The Winston Churchill UFO Cover-Up

In the waning days of the Second World War, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill allegedly ordered the cover-up of a close encounter between an RAF reconnaissance plane returning to England from the European mainland and a UFO; apparently, the normally unflappable “British Bulldog” supposedly feared that should the encounter become common knowledge it would create mass panic among a war weary population and destroy their belief in religion.

The events came to light following the recent release of thousands of newly declassified documents by the British Ministry of Defense (MoD), relating to unidentified flying objects.

Amongst the correspondence was a series of letters (names redacted) from a man, purportedly a scientist, claiming his grandfather, purportedly a former RAF officer/bodyguard, was present at a meeting between Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower in which the two leaders had discussed the matter.

The writer asked the Ministry of Defense if they had knowledge of the incident and if so was it still classified his curiosity sparked following disclosure by his grandfather to the family.

The Ministry’s response was that it could find no written confirmation of the event, adding that all UFO files prior to 1967 had been destroyed and this would (if they had existed) include the files in question.

Though there is apparently no existing record of the encounter/meeting (other than anecdotal) it’s worth noting Churchill’s interest regarding UFO’s and that in July 1952, following a wave of reports, he wrote to the Air Ministry inquiring: “What does all this stuff about flying saucers amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth? Let me have a report at your convenience.”

The response dated August 9, 1952, which began “The various reports about unidentified flying objects, described by the press as ‘flying saucers’ were the subject of a full intelligence study in 1951,” was a reference to a first official look into UFO’s called the “Flying Saucer Working Party."

The five man group, comprising the party, eventually came to the conclusion that most UFO sightings were either misidentifications of ordinary objects or phenomena, optical illusions, psychological delusions or hoaxes [1] betore finishing with “We accordingly recommend very strongly that no further investigation of reported mystery aerial phenomena be undertaken, unless and until some material evidence becomes available.”

[1] Fifty years later the 400 page MoD report entitled “Unidentified Arial Phenomena in the UK,” released into the public domain May 15, 2006, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and a request by Dr David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University, seems to agree, stating quite bluntly: No evidence exists to suggest that the phenomena seen are hostile or under any type of control, other than that of natural physical forces.

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