Phoenix Lights And Kurt Russell: Mystery Solved?

It may have been the largest mass viewing of a UFO ever recorded. It was March 13, 1997 and thousands from Phoenix to Sonora reported seeing six lights flying in formation in the sky.

One of the mysteries was a pilot who reportedly had seen the lights while flying toward Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The pilot was with his son and radioed the tower.

There were at least two distinct sightings - one of which would later be explained as a group of Air National Guard planes dropping flares.

But, the mystery of the lights persisted along with the question of, who was the pilot who first reported the lights. (Subscribe to local news alerts on Patch).

Now, it turns out that there may be an answer - actor Kurt Russell.

In an interview taped in April for the BBC's, 'The One Show," Russell copped to being the pilot.

"I was flying him to go see his girlfriend, and we're on approach, and I saw six lights over the airport, absolutely uniform, in a V-shape," he said.

Russell says his son asked him what they were and, not sure, he radioed to the tower to ask if there were any planes in the area.

They said no, he says.

"Okay," Russell told the interviewer. "I'm going to declare it's unidentified, it's flying and it's six objects.”

Russell said he flew back to Los Angeles and forgot about it. Until two years later.

His wife - actress Goldie Hawn - was watching a show on UFOs, he says, when he hard the announcer talking about a sighting over Phoenix spotted by a pilot and his son.

"I'd never thought of it since then,' he said, "I said, 'That was me. That was me.'

"Had I never seen that show, I never would have thought of it again."

It's not clear why Russell never told anyone after that.

It's worth noting that Russell made the disclosure during an appearance to promote the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie in which Russell plays an extraterrestrial who visits Earth.

WATCH RUSSELL TALKING ABOUT SEEING THE UFO

Photo screenshot via BBC Facebook page.