The RAF base launched a ‘secret investigation’ amid bleak fears that the spot might be bad news for the UK.

UFO

A ‘UFO’ has been spotted by an RAF missile base, and a secret investigation was launched (Image: Getty)

A UFO was spotted by a key UK ballistic missile early warning base in Yorkshire, which set off a top-secret probe, fresh documents have revealed. RAF Flyingdales – on the North Yorkshire Moors near Whitby – ordered an investigation after an ‘unknown target’ was identified.

The base was used extensively during the Cold War to track any missiles that might be fired from the Soviet Union and was famous for its three ‘golf ball’-shaped radomes that helped it do that. Workers would be given an ominous four-minute warning of any incoming attacks – and UFOs were often spotted on the radar screens.

However, there was one incident during the 1981/82 season that prompted a secret inquiry to be set up. While unknown UFOs were a common sight and the RAF regularly tracked them using radars, this one couldn’t be matched with anything on the official computing technology available.

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An RAF base was alerted to the ‘unknown’ sighting, and they launched a secret investigation (Image: Getty)

When the ‘unknown’ did not reappear, RAF Group Captain David Todd tasked a defence contractor to have a proper look into what the unknown object might be. Theories from the defence powerhouse included that it had “little green men inside” – Todd admitted: “Well, you have got to be open-minded about this stuff, you can’t discount that possibility”.

In the end though, the conclusion was not quite as exciting – they decided it must have been just a meteorite which was rotating in the same direction as the Earth.

Nevertheless, a letter sent by Ministry of Defence UFO Desk Officer Peter Watkins in 1982 explained that Flyingdales could pick up an “alien spacecraft” – but only if it was within the borders of what their radars could reach.

As a result, experts have concluded that an alien invasion could be just as quiet and subtle as that which occurred in the iconic novel War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

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