BLACKPOOL — Witness responds…..The photo was taken from the central pier, off the main promenade on November 5, 2009. I was taking photographs for stock photography web sites of Blackpool Illuminations tower at 7:45 PM. When I was checking through the photos I noticed what I thought was light contamination.

This was not the case. I therefore checked for other causes that it could have been to produce this effect but all probable causes were negative. I now believe it to be a UFO. When I checked on other web sites, I found this was not the only sighting on that night but it is the only photograph.

Special Reports

Navy Encounter with a UFO

An F-14 “Tomcat” in flight

Alan Caviness writes, “I remember an incident that occurred during the first few days of 1989, when I was on active duty with the US Navy at Cecil Field Naval Air Station in Florida.” I was assigned to one of the many work centers inside the base’s aircraft electronics repair facility (officially, the Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Department or AIMD). A shipmate and good buddy of mine at the time was back from a few weeks stay at our naval air base in Puerto Rico—Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station. I greeted him when I first saw him and quickly noticed that he seemed a bit down. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that the Puerto Rico base’s F-14 fighter squadron had just lost two aircraft (this would have included two pilots—and two radar intercept officers who flew back seat). The following is how our conversation went according to memory.

I was surprised when he said two aircraft, and I asked, “Are you serious?” And he replied, “Yeah”. I thought a moment then said, “Midair collision?” But, much to my astonishment, he said, “No”.
I then asked, “What do you mean no midair collision? How could they lose two airplanes the same day?”
I noticed that he didn’t seem to want to go into detail for some strange reason. This was not normal for him. Normally, this man, a dedicated sailor and skilled technician, would have been eager to tell me anything he could about an aircraft mishap. But, not this time. The navy would lose a plane somewhere ever so often and we would usually get word of it very quickly through unofficial channels in the naval aviation community—and personnel were usually eager to pass on what news they could. I knew my shipmate had friends in that squadron from previous visits he had made to Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station.

But, it was unusual for two planes being lost in one day and even more unusual for it not to be due to a midair collision; and, unusual because he was being reluctant to talk about it.

I pressed him.
“Well, what happened?” “Oh, I can’t really talk about it”, he said. “There’s an investigation still ongoing…”
That had never stopped any of us before. Suddenly, I got the impression that he had been told not to talk.
But, I asked, “Well, can you tell me anything else”? He added only that the two planes were lost at apparently the same time—definitely on the same day, for sure. And that it was—for some strange reason—very “hush-hush”. This didn’t make sense to me. We aviation maintenance guys had a “grapevine” that was fleet-wide and would be spread quickly. Whenever an aircraft was lost, we would find out about it quickly then wait for details to come in later. But, nothing was coming out regarding this incident. I hoped to hear something, later. But, after considerable effort to find follow-up information over the next few weeks, I realized that the investigation had indeed been handled as top secret.
This was unusual. I often wondered what must have happened. In the next few years, I found myself visiting the base at Puerto Rico for a few weeks at a time several times. With all the distractions of navy life, I did not think about it very much over the following years.
In 1992, I was discharged from the US Navy and went back into civilian life after 10 years of service total. In the following years, I had my first recognizable UFO sighting and by 1999 had decided to become a UFO investigator. Around 2007, I was skimming through a UFO book and happened to notice a UFO case involving two US Navy F-14 fighter planes. I suddenly remembered the incident back at Cecil Field where my shipmate had told me of a squadron losing two F-14s at the same time but not due to a midair collision. Was the incident in 1988 really a UFO incident? I read on. I saw in the book the exact date and location of the incident and realized that this had to be one and the same.

The author stated in his book that on December 28, 1988, at approximately 7:45 pm, a large triangle craft roughly the size of a baseball field was seen moving steadily along in the region near the naval air station in Puerto Rico, according to over a hundred witnesses.

Three F-14s intercepted the moving UFO and apparently tried to force it to change its course. As the navy fighter planes engaged the large craft, it slowed down its forward speed almost to a standstill. One plane, in particular, stayed mostly to the right of the UFO and another stayed behind the UFO making close approaches at times. The third plane apparently stayed a bit farther out. The F-14 in the rear came close to the object, but as it flew either over or under the object, it was not seen again. Small red lights were also seen at times flying outside the large craft and may have served to protect the craft. It was as if the fighter plane had somehow been drawn into the large craft. The second aircraft made a sweep closer to the large object and was seen by one ground witness—using binoculars—to suddenly disappear—possibly being taken in by the UFO. The third F-14 reportedly high-tailed it out of the area on afterburner with glowing red lights chasing after it apparently in pursuit, according to ground witnesses.
Just after the unidentified craft had confiscated the two fighters, it began to steadily descend almost to the ground. In a blinding flash of yellow light, the large craft divided into two sections—actually, two separate craft. They both quickly flew off in different directions—one heading in the direction of the escaping F-14. The story goes that there was an immediate government cover-up and the military denied the entire story of an unidentified craft. Rear Admiral David Rogers, Deputy Assistant Chief of Naval Operations, in response to an inquiry, told a member of the House of Representatives, that no aircraft mishaps had even occurred during the time of the reported incident and that no aircraft had been lost. (I know better.)
I was amazed by the fact that, after 20 years, I was able to confirm an astonishing UFO encounter directly involving the military. And, I was personally familiar with this very incident—at least from its outer periphery. I knew for a fact that the US Navy in Puerto Rico did indeed lose two F-14s in one day and that there was a top secret investigation—the only time in my navy career that I could not get a follow-up on an aircraft mishap.
In recent years, I discovered that Puerto Rico has been a hotbed for reports and claims of UFO activity including some wildly fascinating reports from many residents in certain areas of the island involving personal contact with nonhuman beings, sightings of strange animal creatures—and underground facilities with many nonhuman residents.
Some of the hottest areas for ET activity are reported to be around the naval base on the eastern end of the island as well as areas along the southwestern corner of Puerto Rico. UFOs have also been seen going into the waters in these areas. Many residents, some with considerable credibility—have claimed to see UFOs all over Puerto Rico since around 1930—including a 1992 sighting of a saucer-shaped craft being chased by a military jet observed by Freddie Cruz—then director of the Civil Defense Agency of Lajas, Puerto Rico. Detailed accounts can be found on the Internet and in the books, “Alien Contact” and “Alien Liaison”, both by Timothy Good. www.cavinessreport.com   Thanks to Alan Caviness