ES Release Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence begins declassifying its UFO files; batches follow until 1999
The Spanish Ministry of Defence released its air force UFO files in batches, and this document is one of them: file number 761119, covering sightings over the Canary Islands on 19 November 1976. A cover sheet from the Air Force intelligence office (MOA) at Torrejón proposed declassification, stating that nothing made it advisable to keep it classified matter, and it was marked declassified under a letter dated 16 September 1994. The file holds Report 02/76 by an investigating judge, with statements from 14 witnesses, including the crew of the training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano and a T-12 aircrew. The Canaries air zone commander, himself a witness, wrote that it was an unidentified optical phenomenon.
1 document·5 points
- The file was marked "DESCLASIFICADO" under letter EMA/DOP number 814, dated 16-9-94, after the MOA intelligence officer found no reason to keep it classified matter.
- At 19:15Z on 19 November 1976 the crew of the training ship "Juan Sebastián Elcano" reported a luminous point that spiralled, expanded to two to three times the lunar disc and formed a semicircle on the horizon; the active phase lasted more than 20 minutes.
- Report 02/76 contains statements from 14 witnesses, 6 of them military or civil pilots, and the judge recommended studying it with the earlier reports 01/75 and 01/76.
- In a letter dated 13 December 1976 the general commanding the Canaries air zone wrote that it was "indiscutiblemente" an unidentified optical phenomenon and suggested that specialists, possibly from the United States, be informed.
- Crews of flights OM-300, IB-825 and IB-562 reported a very bright dome east of Málaga airport at about 30,000 feet that radar did not detect; the file records no investigation of that report.
Documents
- Document Spanish UFO Files Internet Archive· 91 pp.