"The shell-shocked witnesses sent the photos to a Scottish newspaper and a journalist contacted the MoD press office, looking for a comment.
Somehow - perhaps using a D-Notice or perhaps using some real-life Men-in-Black trickery - someone at the MoD managed to extract all the photos and the negatives from the newspaper, who never got them back.
The MoD’s technical wizards leapt into action. The images were enlarged and analyzed, using the full resources and capabilities of intelligence community specialists. Even now, years after these events, I can’t discuss the details of this process, as so much of the information is top secret.
The analysis was nothing short of sensational. The photos hadn’t been faked. They showed a structured craft of unknown origin, unlike any conventional aircraft. There was no fuselage, no wings, no tail, no engines and no markings of any sort.
Because the photos had been taken in daylight with the surrounding countryside visible, MoD boffins could make some calculations about the mystery object’s size. It turned out to be nearly 100 feet in diameter.
An enlargement of the photos revealed two military jets in the background. It wasn’t clear if they were escorting the UFO, trying to intercept it, or whether their presence was coincidental and the pilots had been too far away to see it. My predecessor had undertaken the investigation and I was staggered to learn that it hadn’t proved possible to trace the aircraft.
This was unprecedented and suggested that someone inside the MoD had sabotaged the investigation and blocked the UFO project from getting to the truth.
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One time my boss and I walked over to another building in Whitehall. It was the headquarters of the Defence Intelligence Staff – not as well-known as MI5 or MI6, but part of the intelligence community. While the section where I worked had the policy lead for UFOs and handled the investigations, these were the ‘spooks’ who gave us scientific and technical advice.
My boss was a sceptic, but our military intelligence briefer that day wasn’t. He pulled out a copy of one of the Calvine photos from a folder. Most of the details of our conversation are classified and must remain secret. While I took early retirement from the MoD in 2006, the Official Secrets Act binds me for life. But I can reveal the sensational conclusion to our top secret briefing.
Summing up, the intelligence officer ran through the possibilities. Gesturing to the left with his finger, he said the object in the photograph wasn’t Russian. Jerking his hand to the right, he said it wasn’t American. He looked at us intently and said that only left one other possibility.
He pointed straight up. My boss and I couldn’t help looking up too. Then we looked at each other and then we looked back at the intelligence officer. His face was inscrutable. Nothing further was said and my boss and I walked back to our office in silence."
