PHANTOMS OF THE SKY

Military aircrew have reported UFOs since the birth of powered aviation. But are these puzzling sightings really chance encounters? DAVID CLARKE examines the stories of RAF aircrew who were haunted by flying saucers.

I was frightened. I make no bones about it. It was something supernatural, perhaps, and when I landed someone told me I looked as if I had seen a ghost. Retired RAF Air Commodore Michael or ‘Mick’ Swiney made this odd comment as he relived the story of his unsettling experience in 1952 with what the Pentagon now categorises as ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’ (UAP). But at the time such uncanny aerial phantoms were popularly described as ‘flying saucers’. The US military acronym UFO was adopted later in that decade as the Space Race began. As one of Swiney’s colleagues put it: “At that time, UFOs to aviators were like mermaids to ancient mariners, but of more substantial provenance.” Swiney’s first-hand account (see p.**) first emerged in 2002 during my research…

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Fortean Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 445

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