Sighting record / 1991
17 June 1991. A Dan-Air Boeing 737 is climbing out of London Gatwick, bound for Hamburg. Four passengers see something pass below and to the left of the aircraft. It has no wings. It is close enough to be seen quite clearly. The Civil Aviation Authority wrote it up in a single memorable phrase: "a wingless projectile." The report then disappeared into the Ministry of Defence UFO files. In October 2008 The National Archives released those files, and the passengers' sighting surfaced again. No official explanation was ever published. The object, whatever it was, has never been identified.
In the spring and summer of 1991, several airliners flying in and out of the London area reported objects nobody could name. An Alitalia crew reported one on approach near Lydd in April. On 1 June, a Britannia Airways flight from Dublin to London reported a yellow-orange cylindrical object, ten feet long. On 15 July, another Britannia Airways 737 reported a small black lozenge-shaped object. Between them sits the Dan-Air case.