Surrey, England, June 1951June 1951

Insufficient Data

Summary

In June 1951, a civilian in Surrey, England reported seeing an unidentified flying object. The witness described the object as silvery zinc in color, bright, and roughly the size of an average parachute. It remained stationary above a river with low puffy clouds nearby.

The Air Force investigation was hampered by missing information. The witness had not reported the exact time of the sighting or noted the object's precise position in the sky. When the Air Force sent the witness a detailed report form (known as a Form 164), it was never completed and returned as requested. Without these details, investigators could not analyze the sighting properly.

The Air Force's official conclusion was "insufficient data for evaluation." In a 1964 letter to the witness, an Air Force major explained that determining what the object was would require the exact time, exact location in the sky, and accurate weather information for that moment. Because so many years had passed since the sighting, the major wrote, a positive identification would likely be impossible. The Air Force did note in its file that the description could suggest a Sun Dog observation, a type of optical phenomenon caused by sunlight reflecting through ice crystals in the air. However, without more information, investigators could not confirm this explanation.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 8 scanned pages.

Reported location

Surrey, England, June 1951

Date of incident

June 1951

State / country

? / XX

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 8

18 DATE » TIME GROUP 2. LOCATION ; June 1951 ( Surrey, Englanc 3. SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION Civilian INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR EVALUATION 4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS One 5 5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION |11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS Minutes Object was a silvery zinc color, tut bright. It stayed in ond position above river, There was lov puffy clouds off to the side of object. It was the size of an average parachute, Groudn-Visua COMMENTS: Description indicates a possible Sun Dog observation, however the time of the sighting was not reported and the positi¢n of the object in the sky not noted. A Form 164 was sent to the ji : ationars itness, however it was not completed ard retumeda as requested 8. PHOTOS ase is regarded as insufficient data. O Yes XX No 9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE O Yes XX Ne FORM FTD sep 63 0-329 (TDE) Previous editions of this form may be used. Ed |