Incident · 5 November 1990 · Over the North Sea, entering Dutch airspace (Tornados bound for RAF Laarbruch, Germany)
RAF Tornado crews overtaken by a large unknown aircraft over the North Sea
Also known as Tornado UFO 1990, Laarbruch Tornado sighting, RAF Tornado overtaken by UFO
On the evening of 5 November 1990 RAF Tornado GR1 crews flying between the UK and RAF Laarbruch in Germany reported a large aircraft-shaped object with white and blue lights that overtook a Tornado travelling at Mach 0.8 as it left UK airspace for Dutch control. The crew's signal reached the MoD the next day; six aircrew in all are said to have seen it.
Dutch military radar reported nothing, the crews took no radar lock, and the MoD did not investigate because the sighting was outside UK airspace. In 2002 a member of the public suggested the re-entry of a Russian rocket booster logged by RAF Fylingdales, and the MoD asked the RAF to check; the pilot, writing in 2003, rejected the idea. The pilot, who asked to remain anonymous, is not named in the files.
Sources: MoD files DEFE 24/2041 (pp. 10–11, 108) and DEFE 24/2027 (pp. 34–36), The National Archives
Facts and claims
- documented The crew's signal to the MoD, headed “AERIAL PHENOMENA”, reports at 1800Z on 5 November “ONE LARGE AEROPLANE (SHAPE)” with white and blue steady lights and contrails from the blue area, seen with the naked eye at the same altitude, heading 100 degrees, passing into the aircraft's 12 o'clock a quarter of a mile ahead; other Tornados from Laarbruch also saw it. Source: defe-24-2041-1-1.pdf
- claimed Answering questions through the MoD in 2003, the pilot of the single Tornado wrote that he and his navigator did not lock the object on radar, that despite repeated radio calls Dutch Military Radar “insisted that he could not see the UFO”, and that it “did not look like any aircraft that I know to be in service with any air force”: about the length of a C-130 with a much shorter wingspan, with “a light blue afterburner type flame”. Source: defe-24-2041-1-1.pdf
- claimed He wrote that a separate pair of Tornados outbound from Laarbruch saw it head-on at about the same time, while it came down his right-hand side from the direction of the UK: “We were doing 0.8 Mach and it readily overtook us.” Source: defe-24-2041-1-1.pdf
- claimed On the suggestion that it was a re-entering rocket body, the pilot wrote: “This was definitely not a Russian satellite - I am 100% certain of that. This was a large “aircraft” and I could see detail of the lights and the engine area.” Source: defe-24-2041-1-1.pdf
- documented The MoD told an enquirer in 2000 that the Tornado GR1s were merely in transit and that, as the incident did not threaten UK airspace, “it was judged to be of no defence significance”. Source: defe-24-2041-1-1.pdf
Connected files
Documents
- Ministry of Defence UFO files: release of 3 March 2011 (35 files) (subject of) — DEFE 24/2041 and DEFE 24/2027
Mentioned in this file
- The National Archives: guides to the Ministry of Defence UFO files (2008–2013) (Document)
- National Archives and Records Administration (Organization)
- Ministry of Defence (UK) (Organization)
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