Space oddity

7:00pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

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THE truth is out there - or is it? Previously unseen files detailing reports of unidentified flying objects have been released by the Ministry of Defence and prove that there is actually no such thing as a UFO.

The general public now has access to the data thanks to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by UFO researchers, but it might not be quite what they wanted to hear.

While deemed important enough for a form to be produced which is kept by police stations and airbases ready to record details of such reports, the MoD maintains there are logical explanations for the strange things people sometimes see in the sky.

An MoD memo written in 1983 lists space junk burning up in the atmosphere, unusual cloud formations and meteorological balloons as possible causes of unusual activity.

Alan Jefferis, secretary of the Wessex Astronomical Society, has another suggestion.

"The commonest explanation of supposed UFO sightings is the planet Venus, which can be very bright at times and, in certain atmospheric conditions, can be surrounded by a halo, which people mistake for something else."

A recent Daily Echo FOI request revealed the MoD had no reports of any UFO sightings in Dorset.

Yet we have told of a number of unusual goings on in our skies.

In February 2002 there were sightings of a large, mystery craft hovering over Hengistbury Head.

The UFO was described as being about 100ft long and triangular in shape with red lights down its right side, blue lights the length of the left side and a large purple light in the centre underneath. It was also said to be emitting a strange crackling sound, likened to hissing electric pylons.

The object was spotted on two separate occasions - the second time by 12 different people, one of which was a coastguard employee, and every one of them gave an identical description.

There were no civilian or military aircraft in the area at the time and nothing had been picked up on the screen of any air traffic controller for the times and locations of the UFO.

There were further reports in August 2004 when Southbourne man Ian Stalker saw what he believes was a UFO. He reported seeing a bright, flashing light in the sky somewhere over Hengistbury Head.

But Alan Jefferis is still not convinced.

"Some of the sightings are hoaxes, some are people with a vivid imagination and some are just genuine mistakes," he explained.

"If you're walking along the road, something like the moon or a star, which is a long, long way away, seems to move along with you. So people will say it moved when I moved and it stopped when I stopped', but actually it didn't."

One man, however, remains adamant that what he saw was undoubtedly from another planet.

Ron Lucas, 77, is a former RAF senior aircraftsman and has seen two UFOs, both in the mid-1950s when he worked as a mechanic at Wedderburn's weighing machine factory in Southampton.

The first encounter in 1956 was also witnessed by six workmates, who saw a revolving, cigar-shaped object in the sky, along with three silver, metallic-looking discs which shot away from the larger object.

Two years later, Ron saw an archetypal flying saucer while trying to convince a sceptical colleague of his first experience.

"I know it was a flying saucer," he said.

"There's absolutely no doubt. I was an aircraft recognition bloke through the war."

Ron, of Seldown, Poole, believes the MoD has only released the information because of the FOI request and that any data proving the existence of UFOs has been kept under wraps.

"If they don't understand it they're not going to say," he said.

"Suppose, it was Russian aeroplanes - we would expect them to do something about it.

"But they can't because they're so elusive and they can outstrip our aircraft.

"You see pictures of aliens with the big eyes - everybody knows what they are, but nobody believes in them.

"But they are there."