Cosford incident
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🛸 Case
Contents 4
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Cosford UFO incident |
The Cosford incident was a wave of UFO reports across western Britain in the early hours of 31 March 1993. Witnesses included a Ministry of Defence police patrol at RAF Cosford in Shropshire and a meteorological officer at RAF Shawbury. Nick Pope, who then ran the MoD's UFO desk, called it the most compelling case of his time there. Later research showed that most sightings matched the re-entry of a Russian rocket.[1][2]
The sightings
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Dozens of people across western Britain reported lights in the sky. Most core sightings were timed between about 1:10 and 1:15 a.m. and described similar formations of bright lights moving across the sky.[2] At RAF Cosford, near Wolverhampton, an MoD police patrol saw two bright white lights with vapour trails passing over the base.[2] Reports also came from Devon and Cornwall, the West Midlands, Ireland, northern France and Spain. An Irish military helicopter crew reported two bright lights passing above them.[2]
At RAF Shawbury, about 20 miles from Cosford, the meteorological officer Wayne Elliott reported a group of lights that moved erratically and then hovered north of the airfield. Below them a beam of white light swept the countryside for several minutes. The lights then passed over him with a low hum.[2] He estimated the object's size as between a C-130 transport and a Boeing 747.[2]
The Ministry of Defence investigation
Pope compiled a file on the case and shared it with defence intelligence. His superior at the UFO desk briefed the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff that the sightings might fit a secret American "black" aircraft. Inquiries by the British air attaché in Washington found nothing, and Pope was advised to drop the subject.[2] He has continued to say that no satisfactory explanation was ever found.[2] The MoD files were later released at The National Archives.[2]
Explanation
On the evening of 30 March 1993 Russia had launched a satellite, and its rocket booster re-entered the atmosphere over Britain that night. The RAF early-warning station at Fylingdales at first gave the re-entry time as 2:20 a.m. with a margin of an hour. Later data from U.S. Space Command and NASA put it at 1:15 a.m. local time, matching the core sightings.[2] According to Clarke, the RAF Cosford patrol's two lights were conclusively identified as the burning rocket debris.[2]
The Shawbury sighting did not fit the rocket, as it came later and moved slowly at low altitude. In 2005 an airman who had served at Shawbury suggested it was a police helicopter, whose lights and engine sound differed from the military helicopters the base usually flew.[2] Elliott later told Clarke that he accepted his sighting had been explained, because the humming and the searchlight were very like what a police helicopter would produce.[2]
References
- UFO sightings in the United Kingdom — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- David Clarke, "Case Closed: 30th anniversary of the Cosford UFO flap" (31 Mar 2023) · drclarke.substack.com · 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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