Churchill 'covered up RAF's close encounter'

Sir Winston Churchill was accused of covering up a claimed close encounter between an RAF aircraft and a UFO during the Second World War, the files reveal.

The former Prime Minister allegedly ordered that the unexplained incident over the east coast of England should be kept secret for at least 50 years because it would provoke "mass panic".

The claim, made by a scientist who said his grandfather was one of Churchill's bodyguards, is recounted in the declassified Ministry of Defence UFO files.

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Allegations of the cover-up emerged when the man, from Leicester, wrote to the government in 1999 seeking to find out more about the incident.

He described how his grandfather, who served with the RAF in the war, was present when Churchill and US General Dwight Eisenhower discussed how to deal with the UFO encounter.

The man, who is not named in the files, said Churchill was reported to have exclaimed: "This event should be immediately classified since it would create mass panic among the general population and destroy one's belief in the church." The incident allegedly involved an RAF reconnaissance plane returning from a mission in France or Germany towards the end of the war.

It was near the English coastline when it was intercepted by a strange metallic object which matched the aircraft's course and speed for a time before accelerating away and disappearing.

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A famous UFO incident dubbed the "Welsh Roswell" was also dismissed by officials as a combination of an earthquake and a meteor burning up in the atmosphere.

Locals heard a huge bang and saw a brilliant light in the sky over the Berwyn Mountains in north Wales on the evening of January 23, 1974.

Some researchers have claimed the explosion was caused by an alien spaceship crash that was covered up by the authorities.

MoD inquiries uncovered five other reports of UFOs seen over the UK at about 10pm on January 23, 1974, three in the Home Counties, one in Lincolnshire and one in Sussex.