UFOs & The Night Fighter: Group Captain Tom Dalton-Morgan
Secrets in the Sky: The Legendary Pilot and the UFO Mystery
When I was a boy, my dad and grandfather would take me out to Uluru or Ayers Rock here in Australia, where my dad used to be a park ranger. There we would camp out in the red desert with a swag and stargaze. Under the night’s lights, my grandfather would share his war stories from the skies. He had been a famous RAF fighter pilot ace from WW2. What my grandfather didn’t tell me, was that in that same red desert, he had a secret. A secret that was hidden in a place of strangeness and military science. That place was Woomera. Australia’s real Area 51.
In 2023, I read Ross Coulthart’s book In Plain Sight. Within that book there was a section dedicated to a military prohibited area in Australia called Woomera. While many people have heard of Pine Gap, Woomera is the true Australian equivalent to Area 51. It lies about 500km NW of Adelaide in the heart of the South Australian Desert. Created in 1947, it was home to the British-Australian Atomic Bomb Tests at Maralinga and Emu Fields. During WW2, the nuclear arms race had pushed Britain to create their own rocket testing programme. Because of its isolation, Britain chose Woomera to be the home these tests. Imagine a fenced off desert twice the size of England, that was Woomera. Woomera was used to test everything from rockets, experimental aircraft, missiles, to satellites and even helped with the moon landing. If you have seen the movie Oppenheimer, you will have a pretty good idea of the level of secrecy and activity that occurred at this range.
Now my grandfather, Tom Dalton-Morgan, managed Woomera during that time from 1955-1982. He was the Principal Officer in charge of the range. It’s how my family came to be in South Australia. After I saw there was no mention of my grandfather in Ross Coulthart’s book, I became curious about his time there. His time at Woomera had mostly remained a secret, even to my family. So, I reached out to the national archives for his file. Little did I know that this request was about to change history. Before that though, you need to know who my grandfather was and the mystery that surrounded him.
War Hero: Tom Dalton-Morgan's Brilliant Military Career
Born in Wales in 1917, Group Captain Tom Dalton-Morgan, was a Welsh RAF fighter pilot Ace from WW2. Counted by Winston Churchill amongst the ranks of ‘The Few,’ Tom led dogfights in Dunkirk, The Battle of Britain, D-Day, Germany and all over Europe. He is one of the most distinguished RAF Fighter Pilots from the second world war. Yet his story is only known to a few.
In May 1940, on his second day at Tangmere airbase, Tom was thrown into the maelstrom of WW2. Tom’s first combat came in the Battle of France and the Dunkirk retreat. His squadron was to provide air cover for the 350,000 British soldiers stranded at Dunkirk. Here Tom shot down the first of many German fighters over the English Channel. He was protecting the ships that bravely crossed back and forth carrying men and supplies.
It was in the Battle of Britain that Tom became an Ace. The experienced German Airforce or Luftwaffe heavily outnumbered the RAF when they attacked Britain in 1940. Tom’s 43 Squadron bore the brunt of these fierce attacks. The odds were so stacked against the British RAF, that Tom wrote,
“At the time I did not think I would survive. I was determined to take as many of the enemy with me as possible. To die in battle was good way to go” [1].
By the end of the Battle of Britain, Tom had shot down 10 confirmed enemy aircraft and was promoted to squadron leader. He held command of the 43 Squadron longer than any other officer in all the fighter commands throughout the war. This proved to be the first major defeat for Hitler and a crucial turning point in the conflict.
After heavy losses Germany turned to night bombing. In the dark, Tom would earn his reputation as Britain’s formidable night fighter. In 1941, Tom was posted to Drem in Scotland to establish a night fighting capability in the Hurricane fighter plane. Fittingly, the motto of Drem station was Exiit Hinc Lumen. Which means ‘Light has departed from this place.’ While training new RAF pilots for service by day, Tom stalked Nazi bombers by night. With no radar help, only the most experienced pilots flew night interceptions. Imagine flying over the blackness of the sea searching for enemy aircraft by just their silhouettes. The ocean, clouds and moonlight as your only aid. Few German night bombers fell victim to single-seat fighter pilots, but Tom, hunting alone, destroyed seven.
On the 24th of July 1941, Tom was flying a night patrol off May Island, Scotland with Pilot Officer Bourne. It was there he spotted a German bomber’s shadow on the moonlit sea. Tom opened up the throttle and started climbing above the clouds. Once well above the bomber, he commenced a steep nose-diving attack from the rear quarter. As he was closing fast into firing range his engine started to fail. His excess speed from the dive allowed him to continue to close the distance and open fire. He hit the bomber and its undercarriage came down. Despite his engine failing and smoke filling the cockpit, Tom attacked the German bomber twice more before watching it crash into the sea. This would be the third bomber he had taken down in two consecutive nights. Too low to bail out by the time his engine failed, Tom noted the direction of the waves and approached parallel to them. He made a masterful landing on the water, but the gunsight hit his face on impact, breaking his jaw and knocking out his two front teeth out. With his CO2 bottle to inflate the dingy busted, he had to hand pump his safety raft from the wing of the aircraft before it sank. Tom was rescued the next day afloat in the North Sea by the Navy's HMS Ludlow. Wing Commander H Eeles, commented: “I consider this to be a classic example of how a first-class fighter pilot can attack an enemy while his engine is failing, shoot it down, force land on the sea, and get away with it” [2]. Tom was awarded a Bar to his DFC for his exceptional skill.
For a period, Tom secretly worked on an air-to-ground fighter control system with Major John Profumo. In four weeks, they developed a VHF receiver and transmitter, that allowed communication between fighter planes and frontline ground troops. It would be carried by frontline soldiers to call for air support when they were held up by German tanks, pill boxes and machine gun posts. This would be his final task before moving on to become a fighter controller at Fighter Command.
In September 1942, Tom’s success led him to become the leader of Ibsley Wing. This was the largest wing in fighter command where he had eight squadrons under him. As Wing Commander, Tom would fly leader for the European offensive against the German Airforce in his new Spitfire Supermarine. It was his duty to lead escorts for the Tactical bomber squadrons and fly long-range sweeps against the German Airforce over northern France. Captain Eric Mold wrote, “I had the good fortune to serve with a wing leader I have never forgotten, his name was Tom Dalton-Morgan.
Tom was the real top gun. When he entered a room, you could feel his presence. You did not have to see or hear him to know he was there. He had an awesome charisma and some sort of special aura seemed to surround him. If he said we are going to fly through that mountain and come out the other side, I think I would go with him. That was the kind of leadership Tom exuded. He was the epitome of leadership” [3].
Tom’s biggest promotion came in 1944 when he was appointed Group Captain of Operations of the 2nd Tactical Air Force. He was given the monumental task of planning the fighter and ground attack operations in support of the campaign on D-Day. The largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. After the successful Normandy landing, Tom would advance across Europe with the Second Tactical Airforce Group. He would go on to commandeer Nazi airfields in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Tom flew every time he could until the Nazi’s were defeated in 1945. Air Marshall Sir Fred Rosier commented, “It would be impossible to overstate Tom Dalton-Morgan’s importance and influence on the conduct of fighter operations for and beyond D-Day” [4].
Sadly, just before the end of the war, Tom learned his beloved younger brother John, had been shot down and killed. His brother John had originally followed him into the RAF. This loss deeply effected Tom. With a scarred face and a heavy heart, Tom finished the war with 22 enemy aircraft confirmed destroyed. He was decorated with DSO, OBE, DFC, Bar, Battle of Britain Star, France & Germany Star, British War Medal, American Bronze Star, Croix de Guerre Belgium and War Cross Norway.
