My wife and I were walking along a road that paralelled the west side of North Manistique Lake. We had walked a half mile (south) past a large curve in the road that bends to the west and then south. On our nightly walks it was not unusual to see headlights from the cars coming around the curve. We saw lights coming and based upon the distance (1/2 mile) I knew I had about 20 seconds to get off the blacktop and walk on the shoulder. As I looked back to approximate the rate of closure the lights accelerated and a blinding flash went off over our heads. I winced in the expectation of a thunder clap (or something)for about a second, then looked up to see any sign of an air vehicle passsing over. There was no sound produced during the flash and I saw nothing in the sky. It was a perfectly clear (starlit) night and snow was covering the ground. The flash reminded me of the old poloroid camera bulbs back in the 60s. After searching the skies for a few seconds I checked my wrist watch to see if a time lapse had ocurred. It had not. My wife's instinct was to go back to our cottage and check on the safety of our children. I did not want to go back, so we continued on for a mile and then returned on the same route. Whatever it was, it appeared to be following the road around the curve and then passed over us. I was a former military helicopter pilot for many years. The acceleration of the UFO, along with the absence of any noise, struck me as very odd. I would like to know if this type of sighting is common.