Flying Saucer Working Party
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🏢 Organization
Contents 6
| Type | Organization |
|---|---|
| Also known as | FSWP |
The Flying Saucer Working Party (FSWP) was a small committee set up by the British Ministry of Defence in 1950 to study reports of flying saucers. It was the British government's first official study of UFOs. Its 1951 report concluded that all the sightings could be explained and recommended that no further investigation be carried out.[1][2]
Origins
The study was commissioned by Sir Henry Tizard, the Ministry of Defence's Chief Scientific Adviser and a key figure in the development of British radar before the Second World War.[1][2] Tizard felt that saucer reports should not be dismissed without proper scientific study. He was responding in part to a newspaper campaign that favoured the saucers, backed by Lord Louis Mountbatten.[2] Writer Nick Pope later described the committee as perhaps the most marvellously named in the history of the civil service.[1]
Membership and work
The working party had five members drawn from the technical intelligence branches of the Air Ministry, the Admiralty, the War Office and the Ministry of Defence. It held its first meeting in October 1950 in a room at the former Hotel Metropole on Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square.[2] Its conclusions were set out in a six-page secret report, DSI/JTIC Report No. 7, titled "Unidentified Flying Objects", in June 1951.[1][2]
Conclusions
The working party concluded that all the reports it examined could be explained as astronomical or weather phenomena, misidentified aircraft, balloons or birds, optical illusions and psychological delusions, or hoaxes.[1] It recommended strongly that no further investigation be undertaken unless material evidence became available.[1][2] Researcher David Clarke notes that its approach reflected American influence: the acronym UFO had only recently been coined by the U.S. Air Force, and the recommendations followed the American line of debunking sightings and keeping tight security.[2]
Aftermath
A year later, in the summer of 1952, a wave of sightings on both sides of the Atlantic revived interest. When Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked about flying saucers in 1952, the Air Ministry told him that a full intelligence study in 1951 had found that all incidents could be explained.[2] The RAF later used the Official Secrets Act to stop service personnel discussing sightings with the public or the press.[2]
Rediscovery
Copies of the report were found in 2001, when David Clarke and Andy Roberts, researching their book Out of the Shadows, found copies in a Ministry of Defence file labelled "Scientific intelligence". It was released to them under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.[1][2]
References
- Flying Saucer Working Party — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- David Clarke, "Flying Saucer Working Party" · drdavidclarke.co.uk · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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