1 - The Black Vault

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Operations & Policy 1
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Room 6/73, Metropole Building, Northumberland Avenue, London,
WC2N 5BP
Telephone
(Direct dial)
(Switchboard)
(fax)
(GTN)
Your Reference
O~.~r Reference
D/DAS/64/3
Dat~
10 October 2001
Dear
Thank you for your letter of 9 September in which you enclosed a copy of an extract from a book
by Michael Jennings entitled ' RAF Coltishall, Fighter Station'. The extract described the alleged
reaction of the RAF and USAF to a contact of an 'unidentified aircraft' sighted on radar at Saxa
Vord on 8 September 1970.
I note that you have already examined this department's 'UFO' sighting report files held at the
Public Record Office and they contained no mention of these events. The only other records,
which we are aware of, that still exist and may contain some relevant information are the
F540 Operations Record Books. All RAF stations, flying squadrons, maintenance and signal
units, etc are required to produce a Form 540 which is a monthly record of the units activities.
These are designed to provide a historical record of the unit, so they do not contain a detailed
record of everything the unit is involved with, only those events which are seen to be worthy of
mention for historical reasons. What is recorded and the level of detail may also vary from unit to
unit. F540s are held by the Ministry of Defence for 30 years and then released to the Public
Record Office.
With regard to the events of 8 September 1970, the F540s for this period are already available for
inspection at the Public Record Office. However, in order to assist you we have made a request to
the Public Record Office for extracts from RAF Coltishall and Saxa Vord's F540s for the period
covering September 1970 to see if they contain any information relevant to your enquiries. When
we have received a reply I write to you again.
I hope this is helpful.
Yours sincerely,