Now there are plenty of accounts of Tom’s war history, but strangely, a lot is missing from his past. Tom was an extremely modest and unassuming man. Clive Willians who authored his biography Tommy Leader, often thought getting information out of Tom was like extracting teeth. He considered him the most private person he’d ever met. However, as time has gone on after Tom passed away in 2004, it was discovered that he had an even more fascinating history, much of which he never spoke. After Tom passed away, US Airforce records later revealed that during the war, Tom had been the first British officer to be recruited as a secret ‘Ghost’ pilot in the US 8th Air Force. This meant he flew in the USAF under the aliases of US pilots that had been killed in action [5].
Commander Mark Barmby of the US 8th Air Force stated, “The truth about Dalton-Morgan's time with 8th Air Force is the subject of continuing research; at the time, the unofficial nature of his position meant he never claimed his victories. The known facts are that he flew 70 fighter sorties in Eighth's 4th Fighter Group Mustangs escorting 8th Air Force bombers deep into German airspace; he was officially awarded the Bronze Star but also unofficially received the Silver Star and the American DFC from US President Harry Truman. The evidence of his flying logbook suggests that Dalton-Morgan may well have at least doubled his number of kills with the 8th Air Force” [6]. As Tom was already an Ace by the end of the war, with 22 enemy aircraft confirmed destroyed. If he did more than double his number of kills with the 8th Air Force, this means that he would have shot down the most enemy aircraft for the Western allied forces in World War Two, surpassing the great Johnnie Johnson. Being the humble man he was, he sought no acknowledgment for his deeds. Or was there another reason for the secrecy.
From Battlefield to Woomera: A Mysterious Career Change
Knowing how much had already been uncovered about Tom’s past and what else could be missing, I searched the Australian national archives for his Woomera records. Oddly enough I couldn’t find much other than a single report file from his time at Woomera. When I requested the file, it said it was not available for public access. So I called the National Archives and spoke with a woman about my request. She tried to access the file for me, as it was showing as available on their end, but when she did, there was nothing there. She said she had never seen this before and it looked like the Australian Defence Department had released the file, then taken it back. She recommended I get in touch with the Australian Department of Defence and the UK Ministry of Defence. So I submitted a personal information and freedom of information request for Tom’s records. I went back and forth with them for months providing endless documentation. While the UK Ministry of Defence eventually provided Tom’s service records from the RAF, they covered only until 1952. They said they had no records from his 27 years at Woomera. The Australian Defence Department also came back and said no records on Tom could be located. How could no records be found after he managed Woomera for 27 years?
Frustrated, I decided to do a deep dive on my own for more information about Tom. After some digging, strangely, I came across a testimony of his from the late 1950’s. The testimony, as bizarre as it sounds, was a UFO encounter at Woomera rocket range in 1959 [7]. It was corroborated by six range employees during the launch of a Black Night Rocket. This testimony of Tom’s was published in 1996 by a renowned researcher and scientist Bill Chalker. In 1982, Bill Chalker was the first civilian researcher to gain direct access to the previously classified RAAF UFO files.
He did this during several visits to the headquarters of the directorate of Australian Air Force Intelligence. I reached out to Bill by phone, who was a little wary of who I was at first, rightly so, but eventually came around. Bill informed me that he had gotten Tom’s Woomera UFO Testimony from Ken Llewelyn, who was a former RAAF senior public relations officer. I tried multiple ways to contact Ken Llewelyn but was unsuccessful. Thankfully, with a bit of luck, I discovered Tom had also handwritten this UFO testimony for Clive Williams, who authored his biography. I got a copy of it, and this is the official testimony.
“One night at Woomera when we were setting up to launch a Black Knight vehicle there was a most unusual incident. I was in the Control Room talking to Alan Mole who was setting up for the countdown to launch. A call came for me over the intercom from Percy Hawkins, our Recovery Officer, who was down range near the expected impact areas of the Black Knight and launch vehicles. He reported a very bright light that was heading towards the Range head. I stepped out onto the balcony of the Test Control building followed by Alan Mole and others. Sure enough we soon picked up a very bright light heading at high speed towards the Rangehead. It appeared to be at about 5,000 ft. As it orbited around us, we could see what appeared to be a circular outline of the vehicle. A cabin protruded from the top of the vehicle, it was brightly lit and showed up the circular outline of the vehicle. As it passed behind us, it accelerated and climbed away almost vertically to the east and disappeared. No sound came from it.
The apparent circular shape of the vehicle, its speed, rate and angle of climb were beyond that of any known aircraft of the time.
Our Rangehead radar failed to pick it up. I reported the incident immediately to RAAF HQ in Canberra, to RAAF Base Edinburgh and to Defence Research Establishments. It was seen by our Recovery Team down range and by at least six of us at the Rangehead. I would say that it was one of the three percent of such sightings that could not be easily explained away” [8].
Tom, at that time, was at the Principal Officer in charge of range operations at Woomera. The most senior position on the rocket launch site. He was legitimately the man who made the call whether the red button was pushed or not. Now high security had already surrounded the firing of the Black Night rocket, because it was specifically designed to test the fusing system for a nuclear warhead. In the late 1950s, the West was extremely paranoid about Russian activities involving their advancement in missile and aircraft technology. So you can imagine how serious a UFO over a nuclear rocket test would have been, given the circumstances. Regarding his testimony, you could not get a more credible witness. Tom did not get given the responsibility of managing Britain’s nuclear rocket tests for no reason. He was a deeply respected aeronautical engineer, fighter pilot ace and Intelligence operations officer. Tom had told Geoff Pittman, a Woomera engineer, that he estimated the UFO speed at far greater than Mach 2 [9]. That’s far faster than 1200mph or 2000kph back in 1959. That was well beyond the capability of any known aircraft in the 1950s. While during all those unbelievable UFO manoeuvres seen at high speed, there was also no noise or sign of jet exhaust. Anything moving that fast produces a loud sonic boom. This testimony and report was corroborated by six others, including Alan Mole and Lt. Commander Percy Hawkins. So what was it that they saw? Well, a major breadcrumb lay in Tom’s testimony.
To see what else I could find out about Tom, Bill Chalker generously put me in touch with an archival researcher whom he knew in England called Dr David Clarke. In 2001, David Clarke launched campaign requests that led to the UK Ministry of Defence releasing some of their UFO files. This included the file on the famous 1980 Rendlesham UFO forest incident. To my surprise, David Clarke told me via email that he had interviewed my grandfather, Tom Dalton-Morgan, on the 4th of November 2002. In that interview Tom recounted his Woomera UFO testimony, but then also confirmed something else. Tom stated to David that he had served on a secret joint USAF/RAF committee that investigated UFOs in the late 1940s! This was a decade before his Woomera UFO encounter. Tom had refused to name the committee to David and why he was on it. But stated that all the sightings they were asked to examine were resolved except 3%, which were unknown. This would explain why Tom referenced the 3% UFO statistic in his 1959 Woomera testimony.
David said he had not been able to find any trace of the committee Tom was on, but was not surprised, as virtually all the Ministry of Defence files on UFOs from 1947-61, were supposedly destroyed.
If you knew my grandfather, you would understand how shocking this is. Everyone who knew Tom would tell you he was the most matter of fact person you could meet. He didn’t speak often, but when he did, he meant what he said. Tom passed away never telling any of the family this history. I couldn’t help but wonder why. So I kept digging.
