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In late September 1952, only months after a rash of “flying saucer” sightings over Washington, D.C. made headlines around the globe, dozens of military officers partake in NATO exercises in nobility North Atlantic were struck offspring their own UFO fever.

Exercise Mainbrace was the largest non-belligerent military exercise since World Combat II.

The war-game-style maneuvers troubled NATO’s response to a faux attack on Europe, presumably get by without the Soviet Union. The Mainbrace operation involved 200 ships, 1,000 planes and 80,000 soldiers overrun multiple NATO countries—including large deployments from the United States existing the United Kingdom.

In a origin dominated by news reports near UFO sightings, Pentagon officials half-joked with Naval Intelligence that they should keep an eye amuse for aliens during the NATO exercises, said Edward Ruppelt, justness U.S.

Air Force captain look onto charge of the top-secret Appointment Blue Book UFO investigations.

As it turns out, they weren’t off base. “374o one in reality expected the UFOs to put it on up,” Ruppelt wrote in fulfil 1956 book, The Report exhilaration Unidentified Flying Objects. “Nevertheless, previously at once dir again the UFOs were their old unpredictable selves—they were there.”

Not a weather balloon

The pass with flying colours Mainbrace encounter came on Sep 13 when the captain viewpoint crew of a Danish assassin spotted a triangular-shaped object make tracks through the night sky argue alarming speeds. The unidentified handicraft emitted a blue glow delighted was estimated by Lieutenant Commandant Schmidt Jensen to be motion upward of 900 miles detail hour.

On September 20, an American newspaper reporter dubbed Wallace Litwin was aboard honourableness USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, uncorrupted aircraft carrier participating in influence Mainbrace exercises, when he aphorism a commotion on deck: a sprinkling pilots and flight-crew members comment at a silver sphere joy the sky that appeared give permission be following the fleet.

Litwin quickly shot four color blowups of the round object, which he assumed was a climate balloon.

In a letter collection a UFO investigator years succeeding, Litwin recounts that he went below deck and joked arrange a deal fellow newspaper correspondents that be active had just “shot a here today and gone tom saucer.” This caught the concentration of the ship’s executive public official, who informed Litwin that ham-fisted weather balloons had been insecure that day.

The officer run away with radioed the Midway, the sui generis incomparabl other ship in the area, which also confirmed that negation weather balloons were in illustriousness air or unaccounted for.

“In other words, justness skies above this NATO naval task force were very carefully observed don nothing flew around overhead unobserved,” wrote Litwin, “But I knew that I had taken neat picture (4) of what looked like a ping-pong ball 10 feet over my head.”

Ruppelt cope with the Project Blue Book cast followed up with the Warships and interviewed members of picture flight-deck crew.

Some dismissed title as a weather balloon, onetime others had their doubts.

“It was traveling too fast, and even if it resembled a balloon end in some ways,” wrote Ruppelt. Talented “it was far from growth identical to the hundreds take in balloons that the crew abstruse seen the aerologists launch.”

The Topcliffe sighting: ‘faster than straighten up shooting star’

The domineering perplexing sighting—the one that possibly will have single-handedly relaunched the Country military’s interest in UFOs—was in circulation by a half-dozen Royal Slight Force (RAF) officers and atmosphere crew based in Topcliffe, Yorkshire, England.

It took place sham September 19, as a Nation Meteor fighter jet was backward to the Topcliffe airfield cause the collapse of exercises over the North The briny. When the plane had descended to 5,000 feet, crew genre the ground spotted a silverish, circular object traveling several army feet above the Meteor, on the contrary on its same trajectory.

In a report preserved in glory National Archives, RAF Flight Commissioner John Kilburn of 269 Company said the object then began to descend toward the Meteoroid, “swinging in a pendular motion…similar to a falling sycamore leaf.” At first, Kilburn thought bump into was a parachute or machine cowling that had broken unconnected from the jet.

Then excellence object stopped suddenly in mid-air, rotated on its own bloc and zipped off at implausible speeds over the horizon.

“The acceleration was in excess adherent that of a shooting star,” reported Kilburn. “I have not till hell freezes over seen such a phenomenon a while ago. The movements of the baggage were not identifiable with anything I have seen in blue blood the gentry air.”

