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Sir Henry Tizard
An Establishment figure whose interest in UFOs is less well known is Sir Henry Tizard. Tizard is best known for his pioneering work on the development of radar technology prior to the Second World War and his various wartime posts included Scientific Adviser to the Air Staff. He returned to the Ministry of Defence in 1948 as Chief Scientific Adviser, a post that he held until 1952.
Although largely outside the scope of this article, it is perhaps interesting to note that although Sir Henry Tizard and Lord Cherwell had once been friends, a series of disagreements over various policy issues had ended their friendship and turned them into great rivals. We do not say that this had any direct bearing on the subsequent handling of the UFO issue, but their differing opinions on the subject should perhaps at least be viewed in the context of their rivalry. It was Cherwell who had the last word on Churchill’s 1952 enquiry on UFOs, telling the Prime Minister that he agreed entirely with the Secretary of State for Air’s sceptical views. When it comes to UFOs, the believer versus sceptic debate is as active within government and the military as anywhere else, as is clear from the books of those people (e.g. Ruppelt and Hynek) who have been involved in official government UFO research and investigation programmes.
Tizard had followed the official debate about ghost rockets with interest and was intrigued by the increasing media coverage of UFO sightings in the UK, America and other parts of the world. Using his authority as Chief Scientific Adviser at the MOD he decided that the subject should not be dismissed without some proper, official investigation. Accordingly, he agreed that a small Directorate of Scientific Intelligence/Joint Technical Intelligence Committee (DSI/JTIC) working party should be set up to investigate the phenomenon. This was dubbed the Flying Saucer Working Party. The DSI/JTIC minutes recording this historic development read as follows:
“The Chairman said that Sir Henry Tizard felt that reports of flying saucers ought not to be dismissed without some investigation and he had, therefore, agreed that a small DSI/JTIC Working Party should be set up under the chairmanship of Mr Turney to investigate future reports.
After discussion it was agreed that the membership of the Working Party should comprise representatives of DSI1, ADNI(Tech), MI10 and ADI(Tech). It was also agreed that it would probably be necessary at some time to consult the Meteorological Department and ORS Fighter Command but that these two bodies should not at present be asked to nominate representatives”.
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