Nächstes Wochenende verbringe ich in London, und gerade habe ich eine "Behind the scenes"-Tour durch die National Archives gebucht :-) Was uns erwartet:

Visit our bomb proof, climate controlled storage facilities with over 100 miles of shelving

See the original Domesday book in our Treasury

Find out why our conservation team love "sausages"

Learn how we deal with "Harry the spider" and "Woolly Bear" if we find them in the repositories

Sign up for a free readers card and access documents yourself, from medieval maps to MI5 Files

Unter den popular searches werden auch "UFOs" angeführt. Hier gibt es zwei Treffer: "Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs): sightings; reports by members of public" von 1961 bis 1963 und "DEFE 71/33 National Air Traffic Services: air traffic control; general file including provision of secondary surveillance radar in the Vale of York and discussion of MOD policy on UFOs" von 1975 bis 1978 (bis heuer "closed").
Im FOI Reading Room des Ministry of Defence sind dann auch gleich die ausführlichen "Responses to all previously asked requests for information covering the topic of UFOs" zu finden (Teil 1, Teil 2). Da heißt es dann zum Beispiel auf die Frage, welche Pläne das Verteidigungsministerium für die Ankunft von Außerirdischen hätte: "The Ministry of Defence does not have any expertise or role in respect of 'UFO/flying saucer' matters or to the question of the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial lifeforms. While we remain open-minded, to date the MOD knows of no evidence which substantiates the existence of these alleged phenomena and therefore has no plans for dealing with such a situation."