Britain’s very own mini flying saucer has been found languishing in a museum archive for over a century.

Wreckage from the UK’s answer to Roswell, New Mexico, where a UFO is said to have crashed in June 1947, was discovered in a cigarette tin in London’s Science Museum. Dr David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University was giving a talk at the Museum on his work for The National Archives on the release of Ministry of Defence UFO files when one of its staff members tapped him on the shoulder. Dr Clarke was asked if he was aware that “bits of a flying saucer” had been kept in museum storage for over 60 years.

“I was absolutely amazed when later we opened the tin box and saw the wreckage. It was obvious these were the remains of the missing Silpho Saucer that some have claimed as Britain’s answer to the famous Roswell incident”, Dr Clarke told the Telegraph.

The ‘British Roswell’, was discovered on Silpho Moor near Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1957. Dubbed the ‘Silpho UFO’, the disc measured 45cm in diameter and weighed 15kg with hieroglyphics inscribed in its base. It was cut open to reveal a book of 17 thin copper sheets inscribed with further hieroglyphics.

When the remains of the aircraft were sent to London’s Natural History Museum experts concluded it was most likely a hoax and made from a domestic hot water cylinder in a back garage. Despite their assessment some, including Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding, clung to the belief that it was in fact an extra-terrestrial flying saucer.

Following Lord Dowding’s personal examination of the Silpho UFO in 1959 its location was lost. UFO enthusiasts claimed it was either deliberately destroyed or ended up on display in a local fish and chip shop. Only now with Dr Clarke’s talk has it been revealed that the remains were sent to the Science Museum in 1963 for examination by museum experts.

“It’s incredible to hear that pieces of this mystery object have been sitting in a museum archive for more than half a century”, Dr Clarke marvelled.