Fighter pilots during World War Two were the first to encounter what would become known as Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters were mysterious aerial phenomena or UFOs seen in the skies over Europe and the pacific. RAF pilots first recorded being followed eerie balls of light and unidentified aircraft in the early 1940s. These Foo Fighters toyed with allied and axis pilots, performing incredible manoeuvres at high speed. Airman reported that the objects flew in formation and appeared as if they were under intelligent control. Fearing it could be an unknown enemy weapon, the air force took these reports seriously. However, investigation would soon prove that both sides were reporting similar sightings, and no explanation could account for these strange phenomena [10]. It was during this period that Tom first heard and read the reports about Foo Fighters. As to whether he saw them himself during World War Two, we do not know. But given he was a renowned night fighter, who had flown hundreds of sorties where these Foo fighters were seen, it’s possible this is where it all begun.
Now after World War Two is actually where Tom’s history became top secret. After the war, following his time as a ‘Ghost’ pilot for the USAF, Tom remained stationed in Germany with the 2nd Tactical Air Force. His duties as part of the British Occupational forces in Germany are difficult to track down until 1946. From his RAF records and biography, we know that in 1946, Tom was sent to RAF Staff College and the Imperial Defence College. During this period, he was formally groomed for senior intelligence duties. This is because in 1948, Tom was suddenly posted to a special duties branch in the Air Ministry Unit. In this special unit under Air Chief Marshall Robb, Tom participated in the formation and planning of the Western Union Defence Organisation (WUDO). While that name might not now ring a bell, the Western Union Defence Organisation would later become known as…NATO. He left WUDO at the end of 1948, but we have no idea of his movements after that until 1951. That’s more than two whole years that are unaccounted for in this Special Air Ministry branch. Now that period lines up with Tom’s statement, that sometime in the late 1940s, is when he investigated UFOs on a secret joint USAF/RAF committee.
1948 was also the year the US Airforce launched an investigation into UFOs called Project Sign. It was reported by Project Blue Book Airforce Captain Edward J Ruppelt that, “Toward the end of November 1948 a wire came into Project Sign from Germany. It was the first report where a UFO was seen and simultaneously picked up on radar. This type of report, the first of many to come, is one of the better types of UFO reports” [11]. November 1948 was the month Tom was stationed in mainland Europe at Fontainebleau with the WUDO. At the request of the Americans, Tom was drawing up air defence plans for Western Europe. He had access to a range of sensitive air intelligence. This included radar data and incident logs. With the cold war in full flight, anything flagged as an unknown at that time was a potential Soviet threat. So UFO reports from Europe would have come across Tom’s desk as part of the WUDO defence scope. Now strangely, Tom leaves the WUDO at the end of 1948, “but did not attend its presentation” [12]. He joins a mysterious Air Ministry Unit on his record labelled as ‘Miscellaneous 460’. Working with the National Archives, I have been unable to determine what that allocation is. Was ‘Miscellaneous 460’ the joint committee that investigated UFOs?
The UFO radar report from Germany in November 1948, or a report like it, may have been catalyst for the US Airforce expanding their investigations into Europe with the RAF.
Following wartime cooperation, Western Germany was already shared under British and American Occupation. The Berlin Blockade in 1948 was driving the USAF and the RAF closer together. Joint intelligence had become critical to monitor Soviet controlled East Germany. If the USAF was going to collaborate with the British on UFOs, they would have wanted men they could trust on a top-secret subject. Tom was that man. Tom had run joint covert missions with the USAF in the war and sworn to secrecy as a ghost pilot for the US 8th Air Force. He had credibility. He was also already cleared for accessing classified air intelligence. Throw in the fact that Tom was an aeronautical engineer, fighter pilot ace and Intelligence operations officer, and you have a strong candidate technically to assess UFOs.
After Tom left the Special Air Ministry Unit in 1951, he was given command of NATO West German Airforce base RAF Gütersloh. This was at the peak of the cold war. Gütersloh was the closest RAF airfield to the border of Russian occupied East Germany. Now because of its proximity, Gütersloh was considered a red-hot spot for conducting Soviet reconnaissance. But coincidently, it was also a UFO hot spot. Fascinatingly, the same year Tom took command of Gütersloh in 1951, Gordon Cooper, one of America’s first and most famous astronauts, testified to chasing UFOs over West Germany with the USAF. He gave this testimony to the United Nations in 1978. He stated over two days of observation; they witnessed multiple metallic flying saucers in fighter formation. The UFOs could rapidly displace themselves horizontally, instantaneously accelerate and fly at unreachable altitudes. Flying from east to west, the allies did not know whether these UFOs were a new Russian prototype or not [13].
The threat of Russia at that time was very much tied to UFO secrecy. This is because the West was terrified Russia would take advantage of UFOs being openly accepted. UFOs were documented by both sides intruding on restricted airspace. There are numerous reports to show it. Even though UFOs were being secretly studied by the Airforce, because they were generally not considered a threat, the defence policy was to ignore them. This led to the fear that the Soviets would intentionally disguise a nuclear bomber or missile as a UFO, which could lead to a nuclear strike. So any information regarding UFOs was suppressed, classified and publicly debunked. Gütersloh was the front line for that activity. At Gütersloh, Tom flew Vampire Jets for NATO Air Command. Large NATO military exercises took place there and Wunstorf, where Tom had command of 1000 German prisoners of war. We don’t really know much other than that.
Here is where things get interesting. In 1952, Tom abruptly resigns from the RAF as Group Captain in Germany, right when he was on a course to become the Chief of Air Staff. The cover story reported in the newspapers, was that he was retiring from the RAF to become a logging manager in Australia. This was after controversial convictions of bigamy, of which he was discharged [14]. However, all was not as it appeared. Strangely, Tom’s departure to Australia had been pre-arranged by the British Government. While Tom did depart to Australia to briefly stay with Sir Robert Cotton’s family, who did run a logging business. It was all a facade. In reality, he waiting to be secretly posted to the Joint British-Australian Weapons Project in South Australia. There he would join a military contractor called the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera Rocket Range.
It is from here on that I can’t obtain any of his personnel records, even though it’s confirmed he was the principal officer in charge at Woomera. What’s even more bizarre is that there is 596-page government report on Woomera by the Defence Department. Fire Across the Desert covers the period 1946-1980. Tom is not mentioned once. That’s after working there for 27 years as Principal Officer of the range and later Principal Scientific Officer of Weapons Research Establishment. Every single person he works with is mentioned. Even people who reported to him. Now we know he worked there and was significant figure. There are photos, books and even a cartoon that shows his face, name and role at Woomera [15]. So why was he so anonymous?
Air Commodore P M Brothers wrote, “Tom Dalton-Morgan is a name to conjure with. Ace fighter pilot, Wing Leader, brilliant planner and staff officer. Widely known and respected throughout the Royal Air Force before and during WWII and subsequently in the high-level civilian posts he occupied. A man whom I believed would rise to become the Chief of Air Staff. I followed his career with interest and noted that his movements from job to job invariably involved more responsibilities and importance. An upwards path as I expected, finishing in Germany. I lost all contact with him and was surprised to find out that he left the service and emigrated to Australia. Later in the course of my duties, I made an enquiry about the Woomera Rocket Range and was told ‘Tom Dalton-Morgan runs that organisation. Only he can help you” [16].
