Captain William Schaffner (born September 11, 1941 - September 8, 1970) was a pilot in the United States Air Force. He died in an incident in 1970 over the North Sea. Although unsubstantiated and in conflict with the official reports, UFO enthusiasts claim the incident was the result of contact with a UFO.
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In September 1970, Captain Schaffner was an American exchange pilot flying 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 took off to follow the object. His callsign was Foxtrot 94.
An object was picked up on radar at 20.18 by an operator at RAF Saxa Vord on the island of Unst in the north of the Shetland Islands. The object has travelling at 630 mph at 37,000 ft heading south-west between Norway and the Shetland Islands. It changed direction to south, and increased speed to 900 mph at 44,000 ft. Two Lightning planes were scrambled from RAF Leuchars in Fife, east Scotland. The object on the radar screen then inexplicably changed direction by 180 degrees and disappeared off the radar screen. The speed of the object at this point was later calculated to be around 17,000 mph. The object appeared a few times for the next hour, with planes being scrambled, only for the object to disappear from the radar screen again. Two USAF Phantoms were scrambled from the USAF base at Keflavik in Iceland. These planes had more sophisticated radar than the (British) Lightning planes. They were unable to intercept the object.
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 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 at 1,300 mph (twice the speed of sound) at 18,000 ft 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 at 530 mph ninety miles east of Whitby and parallel to the coast at 6,000 ft. It was tracked by RAF Staxton Wold in North Yorkshire.
When flying alongside the object, Captain Schaffner claimed the object was a conical shape with an intensely bright blue light. He also noticed a 'glass ball' flying nearby. Radio contact was lost with Captain Schaffner as the radar operator at RAF Staxton Wold saw both the unidentified object and the Lightning plane 'merge' on the radar screen. This merged object rapidly decelerated from 500 mph to become stationary at 6,000 ft over the North Sea. Two minutes later the object accelerated to 600 mph and climbed to 9,000 ft heading south. The object seen on the radar screen then separated into two with one object turning by 180 degrees, heading north-west and accelerating to 20,000 mph, and the other object continued at 600 mph descending slowly heading south. Radio contact was renewed with Captain Schaffner, who then complained of feeling dizzy and seeing shooting stars. The aircraft instruments were not working correctly. He claimed to have blacked out. He was told by the operator at RAF Staxton Wold to ditch the aircraft in the sea. The plane had enough fuel to reach Binbrook. The Shackleton then claimed to have observed the aircraft in the sea. Lifeboats searched the area.
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 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.