What happened to Captain William Schaffner in 1970? Was he abducted while flying behind UFOs?

The peace of God to all that belong to the Light,
Dear Readers,

This appears to be one of the most enigmatic UFO sightings of History, it is reported in various lists among the top most famous around the world, however, it remains still unsolved in substantial aspects in spite of the effort of authorities and also specialized researchers, at least no definitive and conclusive solution to it was agreed of what happened with the Pilot involved on it.

list25.com...

www.stylist.co.uk...

In September 1970, Captain Schaffner was an American exchange pilot flying BAC Lightnings with the RAF at RAF Binbrook in north-east Lincolnshire, England. Binbrook was one of the bases, along with RAF Coningsby (which flew Phantoms), that was on Quick Reaction Alert. On the evening of September 8, 1970, an object was spotted over the North Sea by radar and he was on duty so he took off to follow the object. His callsign was Foxtrot 94.

www.ufo-mystery.co.uk...


The object was then tracked by the early warning station at RAF Fylingdales and by the USAF radar station at Thule Air Base in Greenland and the Cheyenne Mountain Complex radar base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. The Lightning planes were asked to return to their base in Leuchars, and the Phantom planes patrolled the area.

At 21.30, the object was picked up on radar again heading south-west over the north of Denmark. Two Lightning planes were scrambled from RAF Leuchars, to patrol to the north-east of Aberdeen, and two Lightning planes were scrambled from RAF Coltishall. The Strategic Air Command headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska was informed of the incident as well as NORAD at Cheyenne Mountain. A Shackleton maritime plane that had been patrolling the Firth of Forth then circled the area around Flamborough Head.

Captain Schaffner, of 5 Squadron, took off from Binbrook in the Lightning plane XS894 at 22.06. He had boarded the plane whilst its fuel tanks were still being filled. The plane was armed with two Red Top air-to-air missiles. The object was flying east of Whitby and parallel to the coast. It was tracked by RAF Staxton Wold in North Yorkshire.

Three weeks later, the plane was located on the sea bed. On October 7, 1970, Royal Navy divers located the plane. The plane was recovered from the sea three months later and was remarkably intact. The canopy was closed but there was no sign of the body of Captain Schaffner. The wreckage was taken back to RAF Binbrook for investigation. Normally this would have happened at the MOD Crash Investigation Branch, part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (now the Air Accidents Investigation Branch) at Farnborough.

In a letter to the aviation Magazine "Flypast" , on September of 2014, a retired RAF Sqn Ldr States that his aircraft (Avro Shackleton Mk.III WR981) was the 'Object' tracked by the various radar stations, and the incident was part of a much larger TACEVAL exercise.

Two Lightnings were involved. the first made 4 approaches on the Shackleton, before departing the area while the second started on approach (flown by Capt Schaffner), before breaking off to Starboard. It never re-established contact and the Shackleton crew assumed the it had returned to base, until they were alerted by Uxbridge Centre on the guard frequency, requesting that they begin a SAR operation using the call sign Playmate 51.

drdavidclarke.co.uk...


In the period of Autumn 1970 to Spring 1971, UFOs were seen over the Lincolnshire coast around Cleethorpes. At RAF Donna Nook, a large (180 ft long) UFO was seen hovering for many hours by RAF personnel and was accompanied by 'glass ball' objects.

The thread is of course open to the free discussion provided that you remain on topic under the rules of decorum and mutual respect in the replies. The preliminary investigation of the case I carried out is based on accounts that are posted in UFO sites the remain to free access in the web and in UFO general reference sources.

An interesting report from the BBC journalists that have investigated the case in which it is linked to the UFO phenomenon is accesible at:

www.bbc.co.uk...

As far as I have seen no body has claimed to have found the body of Captain Schaeffner or to have seen him alive after the incident, but if any person in the forum has other information please take in account that this incident of a missing pilot over the North sea was genuine, that at least at that time became a mystery.

Now let me warn that the Royal air force never have recognized that there was UFO involved on it, but there is no bad intention from my side to bring it into discussion here in the forum of Aliens and UFOs where I really think it belongs to.

