The Calvine UFO

The only extant original photograph of the Calvine UFO - courtesy of Craig Lindsay / Sheffield Hallam University

The Calvine UFO (aka ‘The Calvine Sighting’, ‘The Calvine Photograph’, ‘The Pitlochry Thing’, ‘The Perthshire UFO’ and other similar terms) is the reported sighting of an unidentified and unknown diamond shaped craft along with a military jet aircraft above the small hamlet of Calvine, in Perth and Kinross close to the A9 road, 10 miles to the North West of Pitlochry in the county of Perthshire in August 1990 (See - List of UK UFO Sightings).

The sighting was originally reported to the Daily Record, a Glasgow based tabloid newspaper, by two young men who claimed that while walking on the hills above Calvine on the 4th August 1990, they witnessed a mysterious, unknown diamond shaped craft hovering above the hillside.

They told how they quicky sought shelter under some nearby trees from where they watched the craft and managed to take 6 photographs while it hovered silently above the moorland in front of them and was circled by a jet fighter before silently ascending vertically and disappearing from their view.

They told their story to the Daily Record and handed over their prints and original negatives. These were later passed on to the U.K. Ministry of Defence (REF). The original negatives and prints disappeared, the story was never published by the Daily Record and the identity of the witnesses remains unknown to this day despite well publicised attempts to locate them by Dr David Clarke, his research team and with others.

In the years since the 1990, reports of the sighting and rumours of the photograph slowly emerged, and the case gained increasing public interest. Information from MoD insiders along with fragmentary documents released by the MoD at The National Archives in 2009 provided further insight and attracted increasing public interest. This ultimately led to the discovery of an original photographic image of the diamond shaped craft by folklorist and journalist Dr David Clarke that was published in the British based tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail on Saturday the 13th August 2022 and on the Mail Online the night before. leading to worldwide interest with many claiming this to be the ‘Best Ever UFO Photograph’ the ‘Worlds Clearest UFO Photograph’ and ‘The UK’s Biggest Alien Mystery.’

Historical Background

The existence of the Calvine photographs was first reported by former U.K. Ministry of Defence SEC(AS)2 desk officer Nick Pope in his 1996 book Open Skies, Closed Minds where Pope provides an overview of the UFO phenomenon based on his three-year tour of duty on the MOD ‘UFO Desk’ (1991-1994).

Here in two short paragraphs on pages 176-177 he outlines the key facts of the Calvine sighting describing the incident as 'one of the most intriguing in the Ministry of Defence’s files'

Pope joined Secretariat (Air Staff) know as Sec(AS)2 (the MoD’s office which delt with UFO sightings and other airborne incidents popularly known as ‘the UFO desk’) in the summer of 1991. This was a year after the Calvine incident which had been handled by his predecessor as desk officer, Owen Hartop, who has never spoken publicly about his involvement. Pope's brief account explains how two men out walking became aware of a low humming sound and "turned to see a large diamond shaped object which hovered for about ten minutes before flying off vertically at great speed… one of the men on the ground had a camera and sent the photographs he took to the ministry and the Scottish Daily Record".

During the sighting a jet, identified by the MoD as a Harrier, made several low-level passes "as if the pilot had seen the object as well and was homing in for a closer look". Pope explained that expert analysis undertaken by the MoD had concluded the photos were "not fakes" and the sighting was marked as "object unexplained, case closed, no further action". He also explained that there had been a poster-sized version of one of the original photographs on his office wall until it was removed by his Head of Division.

In April 2001 Pope was interviewed by journalist and UFO researcher Dr David Clarke and provided further details of the case which have been published by Clarke in various articles. In the interview Pope is quoted saying that MOD specialists “had assessed it as being a solid structured craft and not a hoax” and that it was “at least the size of a Hawk or a Harrier, certainly aircraft size, and some people had clearly started doing some intellectualisation about aerodynamics, propulsion, things like that and there was a perception in certain quarters that this was for real, that it was a good one…”

Release of MOD Files

Despite Nick Pope’s description of the Calvine sighting in Open Skies, Open Minds it attracted little public attention and remained largely unknown even within the UFO community until 2008 when the U.K. MoD’s ‘open government’ project saw the release of its archive of UFO reports and correspondence from the UK National Archives. Dr David Clarke, who had published numerous books and articles exploring UFO and UAP reports, was invited to supervise the release and publication of the MoD’s ‘UFO Files’ providing unparalleled access to this previously top-secret information.

Clarke went on to write a book entitled ‘The UFO Files’ exploring the UFO sightings documented in the MOD files which was published by the National Archive. The documents released included a number relating to the Calvine UFO which Clarke immediately began to publicise via his blog. The documents included a briefing on the photographs by MoD Secretariat Air Staff, dated September 1990 and a handwritten summary of the incident by a Sec(AS)2 officer, believed to be Owen Hartop. (TNA DEFE 24/1940/1 – page 113)

One of two poor quality photocopies of 'VuFoils' (images on transparent plastic) made from the Calvine UFO Photograph, released by the UK National Archives in 2009

In addition to these documents, two poor quality photocopies of cropped versions of one of the original Calvine photographs showing the diamond shaped UFO and a passing jet were released by the National Archives in March 2009. These photocopies often referred to as ‘VuFoils’ appeared in records assembled by DI55, a branch of the Directorate of Scientific and Technical Intelligence (DSTI) within the DIS that dealt with missiles and air defence. (DEFE 31/179/1 – pages 156-7).

