RAF Tornado encounter over the Netherlands

Autumn 1990. RAF Laarbruch, in West Germany, was home to Tornado crews, among them No. 2 Squadron. On the evening of 5 November a single Tornado, pilot and navigator aboard, was returning from a night low level mission in the UK, crossing Dutch airspace under the control of Dutch military radar. The signal sent afterwards puts it at FL270, about 27,000 feet, on a heading of 100 degrees, probably near Ypenburg. The time was 1800Z, seven in the evening local time.

It came without warning. In the pilot's words, "the UFO came down our right-hand side at great speed (i.e. coming from the direction of the UK). We were doing 0.8 Mach and it readily overtook us."

The official signal described "ONE LARGE AEROPLANE (SHAPE). 5 TO 6 WHITE STEADY LIGHTS. 1 BLUE STEADY LIGHT." Contrails came from the blue area. The object moved into the 12 o'clock position, a quarter of a mile ahead, at the same height. Then it accelerated away.

The pilot later compared it to a C-130 in size, "certainly in length but much shorter wingspan." He could see detail of the lights and the engine area, with "a light blue afterburner type flame which was steady but changing in intensity." A separate pair of Laarbruch Tornados, outbound for the UK, saw it at about the same time. Nobody locked it on radar: "My navigator and I were so surprised that we did not think to do so." The controller insisted they could not see it.

After landing, the squadron's Dutch exchange officer phoned the Dutch military controllers. There had been no other radar contact nearby. The next day RAF West Drayton signalled MOD UK Air under the subject "AERIAL PHENOMENA", noting that the other crews had possibly identified the object as a stealth aircraft. No near miss report was filed. The crew "never considered the event to be a flight safety consideration."

The Ministry of Defence judged the case of no defence significance. Mrs L C Unwin of the MoD wrote that there was no evidence it had been tracked by any airborne or ground based radar units. A 2002 note found it "highly unlikely" the phenomenon was under the control of either agency. Researchers who asked were told to contact the Dutch Air Force.

In a letter received around March 2003, the pilot set down his account. "I have never since seen anything like it." The files later reached The National Archives, whose summary speaks of six Tornados from 2 Squadron.

The crews first thought of a secret American stealth jet. The National Archives says it later emerged that they had seen burning debris from a Soviet rocket body. The Proton stage from the Gorizont 21 launch decayed at about 18:00 UTC that evening, as Ted Molczan noted, the same minute as the Tornado signal. A British Midland Airways crew approaching the Belgian coast saw the re-entry.

Across France the same night brought a wave of reports of lights in formation, which SEPRA attributed to Russian rocket debris. Distant re-entry fireballs are often judged to be close, which could account for the quarter mile range and the empty radar screen. The pilot was unmoved: "This was definitely not a Russian satellite- I am 100% certain of that."

The case belongs to the same period and region as the Belgian UFO wave, though it is a separate story. Three Tornado crews saw it. The times match to the minute. And the man who flew beside it never accepted the rocket.