Did an alien spacecraft hover over the streets of Shepparton on a cold winter’s night back in 1947?

A former Victorian policeman has broken his nearly 70-year silence on what he claimed was a close encounter with a flying object not of this earth.

Neil John McIntyre, who would have been just 12 at the time, claimed that he saw an alien spacecraft when he was walking home late one night in June 1947.

He claimed he saw the spacecraft as he was heading home after a night out with his friend, Max Carlos, at a billiard saloon at Wyndham St.

‘‘It was a Sunday, and it was a cold, dark night,’’ Mr McIntyre said.

‘‘We finished at about a quarter past nine and made our way home.’’

According to his recollection of the evening, he and Max saw a UFO hovering above the street, just metres from them.

He claimed that it stayed in the air for a good four to five minutes, as he and Max stood and watched, completely dumbfounded by what they were seeing.

‘‘I was not so much scared, but surprised,’’ he said.

‘‘It was a bit smaller than a Melbourne tram, it was similar to flying saucers seen around the world.

‘‘You could clearly see two guys (in the craft) that we called aliens in the front cockpit.’’

He claimed the two aliens had no hair, or glasses and looked humanoid in shape, but not human and were looking at a lamp post in the street.

‘‘Their hands were not in my view, but I got the impression they were controlling some sort of instrument,’’ he said. ‘‘It might have been extracting power from the lamp post.’’

As he and his friend looked on in wonder, he claimed the spacecraft then flew away in the direction of Dookie.

After the encounter, he said this friend Max drew pictures of what they claimed to have seen in the sky.

‘‘Maxy Carlos was emphatic not to tell anyone,’’ he said.

Although he does not remember the exact date, he remembered it was a few days after or before the Roswell Incident, a famous encounter in UFO folklore where the US Airforce is said to have recovered a spaceship that crashed in the New Mexico desert.

His friend Max Carlos eventually become famous for his feats in the ring as a professional boxer, and because of their friendship, Neil stayed true to his work to not speak of the incident.

Neil eventually joined the Victorian Police force and is retired and living on the Gold Coast.

With Max having died, Neil in his twilight years finally decided it was time to break his silence about what he claimed to have seen in the sky all those years ago.

‘‘All I could say is it’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,’’ he said.