Determined to get to the truth I eventually found a declassified secret 1957 Weapons Research Establishment report. It was written by Tom at Woomera and was in the National Archives. The file covered his trip to scientific and military establishments in the UK regarding secret weapons tests at Woomera. He had visited the Ministry of Supply HQ, Avro and the Royal Aircraft Establishment. The report included sensitive information from nuclear missiles, such as the Blue Steel. And advanced strategic bombers like the Avro Vulcan to deliver them and unmanned drones in the Jindivik [17]. This confirmed Tom was handling Britain’s Nuclear Weapons program at Woomera, and that he was operating under atomic secrecy protocols. However, all that technology is now obsolete, so there should be nothing stopping Tom’s record from being released.
Over his 27 years at Woomera, Tom would manage hundreds of British, Australian and American rocket tests. Some of these rockets were fired into outer space as part of the space program. During the cold war, Woomera had the second highest amount of rocket launches in the world, only after NASA’s facilities at Cape Canaveral. Others were classified military missile and aircraft trials. Being the highest calibre pilot around, some of these tests gave Tom an opportunity to fly. With top secret clearance Tom travelled to the most restricted ranges in the UK, USA and France. His strong relationship with the US also saw him spend time at the White Sands Missile Range, where the Trinity test was previously conducted. In his biography, Tom mentions that at the White Sands range, he negotiated experimental US projects to be brought to Woomera. Tom doesn’t mention what they were, but “thereafter there was nearly always a US project at Woomera” [18]. Yet despite all this, Woomera also tells another story.
Nuclear Facilities and UFO Phenomena
Intriguingly, Woomera was saturated with UFO sightings. We have the declassified military records to prove it. Most were reported by Weapons Research Establishment employees, the organisation that Tom went to work for. In fact, UFO sightings were so common, that a group based at Woomera was set up called the Scientific Technical and Astronomical Research Society. This group of scientists collected UFO reports from the Woomera rocket range. The Royal Australian Air Force also provided questionnaires to members there who reported seeing a UFO [19].
While Tom was at Woomera, he would participate in Britain’s Atomic Bomb Tests at Maralinga. The atomic tests there were known to attract UFO activity. It’s no secret that UFOs started popping up and monitoring nuclear sites after we split the atom. Thanks to some astonishing work by researcher Bill Chalker, he discovered the Chief Medical Physics Officer at Maralinga, was a physicist called Harry Turner. Bill Chalker learned that Harry Turner had secretly investigated UFOs during his time at the Woomera Prohibited area from 1956-1964. Tom and Harry Turner worked together during the atomic tests at Maralinga. Why this is so significant is that declassified records showed that Turner was later recruited by the Joint Intelligence Bureau, which was the Australian equivalent of the CIA. As head of the nuclear intelligence department for JIO, he spent some 80% of his time investigating UFOs [20]. Was it just a coincidence that Tom and Harry Turner, who were there working together at Maralinga, which was known to attract UFOs, both just happened to have a history of investigating UFOs for intelligence?
Turner even recommended creating a rapid Australian UFO intervention team. He proposed the team investigate cases where physical evidence had been left by UFOs. The Australian Directorate of Air Force Intelligence actually hired Turner to do a classified review of UFO reports. This was because the RAAF had no answers for all the public UFO sightings. Turner’s report concluded that
“the evidence presented by the RAAF tends to support the conclusion… that certain strange craft have been observed to behave in a manner suggestive of non-human origin” [21].
His report was based on solid data and witness evidence collected by the RAAF.
Colonel Richard Durance was the range superintendent of Woomera and Maralinga with Tom, from 1956-1962. Durance had originally been trained as the Australian Army attaché for the United States in Washington DC. Durance told Harry Turner, who sat across from him at Maralinga, that he was in the DC radar room during both weekends of the famous 1952 Washington DC UFO sightings. Durance had been there with high level contacts and was allowed to stay in the private room. Durance revealed he was absolutely convinced that the UFOs seen by thousands of people and tracked on multiple radars were not on our side. That they were beyond known defence capabilities [22]. Tom and Richard Durance ran Woomera side by side. Not only did they both have a strong connection to the USAF, but both were briefed on UFOs at a time when Woomera was inundated with UFO sightings. Another coincidence?
Well things get stranger. A first hand account of a UFO crash retrieval at Woomera was related to researcher Timothy Good in 1992 by a witness who has requested anonymity. The witness was employed as radio technician at Woomera for the Weapons Research Establishment from 1956-1960. The witness during that time was assigned to the Black Knight rocket in 1959. The same organisation, rocket and year, Tom was Principal Officer of the Black Knight tests and had his own UFO sighting. While working at Woomera in 1959, the witness revealed an object was recovered on the Woomera range. It was alleged to have been spotted outside the trials zone by a helicopter involved in a search for a missing child. Through my research, I discovered on January 30th, 1959, a helicopter was in fact dispatched from Woomera Range, to search for a missing boy, Nicholas Bannon, near Wilpena Pound [23]. The recovered object was eventually brought to the workshop where the witness was employed at Woomera, because of its presumed origin. “It was a sphere about 2 feet 9 inches in diameter. Its colour was a mid-grey metallic, somewhat darkened” [24]. It was very light. He said it was disproportionately light and easily lifted by one person with one hand. The initial assumption was that it was part of the Black Knight, for that was the only missile there that could have contained anything of that size.
After being disclaimed by Black Knight experts, it was then assumed to be Russian or American. It was alleged when the engineers examined it, they soon realised that the technology required to produce the object did not exist. Hard tools could not mark it. They heated it with an oxy torch and could put a hand on it the second the torch was removed. The witness did it several times. They could not get it anywhere near oxidising heat. The object was a perfect sphere. Anyway they measured, it appeared as one impenetrable piece. After seeking advice from on high, “the object was removed by the range security staff, along with an American observer, who was never seemingly employed on the actual trials” [25]. The witness was told the Americans had claimed the object as part of their space debris. That it had been transported by them to the United States - to Wright Patterson AFB. The witness stated, “perhaps this is foolish, but for many years now I have believed that what we held in those several days was not merely space debris, was perhaps not even some material left by a UFO. But that it was perhaps some form of UFO itself” [26].
If this account is true, what are the chances this object turned up under Tom’s watch. The same year, location, contractor and rocket test, that Tom oversaw. Now we know Tom investigated UFOs for Air Force intelligence and even had his own UFO sighting at Woomera. Again, if this testimony is true, Tom may have known more about this object, and it going to Wright Patterson USAF base.
After all, Tom had high standing with the USAF, after running joint operations with them in WWII and the cold war. In fact, Tom’s role as a ‘Ghost’ pilot created a RAF/USAF swap program that continues today. While few men in charge of the range had the clearance and experience of investigating UFOs with the USAF.
A Legacy of Secrets and Unanswered Questions
Wherever Tom went, UFOs followed. From Foo Fighters in WWII to flying saucers at Woomera. I believe Tom knew a hell of a lot more about UFOs then he was ever allowed to say. But like so many before, he went to the stars with his secrets. So who was Tom Dalton-Morgan really and where are his records after 1952?
I was close with my grandfather. He passed rugby balls with me, told me stories of war and taught me manners. I chose the music for his funeral. I feel obligated to share his story and pursue the truth. This was a man who lived to fly. He flew for tens of thousands of hours in more than 50 different aircraft across his career. He was a man who was entrusted with some of the most sensitive military secrets of his time. Some we are still discovering. From being a WWII fighter pilot Ace, a ‘Ghost’ pilot in the USAF, to helping create the precursor to NATO. He investigated UFOs on a secret joint committee and managed the Woomera Rocket Range. This was not a person’s word you would take lightly. Especially when it came to anything to do with flying. With that in mind, if Tom believed the UFO he witnessed wasn’t ours, who or what was it, I intend to find out.
