The Cosford Incident
The account
A huge triangular object flew silently over two British Royal Air Force bases in the early morning hours.
What investigators found
Some of the reports match the reentry of a Russian rocket into the atmosphere; the rest remain without an official explanation.
The story
On the night of March 30 into March 31, 1993, police officers, military personnel and civilians across several parts of England reported lights and a triangular object in the sky. The best known reports came from the Royal Air Force bases at Cosford and Shawbury, where a meteorological officer said he saw a large, slow object project a beam of light onto the ground.
Nick Pope, who handled UFO reports at the British Ministry of Defence, investigated the case and considered it the most intriguing of his career. Skeptical researchers such as historian David Clarke showed that, that night, a Russian rocket stage reentered the atmosphere over the country, which accounts for many of the sightings. The Ministry concluded there had been no threat to national defense, but did not explain every report.