This paper reports on an investigation into unidentified flying object files held in the Public Records Office. The Public Records Office (PRO) [Now called The National Archives, at Kew, South West London] is the official repository for the historical records of the British government. Each department has a departmental records officer who is in charge of its non-current files. 
If there is one kind of article ufology could do with fewer of, it’s the kind where researchers sit back and meditate on what ufology is fundamentally about, debating whether it’s a science, defining its theoretical parameters, when they could be more profitably engaged tramping over muddy fields in search of traces or fault-lines, or taping statements from witnesses who’ve actually had experiences the investigators have never had and never will.
When I wrote my column ‘Northern Echoes’ to mark the 20th anniversary of MUFORG two years ago l practically wrote the obituary for ufology. Recent developments show that this, like so many such laments, was premature. There is, I think, a growing separation between the revived ‘folklore’ of ufology, and the views of ‘serious ufologists’. The folklore is one of secrecy, hidden things and duplicity.
This title is taken from a Daily Mail preview of a television documentary about unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and it refers to the UFO experts included in the programme. Certainly there was a good deal of justification for such an attitude since the hour-long Out of this World documentary, broadcast by the BBC on 10 May 1977, did portray UFO experts as harmless cranks.