U.S. pilot was ordered to shoot down UFO

[Joanne98]

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Two U.S. fighter planes were scrambled and ordered to shoot down an unidentified flying object (UFO) over the English countryside during the Cold War, according to secret files made public on Monday.

One pilot said he was seconds away from firing 24 rockets at the object, which moved erratically and gave a radar reading like "a flying aircraft carrier."

The pilot, Milton Torres, now 77 and living in Miami, said it spent periods motionless in the sky before reaching estimated speeds of more than 7,600 mph.

After the alert, a shadowy figure told Torres he must never talk about the incident and he duly kept silent for more than 30 years.

His story was among dozens of UFO sightings in defense ministry files released at the National Archives in London.

In a written account, Torres described how he scrambled his F-86 D Sabre jet in calm weather from the Royal Air Force base at Manston, Kent in May 1957.

"I was only a lieutenant and very much aware of the gravity of the situation. I felt very much like a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest," he said.

"The order came to fire a salvo of rockets at the UFO. The authentication was valid and I selected 24 rockets.

"I had a lock-on that had the proportions of a flying aircraft carrier," he added. "The larger the airplane, the easier the lock-on. This blip almost locked itself."

At the last moment, the object disappeared from the radar screen and the high-speed chase was called off.

He returned to base and was debriefed the next day by an unnamed man who "looked like a well-dressed IBM salesman."

"He threatened me with a national security breach if I breathed a word about it to anyone," he said.

The documents contain no official explanation for the incident, which came at a time of heightened tension between the West and the Soviet Union. Planes were on constant stand-by at British bases for a possible Soviet attack.

The files blame other UFO sightings on weather balloons, clouds or normal aircraft. Torres said he had been waiting 50 years for an explanation.

"I shall never forget it," he told the Times. "On that night I was ordered to open fire even before I had taken off. That had never happened before." Continued...


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http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49L53Z20081022

I somehow missed this UFO story.

[BlooInBloo]

1. I wonder if that was the one that gave directions to Kucinich?

[snappyturtle]

4. ???? Kucinich? I don't know that story. I am a believer in UFOs

having once seen one. I will never forget it.

[seemslikeadream]

8. Do you know about the Disclosure Project?

[snappyturtle]

15. No....I haven't a clue.

edit: I do now...thanks for the 'lead'.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Heh....

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2007/10/kucinich_had_a_ufo_encounter_according_to_friend_shirley_maclaine.php

[snappyturtle]

14. OMG! The one I sawed hovered.....silently! Then sped...and I mean

with the speed of light...I followed it for a short distance and then whoof....it was out of sight!
My daughter, then five years old, kept saying, "E.T. Mommy, E.T.".....I looked at the pine trees the craft was hovering over and they were absolutely still. At first I thought it had to be some sort of helicopter because it was hovering but..... We weren't afraid rather curious to say the least. Well, what do you know, I have something in common with Rep.Kucinich. Thanks for the link. I was unaware.

[LWolf]

5. Must have been.

Ideas like universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care, hand counted paper ballots, holding government accountable, supporting and defending the constitution...

Those ideas couldn't have originated on THIS planet, or in THIS nation.

[cynatnite]

2. Not ET! n/t

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. That confirms what I have always known...

UFO's have been disguising themselves as chemtrails for longer than we ever thought possible.

[Phoonzang]

6. Just so you know....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3553819

[plaintiff]

7. I've peered at radar screens frequently for over 50 years (damn near since it was invented)

and still have no idea what a "flying aircraft carrier" would look like on one.
:eyes:

[Obamanaut]

10. It would look really big. nt

[plaintiff]

12. Oh, sure, it would, wouldn't it? Smaller than the moon I suppose.

:shrug:

[Obamanaut]

13. Probably, since we don't need radar or even a telescope to see

the moon.

[salguine]

11. Hm—they reported on SNL that it was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.