The infamously named, “The Flying Saucer Working Party.”

It is also worth noting at this point that by mid 1950 there was a war in Korea and Russia had just successfully tested their first atomic bomb, thus creating even more pressure and adding to the question as to who or what was frequently invading British and American airspace in the form of UFO's.

The DSI/JTIC minutes stated,

“ The Chairman said that Sir Henry Tizard felt that reports of flying saucers ought not to be dismissed without some investigation and he had, therefore, agreed that a small DSI/JTIC Working Party should be set up under the chairmanship of Mr Turney to investigate future reports. It was agreed that the membership of the Working Party should comprise representatives of DSI1, ADNI(Tech), MI10 and ADI(Tech). It was further agreed that it would be necessary at some time to consult the Meteorological Department and ORS Fighter Command but that these two bodies should not be asked to nominate representatives”

The Flying Saucer Working Party Is Born

The Flying Saucer Working Party had five high ranking members. These were selected from the elite Technical Intelligence branches of the Air Ministry, Admiralty, War Office and Ministry of Defence. It's first meeting was in October 1950 and as a result of this meeting, the Royal Navy and the RAF were asked to submit all UFO sightings directly to the Flying Saucer Working Party.

When the National Archives released this information the background was outlined and was as follows:

Terms Of Reference For The Flying Saucer Working Party.

1. To review the available evidence in reports of ‘Flying Saucers'.


2. To examine from now on the evidence on which rep orts of British origin of phenomena attributed to ‘Flying Saucers' are based.


3. To report to DSI/JTIC as necessary.


4. To keep in touch with American occurrences and evaluation of such.

The conclusions were printed in a document which is dated June 1951. The report on, “Unidentified Flying Objects” was classified as “Secret, Discreet.” After eight months of studying UFO sightings from across the world, The Flying Saucer Working Party concluded that only three warranted further investigation.

The first was in June 1950 a pilot on patrol from RAF Tangmere in Sussex sighted a “Bright circular metallic object” which shot past his Meteor jet fighter at 20,000 feet. During the debriefing process, it transpired that four RAF controllers at an air defence radar station near Eastbourne had, at the same time, tracked an, “Unusual response” that quickly vanished from their screens, moving at terrific speed.