Secrets in the Sky: The Legendary Pilot and the UFO Mystery
When I was a boy, my dad and grandfather would take me out to Uluru or Ayers Rock here in Australia, where my dad used to be a park ranger. There we would camp out in the red desert with a swag and stargaze. Under the night’s lights, my grandfather would share his war stories from the skies. He had been a famous RAF fighter pilot ace from WW2. What my grandfather didn’t tell me, was that in that same red desert, he had a secret. A secret that was hidden in a place of strangeness and military science. That place was Woomera. Australia’s real Area 51.
In 2023, I read Ross Coulthart’s book In Plain Sight. Within that book there was a section dedicated to a military prohibited area in Australia called Woomera. While many people have heard of Pine Gap, Woomera is the true Australian equivalent to Area 51. It lies about 500km NW of Adelaide in the heart of the South Australian Desert. Created in 1947, it was home to the British-Australian Atomic Bomb Tests at Maralinga and Emu Fields. During WW2, the nuclear arms race had pushed Britain to create their own rocket testing programme. Because of its isolation, Britain chose Woomera to be the home these tests. Imagine a fenced off desert twice the size of England, that was Woomera. Woomera was used to test everything from rockets, experimental aircraft, missiles, to satellites and even helped with the moon landing. If you have seen the movie Oppenheimer, you will have a pretty good idea of the level of secrecy and activity that occurred at this range.
Now my grandfather, Tom Dalton-Morgan, managed Woomera during that time from 1955-1982. He was the Principal Officer in charge of the range. It’s how my family came to be in South Australia. After I saw there was no mention of my grandfather in Ross Coulthart’s book, I became curious about his time there. His time at Woomera had mostly remained a secret, even to my family. So, I reached out to the national archives for his file. Little did I know that this request was about to change history. Before that though, you need to know who my grandfather was and the mystery that surrounded him.
War Hero: Tom Dalton-Morgan's Brilliant Military Career
Born in Wales in 1917, Group Captain Tom Dalton-Morgan, was a Welsh RAF fighter pilot Ace from WW2. Counted by Winston Churchill amongst the ranks of ‘The Few,’ Tom led dogfights in Dunkirk, The Battle of Britain, D-Day, Germany and all over Europe. He is one of the most distinguished RAF Fighter Pilots from the second world war. Yet his story is only known to a few.
In May 1940, on his second day at Tangmere airbase, Tom was thrown into the maelstrom of WW2. Tom’s first combat came in the Battle of France and the Dunkirk retreat. His squadron was to provide air cover for the 350,000 British soldiers stranded at Dunkirk. Here Tom shot down the first of many German fighters over the English Channel. He was protecting the ships that bravely crossed back and forth carrying men and supplies.
It was in the Battle of Britain that Tom became an Ace. The experienced German Airforce or Luftwaffe heavily outnumbered the RAF when they attacked Britain in 1940. Tom’s 43 Squadron bore the brunt of these fierce attacks. The odds were so stacked against the British RAF, that Tom wrote,
“At the time I did not think I would survive. I was determined to take as many of the enemy with me as possible. To die in battle was good way to go” [1].
By the end of the Battle of Britain, Tom had shot down 10 confirmed enemy aircraft and was promoted to squadron leader. He held command of the 43 Squadron longer than any other officer in all the fighter commands throughout the war. This proved to be the first major defeat for Hitler and a crucial turning point in the conflict.
After heavy losses Germany turned to night bombing. In the dark, Tom would earn his reputation as Britain’s formidable night fighter. In 1941, Tom was posted to Drem in Scotland to establish a night fighting capability in the Hurricane fighter plane. Fittingly, the motto of Drem station was Exiit Hinc Lumen. Which means ‘Light has departed from this place.’ While training new RAF pilots for service by day, Tom stalked Nazi bombers by night. With no radar help, only the most experienced pilots flew night interceptions. Imagine flying over the blackness of the sea searching for enemy aircraft by just their silhouettes. The ocean, clouds and moonlight as your only aid. Few German night bombers fell victim to single-seat fighter pilots, but Tom, hunting alone, destroyed seven.
On the 24th of July 1941, Tom was flying a night patrol off May Island, Scotland with Pilot Officer Bourne. It was there he spotted a German bomber’s shadow on the moonlit sea. Tom opened up the throttle and started climbing above the clouds. Once well above the bomber, he commenced a steep nose-diving attack from the rear quarter. As he was closing fast into firing range his engine started to fail. His excess speed from the dive allowed him to continue to close the distance and open fire. He hit the bomber and its undercarriage came down. Despite his engine failing and smoke filling the cockpit, Tom attacked the German bomber twice more before watching it crash into the sea. This would be the third bomber he had taken down in two consecutive nights. Too low to bail out by the time his engine failed, Tom noted the direction of the waves and approached parallel to them. He made a masterful landing on the water, but the gunsight hit his face on impact, breaking his jaw and knocking out his two front teeth out. With his CO2 bottle to inflate the dingy busted, he had to hand pump his safety raft from the wing of the aircraft before it sank. Tom was rescued the next day afloat in the North Sea by the Navy's HMS Ludlow. Wing Commander H Eeles, commented: “I consider this to be a classic example of how a first-class fighter pilot can attack an enemy while his engine is failing, shoot it down, force land on the sea, and get away with it” [2]. Tom was awarded a Bar to his DFC for his exceptional skill.
For a period, Tom secretly worked on an air-to-ground fighter control system with Major John Profumo. In four weeks, they developed a VHF receiver and transmitter, that allowed communication between fighter planes and frontline ground troops. It would be carried by frontline soldiers to call for air support when they were held up by German tanks, pill boxes and machine gun posts. This would be his final task before moving on to become a fighter controller at Fighter Command.
In September 1942, Tom’s success led him to become the leader of Ibsley Wing. This was the largest wing in fighter command where he had eight squadrons under him. As Wing Commander, Tom would fly leader for the European offensive against the German Airforce in his new Spitfire Supermarine. It was his duty to lead escorts for the Tactical bomber squadrons and fly long-range sweeps against the German Airforce over northern France. Captain Eric Mold wrote, “I had the good fortune to serve with a wing leader I have never forgotten, his name was Tom Dalton-Morgan.
Tom was the real top gun. When he entered a room, you could feel his presence. You did not have to see or hear him to know he was there. He had an awesome charisma and some sort of special aura seemed to surround him. If he said we are going to fly through that mountain and come out the other side, I think I would go with him. That was the kind of leadership Tom exuded. He was the epitome of leadership” [3].
Tom’s biggest promotion came in 1944 when he was appointed Group Captain of Operations of the 2nd Tactical Air Force. He was given the monumental task of planning the fighter and ground attack operations in support of the campaign on D-Day. The largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. After the successful Normandy landing, Tom would advance across Europe with the Second Tactical Airforce Group. He would go on to commandeer Nazi airfields in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Tom flew every time he could until the Nazi’s were defeated in 1945. Air Marshall Sir Fred Rosier commented, “It would be impossible to overstate Tom Dalton-Morgan’s importance and influence on the conduct of fighter operations for and beyond D-Day” [4].
Sadly, just before the end of the war, Tom learned his beloved younger brother John, had been shot down and killed. His brother John had originally followed him into the RAF. This loss deeply effected Tom. With a scarred face and a heavy heart, Tom finished the war with 22 enemy aircraft confirmed destroyed. He was decorated with DSO, OBE, DFC, Bar, Battle of Britain Star, France & Germany Star, British War Medal, American Bronze Star, Croix de Guerre Belgium and War Cross Norway.
