Document · 24 July 1996
Hansard: written answer on the Calvine photograph (24 July 1996)
Also known as Calvine parliamentary answer, HC Deb 24 July 1996 vol 282 c424W
A written parliamentary answer of 24 July 1996, the MoD's only public statement on the Calvine photograph at the time. Asked by Martin Redmond MP what the department made of the photograph and who removed it from the Secretariat (Air Staff) 2a office, the defence minister Nicholas Soames said the negatives had been examined, judged to contain nothing of defence significance, and not retained, and that the MoD had no record of any prints made from them.
The answer did not address who removed the print from the office. In 2022 the Armed Forces minister James Heappey repeated it to MPs and said the only surviving MoD papers on the case are in file DEFE 24/1940/1.
Source: Hansard (House of Commons written answers), 24 July 1996; our copy is a PDF print of the Hansard 1803–2005 page
Facts and claims
- documented Martin Redmond MP asked the Secretary of State for Defence “what assessment his Department made of the photograph of an unidentified craft at Calvine on 4 August 1990; who removed it from an office in secretariat (air staff) 2a; for what reasons; and if he will make a statement.” Source: doc-hansard-1996-07-24-calvine.pdf
- documented Defence minister Nicholas Soames answered: “A number of negatives associated with the sighting were examined by staff responsible for air defence matters. Since it was judged that they contained nothing of defence significance the negatives were not retained and we have no record of any photographs having been taken from them.” Source: doc-hansard-1996-07-24-calvine.pdf
- documented In the same set of answers Soames said reports of a 5 November 1990 incident, in which an RAF Tornado patrol over the North Sea was said to have been overtaken by an unidentified craft, and of the 31 March 1993 RAF Shawbury sighting “were examined by staff responsible for air defence matters. No firm conclusions were drawn about the nature of the phenomena reported but the events were not judged to be of defence significance.” Source: doc-hansard-1996-07-24-calvine.pdf
Connected files
Incidents
- Calvine photograph (documents) — The minister: the negatives “were not retained and we have no record of any photographs having been taken from them”
Mentioned in this file
- The National Archives: guides to the Ministry of Defence UFO files (2008–2013) (Document)
- Ministry of Defence (UK) (Organization)
More documents
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 20 October 2008 (19 files)
- Photographic Analysis of the Calvine UFO Photograph (Sheffield Hallam University, 2024)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 21 June 2013 (25 files)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 12 July 2012 (25 files)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 11 August 2011 (34 files)
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 3 March 2011 (35 files)