Flying Saucer Working Party (or FSWP) was the name of the

United Kingdom Ministry of Defence The Ministry of Defence (MOD or MoD) is the department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by His Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The MOD states that its principal objectives are to d ...

’s (MOD) first "official study into

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...

s", which has its roots in a study commissioned in 1950 by the MOD’s then Chief Scientific Adviser, the eminent radar scientist Sir

Henry Tizard Sir Henry Thomas Tizard (23 August 1885 – 9 October 1959) was an English chemist, inventor and Rector of Imperial College, who developed the modern "octane rating" used to classify petrol, helped develop radar in World War II, and led the fir ...

. As a result of his insistence that UFO sightings should not be dismissed without some form of proper scientific study, the Department set up what writer Nick Pope has described as "arguably the most marvellously-named committee in the history of the civil service".

Set-up

The Flying Saucer Working Party was set up in October 1950 by Ministry of Defence Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Henry Tizard, who felt that UFO reports should not be dismissed out of hand without some serious study. He duly authorised the setting up of a small study team to look into the phenomenon. The group's final report, published in June 1951, was released to UFO researchers Dr David Clarke and Andy Roberts in 2001 by the MOD, following requests made under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. The Working Party concluded that all the reports they studied could be explained by one or more of the following causes: astronomical or meteorological phenomena; misidentification of aircraft, balloons, birds and the like; optical illusions and psychological delusions; deliberate hoaxes. The report ended: “We accordingly recommend very strongly that no further investigation of reported mysterious aerial phenomena be undertaken, unless and until some material evidence becomes available.” A detailed commentary and analysis of this material can be found at the Real UFO Project website including scans of the report and associated documents.

References

{{UFOs 1950 establishments in the United Kingdom Aviation organisations based in the United Kingdom Government responses to UFOs Organizations established in 1950 UFO sightings in the United Kingdom