United Kingdom UFO Documents

The files contain a wide range of UFO-related documents. 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.

Released June 2013 [4,465 Pages]

The final tranche of UFO files released by The National Archives contain a wide range of UFO-related documents, drawings, letters, and photos and parliamentary questions covering the final two years of the Ministry of Defence’s UFO Desk (from late 2007 until November 2009).

Discover the reasons behind the closure of the UFO desk, the handling of the largest number of UFO sighting reports received in 30 years and the disclosure campaign for ‘the truth’, which was sparked by the closure of the UFO Desk.

Start by reading our highlights guide (PDF, 363kb) to help navigate your way through the files.

Due to the large size of some of these files, we recommend you save them to your computer before opening them. Please right click on the links and select the ‘save’ option.

DEFE 24/2448/1 (23,489 kb)
DEFE 24/2449/1 (28,799 kb)
DEFE 24/2450/1 (14,842 kb)
DEFE 24/2451/1 (19,256 kb)
DEFE 24/2452/1 (11,997 kb)
DEFE 24/2453/1 (1,477 kb)
DEFE 24/2454/1 (29,481 kb)
DEFE 24/2455/1 (21,193 kb)
DEFE 24/2456/1 (24,937 kb)
DEFE 24/2457/1 (8,207 kb)
DEFE 24/2458/1 (5,408 kb)
DEFE 24/2459/1 (20,540 kb)
DEFE 24/2460/1 (22,154 kb)
DEFE 24/2461/1 (12,592 kb)
DEFE 24/2462/2 (20,856 kb)
DEFE 24/2463/1 (18,754 kb)
DEFE 24/2464/1 (25,086 kb)
DEFE 24/2465/1 (22,913 kb)
DEFE 24/2623/1 (9,848 kb)
DEFE 24/2624/1 (19,324 kb)
DEFE 24/2625/1 (22,758 kb)
DEFE 24/2626/1 (21,242 kb)
DEFE 24/2627/1 (8,011 kb)
DEFE 24/2628/1 (9,617 kb)
DEFE 24/2629/1 (21,153 kb)

Released July 2012 [6,814 Pages]

The files contain a wide range of UFO-related documents, drawings, letters and parliamentary questions ranging from 1965 up to 2008.

Discover the role of the UFO Desk Officers, what they really thought of alien visitors, their ideas to harness alien technology as a weapon, and their briefings to Tony Blair on UFO policy.

Six of the files (DEFE 31/189/1-194/1) contain some duplicates of UFO sighting reports copied by the Air Secretariat between 1996-1999.

The original papers were released by The National Archives in February 2010.

(The Black Vault would like to thank Michel M. Deschamps, UFO Researcher/Historian/Archivist, for assisting in obtaining the documents below and allowing them to be listed on The Black Vault!)

defe-24-1984-1	defe-24-1985-1
defe-24-1987-1	defe-24-2005-1
defe-24-2043-1	defe-24-2061-1
defe-24-2073-1	defe-24-2074-1
defe-24-2077-1	defe-24-2078-1
defe-24-2079-1	defe-24-2080-1
defe-24-2083-1	defe-24-2084-1
defe-24-2087-1	defe-24-2088-1
defe-24-2089-1	defe-24-2090-1
defe-24-2093-1	defe-31-189-1
defe-31-190-1	defe-31-191-1
defe-31-192-1	defe-31-193-1
defe-31-194-1

Released August 2011 [9,358 Pages]

The files contain a wide range of UFO-related documents, drawings, letters and parliamentary questions covering the years 1985-2007.

Read eyewitness accounts of UFO sightings, see the picture of a ‘flying saucer’ which was sent for analysis by defence experts and discover the bizarre story of ‘Mork and Mindy’s’ visit to East Dulwich.

Start by reading our highlights guide (PDF, 397kb) to help you navigate your way through the files released in August 2011.

Seven files in this tranche (DEFE 31/182/1-188/1) contain copies of numerous UFO reports made by members of the public and submitted to MoD between April 1993 and July 1996. These reports are duplicates of papers from tranche #4 of the UFO files, released by The National Archives in August 2009 (DEFE 24/1959/1-1961/1 and DEFE 24/1974/1-76/1 on the webpage).

Due to the large size of some of these files, we recommend you save them to your PC before opening them. Please right click on the links and select the ‘save’ option.

