RAF test pilots reveal their close encounters with UFOs
UFOs – or UAP – are a worldwide phenomenon. Since 2017 when new testimony from US Navy aircrew first emerged media attention has been focused on North America. But British military pilots have reported close encounters with ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’ since 1916.
During my research for the UK National Archives UFO project (2008-2013) I interviewed 25 retired and serving aircrew who served with the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm. All had reported encounters with ‘aerial phenomena’ between 1944 to 1966, when such things were known as flying saucers or UFOs. An even larger number were ground based personnel who tracked anomalous phenomena on radar.
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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.
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