UFO Desk Final Records — DEFE 24/2465 (final tranche, June 2013)

Brief

DEFE 24/2465 consists primarily of standardized UFO Report forms transcribed from a public hotline during the last weeks the MoD operated a dedicated UAP recording function. The overwhelming majority of reports describe silent, orange-glowing aerial objects moving at steady speeds, with callers explicitly distinguishing them from Chinese lanterns, fireworks, and aircraft. Two detailed written accounts survive beyond the forms: a multi-page email from a witness near Stoke-on-Trent who documented a low-altitude object that changed color from white to emerald green — with subsequent Staffordshire Police confirmation that no helicopter was airborne — and a text-file attachment from a Colchester couple describing four sequentially-appearing orange lights captured on a mobile phone. Police incident reference numbers appear in at least three reports, indicating parallel civilian reporting to local constabularies.

Metadata

Agency

UK Ministry of Defence / Sec(AS)

Release

2013-06-21

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

244 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED

Programs

UFO Hotline, UFO Desk

Tags

orange lights, silent objects, triangle formation, mushroom shape, color change white-to-green, UK, 2009, civilian hotline, UFO desk closure

Key points

• Wilnecote, 9 Nov 2009: observer with binoculars reported a strange orange light with translucent halo, no navigation lights, moving at constant speed in a straight line for approximately 90 seconds.p.7
• Central London, 7 Nov 2009, 08:45: caller counted 10–15 bright, flickering lights — white, green, and light red — in a clear blue sky, drifting both in groups and singly; report routed directly to the UFO Desk rather than the hotline.p.63
• Cattleford, Yorkshire, 20 Nov 2009, 23:20: witness reported 6–7 mushroom-shaped lights being tracked by three to four brightly lit aircraft, no audible engine noise, moving from south-southwest at reasonably fast speed.p.21
• Stoke-on-Trent corridor, 9 Nov 2009: low-altitude object estimated at 100 feet changed color from white to emerald green; Staffordshire Police subsequently confirmed no police helicopter was airborne that night.p.100
• Colchester, 7 Nov 2009, 19:20–19:25: four orange lights appeared one minute apart, followed identical flight paths silently from SE to NE; witness captured two on mobile phone video; neighbor independently reported 7–8 simultaneous objects.p.116
• Leicester, 8 Nov 2009: caller observed three groups of disc-shaped objects (5x3 arrangement) in a triangle formation and recorded them on a camcorder.p.120
• Leigh, 5 Nov 2009: caller reported a large triangle structure with a red light in each corner and fire in the middle, observed from a car.p.150
• Whitley Bay, 9 Nov 2009: witness was so alarmed by a silent orange ballish shape that they called 999 before contacting the MoD hotline.p.86
• At least three reports carry police reference numbers: Kent Police Ref 7-1839 (Gillingham), Wilts Police Ref No 8140 (Westbury), and a South Yorkshire Police acknowledgment (Cusworth), indicating simultaneous official logging by local forces.p.124
• File jacket records an opening date of 21 October 2009; disposal schedule indicates branch review recommending retention for policy reasons until approximately 2019, though the file was released publicly in June 2013.p.3

Verbatim

• Strange orange light coming from the North, clear night, no port & starboard indicators, translucent halo, lasted I min ~O sees, constant speed, straight line

  p.7

• A mushroom shape light (like a balloon blowing in the wind) being tracked by three brightly lit aircraft, saw approx 6-7 mushroom shapes and four aircraft. Couldn't hear any engines.

  p.21

• orange ballish shape going across the sky on a flight path. Silent. So concerned called 999.

  p.86

• Suddenly, and this is the best bit it changed colour from white to emerald green.

  p.100

• They called back to say that they had no record of the Police helecopter flying that night. this still doesn't mean it was an ETV, but it rules out police he1copters.

  p.100

• Neither of them emitted any sound at all they were completely silent.

  p.116

• they seem mainly white on the video but they seem to change colour through all the colours of the rainbow.

  p.116

Most interesting

• The Colchester account (page 116) arrived as an attached text file rather than a standard hotline form, making it one of the most internally detailed and chronologically precise witness statements in the file.
• The Stoke-on-Trent witness is the only reporter in the extracted pages to use the acronym 'ETV' (extraterrestrial vehicle) in a written account submitted to the MoD.
• At least one caller had already contacted 999 — the UK emergency line — before reaching the MoD hotline, suggesting the sighting was alarming enough to treat as an immediate public-safety matter.
• Orange is the dominant color descriptor across nearly every November 2009 report; multiple callers proactively rule out Chinese lanterns, fireworks, and aircraft nav lights without being prompted.
• The Wymondham report (page 15) estimates the objects at '1/2 metre in diameter' — an unusually specific apparent-size claim from a moving car observation.
• Port Talbot, 9 Nov 2009 (page 84): the caller estimated altitude at 1,500–2,000 feet for an orange-yellow object with no contrails and no hazard lights, one of the few hotline reports that includes an approximate distance figure.
• Several hotline forms note that callers left no usable contact details — only a mobile number, an inaudible name, or nothing at all — making any follow-up investigation structurally impossible even had the desk remained open.