Did a Tornado Jet crash, killing the pilot or co-pilot while in pursuit of a UFO?

Investigator Max Burns speaks to local witnesses to find out what was happening over the Peaks that night.

The Peak District, Northern England

Emma Maidenhead witnessed a ufo over Dronfield on the evening of 24th March 1997 and rang me at 22.00

to report what she had seen. Emma lives in Dronfield and is part of my local skywatch team. Emma described how she had just seen a ufo fly over the top of her house, the ufo was 200 to 300ft across, triangular in shape and at a height of around 200ft.

It had pink/cerise type lights around what she described as the front and an almost blinding circular electric blue light underneath. Emma stated that "I could hear a sound similar to the noise an electrical substation makes but much louder, like wet power lines, a sort of humming."

She had the ufo in sight for approximately 15 seconds and was under the impression that it was losing height. One minute before the ufo appeared two jet fighters appeared, then twenty seconds after the ufo and twenty seconds later yet two more, the fighters were flying at high speed at the same height and in the same direction. She also stated that as the ufo crossed over the house it lit up the whole street, bright as day. She also felt quite ill for about half an hour after the incident. Emma also witnessed helicopters and light aircraft in the area, in her words "It was like an air show. I have never seen so much air traffic in the sky at the same time." The sighting occurred at 21.45.

Emma Maidenhead witnessed a triangle just like this one on the 24th March 1997.

Taken by a member of the public, this picture has had extensive analysis by experts and their conclusions were that it is a real picture and has not been tampered with. Desperate to get a closer look Emma came to my house and together we drove in the direction she saw the ufo heading. We cruised around the Pennines stopping and asking all and sundry who were out watching Hale Bopp if they had seen anything unusual. At about 23.45 we were stopped by a local policeman who clearly thought our behavior was slightly suspicious and he wanted to perform a routine vehicle check. The policeman who I now know to be PC Mick Eccleshare asked me what we were doing and I told him the truth, that we were out looking for a possible crashed UFO. Not expecting such a bizarre answer, PC Eccleshare was obviously taken aback, in fact in 20 years in the force he said he had never heard that reply and felt that during his career he had heard them all. I asked him if he had seen or heard of any helicopter activity in the area to which at first he said no, he had not heard anything, then once the vehicle check was completed and I was about to get back in the car he said, "I don't know if this is any good to you but there have been reports of a plane crash over the reservoirs and at least 200 people have called in to report it to various police stations in the area."

Grateful for the extra information Emma and I headed up to a vantage point above the Strines and Dale Dike reservoirs. From here we could clearly see a group of RAF Sea King helicopters working a search pattern using infrared cameras around the local area. The time was now 02.00 and we decided to call it a night.

UFO Tracked on Radar

The following day I was contacted by Mr. Rob Daniel's, whose family are currently still under the employ of the Royal Air Force. The son of a long time friend of Rob's parents and friend of Rob from before they started school together had received a telephone call from (alias) Dave who works as a radar operator in the Royal Signals at RAF Linton On Ouse. He told me that Dave had called him that morning and had told excitedly of how he had tracked a UFO on the radar screen at 21.55 for a ten minute period the night before (24th March). The UFO had apparently then shot off the screen.

I asked Rob to re-contact his friend in the hope that I could access copies of the radar tapes and/or the radar log or any other information regarding the tracking of the UFO on the 24th March. Unfortunately by then military staff must have been briefed about the delicacy of the situation as when pushed for more information, the radar operator stated to his friend of 16 years. "I am not allowed to discuss it if I do I will be in breach of my national security oath." Rob Daniel's was adamant that he had never seen his friend behave like this before and believed that his friend was genuinely scared about the consequences of talking to members of the public about the UFO being tracked on radar.

Update:

It has been claimed that the radar was not operating at RAF Linton On Ouse on the 24th March 1997.

However this information must be dis-information as the circumstances regarding how I obtained the news that the UFO was tracked on radar preclude the possibility of the radar operator fabricating this information.

This is due to the fact that there had been no media reporting of this incident apart from local radio in the Sheffield area and the radio signal from the local radio would not have reached as far a field as York. Also there had been no reporting on the local radio pertaining to any UFO reports at that time.

