TU-1957-900001 · Historic case

Milton Torres intercept: USAF pilot ordered to fire on a radar target over East Anglia, 20 May 1957 (1957)

A USAF lieutenant said he was ordered on 20 May 1957 to fire a rocket salvo at a radar target over East Anglia that then accelerated away; no MoD or USAF record of the intercept exists.

Case number
TU-1957-900001
Date
20 May 1957
Location
Radar target tracked over East Anglia; scrambled from RAF Manston, Kent, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates
52.500° N, 1.000° E
Shape
unknown
Colour
Unknown
Witnesses
2
Status
unresolved

Case summary

According to his own later written statement, Lieutenant Milton Torres of the USAF 514th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was on five-minute alert at RAF Manston, Kent, on the night of 20 May 1957 when his flight of two F-86D Sabres was scrambled towards a target orbiting over East Anglia. Ground control reported the object holding station for long intervals with unusual flight patterns that routine checks had failed to identify. Torres flew east at full afterburner and obtained a strong radar lock at about 15 miles, the maximum, with a return he likened to a B-52.

Torres says he was then ordered to fire a full salvo of 24 'Mighty Mouse' rockets, queried the order, had it authenticated, and was selecting the weapons when the indicated closing speed reversed and the blip rapidly opened out, broke lock and disappeared from both his scope and the ground radar. He said a civilian debriefed him the next day and threatened him with a national-security breach if he spoke of it. The account was given publicly from 1988 and is recorded in Ministry of Defence files released at The National Archives in 2008.

The MoD searched its records and found no reference to the incident, and the USAF likewise reported no records held; the time of night was never recorded and the two pilots' recollections differ in places.

Nearby strategic sites

More UFO case files