Description

One of the many declassified UFO incidents included in the CIA "UFO document dump" of January 2021 is "The Topcliffe sighting".

The Topcliffe sighting -1952 CIA released document (https://preview.redd.it/nn7rvffwnez81.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto…)

Intrigued, I simply searched "1952 raf topcliffe" on google and found this: https://four.cottageonthecrowe.com/1952-ufo-stalks-british-military-j…

From the article: "*The year is 1952, the place, RAF Topcliffe which is a Royal Air Force station in North Yorkshire, England. A Silver disk shaped UFO followed a British Meteor Jet for a few seconds then took off at an unnatural speed and disappeared."*

"*On September 19th, 1952, at about 1053 hours, during an RAF exercise two RAF officers and three air crew witnessed the event. The report was made by Flight Lieutenant John Kilburn who stated*":

*“The Meteor was crossing from east to west when I noticed the white object in the sky. This object was silver and circular in shape, about 10,000 ft some five miles astern from the aircraft. It appeared to be travelling at a lower speed than the Meteor but was on the same course. I said, What the Hell is That? And the chaps looked to where I was pointing . . . But as we watched the disk maintained a slow forward speed for a few seconds before starting to descend. While descending it was swinging in a pendulum fashion from left to right. As the Meteor turned to start its landing run the object appeared to be following it. But after a few seconds it stopped its descent and hung in the air rotating as if on its own axis. Then is accelerated an incredible speed to the west, turned southeast and disappeared. It is difficult to estimate the objects speed. The incident happened in a matter of 15 to 20 seconds. During the few seconds that it rotated we could see it flashing in the sunshine. It appeared to be about the size of a Vampire jet aircraft at a similar height. We are all convinced that it was some type of solid object.”*

I decided to pursue this further, I found that the History website features a compilation of UFOs including The Topcliffe sighting on this page: https://www.history.com/news/uk-ufos-mainbrace-nato

*"It took place on September 19, as a British Meteor fighter jet was returning to the Topcliffe airfield from exercises over the North Sea. When the plane had descended to 5,000 feet, crew on the ground spotted a silvery, circular object traveling several thousand feet above the Meteor, but on its same trajectory."*

Furthermore, history.com states that *"Unlike previous UFO sightings kept hush-hush by the RAF and Royal Navy, the Topcliffe sighting was leaked to the press—and splashed across the front page of Sunday newspapers. “‘Saucer’ Chased RAF Jet Plane,” reported the Sunday Dispatch with a photo of five of the airmen, including Kilburn."*

Five of the airmen, including Kilburn. (https://preview.redd.it/4um7r2nx0fz81.png?width=449&format=png&auto=w…)

I then searched "'Saucer’ Chased RAF Jet Plane,” reported the Sunday Dispatch". The Sunday Dispatch paper can be found on https://www.saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articlehtml/itn52pa…

Key points from the article:

* *It then began a rotary motion about its own axis, suddenly accelerated at incredible speed in a westerly direction, but later turned to a south-easterly course.*

* *R.A.F. officers and men who saw it said its movements were not identifiable with anything they had seen in the air.*

* *The acceleration was greater than that of a shooting star, they said. The incident lasted from 15 to 20 seconds.*

Also from the article is this: *" One of them, Flight Lieut. John W. Kilburn, 31, of Egremont, Cumberland, then spotted "something different from anything I have ever seen in 3,700 hours flying in a variety of conditions."*

What is always so interesting about many encounters, especially official reports is that witnesses have often had extensive experience in flying. It definitely gives the claims credibility. As well as this, there are parallels between this event and the "GIMBAL" Pentagon video in terms of rotations and incredible speed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_UFO_videos).

\\"GIMBAL\\" Pentagon video (https://preview.redd.it/21lbodwizez81.jpg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto…)

Although unrelated, when searching "1952 raf topcliffe" another website can be found: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/249215

This website describes an event in 1952 involving a Gloster Meteor F Mk 4 which *"bellylanded at Topcliffe after running out of fuel".* A "*British Meteor Jet*" is mentioned in the Topcliffe sighting from four.cottageonthecrowe.com (https://four.cottageonthecrowe.com/1952-ufo-stalks-british-military-j…). However, this event occurred on the 6th of November, 1952.

For reference, this is what a Gloster Meteor F Mk 4 looks like:

Gloster Meteor F Mk 4 (https://preview.redd.it/zupm8v88rez81.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto…)

Now compare this to The Topcliffe incident CIA image:

The Topcliffe incident CIA image (https://preview.redd.it/9qxqcmicrez81.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto…)

The jet aircraft on the left of the CIA image although extremely distorted does look similar to the Gloster Meteor F Mk 4. It has similar proportions and the cockpit does look alike. Again, the event regarding Gloster Meteor F Mk 4 is unrelated but the models certainly look similar between the CIA image and the real picture of the aircraft. The aircraft model in The Topcliffe sighting may well have been a Gloster Meteor F Mk 4 but again this is really a guess.

A certainly interesting case nonetheless.