This article was published in the daily newspaper Evening Advertiser, Wiltshire, U-K, on Tuesday, August 5, 2003.
A RETIRED policeman who now spends his time chasing UFOs is looking for help from Swindonians to complete his research.
John Hanson, 57, retired from the police force in 1995 after nearly 30 years of service.
Shortly after, a colleague told him about an incident involving an Unidentified Flying Object hovering over trees in Birmingham.
He immediately became fascinated by the sightings and now spends his days researching the ins and outs of mysterious goings on. He hopes to attract the interest of a publisher later this year.
Now Mr Hanson, who lives in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, is appealing to the people of Swindon to help him solve a piece in the jigsaw.
The incident happened on the afternoon of November 24 1970 at Ridgeway Comprehensive School in Wroughton.
Mr Hanson who is a consultant for the Flying Saucer Review says hundreds of pupils and staff witnessed a black metallic disc shoot across the sky, apparently chased by RAF fighters.
"This incident forms just a tiny fraction of multi UFO phenomenon that I have studied over the past decade. "I am very keen to hear from anyone who was at the school on that day.
"Some people subscribe to the theory that it was being escorted by jets. I would love to hear from anybody who knows anything about this."
Mr Hanson says Wiltshire is a hotspot for UFO activity."It is quite interesting that the vast majority of sightings are above Roman roads and other ancient sites.
"Wiltshire certainly has no shortage of them, with Stonehenge, Avebury and Warminster being the most well known."
Mr Hanson can be contacted on his mobile phone on 07788 773340 or by writing to 31 Red Lion Street, Alvechurch, Worcester-shire, B48 7LG.
Wiltshire has long been a hotspot for spotting UFOs could this catalogue of mysterious sightings mean that we are being visited by creatures from outer space?
November 1970: A woman was returning to Swindon from Devizes with a friend one evening when they stopped to admire the view from the hill above Wroughton. Suddenly a large, yellow glowing light bolted over the Princess Margaret Hospital.
July 1970: A Cirencester woman was convinced that a cigar-shaped object she saw move over her home in Berry Hill Crescent was a spaceship. The woman was hanging washing and spotted the object shoot overhead at between 2,000- and 3,000-feet in the direction of Northleach.
May 1994: A Swindon couple claimed to have seen an orange-coloured triangular-shaped spacecraft hover above their Pinehurst home.
Mid-1960s: The quaint town of Warminster has become a Mecca for UFO sightings. People dubbed the sighting of a strange object The Thing, which took many forms by those who observed it between 1964 and 1977. In one year more than 1,000 sightings were recorded. Sceptics have insisted the strange lights come from military aircraft used on the Salisbury Plain.
August 29 1965: Gordon Faulkner then aged 17, photographed a UFO from Swindon town centre. The picture appeared in the national press and culminated in a number of sky-watches. In 1994 it was alleged that he had hoaxed the picture using a cotton reel and a button. He denied the claim.
May 1971: Twenty members from the Chippenham and Corsham 18 Plus Club, who spent a night out on the hills outside Warminster UFO-spotting, reported seeing a mysterious red flashing light. The object was travelling at about 200mph, around three miles from Elm Hill.
