Nick Redfern September 4, 2021

When we think of UFOs during the Second World War, more often than not, it will likely provoke images of the Foo Fighters. They were small, fast-moving, ball-like, illuminated “things” seen in the sky and mostly during battle and confrontation over Europe. The creations of the Allies? The Nazis? The questions still exist. And, it’s most unlikely that we’ll ever get the complete answers to the Foo Fighter issue. What’s even less well-known, though, are the reports of UFO activity during the Second World War that had nothing to do with the Foo Fighters. In other words, today’s article is on claims of Flying Saucers seen – and allegedly examined by scientists – during the Second World War. I should stress that the story I’m sharing with you today has nothing to do with the extremely dubious stories of “Nazi UFOs” that certain figures have promoted for disturbing, political reasons. Rather, we’re talking about an American journalist, dead aliens and more. With that said, let’s move on.

May 22, 1955 was the date on which a well-respected journalist, Dorothy Kilgallen, put together an account for the American press. The story, that surfaced while Kilgallen was on vacation in the U.K. at the time, read as follows: “I can report today on a story which is positively spooky, not to mention chilling. British scientists and airmen, after examining the wreckage of one mysterious flying ship, are convinced these strange aerial objects are not optical illusions or Soviet inventions, but are flying saucers which originate on another planet. The source of my information is a British official of cabinet rank who prefers to remain unidentified.” One of Kilgallen’s informants for the tale was suspected of having been Gordon Creighton. For a long time, he was the editor of the Flying Saucer Review magazine. Timothy Good, author of a 1987 book, Above Top Secret, knew Creighton. Good followed the Kilgallen story, saying that it “…was alleged to have taken place during a cocktail party given by Lord Mountbatten, but I have been unable to substantiate this with Mollie Travis, Mountbatten’s private secretary at the time.”

The FBI file on Dorothy Kilgallen

And who was Lord Mountbatten? Read on: “As with many royal relatives, Louis Mountbatten was related to both Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth. A great-grandson of Queen Victoria, he was a distant cousin of the Queen’s as well as Prince Philip’s uncle. Philip’s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was Louis’s sister. Philip also lived with the Mountbattens for several years following his mother’s institutionalization… In August of 1979, Lord Mountbatten was killed at age 79 in a terrorist attack by the Irish Republican Army. His fishing boat, named Shadow V, was blown up off the coast of the Republic of Ireland by a bomb that had been smuggled aboard.” Now, back to the story/yarn of the crashed UFO. Dorothy Kilgallen’s primary source for the story – believed to have been Mountbatten, himself – quietly told her these words: “We believe, on the basis of our inquiry thus far, that the saucers were staffed by small men – probably under four feet tall. It’s frightening, but there’s no denying the flying saucers come from another planet.” Kilgallen, recognizing that she had an amazing story on her hands, had more to say: “This official quoted scientists as saying a flying ship of this type could not have possibly been constructed on Earth. The British Government, I learned, is withholding an official report on the ‘flying saucer’ examination at this time, possibly because it does not wish to frighten the public. When my husband and I arrived here from a brief vacation, I had no premonition that I would be catapulting myself into the controversy over whether flying saucers are real or imaginary.”

London Underground

For years, that was where the story pretty much began and ended. However, over the years tales have circulated to the effect that the UFO crash had nothing to do with Roswell (as some have suggested), but everything to do with a Flying Saucer crash somewhere on the U.K. – and, as a result, the Americans and the Brits secretly created a project to study the wrecked craft and dead bodies that reportedly fell into their laps. I’ve heard rumors that during the Second World War, the remains of the dead aliens from the crash were, from 1944 to 1953, held deep in a bunker in the London Underground. Another story (or, more correctly, another rumor) suggests everything was flown over to the United States, along with a team of U.K. scientists. The tales are fascinating. Try proving it all, though. True or not, the story is still an intriguing one. And if there is any truth to it all, then it adds another weird story to strange, UFO-themed activity encountered during the Second World War.

MU*

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