As RAF Linton On Ouse is at least seventy miles from the incident and the information came to me at 09.30 on the 25th March 1997, the chance of the radar operator guessing the precise area and the exact time of the thirteen ufo sightings, which also coincided with the military activity in the skies over the town of Dronfield, the city of Sheffield and the surrounding rural areas. I believe is a statistical improbability, as far as I am concerned the radar operator from the Royal Signals at Linton is not telling the truth as he could not have made up such a precise story on a wild guess.

(His identity is known to me but for obvious reasons is to be kept secret)

I then discovered that the military jets had been seen in the locality by two more witnesses Tony Megson and Paul Bradley. They had reported seeing two military jets flying at low altitude in the Shire Green area of Sheffield heading towards Dronfield at 21.45 on the 24th March. At the same time both sides of a local youth football team and their supporters, over 40 people in all, witnessed the jets flying over Dronfield. The jets could have covered the distance from Shire Green to Dronfield in less than sixty seconds. By using witness statements to determine the flight path of the jets it seems undeniable that they were following the trail of the UFO.

That same night the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh recorded two sonic booms or air explosions over the Sheffield area. The first was recorded at 21.52 over the Peak District area and the second was reported at 22.06. A full 14 minutes after the first. This I feel is vital to note considering that the authorities stated that the sonic boom was caused by a Bolide meteor. They do not mention the fact that there were two!

The speed and trajectory of the alleged Bolide meteor and the laws of physics discount their explanation that a Bolide meteor exploded in the atmosphere causing a sonic boom. Will the authorities now claim that the meteor as well as exploding twice, managed to hang around in the atmosphere for a full 14 minutes after exploding for the first time? Will they now claim that there were in fact two Bolide meteors? Who knows, being that the military at first have denied that they had any planes in the air never mind in the area. Was it just coincidence then that these two booms occur at the time the radar operator states that he tracked a UFO on radar - between, 21.55 to 22.05? Could the booms have been one of the Tornado jets exploding then crashing into one of the reservoirs? Was there a hot pursuit going on? Something very serious indeed must have occurred for the RAF to deny even having any planes over the area. RAF Conisby have now changed their original statement about not having planes in the air that night to: "We had some aircraft in the air but they were on maneuvers over the North Sea." Well, from the North Sea to the Pennines in a Tornado F3 Interceptor the journey would take only approximately 5 minutes, depending on their position over the sea at the time. I believe the jets were scrambled to intercept the Flying Triangle.

Update:

The RAF through the M.O.D through questions asked in the House of Commons by Helen Jackson MP have now changed their version of events again. They now claim that there was a covert low flying training mission over the Peaks on the 24th March 1997.

Update:

The M.O.D have once again changed their story regarding the 24th March, they now say that, as I reported, Tornado jets did leave RAF Conisby in Lincolnshire at 20.45 on the night of the 24th, the M.O.D have said that however they were not Tornado Interceptors, a squadron of which are based at Conisby but Strike Tornado’s which are based in Norfolk. The difference between these two types of plane is, the Tornado’s based at Conisby have an elongated nose section which contains excellent radar for low level interception. They also claim that there were N.A.T.O Tornado’s present as well but they do not specify which type. The M.O.D. have also added that Jaguar jets were present as well.

I believe that they have included the Jaguar jets into their statement because of there delta wing shape and slower flying speed.

So as to debunk the five individual witnesses to the flying triangle by inferring that they actually saw the above mentioned and not a huge triangle craft as reported. I must say that unless a Jaguar is capable of flying at 40 mph at height of 200/ 300 ft and appears to be the size of a football pitch this attempt at debunking the triangle witnesses simply does not hold water. I must say that the fact that the M.O.D have changed their version of events on at least four occasions proves, as far as I am concerned, that there is without doubt a conspiracy to conceal evidence of something far more serious than a training mission over the Peaks and a pilot breaching the sound barrier a couple of times, logic must prevail that a cover-up of this proportions would not be warranted for something as mundane as what they claim.