Thanks for your attention,

The Angel of Lightness

Very interesting. I was not aware of, have not heard of this before sighting or alleged abduction. Reminds me very much of the Frederick Valentich alleged abduction by ufo near Melbourne Australia , and in the same decade, the 1970's, as this one, Valentichs' was in 1978. No trace of him has been found either. Also comments by both pilots of what they were seeing/dealing with are similiar. As in Valentichs' case there was the final cockpit recording where eerie metallic sounds were heard. Nice find!

a reply to: data5091

Hi Dear data509,

Yes indeed seems to follow a very similar pattern, and for me the possible case of abduction that you are mentioning in Austrialia is also relatively unknown, I am really curious about it, can you provide more details of that story?

Another interesting coincidence is that both countries belong to the Commonwealth, so also shared very similar airplane technology, what kind of machine was flying the Australian Pilot?

In the case of Captain Schaffner , he was flying a supersonic Fighter Jets , the English Electric Lightning , a high altitude interceptor, it is equipped with two Rollroyce engines for a total thrust of 36500 pounds, able to fly to twice the speed of sound. it can climb at initial rate of 50000 ft per minute to an altitude of 10 miles.

www.youtube.com...

Did the Australian pilot also disappear for ever as Capitan Schaffner?

Here one of the documentaries made by journalists still investigating the case in England:

" RAF: From a military point of view is quite embarrassing to admit the existence of Alien vehicles coming to our aerospace against to we have inadequate defense ":

www.youtube.com...

Thanks for your reply,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

Dear Readers,

The following is an official transcript of the conversation between Captain Schaffner and the Radar station at Staxton Wold:

(September 8th 1970)

Schaffner: I have visual contact, repeat visual contact. Over.

Staxton: Can you identify aircraft type?

Schaffner: Negative, nothing recognisable, no clear outlines. There is ... bluish light. Hell that's bright ... very bright.

Staxton: Are your instruments functioning, 94? Check compass. Over.

Schaffner: Affirmative, GCI (ground control). I'm alongside it now, maybe 600ft off my ... Jeeze, that's bright, it hurts my eyes to look at it for more than a few seconds.

Staxton: How close are you now?

Schaffner: About 400ft, he's still in my three o' clock. Hey wait ... there's something else. It's like a large soccer ball. It's like it's made of glass.

Staxton: Is it part of the object or independant? Over.

Schaffner: It ... no, it's separate from the main body ... the conical shape ... it's at the back end, the sharp end of the shape. It's like bobbing up and down and going from side to side slowly. It maybe the power source. There's no sign of ballistics.

Staxtion: Is there any sign of occupation? Over.

Schaffner: Negative, nothing.

Staxton: Can you assess the rate?

Schaffner: Contact in gentle descent. Am going with it...50...no about 70ft ... it's levelled out again.

Staxton: Is the ball object still with it? Over.

Schaffner: Affirmative. It's not actually connected ... maybe a magnetic attraction to the conical shape. There's a haze of light. Ye'ow ... it's within heat haze. Wait a second, it's turning... coming straight for me... am taking evasive action...a few...I can hardly...

Staxton: 94? Come in 94. Foxtrot 94, are you receiving? Over. Come in 94. Over.

Schaffner: GCI ... are you receiving? Over.

Staxton: Affirmative 94. What is your condition? Over.

Schaffner: Not too good. I can't think what has happened... I feel kinda dizzy... I can see shooting stars.

Staxton: Can you see your instruments? Over.

Schaffner: Affirmative, but er...the compass is useless.

Staxton: Foxtrot 94, turn 043 degrees. Over.

Schaffner: Er ... all directional instruments are out, repeat useless. Over.

Staxton: Roger 94, execute turn right, estimate quarter turn. Over.

Schaffner: Turning now.

Staxton: Come further 94. That's good. Is your altimeter functioning? Over.

Schaffner: Affirmative GCI.

Staxton: Descend to 3,500ft. Over.

Schaffner: Roger GCI.

Staxton: What's your fuel state 94? Over.

Schaffner: About 30 per cent GCI.

Staxton: That's what we calculated. Can you tell us what happened 94? Over.

Schaffner: I don't know. It came in close ... I shut my eyes ... I figure I must've blacked out for a few seconds.

Staxton: OK 94. Standby.

At this stage the Shackleton arrived over Flamborough Head and began circling before XS894 was vectored into the area by the Staxton controllers.

