Howden Moor Incident

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The Howden Moor Incident or Sheffield Incident, which took place over the Dark Peak between Manchester and Sheffield on March 24, 1997, is an alleged encounter between a UFO and Royal Air Force Tornado aircraft, scrambled from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. Due to its controversial classified subject, little official documented evidence is freely available. Two sonic booms were heard in the incident and an aircraft is believed to have crashed.

[edit] Sequence of events

An orange light is seen moving across the sky over the Dark Peak. A local policeman from South Yorkshire Police refers to the Comet Hale-Bopp moving across the sky. A comet would not do this.

At around 19:40, a Flying triangle UFO is seen over Sheffield railway station, then again over Dronfield in north-east Derbyshire at about 22:00. Six Tornado aircraft leave RAF Coningsby at 20:45. Two sonic booms are recorded by the British Geological Survey at the University of Leeds at 21:52 and 22:06. Around the same time, RAF Tornados are seen flying low over Dronfield. The RAF later deny that they had aircraft in that area or that any sonic booms had been created. At 22:15, two farmers from Bolsterstone, west of Sheffield, contact Ecclesfield police station to ask about a possible air-crash, as they witnessed a low flying aircraft towards Midhope Moor then a flash and a plume of smoke. Gamekeepers in Strines Forest also report an explosion and an orange glow on the horizon. At 23:00, the helicopter of West Yorkshire Police is searching the moors around Bolsterstone. It is joined at 00:00 by a Sea King air-sea rescue helicopter from RAF Leconfield. Firemen from Tankersley, Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hathersage are called to the area and meet up at the Strines Inn near Strines Reservoir on the Bradfield Moors.

In the early hours of March 25, 141 volunteers from the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation and Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team, with support from police officers and rescuers from the Search and Rescue Dog Association, search 50 square miles of the local area, establishing an HQ at Hepshaw Farm on Langsett Moor. Derbyshire Constabulary refused to take part. At 7:00, the RAF set up a Dangerous Flying Zone of ten miles radius over the Howden Moors to allow helicopters to search the area, as airliners would be approaching Manchester Airport from this time over the Howden reservoirs in Longendale.

After a lengthy search, from 14:00 the search operation was called off. On March 25, the Sheffield Star published a lengthy article about the incident.

On March 23 1998, the subject was discussed in the House of Commons by the MP for Sheffield Hillsborough, Helen Jackson.

A number of theories were expressed regarding this incident ranging from the low flying light plane being used by drug runners to a sighting of a World War Two ghost plane.

However, it was determined to the satisfaction of most investigators that the indident arose due to a combination of events. These included a covert military training exercise and the presence of a low flying fixed wing light plane, which may have been part of the exercise.


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