Retired RAF pilot reveals multiple close encounters with UFOs – including one shaped like the Michelin Man
A RETIRED RAF pilot who flew a Prime Minister, VIPs and the public around the world in a 47-year career has revealed his own close encounter with a UFO shaped like 'Michelin Man'.
Brian Burdett, 83, was flying a Royal Air Force VC10 at 35,000ft when the strange 'oil drum' shaped object appeared 25 miles north of Corsica.
He was en-route from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and was carrying RAF service personnel and their families to and from Singapore. They were daily flights.
Brian, who was acting Squadron Leader, was left baffled by the object which looked like a bright shiny oil drum.
Speaking for the first time about the sighting, he said: "Imagine a 56 gallon oil drum, the ones that come up to your hip and have those little bulges at regular intervals; imagine Michelin Man.
"Imagine also that it was not black or dirty but shining bright with an immense glare. It was suspended in our 11 o'clock position and above us.
"In real terms, had it been the real thing its apparent size put it 20 feet away but the inability to sense its relative distance was eerie because we could not work it out.
"We concluded it could have been a mile or several depending on its size, whatever that was. We lost sight of it when we could crane our heads no higher.
"It was impossible to focus on it in any normal way. The impression was that it could have been any size and at any distance. As I said, it was eerie.It was motionless relative to us."
He reported the incident to Nice ATC and two fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the UFO but the pilots saw nothing on radar.
STRANGE ENCOUNTER
Brian spotted the UFO first followed by co-pilot Vic Stanton (later to be a pilot for the Sultan of Oman), navigator Flight Lieutenant J.Moore and flight engineer Flight Sergeant Janes.
He added: "All four of us on the flight deck saw exactly what I saw, obviously, and agreed with my description.
"Furthermore, when I reported it to Nice ATC, a Pan-Am reported that he could see exactly what I saw and agreed with me. I don't doubt that all his crew saw it as well.
"There is no doubt in my mind that if this was not extra-terrestrial then it's strange it has never been developed on Earth and become common knowledge.
"It was so unnatural and out of the ordinary and beyond our normal expectations of what things are or appear to be. You had to see it to not believe it!"
Brian later reported the strange sighting through 'normal channels' but never heard back from the RAF or MOD.
The 1970 event was not the first time Brian, who was brought up in, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, has seen a UFO.
He said: "I've seen two other things that left me sure they were not earthly; one in c.1951 which was a light suspended in the distance which shot off at warp speed.
"In 1957 I was at RAF Trimingham escorting some visiting pilots from Belgium. We were being briefed in front of the huge screens when a klaxon sounded.
"We were immediately ushered out but I saw a white return on the screen shoot in a northerly direction from Holland at a massive speed and then stop dead. A few seconds later it set off again from abeam the Wash to around Scarborough in three or four seconds."
'NEVER A DOUBT'
There have been over 3,500 documented sightings of UFOs by military, civilian and commercial airline pilots but researchers believe many more are reluctant to report them officially for fear of ridicule or damage to their careers.
But Brian, who has written about his close encounters in his book, Forty-Seven Years Aloft, said: "I've never believed pilots are reluctant to report strange sightings.
"You don't encourage or discourage pilots regarding strange occurrences; they would always report them, in my opinion. Certainly, I have never seen any orders for or against.
"I've talked about it on rare occasions socially but not with other pilots, particularly."After a period as a trainer, Brian became the youngest four-jet captain in the world.
He then flew VIPs around Europe in the RAF’s VC10s, his passengers included the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson, among other VIPs.
Brian eventually turned to the commercial world, flying Falcons, VC 10s, Tristars and every type of Boeing 747, for a variety of airlines.
Brian’s last flight was into Los Angeles in an Airbus 340, in December 2000. He had 22,500 hours in his log book, after forty-seven years aloft.
By the time that he touched down on his last flight, Brian had flown more than 25 different types of aircraft both for the RAF and a variety of famous commercial airlines.
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Married twice with three sons and one daughter, Brian has four grand-children and three great- grand-children.
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He now lives in the Gers, France, with his wife Jaki and their dogs.
Forty-Seven Years Aloft is published by Air World books and costs £25.