Schaffner: Can you bring me in GCI? Over.

Staxton: Er... Hold Station, 94. Over.

Staxton: Foxtrot 94. Can you ditch aircraft? Over.

Schaffner: She's handling fine. I can bring her in. Over.

Staxton: Negative 94. I repeat, can you ditch aircraft? Over.

Schaffner: Yeah ... I guess.

Staxton: Standby 94. Over. Oscar 77. Over.

Shackleton: 77. Over.

Staxton: 94 is ditching. Can you maintain wide circuit. Over.

Shackleton: Affirmative GCI. Over.

Staxton: Thanks 77. Stanby 94, execute ditching proceedure at your discretion. Over.

Schaffner: Descending now, GCI. Over.

Between six and seven minutes then elapsed.

Shackleton: He's down, GCI. Hell of a splash ... he's down in one piece though. Over.

Staxton: Can you see the pilot yet? Over.

Shackleton: Negative. We're going round again, pulling a tight one.

Two minutes later.

Shackleton: The canopy's up ... she's floating OK ... can't see the pilot. We need a chopper out here, GCI. No, no sign of the pilot. Where the hell...

Staxton: You sure he's not in the water, 77. Check your SARBE receptions. Over. (NOTE: SARBE was the Search and Rescue Beacon Equipment carried by all RAF aircrew.


Shackleton: No SARBE yet. No flares either. Hang on. We're going round again.

Another two minutes elapsed.

Shackleton: GCI. Over.

Staxton: Receiving you 77. Over.

Shackleton: This is odd, GCI. She's sinking fast but ... the canopy's closed up again. Over.

Staxton: Can you confirm pilot clear of aircraft? Over.

Shackleton: He's not in it, we can confirm that. He must be in the water somewhere.

Staxton: Any distress signals or flares yet? Over.

Shackleton: Negative GCI. Going round again. Over.

Ninety seconds later the crew of the Shackleton were back in contact with Staxton Wold.

Shackleton: She's sunk GCI. There's a slight wake where she was. Still no sign of the pilot. I say again GCI, we need a chopper here fast. Over.

Staxton: A Whirlwind's on its way from Leconfield. Are you positive you saw no sign of the pilot?. Over.

Shackleton: Nothing GCI. The first pass we assumed he was unstrapping. He must have got out as we went round for a second pass ... but why shut the canopy? Over.

Staxton: That's what we were thinking. Maintain patrol 77, he must be there somewhere. Over.

Shackleton: Roger GCI. Over.

Please read:

www.ufodigest.com...

Thanks for your attention,

The Angel of Lightness

Why were they so intent on making him ditch? Does that not seem odd?

a reply to: The angel of light

The following is an official transcript of the conversation between Captain Schaffner and the Radar station at Staxton Wold:

it's not the 'official' transcript - the article you linked to doesn't give a reference for the transcript - it is actually from a book called 'alien investigator' by tony dodd, and claimed to be from an anonymous raf source

more info here

The Shaffner case is a most interesting one.

The Air Accident Report produced by the RAF Board of Inquiry in June 1972 reported that Schaffner , although unknown to him, was taking part in a tactical evaluation. However this information was never made public (or privately relayed to his family) until 2005. Although his family have accepted the official story that it was all a tragic accident something is not quite right with the case.

If this incident was nothing more than pilot error why did the UK MoD conceal the evidence from the family for 3 decades? And I don't believe his body was ever found.

The specific Mod file on the case is contained in file DEFE 31/181/1 and can be download free of charge here:

DEFE 31/181/1 (31Mb pdf)

The Shaffner case starts on page 181 of the pdf with a number of printed articles on the case included in the file.

There's some other interesting (and not so interesting) cases in there as well.

a reply to: The angel of light

Your bbc link www.bbc.co.uk... contains the original transcript.

Why posting the hoax version?

a reply to: The angel of light

The only officially released transcript I could locate was much shorter than the one you posted...yours was allegedly given in secret by a RAF source and was never substantiated.