Now there are plenty of accounts of Tom’s war history, but strangely, a lot is missing from his past. Tom was an extremely modest and unassuming man. Clive Willians who authored his biography Tommy Leader, often thought getting information out of Tom was like extracting teeth. He considered him the most private person he’d ever met. However, as time has gone on after Tom passed away in 2004, it was discovered that he had an even more fascinating history, much of which he never spoke. After Tom passed away, US Airforce records later revealed that during the war, Tom had been the first British officer to be recruited as a secret ‘Ghost’ pilot in the US 8th Air Force. This meant he flew in the USAF under the aliases of US pilots that had been killed in action [5].
Commander Mark Barmby of the US 8th Air Force stated, “The truth about Dalton-Morgan's time with 8th Air Force is the subject of continuing research; at the time, the unofficial nature of his position meant he never claimed his victories. The known facts are that he flew 70 fighter sorties in Eighth's 4th Fighter Group Mustangs escorting 8th Air Force bombers deep into German airspace; he was officially awarded the Bronze Star but also unofficially received the Silver Star and the American DFC from US President Harry Truman. The evidence of his flying logbook suggests that Dalton-Morgan may well have at least doubled his number of kills with the 8th Air Force” [6]. As Tom was already an Ace by the end of the war, with 22 enemy aircraft confirmed destroyed. If he did more than double his number of kills with the 8th Air Force, this means that he would have shot down the most enemy aircraft for the Western allied forces in World War Two, surpassing the great Johnnie Johnson. Being the humble man he was, he sought no acknowledgment for his deeds. Or was there another reason for the secrecy.
From Battlefield to Woomera: A Mysterious Career Change
Knowing how much had already been uncovered about Tom’s past and what else could be missing, I searched the Australian national archives for his Woomera records. Oddly enough I couldn’t find much other than a single report file from his time at Woomera. When I requested the file, it said it was not available for public access. So I called the National Archives and spoke with a woman about my request. She tried to access the file for me, as it was showing as available on their end, but when she did, there was nothing there. She said she had never seen this before and it looked like the Australian Defence Department had released the file, then taken it back. She recommended I get in touch with the Australian Department of Defence and the UK Ministry of Defence. So I submitted a personal information and freedom of information request for Tom’s records. I went back and forth with them for months providing endless documentation. While the UK Ministry of Defence eventually provided Tom’s service records from the RAF, they covered only until 1952. They said they had no records from his 27 years at Woomera. The Australian Defence Department also came back and said no records on Tom could be located. How could no records be found after he managed Woomera for 27 years?
Frustrated, I decided to do a deep dive on my own for more information about Tom. After some digging, strangely, I came across a testimony of his from the late 1950’s. The testimony, as bizarre as it sounds, was a UFO encounter at Woomera rocket range in 1959 [7]. It was corroborated by six range employees during the launch of a Black Night Rocket. This testimony of Tom’s was published in 1996 by a renowned researcher and scientist Bill Chalker. In 1982, Bill Chalker was the first civilian researcher to gain direct access to the previously classified RAAF UFO files.
He did this during several visits to the headquarters of the directorate of Australian Air Force Intelligence. I reached out to Bill by phone, who was a little wary of who I was at first, rightly so, but eventually came around. Bill informed me that he had gotten Tom’s Woomera UFO Testimony from Ken Llewelyn, who was a former RAAF senior public relations officer. I tried multiple ways to contact Ken Llewelyn but was unsuccessful. Thankfully, with a bit of luck, I discovered Tom had also handwritten this UFO testimony for Clive Williams, who authored his biography. I got a copy of it, and this is the official testimony.
“One night at Woomera when we were setting up to launch a Black Knight vehicle there was a most unusual incident. I was in the Control Room talking to Alan Mole who was setting up for the countdown to launch. A call came for me over the intercom from Percy Hawkins, our Recovery Officer, who was down range near the expected impact areas of the Black Knight and launch vehicles. He reported a very bright light that was heading towards the Range head. I stepped out onto the balcony of the Test Control building followed by Alan Mole and others. Sure enough we soon picked up a very bright light heading at high speed towards the Rangehead. It appeared to be at about 5,000 ft. As it orbited around us, we could see what appeared to be a circular outline of the vehicle. A cabin protruded from the top of the vehicle, it was brightly lit and showed up the circular outline of the vehicle. As it passed behind us, it accelerated and climbed away almost vertically to the east and disappeared. No sound came from it.
The apparent circular shape of the vehicle, its speed, rate and angle of climb were beyond that of any known aircraft of the time.
Our Rangehead radar failed to pick it up. I reported the incident immediately to RAAF HQ in Canberra, to RAAF Base Edinburgh and to Defence Research Establishments. It was seen by our Recovery Team down range and by at least six of us at the Rangehead. I would say that it was one of the three percent of such sightings that could not be easily explained away” [8].
Tom, at that time, was at the Principal Officer in charge of range operations at Woomera. The most senior position on the rocket launch site. He was legitimately the man who made the call whether the red button was pushed or not. Now high security had already surrounded the firing of the Black Night rocket, because it was specifically designed to test the fusing system for a nuclear warhead. In the late 1950s, the West was extremely paranoid about Russian activities involving their advancement in missile and aircraft technology. So you can imagine how serious a UFO over a nuclear rocket test would have been, given the circumstances. Regarding his testimony, you could not get a more credible witness. Tom did not get given the responsibility of managing Britain’s nuclear rocket tests for no reason. He was a deeply respected aeronautical engineer, fighter pilot ace and Intelligence operations officer. Tom had told Geoff Pittman, a Woomera engineer, that he estimated the UFO speed at far greater than Mach 2 [9]. That’s far faster than 1200mph or 2000kph back in 1959. That was well beyond the capability of any known aircraft in the 1950s. While during all those unbelievable UFO manoeuvres seen at high speed, there was also no noise or sign of jet exhaust. Anything moving that fast produces a loud sonic boom. This testimony and report was corroborated by six others, including Alan Mole and Lt. Commander Percy Hawkins. So what was it that they saw? Well, a major breadcrumb lay in Tom’s testimony.
To see what else I could find out about Tom, Bill Chalker generously put me in touch with an archival researcher whom he knew in England called Dr David Clarke. In 2001, David Clarke launched campaign requests that led to the UK Ministry of Defence releasing some of their UFO files. This included the file on the famous 1980 Rendlesham UFO forest incident. To my surprise, David Clarke told me via email that he had interviewed my grandfather, Tom Dalton-Morgan, on the 4th of November 2002. In that interview Tom recounted his Woomera UFO testimony, but then also confirmed something else. Tom stated to David that he had served on a secret joint USAF/RAF committee that investigated UFOs in the late 1940s! This was a decade before his Woomera UFO encounter. Tom had refused to name the committee to David and why he was on it. But stated that all the sightings they were asked to examine were resolved except 3%, which were unknown. This would explain why Tom referenced the 3% UFO statistic in his 1959 Woomera testimony.
David said he had not been able to find any trace of the committee Tom was on, but was not surprised, as virtually all the Ministry of Defence files on UFOs from 1947-61, were supposedly destroyed.
If you knew my grandfather, you would understand how shocking this is. Everyone who knew Tom would tell you he was the most matter of fact person you could meet. He didn’t speak often, but when he did, he meant what he said. Tom passed away never telling any of the family this history. I couldn’t help but wonder why. So I kept digging.
