Sunday Times

April 21, 1996, Sunday

SECTION: Home news

LENGTH: 175 words

HEADLINE: Air force jets were scrambled for UFOs

BYLINE: Richard Wood and Steve Ball

BODY:

A SERVING official at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) revealed yesterday that

British jets were scrambled to intercept unidentified flying objects

(UFOs) as recently as the 1980s, write Richard Woods and Steve Ball.

Nick Pope, who was the MoD official in charge of investigating UFO

reports until 1994 and still works for the ministry, said RAF fighters

tried to

intercept the UFOs but failed to lock on to the objects, leaving open the

possibility of error by ground-based radars. Times

Newspapers Limited, April 21, 1996

However,

Pope said he knew of other credible reports that UFOs based on

high technology had flown over Britain.

In June Pope is publishing a book on UFO incidents and his experience at

the MoD. ''There is no cover-up or a lot of classified information about

extra-terrestrials,'' he said at Unconvention, a conference organised by

Fortean Times, the magazine about the paranormal. ''What there is is a

total lack of

official understanding. This is not something that is a joke. Our air defences

have been penetrated by structured aircraft.''