Capt Schaffner: Contact with a set of lights in that area
Fighter Controller: Say again.
Capt Schaffner: Set of lights in that area – closing.
Schaffner then explains he needs to “do some manoeuvring to slow her down a little bit” and radar controllers warn him to “keep a sharp look out.”
Fighter Controller: 45 Patrington you are dark on me this time – check target’s heading and your own over. C45 Patrington do you read over.
Do you read – over. Do you read – over.
,,,,Silence

I remember reading about this and there's actually an ATS thread from 2012 on the subject, including the shorter transcript:

Shaffner UFO

The RAF seems very adamant that Cpt. Shaffner disobeyed orders to have his plane serviced that night and additionally, was not fully trained for that excercise, essentially placing the blame for his disappearance squarely on him. Any evidence to the contrary is probably still lying on the ocean floor, if it exists at all.

a reply to: tigertatzen

I remember reading about this and there's actually an ATS thread from 2012 on the subject, including the shorter transcript:

Shaffner UFO

The RAF seems very adamant that Cpt. Shaffner disobeyed orders to have his plane serviced that night and additionally, was not fully trained for that excercise, essentially placing the blame for his disappearance squarely on him. Any evidence to the contrary is probably still lying on the ocean floor, if it exists at all.

Yes I wrote it and that is the official conclusion.

I've also included similar details in another thread.

Close Encounters of a Fatal Kind

The Lightning was recovered from the seabed with the cockpit sealed. However why details were never revealed to the immediate family until 2005 is a strange one.

originally posted by: moebius
a reply to: The angel of light

Your bbc link www.bbc.co.uk... contains the original transcript.

Why posting the hoax version?

Because if you post the real version, there's a very simple story... And no UFO.

a reply to: mirageman

Yes I wrote it and that is the official conclusion.

I've also included similar details in another thread.

Close Encounters of a Fatal Kind

The Lightning was recovered from the seabed with the cockpit sealed. However why details were never revealed to the immediate family until 2005 is a strange one.

Well, it was very well written and concise. This has to be one of the strangest things I've read about yet...it makes no sense why they wouldn't just tell the family what happened (even if it wasn't conclusive), if nothing else, at least to give them some type of closure.

originally posted by: data5091
Very interesting. I was not aware of, have not heard of this before sighting or alleged abduction. Reminds me very much of the Frederick Valentich alleged abduction by ufo near Melbourne Australia , and in the same decade, the 1970's, as this one, Valentichs' was in 1978. No trace of him has been found either. Also comments by both pilots of what they were seeing/dealing with are similiar. As in Valentichs' case there was the final cockpit recording where eerie metallic sounds were heard. Nice find!

I read that story - there was a ticking sound and then scraping. That could have been metal expanding/contracting due to changes in temperature (either water making the metal cold, or the energy field of a UFO heating the metal). The scraping sound would be either the headset/microphone floating in water and being pushed against the instruments or ceiling.

a reply to: Iamnotadoctor

First at all, I just posted what it was posted as an official transcript on a website that appears to be given a lot of space to describe the incident in details, so if you believe or not that it is official or there is another alternative version it has nothing to do with me.

So please send your question to the people of the website I was referring to, that by the way I checked before than the one of BBC and since there is a huge difference in length in between the two I decided to post the one looked to be more complete.

I believe that website has contact information you can use to send your question.

Now, this thread is about where is Captain Shaffner?, either alive or death, in other words what happened to him since the airplane was found with the canopy hermetically closed.

Here the topic it is not which of the two versions of transcript is the most reliable, that is tangential to the real issue, and well as I investigated the case through sources if there is any imprecision on their reports is their responsibility not mine, as well as if they don't cite correctly their own references.

Thanks to bring here the other version of the transcript.

Thanks for your attention,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: mirageman

Hi Dear mirageman,

I appreciate a lot to bring here the respective Mod file, this is really a great contribution to the study of the case. I agree it is a really intriguing situation, something that remain unsolved in what corresponds to what happened with the pilot since 45 years ago.

Thanks a lot,

The Angel of Lightness

This is one case I have done quite a lot of work on. The transcript is a fake, only that's not really the fascinating part of it. The fake tape was on totally kosher tape and handed to to the investigator in a kosher carton. That is, the tape was 100% MOD property, as was the packaging it was handed over in. This was as much as admitted to by the RAF at the press conference in the early noughties. Only a couple of the media outlets reported the full conference and in particular the part where the RAF guy says that. "The fake tape was made by someone at the MOD". From memory , I think only the "Independent" published anything liek the whole statement.

