Calvine Photo Incident — David Clarke and the Investigation (2018–2022)

Calvine Photo Incident — David Clarke and the Investigation (2018–2022)

Incident Name:	The Calvine Photo
Incident Date:	August 4, 1990
Location:	Scottish Highlands
City/Town :	Calvine
Country :	Scottland
Shape :	Diamond-shaped
Case Files :	Calvine Photo Incident Case Files

Calvine Photo Incident — David Clarke and the Investigation (2018–2022)

David Clarke's Background

Field	Detail
Full name	Dr David Clarke
Position	Associate Professor, Department of Media Arts and Communication, Sheffield Hallam University
Academic speciality	Media law; journalism; contemporary legend and folklore
PhD	Folklore; completed at National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, 1999
MoD UFO files role	Consultant and curator to the MoD UFO files project with The National Archives, 2008–2013
Books on UFOs	The UFO Files (exploring MoD archives); How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth (2015)
Calvine investigation period	2018 — renewed interest; 2020–2021 — intensive investigation; 2021 — contact with Lindsay; 2022 — publication
Team	Vinnie Adams; Matthew Illsley; Giles Stevens; Andrew Robinson (photography analysis)

The DI55 Source

Clarke's renewed investigation in 2018 was triggered by a claim from a Defence Intelligence Officer — a source within the British defence establishment — that the Calvine witnesses had photographed a classified US black project aircraft that "to this day remains Top Secret." This source provided Clarke with specific information:

• The platform had been flown from RAF Machrihanish on the Mull of Kintyre
• It had been escorted by UK and US aircraft
• The photographs had been carefully kept out of the public domain for three decades
• "There was nothing extraterrestrial about what was seen in Scotland. No one else other than the Americans had anything like it at the time. But we knew what it was."

This source's claim — that the object was identified as a US classified platform — is the most specific inside information about the Calvine photographs ever provided from within the defence establishment. It contradicts Nick Pope's account that no firm conclusion was reached, but the two positions may be reconcilable: a conclusion reached at a level above Pope's clearance would not necessarily have been communicated to him.

The Freedom of Information Route

Clarke's FOI work produced the breakthrough identification of Craig Lindsay. The handwritten MoD summary released in the National Archives (DEFE 24/1940/1, page 113) mentioned that a report had been passed to "RAF Press Officer, Pitreavie MHQ" — but the name and phone number had been redacted. Clarke successfully identified Lindsay as the person in the post at the time and first contacted him in August 2021.

The Contact with Craig Lindsay

In their first phone call in August 2021, Lindsay's immediate response to Clarke's inquiry was: "I've been waiting for someone to call me about this for 30 years!"***

Over subsequent interviews, Lindsay disclosed:

• That the Daily Record had provided him with a print of one of the images
• His telephone interview with one of the witnesses at a Pitlochry hotel
• His possession of the original print throughout the intervening 32 years
• His retention of the original envelope and his three 1990 photocopies

The 2022 Visit and Publication

In May 2022, Clarke traveled to Calvine to interview Lindsay in person. Lindsay showed Clarke the original print. On June 27, 2022, at RAF Pitreavie Castle, Lindsay donated the print, envelope, and photocopies to Sheffield Hallam University's Special Collections. Clarke immediately took the image to Andrew Robinson, a photography specialist at the university, who conducted an in-depth analysis.

The photograph was published publicly for the first time on August 12–13, 2022, in the Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday — 32 years after the sighting. Media coverage was extensive, with outlets variously describing the image as the "best UFO picture ever taken" and the "World's clearest UFO photo."

The Ongoing Witness Search

Despite the photograph's publication, the witness identity question remained open. Clarke's team conducted:

• A search contacting more than 400 people named "Kevin Russell" worldwide
• Media appeals in Scottish local newspapers
• Follow-up with former hotel colleagues including Richard Grieve
• Investigation that produced a photograph of a Kevin Russell who worked as a kitchen porter at a Pitlochry hotel in summer 1990 (published Daily Record, March 2023)
• Contact with the identified individual in 2024 — who denied any knowledge of the UFO sighting