The blip was burning a hole in the radar with its incredible intensity. It was similar to a blip I had received from B52s and seemed to be a magnet of light. It had the proportions of a flying aircraft carrier.

According to the Ministry of Defense, it all happened over Norwich in 1957. The 26-year-old Torres was called along with his wingman, taking off the Royal Air Force base in Kent. But something strange was happening: He was ordered to shoot the UFO down before they scrambled off to intercept it, something that had never occurred before.

I shall never forget it, and for the last 50 years I have been waiting for an explanation, but I've never had one. On that night I was ordered to open fire even before I had taken off. That had never happened before. I was ready to hit the target with all 24 rockets: it would have been like buckshot out of a shotgun. I asked for authentication of the order to fire and I received it.

To make things even stranger, the now 77-year-old Torres has declared now that he received a visit the next day from an American. The man, wearing a trench coat, waved his badge and claimed to be working for the National Security Agency. He said to him that what happened the day before was to be kept under complete secret. Or else.

UFO experts say that, while all this could be explained by the existence of Project Palladium—the experiments that the CIA was conducting during those years to create false radar readings in the Soviet Union—this won't explain why the pilots were ordered to fire all the rockets loaded in their planes. Or why the blip appeared over British air space in the first place.

There's another interesting case in the newly-declassified files: An account of a near-fatal accident at 22,000 feet, 17 years ago. In this file, Alitalia Flight AZ 284 almost had a direct collision with an UFO while approaching London's Heathrow airport. Fortunately, nothing happened because the object vanished just before the impact. [The Age and BBC]

The Fenstar was built by Team MIRA, which includes students from England-based Warwick University and the Royal Grammar School Guildford. The British Ministry of Defense has already praised the innovation, pointing out that an aircraft that can “Look over walls or into compounds in Afghanistan will prove a real asset to the troops. The only problem so far is figuring out a way to minimize noise. Because, really, what good is a spy when everyone can hear it coming? That's some Get Smart tomfoolery. [Telegraph UK via Geekologie]

Government scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down, Wiltshire, are behind the breakthrough. Ion-Mask is a protective layer that bonds to the device using a plasma, or electronically charged gas, and its chemical properties allow oil and water to be repelled easily. Originally developed for treating soldiers' uniforms to repel toxic vapors and liquids in chemical or biological attacks, the technology will be used to protect devices thought to be too small to be fitted with waterproof seals, such as mobiles and MP3 players.

As well as covering the devices, Ion-Mask is versatile enough to be able to coat individual components, in order to up the level of protection. Having an Ion-Mask device might help lower insurance rates for cellphones too, as more than 1.2 mobiles were lost in 2006 to toilets, drinks and washing machines. [Telegraph]