DEFE 24/1958/1 (PDF, 29.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2006/1 (PDF, 19.5 Mb)
DEFE 24/2019/1 (PDF, 49.8 Mb)
DEFE 24/2020/1 (PDF, 24.4 Mb)
DEFE 24/2031/1 (PDF, 12.3 Mb)
DEFE 24/2033/1 (PDF, 42.5 Mb)
DEFE 24/2034/1 (PDF, 32.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2035/1 (PDF, 28.7 Mb)
DEFE 24/2047/1 (PDF, 81.2 Mb)
DEFE 24/2056/1 (PDF, 23.7 Mb)
DEFE 24/2057/1 (PDF, 11.2 Mb)
DEFE 24/2060/1 (PDF, 21.7 Mb)
DEFE 24/2064/1 (PDF, 20.8 Mb)
DEFE 24/2065/1 (PDF, 42.7 Mb)
DEFE 24/2066/1 (PDF, 5.7 Mb)
DEFE 24/2067/1 (PDF, 38.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2068/1 (PDF, 18.3 Mb)
DEFE 24/2069/1 (PDF, 8.9 Mb)
DEFE 24/2070/1 (PDF, 19.2 Mb)
DEFE 24/2071/1 (PDF, 31.1 Mb)
DEFE 24/2072/1 (PDF, 26.2 Mb)
DEFE 24/2075/1 (PDF, 11.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2076/1 (PDF, 21.5 Mb)
DEFE 24/2081/1 (PDF, 11.0 Mb)
DEFE 24/2082/1 (PDF, 12.1 Mb)
DEFE 24/2091/1 (PDF, 8.9 Mb)
DEFE 24/2094/1 (PDF, 26.9 Mb)
DEFE 31/182/1 (PDF, 46.2 Mb)
DEFE 31/183/1 (PDF, 32.9 Mb)
DEFE 31/184/1 (PDF, 31.0 Mb)
DEFE 31/185/1 (PDF, 26.0 Mb)
DEFE 31/186/1 (PDF, 27.2 Mb)
DEFE 31/187/1 (PDF, 30.1 Mb)
DEFE 31/188/1 (PDF, 34.1 Mb)

Released March 2011 [8,612 Pages]

Find out more about the House of Lords’ debate on UFOs, a flying saucer hoax that was treated as a potentially real alien invasion of the UK and how 1978 nearly became ‘the year of the UFO’.

Start by reading our highlights guide (PDF, 397kb) to help you navigate your way through the files.

Due to the large size of some of these files, we recommend you save them to your PC before opening them. Please right click on the links and select the ‘save’ option.

DEFE 24/1986 (PDF, 27.8 Mb)
DEFE 24/1997 (PDF, 57.9 Mb)
DEFE 24/1999 (PDF, 197.0 Mb)
DEFE 24/2018 (PDF, 40.9 Mb)
DEFE 24/2021 (PDF, 9.4 Mb)
DEFE 24/2022 (PDF, 13.0 Mb)
DEFE 24/2023 (PDF, 17.1 Mb)
DEFE 24/2024 (PDF, 36.0 Mb)
DEFE 24/2025 (PDF, 44.4 Mb)
DEFE 24/2026 (PDF, 40.4 Mb)
DEFE 24/2027 (PDF, 34.3 Mb)
DEFE 24/2028 (PDF, 11.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2030 (PDF, 13.8 Mb)
DEFE 24/2032 (PDF, 37.2 Mb)
DEFE 24/2036 (PDF, 28.0 Mb)
DEFE 24/2037 (PDF, 25.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2038 (PDF, 8.7 Mb)
DEFE 24/2039 (PDF, 37.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2040 (PDF, 11.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2041 (PDF, 19.5 Mb)
DEFE 24/2044 (PDF, 16.9 Mb)
DEFE 24/2046 (PDF, 7.8 Mb)
DEFE 24/2048 (PDF, 8.9 Mb)
DEFE 24/2049 (PDF, 7.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2050 (PDF, 44.0 Mb)
DEFE 24/2052 (PDF, 4.8 Mb)
DEFE 24/2053 (PDF, 24.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2054 (PDF, 8.4 Mb)
DEFE 24/2055 (PDF, 9.3 Mb)
DEFE 24/2058 (PDF, 21.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2059 (PDF, 9.6 Mb)
DEFE 24/2062 (PDF, 26.1 Mb)
DEFE 24/2063 (PDF, 50.5 Mb)
DEFE 24/2085 (PDF, 39.0 Mb)
DEFE 24/2092 (PDF, 16.5 Mb)

Released August 2009

The files contain a wide range of UFO-related documents covering the years 1981-1996.

Find out more about close encounters, stray satellites, bright lights and Britain’s very own Roswell – Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk.

Start by reading our highlights guide (PDF, 254kb) to help you navigate your way
through the files.

DEFE 24/1948 [191 Pages, 84.6mb]
DEFE 24/1959 [372 Pages, 36.5mb]
DEFE 24/1960 [486 Pages, 67.2mb]
DEFE 24/1961 [394 Pages, 48.6mb]
DEFE 24/1962 [296 Pages, 31.2mb]
DEFE 24/1963 [257 Pages, 25.1mb]
DEFE 24/1964 [310 Pages, 29.6mb]
DEFE 24/1965 [334 Pages, 32.5mb]
DEFE 24/1970 [402 Pages, 44.9mb]
DEFE 24/1972 [85 Pages, 22.60mb]
DEFE 24/1974 [215 Pages, 20.6mb]
DEFE 24/1975 [329 Pages, 39.6mb]
DEFE 24/1976 [271 Pages, 36.2mb]
DEFE 24/2086 [126 Pages, 12.8mb]

Released October 2008

Highlights guide (PDF 442kb) to help you navigate your way through the files.

WATCH VIDEO – Dr David Clarke, an expert in UFO history, guides us through the highlights of the newly released UFO files.

The files contain a wide range of UFO-related documents covering the years 1986-1992. If you want to find out more about close encounters over Gatwick Airport, alien abductions, stray satellites – and what the UK Government thought of it all