Calvine Photo Incident — Key Persons Directory
| 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 — Key Persons Directory
[edit | edit source]Witnesses
[edit | edit source]Kevin Russell (alleged photographer)
[edit | edit source]Kevin Russell - Name written on the reverse of the Craig Lindsay print in red chinagraph pencil — the standard attribution used by newspaper picture editors in 1990. The name was apparently provided by the witnesses when they submitted their photographs to the Daily Record. Intensive searches have not produced a confirmed individual. A photograph of someone of this name who worked as a kitchen porter at a Pitlochry hotel in summer 1990 was published in the Daily Record in March 2023; when located in 2024, this individual denied any knowledge of the UFO sighting. The name may be a pseudonym, the identity may have been protected, or the attribution may relate to someone other than the photographer.
The Second Witness
[edit | edit source]The name of the second witness has never been publicly established. Craig Lindsay interviewed one of the two witnesses by phone in August 1990 — the witness was working at a hotel in Pitlochry. Whether the one interviewed was Russell or his companion is not confirmed. The second witness has never come forward publicly.
Richard Grieve
[edit | edit source]Richard Grieve - A contemporary of the witnesses, who worked at Fisher's Hotel in Pitlochry in summer 1990. Came forward in July 2022 after the photograph's publication. Provided the statement that the two photographers were chefs at Fisher's Hotel (though Craig Lindsay recalled the hotel as the Atholl Palace). Described the witnesses becoming frightened and absent from work after people "wearing black suits came in a black car." His account is the most detailed second-hand account of the witnesses' immediate post-sighting experience.
Official Personnel
[edit | edit source]Craig Lindsay
[edit | edit source]Craig Lindsay - RAF Press Officer for Scotland; based at RAF Pitreavie Castle near Edinburgh. Received the best Calvine print from the Daily Record in August 1990; interviewed one witness by phone; made three photocopies and faxed one to MoD; retained the original print and envelope in his possession from 1990 to 2022. When Clarke contacted him in August 2021: "I've been waiting for someone to call me about this for 30 years!" Donated the print and materials to Sheffield Hallam University on June 27, 2022. His 32-year personal custody of the only surviving original print is the reason the photograph exists in public hands.
Nick Pope
[edit | edit source]Nick Pope - Former MoD civil servant; ran the UFO desk (Secretariat Air Staff 2a) from 1991 to 1994 at Top Secret / SCI clearance. Had access to the original Calvine negatives and prints during his MoD tenure. Described seeing a poster-sized print of the best photograph in the UFO desk briefing room — later removed by his superiors with the instruction "no further action." First publicly mentioned the Calvine incident in his 1996 book Open Skies, Closed Minds. Worked with a graphic artist to produce a 2015 reconstruction of the best image. Acknowledged awareness of the name Kevin Russell in a February 2025 Guardian interview but declined to comment.
Owen Hartop
[edit | edit source]Owen Hartop - MoD UFO desk officer at the time of the Calvine sighting; prepared the September 1990 government briefing and the unusual defensive press briefing for the case.
Andy Allen
[edit | edit source]Andy Allen - Picture editor at the Scottish Daily Record at the time of the sighting. Received the photographs from the witnesses; forwarded them to Craig Lindsay at RAF Pitreavie rather than publishing them; his editorial decision not to publish remains unexplained by the paper.
Researchers and Analysts
[edit | edit source]Dr David Clarke
[edit | edit source]Dr David ClarkeAssociate Professor, Sheffield Hallam University; journalist; folklore researcher; former MoD UFO files consultant. Identified Craig Lindsay through FOI research in 2021; conducted the investigation that led to the photograph's public release in 2022; continues to investigate the witness identity question. His work on the Calvine case is the most substantive investigative contribution to any UK UFO case in recent decades.
Andrew Robinson
[edit | edit source]Andrew Robinson - Photography specialist and lecturer, Sheffield Hallam University. Conducted the detailed photographic analysis of the original Craig Lindsay print. His conclusion: the photograph is genuine; the image is the same as the 1990 photocopy faxed to the MoD and the Vu-Foil copies in the National Archives. His 34-page analysis report (updated 2024) is the definitive technical assessment of the surviving photograph.
The DI55 Source
[edit | edit source]An unnamed Defence Intelligence Officer whose claim to Clarke — that the Calvine object was a US classified platform from RAF Machrihanish — triggered the renewed investigation in 2018. This source's identity has not been publicly disclosed. Their claim remains the most specific inside account of what the MoD believed the photographs showed.
