LONDON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A retired U.S. aviator says he'll never forget what he says was a close encounter with an unidentified flying object in 1957 over Kent, England.
The account of U.S. airman Milton Torres was one of 19 official UFO-related accounts taken by Britain's Ministry of Defense and newly released by the National Archives, The Times of London reported Monday.
Torres, now 77, told The Times he was ordered to scramble his Sabre fighter jet from Manston Royal Air Force base and shoot down what was feared to be a hostile Russian bomber. He said the "aircraft" simply vanished and the blip on the radar disappeared.
Torres said he visited shortly thereafter by a man purporting to be a U.S. security official who warned him never to speak of the incident and he said he didn't until 1988, when he decided to tell his story to the British military.
"I shall never forget it, and for the last 50 years I have been waiting for an explanation but I've never had one," he told The Times. "On that night I was ordered to open fire even before I had taken off. That had never happened before."
