Connected files
Incidents
- RAF Manston F-86D ordered to fire on a radar UFO over East Anglia (witness) — Scrambled from RAF Manston on 20 May 1957 and ordered to fire a full salvo of 24 rockets at a radar target
Videos
- Milton Torres on Sky News: ordered to shoot down a UFO over East Anglia (October 2008) (appears in)
- Milton Torres at the 2009 X-Conference: the Manston intercept in his words (appears in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: The Truth Embargo (discussed in)
- Milton Torres interview: ordered to fire 24 rockets at a UFO over England (1957) (appears in)