Milan, England UFO Sighting (March 31, 1950) — FBI Files
U.S. government investigators recorded a flying disc sighting over Milan, England, in 1950, which was later identified as a rocket-powered hoax.
Background
On March 31, 1950, in Milan, England, U.S. government investigators recorded an unidentified-object incident later released to the public on May 8, 2026, as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). This specific report emerged during a period of intense global fascination with unidentified aerial phenomena. The incident is part of the first wave of “flying saucer” reports that swept the United States and its various international interests following the Kenneth Arnold sighting of June 1947 and the Roswell incident of July 1947. During this era, the sudden appearance of disc-shaped objects in the sky became a frequent subject of both media sensationalism and serious military scrutiny.
The documentation of this event is notable for its inclusion in the archives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Under the Bureau’s standing protocols for the protection of vital installations, various field offices, including those in Knoxville, Albuquerque, and Los Angeles, were responsible for routing UFO reports to headquarters. This bureaucratic structure ensured that any aerial phenomenon that could potentially threaten sensitive government or military infrastructure was centralized for analysis. The presence of an English sighting within American investigative files highlights the interconnected nature of post-war intelligence-gathering and the global reach of monitoring programs during the early Cold War.
What the document records
The released document records the sighting of a flying disc over Milan, England. While the specific number of witnesses is not specified in the released text, the report captures the essence of the perceived anomaly. Subsequent investigations into the matter revealed that the phenomenon was not of extraterrestrial or advanced technological origin. It was later determined that three boys had attached rockets to a metal disc and launched it into the air. Based on these findings, the incident appears to have been a hoax perpetrated by the boys.
This resolution reflects a common pattern found in mid-century aerial sightings, where human-made objects, ranging from improvised toys to sophisticated experimental hardware, were frequently mistaken for unidentified craft. The Milan case serves as a localized example of how terrestrial activities could inadvertently trigger international investigative interest.
Type of case
The witnesses involved in the Milan incident described the object as being disc- or saucer-shaped. This specific geometry was the defining characteristic of the “flying saucer” era, a term popularized by the descriptions of objects moving in a manner that seemed inconsistent with known aerodynamic principles of the time.
Status
All records released under the PURSUE program are designated unresolved by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) by default. The federal government has not concluded that the events were anomalous, has not concluded that they were conventional, and has not ruled out either possibility. This default classification is a procedural standard applied to maintain investigative neutrality.
During the period surrounding the 1950 Milan sighting, several conventional candidates were frequently identified as the source of such sightings. These included experimental aircraft developed during the rapid technological advancements of the post-war era and weather balloons, specifically those associated with the Project Mogul series in the late 1940s. Additionally, atmospheric optical phenomena, such as sundogs and lenticular clouds, often created the illusion of solid, moving objects. Astronomical objects, including the brightness of Venus, the Moon, or meteors appearing near the horizon, also provided frequent explanations for reported aerial anomalies. The Milan case, while resolved through the discovery of the rocket-powered disc, remains a documented part of this broader historical phenomenon.