1990 UFO photographs buried again

British MOD buries UFO dossier for another 50 years    (at  https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/20...years/amp/ )

"Back in 1990, two British men were out for a hike in a remote area near Calvine, Scottland, when they stumbled into what would go on to be described as one of the most remarkable and well-documented UFO encounters on record. They observed a large, diamond-shaped flying saucer (for lack of a better term) hovering above them, just hanging there soundlessly in the sky. It remained there for approximately ten minutes and military fighter jets arrived and appeared to be circling the area before the craft suddenly shot up into the sky and out of sight. What made this encounter so truly remarkable was that the hikers didn’t just have “a story” to tell. One of them had a camera with him and he managed to take six, high-definition color pictures, capturing not only the unknown craft but the fighter jets as well.

The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) launched an investigation after the photos and the shocking story wound up on the front page of a Scottish newspaper. They eventually concluded that the original film had not been tampered with and the photos were real. But the results of their investigation were somehow sealed up, along with the pictures. They placed a 30-year hold on the files before they could be made available to the public. That period was set to expire on January 1st of 2021. But this week, the MoD extended the ban… for another fifty years. A lot of people want to know why."

I guess we don't deserve to know until the Ministry of Truth...er Defense decides we do...

More on the 1990 Scotland UFO photos.

From an interview with Nick Pope at https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/61...f-defence/ . 
(Nick Pope worked for the Ministry of Defence for 21 years. From 1991 to 1994 he ran their UFO project) :

"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.
...........................................
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."

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."

Not East, not West, but North. Maybe Santa at the north pole trying a new sleigh.

Tracking down and identifying the aircraft should have been easy. They appear to be RAF Harriers. Maintenance and flight records should have been able to identify and locate every UK based Harrier on the date in question. The failure of these attempts indicates some really deep forces operating in the MoD. 

Also, you would think that since they have limited air-to-air capability (kind of low and slow) there is no way Harriers would have been sent to intercept this craft.  It seems like they would have used Tornados for instance. However, it occurs to me that a VTOL Harrier would have been a perfect escort for an aerial craft of some kind hovering or slow flying.