The truth is out there, Donald

The administration framed this as "an historic transparency effort", but officials and experts note the files offer no conclusive evidence of alien life or confirmed alien technology, and many unresolved cases are simply due to "incomplete data".

UFO sightings occurred during World War 2 which is where the term "Foo Fighters" originated before it was purloined by a 90s alternative rock band formed by Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl.

On November 27 1944, a Bristol Beaufighter crew from the 415th squadron - consisting of pilot Edward Schlueter, radar operator Donald J. Meiers, and intelligence officer Fred Ringwald - was flying a night mission along the Rhine River near Strasbourg. While the Beaufighter was structurally designed for a standard crew of two, this particular night-interception mission carried an extra person to monitor tactical operations.

The crew spotted about 10 glowing, orange fireballs moving at extreme speeds off their left wing. The objects could not be tracked on airborne radar or by ground control. When the pilot turned toward the lights, they vanished and reappeared further away. Meiers coined the term Foo Fighters from a futuristic comic strip back in the day and the term stuck. Scientists, military analysts, and postwar investigators, including the Robertson Panel, suggested that the mysterious 1944 "foo fighter" sightings could be electrostatic phenomena similar to St. Elmo's fire, ball lightning, or light reflecting off ice crystals. However, Allied pilots strongly rejected this theory.

Well, with a limitless universe I don't find it hard to believe that somewhere out there, maybe there could be life forms more advanced and certainly more intelligent than ours. I can imagine them shaking their heads and doing their version of a 'Kamala cackle' at our adherence to beliefs including limiting climate variance to within a couple of degrees over the next century by spending multiple $trillions on unreliable, expensive and short-life "green energy" while we have boundless quantities of real, reliable, cheap energy beneath of feet.

Project Blue Book in the US investigated about 13,000 cases from 1959 to 1962, with more than 700 remaining unexplained, and it formed the basis of an excellent TV series on SBS several years ago.

Prominent astronomer, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, served as the project's scientific advisor. Originally a staunch sceptic hired to easily explain away sightings, he eventually transitioned into a firm believer in the need for serious, systematic study of UFOs. But its investigations were limited to the US and it didn't probe Australia's largest known UFO sighting at two Melbourne schools.

The 60th anniversary of this event was recently covered by media outlets including the ABC.

On April 6, 1966, more than 200 students and staff at Westall High School and the adjacent primary school in Melbourne reported seeing multiple metallic, disc-shaped objects in broad daylight.

The incident has since become a major topic in Melbourne's south-east, prompting ongoing searches for an official explanation. Don't hold your breath …

Witnesses described the object as a large, circular, silvery craft that moved at incredible speeds. Some students and staff reported seeing up to three objects, and alleged that government officials intimidated them into keeping silent while they confiscated photographs.

One can only wonder why, except it seems to parallel the treatment of some sightings covered by Project Blue Book and attempts by the authorities to explain them away as natural phenomena.

Cue the X Files theme. The truth is out there, Scully and Donald!