Fighter pilots during World War Two were the first to encounter what would become known as Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters were mysterious aerial phenomena or UFOs seen in the skies over Europe and the pacific. RAF pilots first recorded being followed eerie balls of light and unidentified aircraft in the early 1940s. These Foo Fighters toyed with allied and axis pilots, performing incredible manoeuvres at high speed. Airman reported that the objects flew in formation and appeared as if they were under intelligent control. Fearing it could be an unknown enemy weapon, the air force took these reports seriously. However, investigation would soon prove that both sides were reporting similar sightings, and no explanation could account for these strange phenomena [10]. It was during this period that Tom first heard and read the reports about Foo Fighters. As to whether he saw them himself during World War Two, we do not know. But given he was a renowned night fighter, who had flown hundreds of sorties where these Foo fighters were seen, it’s possible this is where it all begun.
Now after World War Two is actually where Tom’s history became top secret. After the war, following his time as a ‘Ghost’ pilot for the USAF, Tom remained stationed in Germany with the 2nd Tactical Air Force. His duties as part of the British Occupational forces in Germany are difficult to track down until 1946. From his RAF records and biography, we know that in 1946, Tom was sent to RAF Staff College and the Imperial Defence College. During this period, he was formally groomed for senior intelligence duties. This is because in 1948, Tom was suddenly posted to a special duties branch in the Air Ministry Unit. In this special unit under Air Chief Marshall Robb, Tom participated in the formation and planning of the Western Union Defence Organisation (WUDO). While that name might not now ring a bell, the Western Union Defence Organisation would later become known as…NATO. He left WUDO at the end of 1948, but we have no idea of his movements after that until 1951. That’s more than two whole years that are unaccounted for in this Special Air Ministry branch. Now that period lines up with Tom’s statement, that sometime in the late 1940s, is when he investigated UFOs on a secret joint USAF/RAF committee.
1948 was also the year the US Airforce launched an investigation into UFOs called Project Sign. It was reported by Project Blue Book Airforce Captain Edward J Ruppelt that, “Toward the end of November 1948 a wire came into Project Sign from Germany. It was the first report where a UFO was seen and simultaneously picked up on radar. This type of report, the first of many to come, is one of the better types of UFO reports” [11]. November 1948 was the month Tom was stationed in mainland Europe at Fontainebleau with the WUDO. At the request of the Americans, Tom was drawing up air defence plans for Western Europe. He had access to a range of sensitive air intelligence. This included radar data and incident logs. With the cold war in full flight, anything flagged as an unknown at that time was a potential Soviet threat. So UFO reports from Europe would have come across Tom’s desk as part of the WUDO defence scope. Now strangely, Tom leaves the WUDO at the end of 1948, “but did not attend its presentation” [12]. He joins a mysterious Air Ministry Unit on his record labelled as ‘Miscellaneous 460’. Working with the National Archives, I have been unable to determine what that allocation is. Was ‘Miscellaneous 460’ the joint committee that investigated UFOs?
The UFO radar report from Germany in November 1948, or a report like it, may have been catalyst for the US Airforce expanding their investigations into Europe with the RAF.
Following wartime cooperation, Western Germany was already shared under British and American Occupation. The Berlin Blockade in 1948 was driving the USAF and the RAF closer together. Joint intelligence had become critical to monitor Soviet controlled East Germany. If the USAF was going to collaborate with the British on UFOs, they would have wanted men they could trust on a top-secret subject. Tom was that man. Tom had run joint covert missions with the USAF in the war and sworn to secrecy as a ghost pilot for the US 8th Air Force. He had credibility. He was also already cleared for accessing classified air intelligence. Throw in the fact that Tom was an aeronautical engineer, fighter pilot ace and Intelligence operations officer, and you have a strong candidate technically to assess UFOs.
After Tom left the Special Air Ministry Unit in 1951, he was given command of NATO West German Airforce base RAF Gütersloh. This was at the peak of the cold war. Gütersloh was the closest RAF airfield to the border of Russian occupied East Germany. Now because of its proximity, Gütersloh was considered a red-hot spot for conducting Soviet reconnaissance. But coincidently, it was also a UFO hot spot. Fascinatingly, the same year Tom took command of Gütersloh in 1951, Gordon Cooper, one of America’s first and most famous astronauts, testified to chasing UFOs over West Germany with the USAF. He gave this testimony to the United Nations in 1978. He stated over two days of observation; they witnessed multiple metallic flying saucers in fighter formation. The UFOs could rapidly displace themselves horizontally, instantaneously accelerate and fly at unreachable altitudes. Flying from east to west, the allies did not know whether these UFOs were a new Russian prototype or not [13].
The threat of Russia at that time was very much tied to UFO secrecy. This is because the West was terrified Russia would take advantage of UFOs being openly accepted. UFOs were documented by both sides intruding on restricted airspace. There are numerous reports to show it. Even though UFOs were being secretly studied by the Airforce, because they were generally not considered a threat, the defence policy was to ignore them. This led to the fear that the Soviets would intentionally disguise a nuclear bomber or missile as a UFO, which could lead to a nuclear strike. So any information regarding UFOs was suppressed, classified and publicly debunked. Gütersloh was the front line for that activity. At Gütersloh, Tom flew Vampire Jets for NATO Air Command. Large NATO military exercises took place there and Wunstorf, where Tom had command of 1000 German prisoners of war. We don’t really know much other than that.
Here is where things get interesting. In 1952, Tom abruptly resigns from the RAF as Group Captain in Germany, right when he was on a course to become the Chief of Air Staff. The cover story reported in the newspapers, was that he was retiring from the RAF to become a logging manager in Australia. This was after controversial convictions of bigamy, of which he was discharged [14]. However, all was not as it appeared. Strangely, Tom’s departure to Australia had been pre-arranged by the British Government. While Tom did depart to Australia to briefly stay with Sir Robert Cotton’s family, who did run a logging business. It was all a facade. In reality, he waiting to be secretly posted to the Joint British-Australian Weapons Project in South Australia. There he would join a military contractor called the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera Rocket Range.
It is from here on that I can’t obtain any of his personnel records, even though it’s confirmed he was the principal officer in charge at Woomera. What’s even more bizarre is that there is 596-page government report on Woomera by the Defence Department. Fire Across the Desert covers the period 1946-1980. Tom is not mentioned once. That’s after working there for 27 years as Principal Officer of the range and later Principal Scientific Officer of Weapons Research Establishment. Every single person he works with is mentioned. Even people who reported to him. Now we know he worked there and was significant figure. There are photos, books and even a cartoon that shows his face, name and role at Woomera [15]. So why was he so anonymous?
Air Commodore P M Brothers wrote, “Tom Dalton-Morgan is a name to conjure with. Ace fighter pilot, Wing Leader, brilliant planner and staff officer. Widely known and respected throughout the Royal Air Force before and during WWII and subsequently in the high-level civilian posts he occupied. A man whom I believed would rise to become the Chief of Air Staff. I followed his career with interest and noted that his movements from job to job invariably involved more responsibilities and importance. An upwards path as I expected, finishing in Germany. I lost all contact with him and was surprised to find out that he left the service and emigrated to Australia. Later in the course of my duties, I made an enquiry about the Woomera Rocket Range and was told ‘Tom Dalton-Morgan runs that organisation. Only he can help you” [16].
