CIA hears of a "perfect flying saucer" seen by senior RAF officers at a demonstration in Yorkshire (memo of 18 December 1952)
This is a memorandum for the record by H. Marshall Chadwell, CIA Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence, dated 18 December 1952. It reports what a messenger who had just arrived from Britain said on 15 December after talking to R.V. Jones. According to the messenger, the British had set up a standing committee on flying saucers about sixteen months earlier. It had concluded that the sightings were not enemy aircraft and that none had flown over Britain. Then, "about ten to twelve days ago", came "the Yorkshire incident". During a demonstration at a Yorkshire airfield attended by high RAF officials from London, those officials and RAF pilots saw a "perfect flying saucer", and so many people saw it that it reached the press. This troubled Jones, who saw correcting public opinion as part of his job. The messenger told Jones of U.S. interest and mentioned the Tremonton film. The second page sets out the dangers the CIA saw in the sightings: delays to early warning, mass hysteria that an enemy could deliberately induce, and overloading of emergency communications. *Method note: war.gov blocks this server. The file was read from the original PDF served by the ufotransparency.com mirror. The memo has a poor OCR text layer; quotations were corrected against the page image.*
How plausible · Moderate
A CIA Assistant Director recorded R.V. Jones's report of senior RAF officers seeing a "perfect flying saucer"; two relays, no named eyewitness.
- ●●Access Senior RAF officers and pilots at a demonstration.
- ●●No gain sought An internal CIA memo.
- ●●Character record Chadwell (CIA) and R.V. Jones (British scientific intelligence).
- ●●Checkable details check out The memo is released.
- ●●Physical traces or official reaction A British committee concluded the sightings weren't enemy aircraft.
- ●○Fits the documented skeleton Britain's standing UFO committee is documented.
- −Lone source, no corroboration Reaches the CIA through two relays.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.
On the record
- "On 15 December, the recently arrived messenger from Britain reported the following." (CIA-UAP-014, p. 1; OCR slips in the text layer corrected)
- "The British have had a standing committee created about sixteen months ago on flying saucers." (CIA-UAP-014, p. 1; OCR slips in the text layer corrected) The group "has concluded that the observations are not enemy aircraft and that none have been over Britain".
- "The activity has been quiet and normal up to about ten to twelve days ago, at which time the Yorkshire incident took place." (CIA-UAP-014, p. 1; OCR slips in the text layer corrected)
- "During the show, a "perfect flying saucer" was seen by these officials as well as RAF pilots. So many people saw it that articles appeared in the public press." (CIA-UAP-014, p. 1; OCR slips in the text layer corrected)
- "This is disturbing to Jones because he realizes that the correction of public opinion is a part of his responsibilities." (CIA-UAP-014, p. 1; OCR slips in the text layer corrected)
- Jones recalled "the Swedish incident (presumably he refers to the one in 1946)" and Chladni's papers on meteorites. The traveller mentioned "the film which had been taken by the Naval non-commissioned officer (Tremonton incident)". Signed "H. Marshall Chadwell, Assistant Director", Scientific Intelligence. (CIA-UAP-014, p. 1; OCR corrected)