Case · C-109
Topcliffe 1952: a silvery disc during the NATO exercise Mainbrace
RAF Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, England · United Kingdom · Sep 19, 1952
In flight Military witnesses
Unexplained
- What happened
- On September 19, 1952, during the large NATO naval exercise Mainbrace, five members of the crews of the Shackleton patrol aircraft who were at Topcliffe airfield saw a circular, silvery object descend, oscillating, behind a Meteor fighter on approach, stop, rotate on itself and move away with an acceleration judged exceptional. The report written by an officer of No. 269 Squadron to the base commander is held among the Fighter Command papers at the National Archives (AIR 16/1199). In the same days other objects were reported by ships and aircraft of the exercise over the North Sea and in Denmark; according to Edward Ruppelt these episodes prompted the RAF to officially acknowledge the UFO problem.
- Official investigation
- British Air Ministry (report to the base commander, file AIR 16/1199 at the National Archives)
Official documents
- Rapporto di un ufficiale del 269° squadrone al comandante della RAF Topcliffe sull'avvistamento del 19 settembre 1952 (fascicolo AIR 16/1199, trascrizione) · Air Ministry – Fighter Command (transcription by David Clarke, Sign Historical Group; original at the British National Archives) · Sep 1952
Sources
- David Clarke, “Operation Mainbrace UFOs” (analysis)
- David Clarke, “The Topcliffe Incident” (Sign Historical Group, with the text of report AIR 16/1199) (analysis)
- Patrick Gross, “Operation Mainbrace, 1952” (analysis, pro-disclosure)
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