At 10.47 the following morning the Seismology department reported that the sonic boom did not seem to have been caused by an impact of any kind but that evidence was still inconclusive. They said "It would depend on speed of impact and type of terrain where the supposed impact had occurred."

The sonic boom data

Air quakes or sonic booms travel at a speed of 330 meter's per second but during impact with the ground the seismic disturbance will travel much quicker, at 5.5 kilometer's per second. If the impact were into one of the many reservoirs in the area then the data would not reflect the 5.5 kilometer's per second. It is feasible that an impact into water would show a slower moving wave, possibly as the Tornado exploded on impact with the water it would only be at 330 meter's per second. The two close proximity sonic booms were registered at three monitoring stations. One at Haverah Park, one at Holmfirth and the other at the Leeds University monitoring station. Currently, over 300 sonic booms are recorded over the UK every year by the British Geo. Survey. Not all booms are picked up, as their registering depends on their strength and magnitude.

Concorde will provide a sonic boom but that is generally heard over the English Channel, not over Sheffield. RAF jets do also and apparently so does the infamous Bolide meteor.

(sorry not available in this document, needs scanning in)

As you will see from the seismographs of different sonic occurrence over the UK, which have been supplied by the British Geological Survey, the first sonic occurrence happened over the English Channel on the 6th November 1997 at 18.49 utc and is the possible sonic trace from Concorde. The second sonic occurrence happened off the coast of Co. Durham and Cleveland on the 7th November 1997 at 10.34 utc. and with further inquiries by the B.G.S to the air complaints people at Rudloe Manor second home to Matthew Williams (Truthseeker) they confirmed that the sonic boom was possibly due to a squadron of RAF jets going supersonic over the North Sea. The sonic boom on this event actually set off the earthquake alarms at the nuclear power station.

The third sonic occurrence is from the second sonic boom that occurred on the 24th March 1997 over the Peaks at 22.06, after consulting with the relevant authorities at the B.G.S. and the statement that the readings seemed not to show an impact of any kind, but if a Tornado jet had exploded or impacted with one of the many reservoirs in the area then the data would quite possibly represent this. With regard to the Bolide meteor, having made extensive inquiries with regard to Bolide meteor's, I have been unable to find any other instance where a Bolide meteor has exploded and caused a sonic boom, so it would appear that we have a first in the world occurrence with regard to the Bolide meteor phenomena!!!

More evidence to prove the apparent close proximity of credible UFO sightings and the Bolide meteor phenomena. (Another cover story)

On Wednesday, February 11, 1998, at 6:30 p.m., a UFO described as "a ball of light of a yellow-greenish color with a long bright blue tail" crossed the sky in a descending trajectory over Lombardia province. The UFO was seen by hundreds of people in the cities of Bergamo, Brescia, Asola, Parma and Mantova before disappearing over Lazio. Italian scientists dismissed the object as "an unusually bright bolide."

Exactly one week later, on Wednesday, February 18, 1998, he phenomenon repeated itself," and again the luminous yellow-green UFO with the blue tail flew over Lombardia "in an oblique descending trajectory" and "was seen by hundreds of people."

Now everyone in north-central Italy is talking about 'il Bolide del mercoledi (the meteor of Wednesday) and looking for a repeat appearance. (See the Italian newspapers Il Messagero, Gazzeta di Parma and Gazzeta diMantova for February 19, 1998. Grazie a Renzo Cabassi, Carlo Cruciani, Roberto Labanti e Edoardo Russoper questo rapporto.)

Source: UFO round-up

Statement from the USA Geological Survey ( bolide meteor characteristics) USGS - US Geological Survey, Woods Hole Field Center What is a bolide?

There is no consensus on its definition, but we use it to mean an extraterrestrial body in the 1-10-km size range, which impacts the earth at velocities of literally faster than a speeding bullet (20-70 km/sec = Mach 75), explodes upon impact, and creates a large crater. " is a generic term, used to imply that we do not know the precise nature of the impacting body . . . whether it is a rocky or metallic asteroid, or an icy comet, for example. No mention of the bolide exploding in the atmosphere or causing sonic booms this must now completely debunk the authorities bolide meteor theory the facts of the night of the 24th March 1997 are not even consistent with a professional description of a bolide meteor.

