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One of the first US Navy pilots to have encountered the famed tic-tac UFO off the coast of San Diego has said there are tapes “missing”.

Commander David Fravor was flying one of the two F/A-18E/F Super Hornets that had taken off from the USS Nimitz, during a combat exercise on November 14, 2004.

They were directed to change course and investigate an unidentified object spotted on another carrier’s, the USS Princeton, radar.

To their amazement, the two fighter jets saw a tic-tac shaped object flying at incredible speeds above a mysterious turbulent area of water below.

When they returned to the USS Nimitz, a second team was sent out to investigate and again saw the object – and this time it was all caught on camera.

(Image: YOUTUBE/TO THE STARS ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCE)

The footage was made famous by a 2017 New York Times article, but Fravor has since suggested there may be more information out there.

He appeared on The Fighter Pilot Podcast earlier this year to recount his experience, where he made an interesting revelation.

“All the radar tapes from the Princeton are missing and they can’t find,” Fravor told host and former US Navy pilot Vincent Aiello.

“I was chatting to someone at the archives and they’ve said someone has taken that page from the logbook.”

He then explained that, soon after returning from their encounter, he made copies of the tapes which also disappeared.

“We copied the tapes and wrapped them up and stuff them in the space,” Fravor added.

“They were put in a safe on the Princeton and they stayed there.

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“We came back from a cruise and they were there.

“But then, somehow, they disappeared – no one knows where they went.

“There have been several COs (Commanding Officers) since then, no one knows where they went.”

Commander Fravor has previously said a mysterious “ dark mass ” was spotted emerging from the ocean and swallowing a torpedo – some 10 years before the Nimitz incident.

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The news comes just days after another witness of the encounter suggested there was clearer footage of the UFO that had not been released.

Jason Turner - a Petty Officer on the USS Princeton at the time – said the video showed the craft had legs protruding from it.

And a former US Navy Senior Chief Operations Specialist has since come out saying the UFOs were “ always there” .