Britain releases files of UFO encounters

Britain released hundreds of previously secret "UFO files" Thursday.

The files, published by the National Archives, span decades and contain scores of witness accounts, sketches and classified briefing notes documenting mysterious sightings across Britain.

In one of the records, the grandson of a Royal Air Force officer who was one of Churchill's personal bodyguards wrote to Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 1999 about a case in WWII.

According to this account, the man's grandfather overheard Churchill discussing the alleged incident with US wartime General Dwight Eisenhower.

Reports given to Churchill claimed that a reconnaissance aircraft returning to Britain from a mission was shadowed by a UFO as it crossed the British coast.

The plane's crew were reported to have photographed the object, which they said had "hovered noiselessly" near the aircraft, before moving off.

According to the letter describing this alleged incident, Churchill banned the encounter from going public because of fears it could create mass panic.

In a case filed in 1995, the captain of a plane approaching Manchester reported a near miss with an "unidentified object," and a witness on the ground separately provided a sketch showing a UFO "20 times the size of a football field."

Some files also refer to curious episodes in Britain's history.