# British UFO Documents **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2002, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-ufo-documents/140336 "2002-12-04T02:30:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bensonGemini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@bensonGemini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bensonGemini)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-ufo-documents/140336/1 "2002-12-04T02:30:07Z")
Last week I read this article: > **[Science News | Today's Latest Science Headlines](https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/)** Does anybody have any information on these documents and if they have been released? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-ufo-documents/140336/2 "2002-12-04T04:24:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Now, the government says it will publish it on the Internet before the end of this week, along with other files on reported UFO sightings. Eh, I can’t find the actual government “file” posted on the Web anywhere offhand. There is this website [http://www.rendlesham.com/](http://www.rendlesham.com/) but I only got a brief glimpse of it before their server apparently went down and started giving me a “Cannot Find Server” screen. (cue the Twilight Zone music…) So I dunno whether the whole file is there or not. What’s supposed to be in it, if somebody else wants to go look. [http://www.sundayherald.com/29673](http://www.sundayherald.com/29673) > [@](#): > > Secret MoD ‘X-files’ cast light on Britain’s greatest UFO mystery > By James Cusick Westminster Editor > > …The Rendlesham File has been protected by the Ministry of Defence for two decades. The file, running to hundreds of pages and released on the internet this weekend, concerns the sighting of a ‘glowing’ triangular object by US Air Force personnel in Rendlesham Forest. > > \< snip \> > > The central document in the file was written on January 13, 1981 (a few weeks after the incident) by the deputy base commander, Lt Col Charles Halt. > > \< snip \> > > The Rendlesham file actually doesn’t reveal precisely what the government has been hiding for 20 years, however. After investigation, the file reveals that in 1987 the secretariat of British Air Staff were pleased to announce (privately, of course) that they were ‘satisfied that the events described by Lt Col Halt’s report are of no defence significance’. > > Another document reveals that, although the MoD believe UFO sightings are not defence significant, they nevertheless – ‘as is consistent with normal practice’ – interview those who claim to have seen UFOs. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-ufo-documents/140336/3 "2002-12-04T11:44:14Z")
Details will no doubt appear here in due course. [http://www.pro.gov.uk/releases/default.htm](http://www.pro.gov.uk/releases/default.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-ufo-documents/140336/4 "2002-12-04T13:05:56Z")
Well, I just got through to [www.rendlesham.com](http://www.rendlesham.com) without any problems … the documents linked on that site indicate that the whole thing is a lot of fuss about nothing. Quick summary: a couple of US servicemen at an air base spotted an unexpected light in the forest, not realizing that a lighthouse was visible from that point. Lots of embroidery and rumours of sinister government cover-ups followed. If there’s anything still classified about this incident, it’s probably because the MOD routinely classifies stuff - which you’d pretty much expect from the MOD; I’m as much a fan of freedom of information as the next man, but we do need _some_ level of security. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-ufo-documents/140336/5 "2002-12-04T13:17:58Z")
I think I recall seeing a segment about that incident on Unsolved Mysteries once. Oddly enough, they didn’t mention the lighthouse angle…hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-ufo-documents/140336/6 "2002-12-04T14:47:36Z")
> [@](#): > > … the documents linked on that site indicate that the whole thing is a lot of fuss about nothing. A lot of fuss about nothing? In a UFO incident? How odd. But wait! If there’s no evidence of UFOs . . . then there must have been a cover-up! RR