Sketch of UFO seen at Breadsall Hilltop, Derby (August 16 1987), and Chaddesdon, (August 16 1987) from front and rear bedrooms. Pic courtesy National Archives
Visitors to the National Archives website can now delve into a deeply mysterious history of UFOs in Britain stretching back to the early 20th century.
A steady trickle of documents, often marked in James Bond style ("Secret, UK Eyes Only") have been revealed to the public over time to show how the government's position on UFOs has changed from regarding them as a potential national security threat to denying their existence.
Studying these files offers a fascinating insight into the relationship between government, public and extra terrestrials, who may or may not have been peering and occasionally appearing on British soil over the past half century.
Papers in the Archives include documents on UFO policy, parliamentary business, public correspondence and UFO sighting reports. For those about to take the great leap into the unkown that is ufology, The National Archives' Dr David Clarke, an expert in UFO history, has written a helpful background piece on what UFOs are and a chronological history of them in the UK.
There are also a series of highly entertaining YouTube videos, which provide an easily approachable introduction to the UFO collection. The videos include some of the interesting drawings submitted by members of the public, the police, the army and the Civil Aviation Authority.
Hiding among the conventional saucers and rocket shapes in these videos is a particularly intriguing drawing of a banana-shaped, knobbly-kneed figure who is well worth a look.
(Above) Image of a UFO sighted at 8.50pm on Friday March 25 1988 with green and red lights. Pic courtesy National Archives
According to the National Archives website, the term UFO came from the US Airforce and is an abbreviation of the term Unidentified Flying Object. It was introduced to replace the term "flying saucer" by Captain Edward Ruppelt in the USAF’s Project Blue Book.
The first British investigation into UFOs was instigated by Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, in 1912 after mysterious airships were seen above British towns and cities in the build up to the First World War.
In the Second World War mysterious great balls of fire and strange lights were reported following Allied aircraft operating over occupied Europe – and American pilots named the strange phenomenon "foo-fighters".
Back in Britain, the first official inquiry by the British Government into UFOs came in 1950 following a spate of sightings, leading to a media frenzy over the subject which caused senior government and scientific figures to initiate serious investigations.
The government established the brilliantly named "Flying Saucer Working Party", who carried out an inquiry under the utmost secrecy to investigate UFO action, eventually coming to the conclusion that flying saucers did not exist.
Undimmed, public interest in the subject has remained steady, with more than 11,000 UFO reports logged between 1959 and 2007.
At the Archives you can find the original USAF questionnaire asked when someone reported a UFO sighting, and many questions are the same as the ones you would be asked if you were to report a sighting today.
Image of a UFO sighted at 11.56pm on Thursday August 24 1988 with green, red and white lights. Pic courtesy National Archives
Documents also show that the relationship between the government and the public has always been somewhat guarded.
Government employees were encouraged to be "politely unhelpful" in 1958, and by 1973 they merely acknowledged reports of the strange unidentified craft – moves that may well have only whetted the public appetite for all things extra terrestrial.
Information is still being added to the Archives, and the Ministry of Defence has pledged to transfer all of its remaining records on UFOs to them. It is hoped that this process will be finished by 2010.
Details on "Britain's Roswell," the Rendlesham Forest Incident, will offer more information on infamous UFO sightings near RAF Woodbridge.
In December 1980, mysterious lights were seen landing on the perimeter of the Suffolk airbase, and a group of investigating airmen reported seeing unidentifiable lights moving around in the trees.
The men also claimed to have found marks on the ground and on the trees where they had seen the lights land. Two nights later a similar incident took place and a video recording was made of the incident.
The last full public statement made by the government was in 1979 during a lengthy debate in the House of Lords. Thirty years later, is it time for a UFO update?
More UFO files are expected to be released towards the end of this month – keep checking the website for further details. To browse the UFO archives visit the National Archives online.
Watch The National Archives' UFO YouTube video below:
