Hi All,
Thanks again for the info. To try and respond to several comments:
1. Re: noise at Calvine, we have a first-hand account from a directly involved source contemporaneous with the incident itself. The source told us that the witness was specifically asked what noise the diamond-shaped craft made, both when it was allegedly hovering and when it took off vertically. The source says that the witness was categorical: "It didn't make any noise at all." Nick Pope, in his book, claims to have learned years later that the craft made a ‘weird humming noise,’ but our source says that is definitely not what the witness said.
2. Yes, I did mean 233 OCU. That was my error. We were told by a former RAF Harrier pilot (flying in 1990) that in that year, 1 Squadron and 233 OCU were the only 2 Harrier units flying in the UK from RAF Wittering. Of course, others did come back for various reasons, including low-level flying.
3. Re: Harriers in August 1990, there's a good article here outlining several of the squadrons' activities:
https://www.uapmedia.uk/articles/calvineupdate
4. To date, I believe we have not found any official record of any Harriers over Scotland in August 1990. I believe the closest we've found a unit to have come to Scotland in 1990 was three GR.3s from No.4 Sqn which went to RAF Chivenor at the start of the month and which did sorties over Wales. (EDIT: We assume there must have been some Harriers flying in Scotland, but proving it is another matter.)
5. Strike Attack Operational Evaluation Unit remains an unknown. I have FOI requests in with MoD and TNA asking what, if any, records are held. We also knew that 800/801 operated Sea Harriers, but we just wanted to be thorough in looking at every possibility for which records exist.
6. Re: Haraka's points, [1] We are attempting to establish the provenance of the evidence in having these conversations. Yes, we agree that we don't know if the evidence is wholly genuine. But we disagree that that means we shouldn't try to investigate. [2] Re: the lack of knowledge on the part of 12 former Harrier pilots, we really don't know what it means. We've found 12 who've not known anything. Is that a lot? We don't know how many there were in 1990 in total. We've also only got the MoD's word for it that the aeroplane in the photo was a Harrier and that it was seen on the date in question, plus the MoD destroyed everything else it ever possessed. We also don't know if the assumed Harrier pilot(s) at Calvine in 1990 ever told anyone about what he/they had seen, or if they were flying from experimental bases, for the Americans, or for BAe. If he/they have never spoken out, the lack of knowledge on the part of other mainstream RAF Harrier pilots is understandable. We certainly do know, though, that colour and black-and-white photos did exist and were seen by multiple people up to at least 1998, including several members of PPRuNe.
7. I have received messages regarding West Freugh as a likely site of operations and BAe (or other private, arms-length, aviation companies) as a likely source of the Harrier(s) and/or the diamond. If that was truly the case, we have few to any options, as BAe et al aren't "FOIAable".
8. Presently, one of the biggest issues for me is that we are yet to find anyone who worked at JARIC in 1990. I'd be extremely keen to talk to anyone who was there. If anyone has any contacts, I'd be very grateful if they'd privately let me know.
Thank you.