• Newly released UFO files

  The files contain a wide range of UFO-related documents covering the years 1978–2002. So if you want to find out more about lights in the sky over Waterloo Bridge, near misses by pilots, crop circles - and what the UK government thought of it all - this is the place to start. The files are in PDF format.

  DEFE 31/172 - UFO incidents (14.6 Mb)
  DEFE 31/173 - UFO incidents (45.7 Mb)
  DEFE 31/174 - UFO incidents (22.6 Mb)
  DEFE 31/175 - UFO incidents (15.3 Mb)
  DEFE 24/1922 - UFO reports (13.8 Mb)
  DEFE 24/1923 - UFO reports (32.7 Mb)
  DEFE 24/1924 - UFO reports (43.2 Mb)
  DEFE 24/1925 - UFO reports (51.7 Mb)

  
  
  
  

• Background material

  Start your own UFO research by reading Dr David Clarke's guide to the newly released files. Discover the history of government UFO investigations and find out where the new files fit in.
  
  
  
  Read the guide (PDF 103kb)

• Existing UFO files

  The National Archives holds other UFO files that have already been released by the Ministry of Defence. You can download these in PDF format for a small fee. The files contain details of numerous UFO sightings as well as Winston Churchill’s views on UFOs.
  Download existing UFO files

• Podcast

  Listen to Dr David Clarke, an expert in UFO history, as he explains the significance of the newly released UFO files.
  Listen to the podcast

• Videocast

  Nick Pope, former UFO investigator at the Ministry of Defence and now independent expert on the unexplained, discusses the files.
  View the videocast

"What does all this stuff about flying saucers amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth?" Winston Churchill - July 1952

(Catalogue reference PREM 11/855)