Calvine Photo Hoax Theories

[JMartJr]

It was thirty-six years ago. The world wasn't so paranoid as it is now.

1990 was the year before the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. The Baltic states were separating themselves from Soviet domination. Gulf War 1 kicked off. At least a little (maybe even justified) paranoia was probably hanging around... ^_^

And the supposition that it was a genuine craft of some sort would have been seen as ridiculous by anyone who read their description of the supposed capabilities of the object in flight, let alone the silly "extraterrestrial" connotations. The MOD consisted of serious people, not a group to fall for schoolboy pranks.

Absolutely agree on this.

 

[NorCal Dave]

he MOD consisted of serious people, not a group to fall for schoolboy pranks.

You mean, unlike our DoD, with "serious" people like Elizondo, Stratton, Stublebine, Channing, Grusch, Gallaudet, Barber and a host of others? I would assume the MoD has similar "serious" people. The late Nick Pope, a MoD civilian really created the modern myth of the Calvine photo.

 

[JMartJr]

You mean, unlike our DoD, with "serious" people like Elizondo, Stratton, Stublebine, Channing, Grusch, Gallaudet, Barber and a host of others?

Worth noting that:

The Department of Defense is responsible for providing the military forces needed to deter war and protect the security of our country. The major elements of these forces are the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, consisting of about 1.3 million men and women on active duty. They are backed, in case of emergency, by the 825,000 members of the Reserve and National Guard. In addition, there are about 600,000 civilian employees in the Defense Department.

Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/defense-department

Out of that pool of people, a handful of woo-enthusiasts does not seem surprising. Though smaller than the US DoD/DoW, the MoD in Britain is large enough that, statistically, you'd expect some there as well. That is not inconsistent with the view that these organizations are/were essentially made up of "serious people."

One could argue that, these days, this may be less true looking at information beyond how many UFO fans are working there. But current events can't have had much of an impact on whether MoD was well-constituted to spot silly hoaxes in 1990.