I remember an incident that occurred during the first few days of 1989 when I was on active duty with the US Navy at Cecil Field Naval Air Station in Florida. I was assigned to one of the many work centers inside the base's aircraft electronics repair facility (officially, the Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Department or AIMD). A shipmate and good buddy of mine at the time was back from a few weeks stay at our naval air base in Puerto Rico—Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station. I greeted him when I first saw him in the AIMD work center at Cecil Field and quickly noticed that he seemed a bit down. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that the Puerto Rico base's F-14 fighter squadron had just lost two aircraft (this would have included two pilots—and two radar intercept officers who flew back seat). The following is how our conversation went according to memory.
I was surprised when he said two aircraft, and I asked, "Are you serious?" And he replied, "Yeah" .
I thought a moment then said, "Midair collision?" But, much to my astonishment, he said, "No" .
I then asked, "What do you mean, no midair collision? How, then, could they lose two airplanes the same day?"
I noticed that he didn't seem to want to go into detail for some strange reason. This was not normal
for him. Normally, this man, a dedicated sailor and skilled technician, would have been eager to tell me
anything he could about an aircraft mishap including his own speculations. But, not this time.
The navy would lose a plane somewhere ever so often and we would usually get word of it very
quickly through unofficial channels in the naval aviation community—and personnel were usually eager
to pass on what news they could. I knew my shipmate had friends in that squadron from previous visits
he had made to Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station or, "N.A.S. Rosy Roads", as we always called it. But, it
was unusual to hear of two planes being lost in one day and even more unusual for it not to be due to a
midair collision. And, as if that wasn't enough, it was becoming even more unusual because he was
being reluctant to talk about it. I pressed him.
"Well, what happened?" "Oh, I can't really talk about it" , he said. "There's an investigation still ongoing..."
That had never stopped any of us before from spreading news of an aircraft mishap. Suddenly, I got the impression that he had been told not to talk.
But, I asked, "Well, can you tell me anything else" ?
He basically added only that the two planes were lost at apparently the same time—definitely on the same day, for sure. And that it was—for some strange reason—very "hush-hush". This didn't make sense to me. We aviation maintenance guys had a "grapevine" that was fleet-wide. Anything significant to know about would be spread pretty quickly. Usually, whenever one of our navy aircraft squadrons would lose a plane, we would find out about it quickly then wait for details to come in later. And, usually, the information was pretty reliable. But, apparently nothing was coming out regarding this incident. I had hoped that maybe I would hear something, later. But, after considerable effort to find follow-up information over the next few weeks, I realized that the investigation had indeed been handled as top secret.
This was unusual. I often wondered what must have happened. And, although, in the next few years, I found myself visiting the base at Puerto Rico for a few weeks at a time on a number of occasions, I never thought to ask anyone on the base or in that particular squadron what had happened to those two aircraft on that fateful day. With all the distractions of navy life, I simply did not think about it very much over the following years.
In 1992, I was discharged from the US Navy and went back into civilian life after 10 years of service
total. In the following years, I had my first recognizable UFO sighting and by 1999 had decided to
become a UFO investigator. Around 2007, I was skimming through a UFO book and happened to notice
a UFO case involving two US Navy F-14 fighter planes. I didn't even make a connection at first, but then,
I suddenly remembered the incident back at Cecil Field where my shipmate had told me of a squadron
losing two F-14s at the same time but not due to a midair collision. Was the incident in 1988 really a
UFO incident? I read on. I saw in the book the exact date and location of the incident and realized that
this had to be one and the same.
The author stated in his book that on December 28, 1988, at approximately 7:45 pm, a large triangle craft roughly the size of a baseball field was seen moving steadily along in the region near the naval air station in Puerto Rico, according to many witnesses (over a hundred). Three F-14s intercepted the moving UFO and apparently tried to force it to change its course. As the navy fighter planes engaged the large craft, it slowed down its forward speed almost to a standstill. One plane, in particular, stayed mostly to the right of the UFO and another stayed behind the UFO making close approaches at times. The third plane apparently stayed a bit farther out. The F-14 in the rear came close to the object, but as it flew either over or under the object, it was not seen again. Small red lights were also seen at times flying outside the large craft and may have served to protect the craft. It was as if the fighter plane had somehow been drawn into the large craft. The second aircraft made a sweep closer to the large object and was seen by one ground witness—using binoculars—to suddenly disappear—possibly being taken in by the UFO. The third F-14 reportedly high-tailed it out of the area on afterburner with glowing red lights chasing after it apparently in pursuit, according to ground witnesses.
Just after the unidentified craft had confiscated the two fighters, it began to steadily descend almost to the ground. In a blinding flash of yellow light, the large craft divided into two sections—actually, two separate craft. They both quickly flew off in different directions—one heading in the direction of the escaping F-14. The story goes that there was an immediate government cover-up and the military denied the entire story of an unidentified craft. Rear Admiral David Rogers, Deputy Assistant Chief of Naval Operations, in response to an inquiry, told a member of the House of Representatives, that no aircraft mishaps had even occurred during the time of the reported incident and that no aircraft had been lost. (I know better.)
I was amazed by the fact that, after 20 years, I was able to confirm an astonishing UFO encounter directly involving the military. And, I was personally familiar with this very incident—at least from its outer periphery. I knew for a fact that the US Navy in Puerto Rico did indeed lose two F-14s in one day and that there was a top secret investigation—the only time in my navy career that I could not get a follow-up on an aircraft mishap.
In recent years, I discovered that Puerto Rico has been a hotbed for reports and claims of UFO activity including some wildly fascinating reports from many residents in certain areas of the island involving personal contact with nonhuman beings, sightings of strange animal creatures—and underground facilities with many nonhuman residents.
Some of the hottest areas for ET activity are reported to be around the naval base on the eastern end of the island as well as areas along the southwestern corner of Puerto Rico. UFOs have also been seen going into the waters in these areas. Many residents, some with considerable credibility—have claimed to see UFOs all over Puerto Rico since around 1930—including a 1992 sighting of a saucer-shaped craft being chased by a military jet observed by Freddie Cruz—then director of the Civil Defense Agency of Lajas, Puerto Rico.
Detailed accounts can be found on the Internet and in the books, "Alien Contact" and "Alien Liaison", both by Timothy Good.