So , someone faked the tapes and that someone was working for the military and yet, nothing was ever done when, there could only have been a pretty limited number of people who could have faked it.

Then we come to the Shackleton part of the story. A Shackleton is a development of the famous Lancaster, it was slow it was easy to spot and the English Electric Lightning was a high altitude super sonic interceptor. You couldn't have picked a more unsuitable aircraft to use in this so called "exercise". in fact, if you check out any of the forums that talk about such things, Lightnings were absolute pigs to fly at anything slower than about 500 knots and even worse when at relatively, low altitude.

in other words, it would be a wholly stupid idea to use the Lightning in such an exercise as it would be putting the crews of not only the Lightnings rather, the Shackleton's crew at risk as well.

Neither was Schaffner's plane being refuelled. He was on standby on the runway apron engines live and under operational standing procedure he should never have taken off as his plane had gone past the point considered safe with its' engines "idling" . Those old high performance airframes were delicate things. There was a safety limit on idling the engines that once past meant that, the plane should have shut down and been returned to the service bay for a routine overhaul. If he took off there can only be two explanations, he was ordered to against normal operational procedures or , he did so under his own aegis against standing procedures because it was something very unusual that amounted to an "emergency" and that would not include some half cocked training exercise to intercept a friendly mimicking a low flying turboprop bomber that would normally have been carried out by a Buccaneer, Hunter, or a Harrier.

The MOD were also not being honest when they claimed that XS894 has been scrapped. on a website dedicated to cataloguing the Lightning's operational record in detail they state quite categorically, no requisite paperwork exists to say that XS894 was scrapped and broken up meaning, it almost certainly is sitting, still "intact" somewhere unknown. This backs up the tales emanating from the RAF that the airframe was shipped to the USA as the request of the Americans. If it was a routine crash then why would the RAF hand over their property to the USA?

I have personally spoken to an ex military person who claims they were on duty that night and the story of the UFO being tracked is 100& genuine as they were working on Radar at the time it occurred. I was hoping they would "go public" sadly they were in effect, frightened off from doing so. I have also spoken to another ex serviceman who claims they were part of the salvage crew that worked on XS894 and that, it was a "most strange salvage, done in the pitch black of night and that, they airframe stank like no other airframe they have ever dealt with before or since, including those dredged up from under water after some weeks".

What's more, the only structural damage to XS894 was a bent nose section and several personnel have intimated that the pilot's ejector seat they saw, was not the same one issued to XS894 and had was either, totally missing, meaning Schaffner almost certainly ejected or that, the MOD/USAF did not wish the seat to be examined.

I can find no corroborative evidence to support the idea that Schaffner was order into the air by American Strategic Command, that seems to be a deliberate falsehood put about to further murky the waters sic surrounding the incident. As far as I can ascertain Schaffner took off despite best advice and totally under his own aegis because this was something he "did not want to miss".

I have noticed also how, Nick Pope becomes very uncomfortable discussing this case and he will always try and dismiss it as an "accident". I strongly suspect he has been told to "lay off" on this one . The fact that, over two decades after the incident the MOD was still "leaning" on people not to talk about what they know suggests to me, this was anything, bar an accident during a training exercise.

There is also the eye witness testimony of at least one person who claims they saw, the lights of an aircraft over the sea "chasing" another "unknown " light. Had the other object been the Shackleton then it to would have looked like the aircraft it was, with the commensurate set of aircraft lights, the witness would not have called it an "unknown light"?.

a reply to: FireMoon

Hi Dear FireMoon,

Any reference you can cite concerning the witness you have mention exist on the case? I think that is a crucial information that might be very helpful to support the fact that this was not a mere accident, but something else.

Thanks for the very interesting details you have mentioned around this so historic UfO sighting that in spite of all the possible cover up or plot that you denounce could exist, to fake the transcripts of the communications between the pilot and the command center, remains pretty intriguing.

Thanks,

The Angel of Lightness

From memory, the civilian witness reports were taken from a local newspaper in the area. Something like the S#horpe Gazette or the local Grimsby newspaper. One of the UFO sites definitely references the report, sadly I do not remember which one, though I will keep looking to see if I can find it.