The evidence so far I feel, proves beyond any doubt that the authorities are involved in a conspiracy to conceal evidence. I know the military were there during the incident, inside the timeline and on the flight path. I feel the Bolide meteor theory is not at all feasible. In which case the Bolide meteor story is nothing more than a conspiracy to hide the facts about what happened one cold cloudless night over the Peak District on the 24th March 1997. These points will be covered in the conclusion.

Update. It has now been confirmed that there was no space debris in the atmosphere that night which removes from the equation the Bolide meteor theory, proving that it was nothing more than a cover story. This is what I have been saying right from the beginning of my investigation. Sadly this is not the case of certain other so called researchers into this incident.

However I have still included the Bolide data so readers can be aware that this cover story was in place right from the beginning, RAF Fylingdales would have tracked any Bolide in the atmosphere on any night so the question is left why did the military leave the Bolide story to mature?

Police Inquiries

Three days later I discovered that the police had been making inquiries about me. They had traced my car back from when Emma and I were stopped by PC Mick Eccleshare on March 24th in Castleton. The check had revealed the fact that the car belonged to a local leisure company. They were contacted by the police on March 27th. The police asked the leisure company's area manager if, in his opinion, I was a serious UFO researcher. They also wanted to know my address, telephone number and what I had seen that night.

The area manager called me after the police had spoken with him, to inform me that the police were asking questions, the area manager had told the police that he just knew my name and did not know my telephone number or my surname. I called the police station and asked why they were so curious to know information about myself. The officer said that it was for the official report of the incident, when I asked him "What incident?" he said "The crash err, I mean alleged crash." I then stated to the officer that wasn't it a little unusual for someone to be making out an official report about something that the authorities said had not occurred and that considering that no crime had been committed on the night of the 24th March by Emma and myself, didn't he think that it was an awful waste of police resources to be tracking down a potential witness to gather information for a non event? It just seemed like a contradiction to me. After more phone calls to the officer PC Mick Eccleshare later on in the year, it became apparent that the official report to the incident is quite extensive and he has also admitted that the report is now held at South Yorkshire police headquarters.

From the map below you can see how close the proximity of four of the Triangle sightings were

And as all the witnesses have never met or seen each others statements described the same object it isundeniable that there was indeed a huge flying triangle over the Sheffield area on the 24th March 1997.

My name is in the official report as is that of trusted UFO researcher Martin Jeffrey who helped in the early stages of this investigation by exchanging information with me, for which I am very grateful. I also appreciate his candid approach to this incident and the fact that he decided I was on the level when this case brought us in communication with each other.

As you can see below from two more of the UFO sightings on the 24th March 1997, that the jets and the UFO were all in very close proximity of each other and it seems undeniable that as three of the witnesses stated that the jets were flying at the same height and in the same direction, at high speed within less than 30 seconds of the UFO sighting that the Jets were on an interception course with the triangle.

Footnote.

Mr. Morton and his mother

Mr. Morton describes seeing a low flying plane traveling in a west south west direction and apparently having come from the direction of Deepcar. Both he and his mother commented on the low level of the aircraft and its low speed. He was able to see the fixed wing navigation lights and the silhouette of a small fixed wing aircraft from his home. He pointed out the height while it was due west of his home, where he last had sight of the planes navigation lights. A short while later he saw an orange glow followed by several plumes of smoke. Using a map I had with me he indicated the ridge formed by Outer Edge and Featherbed Moss which he believes to be the highest ground visible to the west and to be the ridge the plane passed over, he then pointed to Margery Hill and suggested that it was roughly at this location that he last had sight of the plane. He felt that it was on the west side of the Derwent Valley and that this would be the most likely place to start looking for any debris.

Note: Featherbed Top from Bolderstone. A straight line drawn on a map between these two points will pass through Howden reservoir.

Bryan Haslam

As the days went by I came across more and more witnesses to the strange events of the night of March 24th. The earliest recording of a sighting came from Brian Haslam who witnessed the UFO whilst on a train between Sheffield and Keighley, near Barnsley. Haslam states in the local police report that he saw a triangular shaped object hovering around the Barnsley area at around 19.40. The object had lights all around it and Haslam is adamant that it wasn't a plane. In the police log he stated to the police "There's no point in you looking for a crashed plane, it definitely wasn't a plane. ""Thinks they were wasting there time".

