No, that's not a crashed drone. It's a TIE fighter replica | Fact check
The claim: Image shows drone that crashed in Alabama in December 2024
A Dec. 16 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows what appears to be an aircraft on the back of a flatbed truck and claims the image was captured in a city on Alabama’s Gulf Coast.
“Breaking News: Crashed drone in Orange Beach retrieved from water, and taken to undisclosed location for further investigation," reads on-screen text in the post.
The post’s caption goes on to question how government officials have explained a spate of drone sightings across the U.S. “That doesn't look anything like a hobby drone to me," the caption reads in part. "Not that I believed the legacy media.”
A similar version of the claim was shared on Facebook more than 100 times in two days. It also was amplified on X by a Pennsylvania state senator and former gubernatorial candidate.
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Our rating: False
The image has circulated online since at least February 2023 and shows a replica spacecraft from the "Star Wars" movies.
Image predates reports of drone sightings by nearly two years
Federal investigators have fielded thousands of tips and reports of drone sightings but have found no evidence of nefarious or threatening activity, instead explaining them as drones used for commercial, hobbyist or law enforcement purposes, manned aircraft and stars. The Facebook post taps into those concerns, and its use of the phrase “breaking news” suggests it is from December 2024.
But that’s false. The image predates the reported drone sightings by at least a year and a half.
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It was previously shared to Imgur in February 2023 with the caption, “Who ordered the TIE Fighter!?” – a reference to a spacecraft from the "Star Wars" series of films.
The trailer shown in the Facebook image carrying the replica is from Glenn Custom Manufacturing in Delhi, California, as shown by the company name, logo and telephone number. Another Imgur user shared an image of a matching truck, trailer and aircraft, and its caption states it shows the Almond Blossom Festival Parade in Ripon, California. The craft also is shown in an image posted by that city's chamber of commerce. Another image of the TIE fighter and trailer circulating online was also taken in the same area of California.
Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Republican who lost the 2022 governor's race to Democrat Josh Shapiro, shared the image in a Dec. 16 X post in which he criticized the federal government because it “has no answers nor has taken any action to get to the bottom of the unidentified drones.”
A day after he shared that post, Mastriano said in a follow-up Facebook post that the image he used is “an obvious Star Wars prop as a meme” and ridiculed a Philadelphia newspaper reporter who contacted him for comment, calling the action “hilarious” and “modern-day ‘journalism.’” However, his original post was serious in tone and included no indication the image was a joke or meme.
Paste BN reached out to Mastriano’s office and to several social media users who shared the claim but did not immediately receive any responses.
Our fact-check sources
- @TheRainbowegoSweet007, Feb. 26, 2023, Imgur post
- @THofTheShire, Feb. 27, 2023, Imgur post
- Ripon Chamber of Commerce, accessed Dec. 17, 61st Annual Almond Blossom Festival Parade Results
- Ripon Chamber of Commerce, accessed Dec. 17, What is the Almond Blossom Festival?
- Ag Source, accessed Dec. 17, Glenn Custom Manufacturing
- Star Wars, accessed Dec. 17, TIE Fighter
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