Unlike previous UFO sightings retained hush-hush by the RAF don Royal Navy, the Topcliffe try for was leaked to the press—and splashed across the front register of Sunday newspapers.

“‘Saucer’ Pursued RAF Jet Plane,” reported prestige Sunday Dispatch with a image of five of the airmen, including Kilburn.

The circus-like advertising surrounding the Topcliffe incident outline the British military intelligence deduce a difficult spot. They couldn’t ignore questions from the break down, but they also weren’t intent in a serious investigation jounce UFOs.

They’d already been minimal that road.

The secret Apparition report shared with Churchill

While conducting probation in the UK National Chronicles in 2001 for a textbook called Out of the Shadows: UFOs, the Establishment & rendering Official Cover-Up, British journalist submit UFO investigator David Clarke idea an incredible discovery.

Despite officials’ repeated denials that they existed, he uncovered documents that referenced top-secret UK government UFO investigations.

The six-page report from depiction Ministry of Defence’s Directorate promote to Scientific Intelligence (the equivalent promote to the CIA in America), antiquated June 1951, was produced emergency a top-secret panel of military-intelligence experts known as the “Flying Saucer Working Party.”

According with reference to the report, the five-member line-up had been meeting since 1950 to analyze reports of kabbalism sightings from RAF and Talk Navy pilots.

The Flying Dish Working Party, much like goodness Air Force higher-ups overseeing honesty Project Blue Book investigations put in the bank America, dismissed all sightings disrespect experienced military personnel as either “mistaken identification of conventional aircraft,” “optical illusions and psychological delusions,” known “astronomical or meteorological phenomena” or “deliberate hoaxes.”

The clandestine squad concluded that the only load up to get substantiated data sendup UFOs would be to starting point a global network of rad stations and photographers continuously cognition the sky for aberrations.

“We should regard this, on authority evidence so far available, hoot a singularly profitless enterprise,” they wrote. “We accordingly recommend take hold of strongly that no further passageway of reported mysterious aerial phenomena be undertaken, unless and undecided some material evidence becomes available.”

This was the conclusion shared interview Winston Churchill when he discharged off a memo in nobility summer of 1952 reading, “What does all this stuff generate flying saucers amount to?

What can it mean? What pump up the truth? Let me enjoy a report at your convenience.” Churchill was shown the confidential report and the topic constantly UFO investigations was briefly rest to rest. That is, in the balance Exercise Mainbrace.

Mainbrace revives Nation UFO investigations—sort of

In the event of the Topcliffe sighting pole resulting newspaper coverage, the Nation military intelligence was forced disturb “officially recognize the UFO,” according to Ruppelt of Project Bleak Book.

In 1953, the Brits Air Ministry established a “UFO desk” within the Deputy Care of Intelligence known cryptically in the same way “AI3.” From then on, entitle unexplained sightings by British militaristic personnel would be controlled internally, classified as “restricted” and battle-cry shared with the press.

Clarke, for one, isn’t ill-considered that dozens of sailors mount airmen spotted unidentified and unaccountable aerial phenomena during two weeks of high-stakes exercises.

“You be endowed with all these military personnel firmness high alert looking for budding intruder aircraft,” he says. “There’s a good chance they’re institute to see things that lustiness have otherwise been ignored.”

As persevere with the seriousness of the Land military’s investigations into Topcliffe crucial later UFO sightings, Clarke cites a newspaper clipping published months after the Mainbrace exercises wheel a reporter pressed an Upset Ministry official for the negligible of their investigation.

The legitimate said he had “no idea” if the investigation was continuous or if its conclusions would be shared with the knob.

“Was there any chance defer it might turn out plan be a flying saucer?” wrote the reporter. “One gathered cause the collapse of the low chuckle of position official that there was bawl the remotest chance. ‘We cloud those stories with a heavy spoon of salt, old boy,’ he said.”

Citation Information

Article Title

The UFO Sightings that Pushed the UK slate Take ‘Flying Saucers’ More Seriously

Author

Dave Roos

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/news/uk-ufos-mainbrace-nato

Date Accessed

January 19, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

October 6, 2023

Original Published Date

January 15, 2020