Update:

Due to questions raised in the Houses of Parliament on the 24th March 1998 by the labour MP for Hillsborough

Sheffield, Helen Jackson. Several questions were tabled, one question in particular was.

Were there any UFO reports to the police on either the 24th or the 25th March 1997?

The reply was given.

There were no ufo reports to the police on either the 24th or 25th March 1997.

As you can see, although there are several reports in the police log reporting ufo's this one in particular is very important as lights in the sky reported to the police may be mis-identifications and although unexplained and to the observer is a ufo it may or may not be something else, for example aircraft lights, however I am not aware of any aircraft that fly at extremely low altitudes with flying speeds of less than sixty mph or that use glowing orange lights.

The Bryan Haslam report to the police is precise and the sightings occurred in daylight in which he describes exactly what the other witnesses to the triangle saw two hours later about ten miles from his location. and as we do not have anything here in the UK which is the size of a football pitch, triangle in shape and lit up all around with the ability to hover, this is a firm ufo sighting, not just lights in the sky, with its inclusion in the police log of the incident, it is ludicrous to discount this sighting just because it occurred two hours before the main aspect of this incident as some have tried to do.

By definition, its inclusion in the police log of the incident is clearly a valid ufo sighting reported to the police on the 25th March pertaining to the night of the 24th March 1997. This confirms that Helen Jackson MP has indeed been lied to during the tabling of questions in the House of Parliament. The question then must be asked why is a Member of Parliament being lied to?

Why have the MOD taken the stance that nothing occurred that night?

Taken by a member of the public, this picture has had extensive analysis by experts and their conclusions were that it was a real picture and had not been tampered with.

New Witnesses (Husband & Wife )

I have just been contacted by other witnesses to the flying triangle in the Parsons Cross area of Sheffield which is in direct line between Dronfield and High Bradfield, in the time frame in the flight path. Although I have not seen the full hand written statement from the witnesses it is apparent that these witnesses have also seen the triangle at very close proximity and described it as being the size of a 747 jet, apparently three jets flew over at high speed and low altitude, a few moments later the triangle appeared. It was, according to the husband and wife just after the triangle had disappeared from view that three more jets came over. All the jets and the triangle were at the same height and traveling in the same direction, at present I am waiting for the full hand written statement. "As soon as I receive the statement I will update you all".

Mr Jonathan Dagenhart encountered a man on the small viaduct on Snake Pass at Ladybower reservoir, one hour after the explosions occurred, the man was stinking of aviation fuel. Mr Dagenhart is a member of the RAF and works on jet engines.

He has since been made to retract his testimony and has accused me of twisting what he has said. However I have his interview on tape and it is quite clear that he is certain about what fuel the man was smelling of and the taped interview clearly shows that I have not twisted anything.

Mrs. Dronfield

Another witness was Mrs. Dronfield, an elderly lady who reported her sighting to the police. According to the police reports Mrs. Dronfield saw a cigar shaped object flying at a very low altitude towards Strines from High Bradfield at around 22.00. Her statement says the object was lit up more than a normal plane would have been. When I spoke to Mrs. Dronfield in person, more details began to unfold. She had in fact gone to her bedroom window with a pair of binoculars intending to look at Hale Bopp.

However before she had had a chance, she noticed the UFO. It was glowing orange as it came across towards the Strines area and Mrs. Dronfield kept it in view for about twenty seconds. After speaking to Mrs. Dronfield I concluded that what she thought was a cigar shaped object could well have been the triangular object sighted by Emma Maidenhead but seen from a side view. Mrs Dronfield saw the object from side on at a low altitude, whereas Emma Maidenhead saw the object above her and so was able to see its overall shape. Both witnesses are entirely genuine and are certain of what they saw. Mrs Dronfield is an 80 year old lady who in her entire life has never had or felt the need to call the police about anything. She is intelligent and fully in control of her mental faculties.