Military officers from DI55 were responsible for the investigation of UFO reports that were forwarded by SecAS, the civilian branch of MoD that interacted with the public and Parliament. These files revealed the images were the subject of an investigation by DI55 and a RAF photo analyst agency. (DEFE 31/179/1 pages 156-7 and DEFE 31/180/1 pages 36-38 and pages 54-56 ).

2015 Channel 5 Documentary

The new information regarding the Calvine UFO released by the National Archives and the publicity brought to the case by David Clarke and Nick Pope led to increasing public interest in the case, especially within the U.K., and in 2015 the Calvine incident featured in the 6th Episode of Season One of the Channel 5 documentary series ‘Conspiracy’

The episode entitled ‘Alien Cover Up’ , featured interviews with journalist and UFO researcher Dr David Clarke, of Sheffield Hallam University, based on his role as the curator for a UK National Archives UFO project and his work in publicising the Calvine case.

Nick Pope also appeared and worked with a graphic artist to create a reconstruction of the Calvine photograph drawing upon his memory of the image and the photocopies released by the UK National Archives in 2009.

This image was subsequently republished in tabloid newspapers and online news feeds including HuffPost , and the The Sun amongst others.

Following the broadcast of the Channel 5 documentary Nick Pope has explained his role in the Calvine UFO story and possible links to the fabled AURORA project at UFO conferences and in numerous interviews about the subject.

Discovery of the Calvine Photograph

In 2018 Dr. David Clarke began an investigation of the Calvine UFO with a desire to locate the missing images and the photographer/s gaining publicity for his search through newspaper articles. He has explained that his renewed interest in the case was prompted by an interview with a Defence Intelligence Officer who claimed that the two witnesses had actually photographed a US black project platform that was still classified as Top Secret. This un-named source explained that the platform was flown from RAF Machrihanish on the Kintyre peninsula and that it had been escorted by UK and US aircraft. This source also claimed that the photographs had been shared with US intelligence and had been ‘cleverly’ kept out of the public domain.

Following this revelation Dr Clarke worked with a team of academic and independent researchers along with interested members of the public (including Matthew Illsley, Vinnie Adams, Giles Stevens and Andrew Robinson) to uncover further details of the Calvine Sighting publishing regular updates on the investigation via his online blog during 2020 and 2021.

In 2020 Straiph Wilson, a former technician at Glasgow University, and a keen UFOlogist and paranormal investigator, began a search for the Calvine witnesses publishing a request for help in The Courier (Dundee), a newspaper local to the sighting in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.

Clarke’s investigation ultimately led him to retired RAF Press Officer Craig Lindsay who explained how he had been contacted for comment in August 1990 by the Daily Record after the witnesses had first told reporters of their sighting.

Lindsay explained that The Daily Record had provided him with contact details for one for the witness and a print of one of the images. He then undertook a telephone interview with the witness and produced a short initial report which was faxed, along with the image, to the MoD in London. Across a number of interviews with Clarke, Lindsay revealed what the witness had told him and ultimately produced the original print, along with the envelope in which it had been sent to him by the Daily Record and the photocopies he had made of the it in order to fax it to the MoD in London, all of which he had safely kept in his possession for over 32 years. The print was donated by Lindsay to Sheffield Hallam University Special Collections where it now resides.

Former RAF Press Officer Craig Lindsay holds a first generation print of the Calvine UFO in May 2022 (Photograph © 2022 Dr David Clarke, used with permission)

As soon as Clarke returned from Scotland with the print, he handed it over to photographic specialist Andrew Robinson, who produced high resolution copies of the image, its envelope and the associated photocopies and undertook an analysis of these materials which resulted in a detailed report which has subsequently been updated and published in an extended format.

Using information from this report and the results of his team’s research Clarke then wrote an article finally revealing the Calvine UFO Photograph which was published by the MailOnline on the 12th August 2022 and in a double page spread in the Daily Mail the following day. with further details revealed via Clarke’s website. .

Following its publication in the Daily Mail and the release to the public of the high-resolution digital copies of the original B/W images produced by Clarke's colleague Robinson, the Calvine UFO quickly became one of the most talked about photographs in British UFO history, variously described as the ‘World’s Best UFO Picture’, , and the ‘World’s Clearest UFO’ , while the more sinister and conspiratorial aspects of the story, such as the mysterious disappearance of the two witnesses, has resulted in sensational stories in the tabloids.

On the 22nd August 2022 in response to the public interest in the photograph members of Clarke’s research team including freelance researcher Matthew Illsley; Calvine resident Giles Stevens; photographic expert Andrew Robinson; and Clarke himself discussed their research in an online Q&A hosted by Vinnie Adams of ‘The Disclosure Team’. revealing details of the discovery of the photograph, its analysis, and reflecting on the new information that this development provided.

The Calvine UFO is now celebrated in a digitally printed collectors model produced by UK based specialist UFO model maker ‘Cosmic Prints’ where it is available in three sizes (15cm, 19cm and 23cm) alongside models of craft associated with other famous UFO/UAP reports including Rendlesham Forest, ‘Tic Tac’ sightings and Bob Lazar and Travis Walton inspired models.