Brit aviation minister took 'UFO' sighting for real

Washington, May 28 (ANI): An account of the encounter with a UFO was estimated to be so credible, that it even convinced a British government minister who investigated it, according to reports.

The sighting of the UFO occurred back in 30 July 1952, when Flight Sergeant Roland Hughes was on a training flight over West Germany in a de Havilland Vampire FB9.

Hughes reported that he was being intercepted by a "gleaming silver, metallic disc, which flew alongside his aircraft before speeding off, as he was returning to base.

The mysterious object was also detected by RAF radars on the ground, which recorded it traveling at speeds far more than of any known aircraft, the telegraph reported.

When Hughes reported the sighting to his senior officers, they sent him to see Duncan Sandys, the then aviation minister and to brief him personally.

After the meeting, Sandys went on to tell senior civil servants he was convinced by the airman's story.

This UFO sighting is not only one of the most meticulous by a serving member of the armed forces but also shows how seriously such reports were taken by the authorities.

However, the British governments have historically downplayed the suggestion that such sightings have been investigated.

But, the existence of the sighting has emerged in papers released by the Churchill Archive, at Cambridge University.

In one document - written a few days after the interview with the 23-year-old Hughes - Sandys intimates the government's chief scientist, Lord Cherwell, about the meeting and states that he found the airman's account and the supporting evidence from radar "convincing".

The sighting came shortly after a number of similar "flying saucer" reports from US airmen.

"I have no doubt at all that (Hughes) saw a phenomenon similar to that described by numerous observers in the United States," Sandys added.

Lord Cherwell had dismissed the US sightings as "mass psychology", but in his note Sandys takes him to task for this attitude and makes clear his position on the existence of UFOs.

"Until some satisfactory scientific explanation can be provided, it would be most unwise to accept without further question the view that 'flying saucers' can be dismissed as 'a mild form of hysteria'," said the minister, who was later promoted to Defence Secretary

Sandys also mentioned that there was "ample evidence of some unfamiliar and unexplained phenomenon".

The documents are among thousands released by the archive in past few years.

Their revelations were uncovered by David Clarke, a Sheffield Hallamniversity academic, while he was conducting research for a new edition of a book he has written on UFO sightings for the National Archives.

By chance, shortly after his findings, Dr Clarke was contacted by the fighter pilot's son, who had read the earlier edition and wanted to share information about his father's sighting.

Roland Hughes who had died in 2009, aged 79, had recounted his version of events to his son, Brian, who passed on the account to Dr Clarke, as well as his father's log book, in which he had noted the sighting and subsequent meeting with Sandys.

The incident will now feature in the latest edition of the book, which is to be released in September, following the release this summer of more government UFO files from the National Archives.

In the airman's account, passed on via his son, he was in one of four aircraft from No. 20 Squadron, of the RAF's 2nd Tactical Air Force, returning to RAF Oldenburg, in northern West Germany, flying in formation at high altitude in clear visibility.

He reported seeing a sudden flash of "silver light" in they sky high above him which rapidly moved down towards him until he could see that it was a "gleaming silver-metallic disc".

The airman claimed that its surface was shiny, "like tin foil", and "without a single crease or crinkle in it".

He admitted seeing, with "astonishing clarity", the aircraft's "highly reflective and absolutely seamless metallic-looking surface".

It flew alongside him for several seconds before it flew off at great speed.

However, none of the other three pilots saw the object - it is thought because they were all executing a "banking turn" at the time and would not have been looking in the right direction - but radar on the ground had picked it up.

Six days later, Hughes - who later worked as a commercial airline pilot - was sent to RAF Fassberg, another base in northern West Germany, to present his account to senior RAF officers and Sandys himself, who was visiting.

The minister's very first enquiry was regarding how many beers he had had the night before.

After the sighting, Hughes, who was also known as Sam after a character created by Stanley Holloway, was nicknamed "Saucer Sam" by his friends.

They painted a cartoon of a flying saucer on his plane.

"We knew about the sighting in the family when we were growing up but my father didn't talk about it a lot. We learned about it more from prompting him," said Hughes, a Ministry of Defence civil servant based at Bovington Camp, in Dorset.

"He was very matter-of-fact about what he saw, just describing the details. He never did any research into UFO or flying saucers and didn't have any interest in the supernatural of science fiction," he added.

"If it was someone other than my father who had told this story, I would be skeptical. He once said to me 'People think you're mad if you say you've seen a flying saucer - I've only ever seen one once; I've never seen one since.'"

However Clarke, who is skeptical on UFO issues, feels that there could be some other possible scientific explanation to the sighting.

"There is absolutely no doubt that something was seen by Hughes. He is not making this up. But the only honest position to take is that we don't know what it was. But there could be some sort of scientific explanation, before you start jumping to conclusions about alien visitors," he added. (ANI)