Officials were so alarmed by the object, which was captured on camera, that they broke with established procedures and referred the sighting to ministers.
Former Armed Forces head wanted probe into UFO sighting, newly released files show
The disclosure about the incident is contained in more than 1,000 pages of official documentation, detailing hundreds of UFO sightings between 1987 and 1993, which has been made available publicly at the National Archives in Kew for the first time today.
Their release comes at a time of increased reports of UFO activity in Britain.
Figures obtained by The Sunday Telegraph show that sightings for the first two months of 2009 have been higher than for any year for which records are publicly available, and are three times higher than the normal monthly average.
Most of the UFO "sightings" contained in the national archives were ultimately explained away. But the Scottish event still remains a mystery.
According to the files, the Ministry of Defence first became aware of the existence of the craft when the Daily Record newspaper presented it with six colour photographs of the object. The UFO seen by two men, one of whom captured it on camera, as it hovered in daylight near the A9, at Calvine, north of Pitlochry, on August 4, 1990.
The witnesses said it hovered for about 10 minutes – during which time military aircraft were also seen making a series of low-level passes – before moving upwards, out of sight, at great speed.
The files show that officials established from the photographs that the military craft were Harrier jets even though, intriguingly, none were operational in the area at the time.
An MoD minute prepared for the then Armed Forces Minister, Sir Archie Hamilton, and dated September 14, 1990 states: "Under Secretary of State (Armed Forces) may wish to be aware that the Scottish Daily Record may run a story regarding an alleged sighting of a UFO near Pitlochrie [sic] in early August. Such stories are not normally drawn to the attention of Ministers and the MoD press office invariably responds to questions along well-established lines emphasising our limited interest in the UFO phenomenon and explaining that we therefore do not have the resources to undertake any in-depth investigations into particular sightings.
"They [the photographs] show a large stationary, diamond-shaped object past which, it appears, a small jet aircraft is flying. The negatives have been considered by the relevant staff who have established that the jet aircraft is a Harrier (and also identified a barely visible second aircraft, again probably a Harrier) but have reached no definite conclusion regarding the large object."
2 comments:
Gday fellas... I am fresh here but I can not wait to start out having/getting several good discussions along with you all! I just figured i would introduce myself to you all so hello there!
so does anyone have a link for the photos then???
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