Determined to get to the truth I eventually found a declassified secret 1957 Weapons Research Establishment report. It was written by Tom at Woomera and was in the National Archives. The file covered his trip to scientific and military establishments in the UK regarding secret weapons tests at Woomera. He had visited the Ministry of Supply HQ, Avro and the Royal Aircraft Establishment. The report included sensitive information from nuclear missiles, such as the Blue Steel. And advanced strategic bombers like the Avro Vulcan to deliver them and unmanned drones in the Jindivik [17]. This confirmed Tom was handling Britain’s Nuclear Weapons program at Woomera, and that he was operating under atomic secrecy protocols. However, all that technology is now obsolete, so there should be nothing stopping Tom’s record from being released.
Over his 27 years at Woomera, Tom would manage hundreds of British, Australian and American rocket tests. Some of these rockets were fired into outer space as part of the space program. During the cold war, Woomera had the second highest amount of rocket launches in the world, only after NASA’s facilities at Cape Canaveral. Others were classified military missile and aircraft trials. Being the highest calibre pilot around, some of these tests gave Tom an opportunity to fly. With top secret clearance Tom travelled to the most restricted ranges in the UK, USA and France. His strong relationship with the US also saw him spend time at the White Sands Missile Range, where the Trinity test was previously conducted. In his biography, Tom mentions that at the White Sands range, he negotiated experimental US projects to be brought to Woomera. Tom doesn’t mention what they were, but “thereafter there was nearly always a US project at Woomera” [18]. Yet despite all this, Woomera also tells another story.
Nuclear Facilities and UFO Phenomena
Intriguingly, Woomera was saturated with UFO sightings. We have the declassified military records to prove it. Most were reported by Weapons Research Establishment employees, the organisation that Tom went to work for. In fact, UFO sightings were so common, that a group based at Woomera was set up called the Scientific Technical and Astronomical Research Society. This group of scientists collected UFO reports from the Woomera rocket range. The Royal Australian Air Force also provided questionnaires to members there who reported seeing a UFO [19].
While Tom was at Woomera, he would participate in Britain’s Atomic Bomb Tests at Maralinga. The atomic tests there were known to attract UFO activity. It’s no secret that UFOs started popping up and monitoring nuclear sites after we split the atom. Thanks to some astonishing work by researcher Bill Chalker, he discovered the Chief Medical Physics Officer at Maralinga, was a physicist called Harry Turner. Bill Chalker learned that Harry Turner had secretly investigated UFOs during his time at the Woomera Prohibited area from 1956-1964. Tom and Harry Turner worked together during the atomic tests at Maralinga. Why this is so significant is that declassified records showed that Turner was later recruited by the Joint Intelligence Bureau, which was the Australian equivalent of the CIA. As head of the nuclear intelligence department for JIO, he spent some 80% of his time investigating UFOs [20]. Was it just a coincidence that Tom and Harry Turner, who were there working together at Maralinga, which was known to attract UFOs, both just happened to have a history of investigating UFOs for intelligence?
Turner even recommended creating a rapid Australian UFO intervention team. He proposed the team investigate cases where physical evidence had been left by UFOs. The Australian Directorate of Air Force Intelligence actually hired Turner to do a classified review of UFO reports. This was because the RAAF had no answers for all the public UFO sightings. Turner’s report concluded that
“the evidence presented by the RAAF tends to support the conclusion… that certain strange craft have been observed to behave in a manner suggestive of non-human origin” [21].
His report was based on solid data and witness evidence collected by the RAAF.
Colonel Richard Durance was the range superintendent of Woomera and Maralinga with Tom, from 1956-1962. Durance had originally been trained as the Australian Army attaché for the United States in Washington DC. Durance told Harry Turner, who sat across from him at Maralinga, that he was in the DC radar room during both weekends of the famous 1952 Washington DC UFO sightings. Durance had been there with high level contacts and was allowed to stay in the private room. Durance revealed he was absolutely convinced that the UFOs seen by thousands of people and tracked on multiple radars were not on our side. That they were beyond known defence capabilities [22]. Tom and Richard Durance ran Woomera side by side. Not only did they both have a strong connection to the USAF, but both were briefed on UFOs at a time when Woomera was inundated with UFO sightings. Another coincidence?
Well things get stranger. A first hand account of a UFO crash retrieval at Woomera was related to researcher Timothy Good in 1992 by a witness who has requested anonymity. The witness was employed as radio technician at Woomera for the Weapons Research Establishment from 1956-1960. The witness during that time was assigned to the Black Knight rocket in 1959. The same organisation, rocket and year, Tom was Principal Officer of the Black Knight tests and had his own UFO sighting. While working at Woomera in 1959, the witness revealed an object was recovered on the Woomera range. It was alleged to have been spotted outside the trials zone by a helicopter involved in a search for a missing child. Through my research, I discovered on January 30th, 1959, a helicopter was in fact dispatched from Woomera Range, to search for a missing boy, Nicholas Bannon, near Wilpena Pound [23]. The recovered object was eventually brought to the workshop where the witness was employed at Woomera, because of its presumed origin. “It was a sphere about 2 feet 9 inches in diameter. Its colour was a mid-grey metallic, somewhat darkened” [24]. It was very light. He said it was disproportionately light and easily lifted by one person with one hand. The initial assumption was that it was part of the Black Knight, for that was the only missile there that could have contained anything of that size.
After being disclaimed by Black Knight experts, it was then assumed to be Russian or American. It was alleged when the engineers examined it, they soon realised that the technology required to produce the object did not exist. Hard tools could not mark it. They heated it with an oxy torch and could put a hand on it the second the torch was removed. The witness did it several times. They could not get it anywhere near oxidising heat. The object was a perfect sphere. Anyway they measured, it appeared as one impenetrable piece. After seeking advice from on high, “the object was removed by the range security staff, along with an American observer, who was never seemingly employed on the actual trials” [25]. The witness was told the Americans had claimed the object as part of their space debris. That it had been transported by them to the United States - to Wright Patterson AFB. The witness stated, “perhaps this is foolish, but for many years now I have believed that what we held in those several days was not merely space debris, was perhaps not even some material left by a UFO. But that it was perhaps some form of UFO itself” [26].
If this account is true, what are the chances this object turned up under Tom’s watch. The same year, location, contractor and rocket test, that Tom oversaw. Now we know Tom investigated UFOs for Air Force intelligence and even had his own UFO sighting at Woomera. Again, if this testimony is true, Tom may have known more about this object, and it going to Wright Patterson USAF base.
After all, Tom had high standing with the USAF, after running joint operations with them in WWII and the cold war. In fact, Tom’s role as a ‘Ghost’ pilot created a RAF/USAF swap program that continues today. While few men in charge of the range had the clearance and experience of investigating UFOs with the USAF.
A Legacy of Secrets and Unanswered Questions
Wherever Tom went, UFOs followed. From Foo Fighters in WWII to flying saucers at Woomera. I believe Tom knew a hell of a lot more about UFOs then he was ever allowed to say. But like so many before, he went to the stars with his secrets. So who was Tom Dalton-Morgan really and where are his records after 1952?
I was close with my grandfather. He passed rugby balls with me, told me stories of war and taught me manners. I chose the music for his funeral. I feel obligated to share his story and pursue the truth. This was a man who lived to fly. He flew for tens of thousands of hours in more than 50 different aircraft across his career. He was a man who was entrusted with some of the most sensitive military secrets of his time. Some we are still discovering. From being a WWII fighter pilot Ace, a ‘Ghost’ pilot in the USAF, to helping create the precursor to NATO. He investigated UFOs on a secret joint committee and managed the Woomera Rocket Range. This was not a person’s word you would take lightly. Especially when it came to anything to do with flying. With that in mind, if Tom believed the UFO he witnessed wasn’t ours, who or what was it, I intend to find out.
