Calvine Investigation Update
An unidentified Harrier GR.9 flying below Paper Hill near Moffat in the Scottish Borders, June 2010. Large areas of Scotland have been used as training areas by the Royal Air Force for many years, and still are today – although the numbers of aircraft using these locations nowadays is well down on what could be seen in the 1980s and 1990s. The presence of a Harrier over the Calvine area is therefore not unusual, however one (or two) being there on a Saturday even is. The location seen here falls inside Low Flying Area 16 (the Scottish Borders). Photo taken by the author.
FOLLOWING A RECENT visit to The National Archives in Kew Gardens, London, I thought it would be good to let people know what I found in relation to the ongoing investigation into the 1990 Calvine case. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it concerns a diamond-shaped object which was alleged to have hovered near a hill close to the village of Calvine, some 35 miles north-west of Perth in central Scotland, at around 9pm on the evening of 4th August 1990. According to the two witnesses, the object suddenly shot upwards at high speed and disappeared. Six photographs were taken and very recently, one of the images was located through exhaustive and diligent detective work by my UAPMediaUK colleague, Dr. David Clarke, reader and lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. Another colleague, Vinnie Adams, assisted David in obtaining the image from former Royal Air Force (RAF) Press Officer Craig Lindsay. For more details on the background to the case, click here.
When the photograph was revealed, there was some discussion on social media as to whether the jet shown in the image was actually a Harrier, as had been originally asserted in the past by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) investigation. The MOD’s conclusion appeared in a loose minute dated 14th September 1990:
“The negatives have been considered by the relevant staffs 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.”
Privately-owned Hawker Hunter F.6 G-PSST “Miss Demeanour” is pictured here flying low-level circuits around Traprain Law, East Lothian, whilst the pilot waited for his display “slot” at the East Fortune Airshow back in the mid-2000s. Photo taken by the author.
Despite this, suggestions were made by various people on social media that the aircraft was a Hawker Hunter, a McDonnell-Douglas Phantom or even a Dassault-Breguet (now Dassault-Dornier) Alpha Jet. All three types certainly existed in August 1990 and were in service with one or more NATO air arms. The venerable Hunter was still used in a training role by the Royal Navy and a few more examples saw service in trials units. In terms of Scottish-based aircraft, No. 237 Operational Conversion Unit, which as its name implies, was tasked with converting pilots from one type to another. In August 1990 it was based at Lossiemouth on the Moray Firth and converted crews to the Blackburn Buccaneer, naval aircraft which had long been withdrawn from Royal Navy service but soldiered on with the RAF’s No.12 and No.208 Squadrons in the maritime attack role. The two squadrons and the OCU were at Lossie when the Calvine incident took place, but only the OCU operated the Hunter – a mixture of T.7 and T.8 two-seat trainers.
Whilst at Kew, I checked the No.237 OCU Operations Record Book (ORB) for any hint that any of its aircraft may have been operating on 4th August 1990. Hunter XL575 was flown to the USAF base at Alconbury, Cambridgeshire on the 10th for that weekend’s airshow and to Landivisiau in France on the 22nd. The same jet also arrived at Laarbruch in Germany for a squadron celebration flypast but that was on the 31st. Only four Hunters were available for operations during the month of August 1990 although the average that were serviceable was three. More pertinent data may be the reference to two Operational Low Flying (OLF) sorties which “were undertaken in preparation for Exercise RED FLAG 91/1”, but further OLF training was scrubbed when the exercise itself was cancelled. Unfortunately, no further details regarding dates or times for these two OLF sorties are included in the ORB. One may assume that they were carried out in Low Flying Area 14 (LFA 14), which covers all of Scotland north of the Central Belt, but it is also likely that any OLF was conducted within the Tactical Training Area (TTA) known as LFA 14(T), an area confined to the extreme north and west of Scotland where jets can get down to 100 feet above ground level when the TTA is open. Therefore, a very small chance that a pair of Hunters flew over Calvine on the evening of 4th August 1990 exists. However, based on the MOD’s photo-interpreters and my own examination of the photo, it would appear Harriers are the aircraft concerned.
A McDonnell-Douglas Phantom FG.1 from No.43 Squadron is captured here in flight with its refuelling probe extended during a training flight on 1st September 1980. Almost ten years later, the type had largely been retired from UK service and was only operated by a couple of front-line squadrons plus a conversion unit. It is considered somewhat unlikely that the MOD photo-interpreters would have mistaken one of these large, twin-engined two-seaters for a Harrier. Photo via US Department of Defense (public domain)
Phantoms could still be found as part of the UK’s front-line interceptor force in August 1990, with No.56 and No.74 Squadrons operating F-4J(UK)s from Wattisham in Suffolk. No.43 and No.111 at Leuchars in Fife, Scotland, had fully converted to the Tornado F.3 interceptor by the time of the Calvine incident (No.43 by July 1989 and January 1990 for No.111). No.23 Squadron at Leeming, North Yorkshire, another former Phantom operator, had moved over to Tornadoes by mid-1989. In addition, No.228 OCU flew Phantom FGR.2s from Leuchars from April 1987 to January 1991, as it was still needed to convert crews for the Wattisham jets. I have not yet checked this unit’s records – I intend to remedy this oversight (together with a look through No.56’s and No.74’s ORBs) on my next visit to Kew but do not expect to find anything significant in terms of a link with Calvine. It would be lovely to be proved wrong!
Dassault-Dornier Alpha Jet ZJ646 is seen here at the 2008 Royal International Air Tattoo held at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, wearing Qinetiq markings below the forward cockpit framing. Despite wearing RAF roundels and tail markings, it was not operated by that air force. Back in August 1990, the only Alpha Jets operated in Europe were found in Belgium, France or West Germany. Photo via Arpingstone (Creative Commons licence).
