The second edition of The UFO files was published by Bloomsbury on 13 September 2012. You can order the book from Amazon here or via the publisher’s website here. The National Archives press release on the book can be found on their website here.
The UFO Files – 2nd edition (Bloomsbury, 2012)
Since publication of the first edition in 2009 some 30,000 pages of new material have been released by the Ministry of Defence to The National Archives, which has been making the files available via a special UFO project website. The new edition has been updated with additional material including:
- 19th century UFO sightings from The National Archives collection
- RAF fighter pilot Roland Hughes’s UFO encounter over Cold War Germany
- Royal Navy test pilot Captain Eric Brown’s close encounter with a ‘flying saucer’ in 1956
- A police constable’s interview with two mysterious ‘men from a government agency’ following a UFO sighting in Sheffield
- Col Ted Conrad’s account of the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident
- ‘Their Last Word on UFOs’ – a collection of position statements from politicians, military officials and scientists.
Plus a new chapter summarises the key revelations from the UFO files released from 2009-2012, including the story of the Boston/Skegness UFO flap of 1996, the role of the RAF Fylingdales in UFO tracking and the events which led to the release of the MoD’s files and the closure of the UFO desk.
The book blurb provides some further background:
They are often described as ‘the real X-files’ and for decades they were kept locked in the archives of Britain’s Ministry of Defence. But since the arrival of Freedom of Information more than 50,000 pages of official documentation on UFOs have been released to The National Archives in Kew, southwest London.
Journalist David Clarke led the campaign for the disclosure of the files and as the consultant for The National Archives UFO Project, he has had unique access to both the files and many of those who were responsible for UFO investigations at the MoD and RAF.
This fully revised and expanded edition is the first comprehensive history of the MoD’s UFO investigation unit. Although official investigations began in the 1950s when Winston Churchill demanded to know ‘the truth’ about flying saucers, this book reveals official interest stretched back to before the First World War. Alongside extraordinary sightings by ordinary people The UFO Files also includes accounts of close encounters reported by civilian aircrew and military personnel, mysterious phenomena seen on radar and related phenomena such as ‘crop circles.’
The stories are brought to life by dramatic witness statements from the files, supplemented by interviews – many undertaken by the author – and rarely seen photographs, drawings and images of newly-related documents, to offer a unique guide to one of our most intriguing modern mysteries.
David Clarke is Associate Professor in the Department of Media Arts and Communication at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He teaches media law and his research specialism is contemporary legend. Previously he worked as a journalist for The Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Post and spent four years working as a Press Officer in local government. His PhD in Folklore and was completed at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, in 1999. From 2008-13 he acted as consultant and curator of the MoD UFO files project with The National Archives. His books include The Angel of Mons (2004) and How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth (2015). In 2018 he co-founded the Centre for Contemporary Legend at Sheffield Hallam University. This blog covers his twin research interests in journalism and folklore. The views expressed in the contents are entirely his own.
drdavidclarke.co.uk 