Thread: RAF Lightning UFO Mystery 1970.

Originally Posted by pilot_roc

it was an interesting read, until i found out its been debunked.
captain Schaffner was lost during an excercise. Readhere and here

i'm new to the forums btw, helloooo

pr....some very good links....it answers my questions.

Welcome to AU...

Thanks for the replies and the links - even though the Ministry of Defence already claimed that the report on the crash was destroyed the BBC link does make some very good points and it looks like the pilot transcript was a hoax - here's what Nick Pope had to say about the case:

UFO expert Nick Pope spoke to the Leader this week
By Gemma Gadd.

Another section of the archives refers to an incident from 1970 in which US pilot captain William Schaffner from RAF Binbrook, died after supposedly being scrambled to intercept a UFO.
Newspapers revived the mystery in 1992 after an anonymous RAF 'source' claimed the pilot's aircraft crashed into the North Sea after a mid-air encounter with a bright conical object.

When the F6 plane was recovered from the water the cockpit was closed, but the pilot was not inside.
The mysterious circumstances of Schaffner's death fuelled speculation amongst ufologists the MOD was covering up an alien abduction.
A transcript purporting to be the pilot's last conversation with the RAF station was revealed by the anonymous 'source' appearing to confirm the UFO theory.

This has been revealed as a hoax as the newly released MOD files include the official transcript and the RAF accident report. This states Schaffner was involved in a training exercise that went wrong when he 'inadvertently flew his aircraft into the sea.'

Nick Pope said: "I was the person who investigated the allegations of a UFO connection when they first surfaced. I obtained the original report and satisfied myself that such allegations were false.

link

Cheers.