As for the Alpha Jet, it is extremely unlikely that one or two of these aircraft were operating over the Scottish Highlands in August 1990. At that time, the only air arms in Europe operating the type were the Luftwaffe, the Force Aérienne Belge and the Armee de l’Air. Alpha Jets have appeared in UK markings as Qinetiq operated a fleet of twelve aircraft for the Empire Test Pilots’ School at Boscombe Down from the late 1990s onwards, but this was well after the Calvine case occurred. The chances of a couple of Belgian, French or West German jet trainers operating at low level in conjunction with a mysterious object over the Scottish Highlands is rather remote.
Turning to the Harrier as the most likely candidate for the aircraft in the Calvine photograph, two further units required examination: No.233 OCU at Wittering in Cambridgeshire, plus the Strike/Attack Operational Evaluation Unit (SAOEU) which was housed at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire. The SAOEU borrowed Harriers from front-line squadrons for equipment and tactics trials as and when required. Again, a check through the ORBs for the two units in question returned no useful details. No.233 OCU certainly flew various marks of the Harrier at the time in question – both the earlier GR.3 and the larger, more “muscular” GR.5. The following entry appears in the ORB for August 1990 – written at the end of the month:
“So far, the Harrier Force has not been directly involved in the Gulf Crisis, however 233 OCU has been involved in work-up training for the F.3 Tornado Force and FAC training for the SAS as part of Operation Granby.”
Let’s unpack this for the benefit of those unaccustomed to the military parlance. “Work-up training” with the Tornado interceptors (which had replaced Phantoms as mentioned above) meant providing adversaries for air-to-air combat training sorties, through what was known as Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT). This involved interceptors being pitted against types with radically different performance and manoeuvrability. In 1981, Fleet Air Arm Sea Harrier pilots managed to score simulated hits on F-15 Eagles during DACT over the Mediterranean. No doubt the newer and faster Tornado F.3s were being trained to intercept low-flying, very agile Harriers. Would this training have occurred over LFA 14? Quite possibly, but it could also have happened over LFA 16 (the Scottish Borders) or LFA 7 (Wales) instead – or over the sea. As far as No.233 OCU were concerned, the work-up included low level Harrier formations in formations of anything from four to eight aircraft. The OCU worked with No.1 Squadron, which also flew Harriers, and used Zeus jamming pods with specially written programs for this training. However, the dates of these exercises is not known. Were Harriers from No.233 OCU flying over central Scotland at around 9pm on the evening of 4th August 1990? The records do not confirm that – but they don’t mention it specifically, either.
As far as Forward Air Controller (FAC) training was concerned, this may have been in support of SAS members describing and directing pilots to their targets, using various communication means and possibly portable laser designators that “painted” targets for smart weapons. If live practice bombs were used, then this training would only have occurred over certain areas such as the “Impact Areas” on either the Otterburn Training Area in Northumberland or the Spadeadam Electronic Training and Warfare Range in Cumbria. Live ordnance could also have been used over the Luce Bay Range near West Freugh or the Cape Wrath Ranges, neither of which are anywhere near Calvine. The ORB does not mention where this training took place.
Suggestions have also been made that the Harriers were simply transiting this part of Scotland either en route to or returning from participation at an airshow. I am not aware of any events north of the border that weekend – the major Scottish show on the calendar was always the Battle of Britain Air Show at Leuchars in mid-September each year. I even attended the 1990 event myself and there certainly were Harriers there. In fact, No.233 OCU has a list of the displays the unit attended in August 1990, the first being St. Mawgan in Cornwall on the 8th. Looking at visitors to the OCU that month which could have had some kind of connection to a mysterious object also comes up empty. A twenty-strong delegation from Budget Rent-a-Car turned up at Wittering on the 2nd for a visit, the company sponsoring the No.233 OCU display team and providing a car for their use. Also on the same day, twelve aircraft spotters from Tilbury Power turned up for a tour – something which would have hardly been allowed if any “sneaky-beaky” stuff had been going on!
This unidentified Harrier was engaged in trials with Brimstone missiles (seen under the outer wing sections) and was photographed running over Thirlmere in the Lake District at low level during the early 2000s. It was being operated on behalf of the SAOEU at the time. Photo by the author.
In terms of what the SAOEU was working on during July/August/September 1990, trials were conducted with drops of BL755 cluster bombs and HADES (an area denial version of the BL755 equipped with minelets) from Tornadoes at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and an inert HADES drop at West Freugh near Stranraer. Although the latter location is located in Scotland, it is some considerable distance from Calvine and the trials appear to have been conducted back in early or mid-July. Trials with Paveway laser-guided bombs were also underway – these weapons would of course be used to great effect during Operation Desert Storm the following year. None of these resemble the object seen over Calvine in any way. The SAOEU records contain no information on any operations in Scotland other than West Freugh during the summer of 1990, but there is no mention of any Harrier operations throughout the period.
32 years have elapsed since two witnesses saw a strange diamond-shaped object over the Scottish Highlands. Ruling things out may not sound like progress in the Calvine case but rest assured it is a vital step in narrowing down what possibilities remain. With the discovery and release of one of the six images taken back in August 1990, a huge step forward was taken. Everyone connected with this should be rightfully applauded. However, for every huge step, there are also plenty of little steps such as digging through official records. It might not seem like much, but it all adds up. In the end, we just need to be patient and work towards another breakthrough. The story of the Calvine incident has yet to be told in full.
