The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

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# Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0

percent. . . gives any firm support for the belief that interlopers from other places in this world or outside it have been visiting us." [61.]

The New Zealand Embassy in 1963 said their government had never stated any policy on UFOs and that "a policy on this subject has never been warranted."

In mid-December 1954 a Royal Australian Navy pilot was flying back to Nowra air base after dark when "two strange aircraft resembling flying saucers" took up formation with him. The pilot called Nowra air control, whose radar showed three objects flying together. The pilot identified himself by moving according to pattern. Upon landing, the pilot said the two UFOs were much faster than his Seafury fighter. [62.]

As a result of hundreds of similar UFO reports, there are a number of UFO groups in Australia. NICAP member Peter E. Norris, an attorney in Melbourne, heads the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society, which publishes "Flying Saucer Review" (not to be confused with a publication of the same name in London).

On October 16, 1957 Air Marshal Sir George Jones sighted a UFO resembling a balloon with a white light on the bottom, except that it sped past silently at an altitude of about 500 feet. "Nothing can shake me from my belief in what I saw," he said. Interviewed by Mr. Norris, he admitted he had no explanation for the sighting. Sir George Jones is the former Commander-in-Chief of the RAAF.

During the November 1957 "flap" in the western hemisphere, Australia also was flooded with sightings. Mr. Norris reported that "during early November UFO reports came from all Australian states except Tasmania."

The most prominent UFO organization in New Zealand is Civilian Saucer Investigation headed by Harold H. Fulton, a Sergeant in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Mr. Fulton is now a NICAP Adviser. C.S.I. publishes a bulletin named "Space Probe," however, it has recently been suspended while Mr. Fulton has been on a tour of active duty with the RNZAF. Over the years, Mr. Fulton has contributed dozens of good cases to NICAP and actively publicized serious UFO evidence in his country.

A National New Zealand Airlines plane was enroute to Auckland, N.Z., from Wellington on the night of October 31, 1955. At the controls was Capt. W. T. Rainbow. The co-pilot was S. G. Trounce. A bright object, changing color repeatedly, came from behind the plane on a parallel course, flew alongside, passed the plane and disappeared in the distance. Capt. Rainbow estimated the UFOs' speed at about 850 mph. The strange object, unlike any aircraft, pulsated in colors of red, yellow, orange, and blue.

One of the potentially most important pieces of evidence for UFOs is a secret motion picture film purporting to show a saucerlike UFO climbing steeply over Port Moresby, New Guinea. The film was taken August 31, 1953 by Mr. T. C. Drury, Deputy Regional Director of Civil Aviation. According to Reuters news agency, the film was sent to Air Technical Intelligence Center in Dayton, Ohio, for analysis. The USAF analysis report has never been released.

## C. OCEAN & ANTARCTIA

UFOs have been sighted at sea, in the islands of the major oceans, and in Antarctica. Reports from ships' officers are of unusual interest because they are experienced sky observers, familiar with the stars and planets and other astronomical and atmospheric phenomena.

A well-qualified scientific observer aboard an ice-breaker in Admiralty Bay, Antartica, sighted a luminous object which divided into two parts while flying on a level course below an overcast. This phenomenon was observed by Rubens J. Villela, Brazilian meteorologist, March 16, 1961. [Section VI.]

## Pacific Ocean

Two objects "like small moons" were observed June 18, 1957 about 150 miles off San Francisco. Capt. C. O. Wertz, Roy Melton, electrician, and other crew members of the freighter "Hawaiian Fisherman" at 8:00 p.m., watched the objects pacing the freighter. Then 15 minutes later a third UFO joined the first two, making a V, and followed the ship. [63.]

A missionary, and four natives in a separate location, in the

Fiji Islands witnessed a circular white UFO which descended and hovered about 20 feet above the sea during the night of October 8, 1957. The UFO was revolving and gave off a blinding beam of light as the natives approached it in their boat. The natives reported seeing a man-like figure on top of the object. [64.]

Trans-Oceanic pilots have often sighted strange aerial phenomena, but are reluctant to talk about their experiences. Capt. Willis T. Sperry, American Airlines pilot whose plane was circled by an elliptical UFO May 29, 1950 [Section V.] stated in 1951:

"I have talked to just as many pilots who have seen strange occurrences while flying and have not reported it, as have reported the incident. The ones who did not report it feared adverse publicity. . . Several P.A.A. [Pan American Airways] pilots have seen unexplained objects far from land - one near Australia, several between the mainland of California and Hawaii, and two that I talked to out there [in the Far East] said they saw an object close enough so they could describe it in some detail. . ." [65.]

The sighting of a formation of UFOs east of Hawaii by the crews of several aircraft July 11, 1959 was reported widely by Associated Press, United Press International and Hawaiian newspapers. NICAP interviewed several of the civilian witnesses; the crews of Air Force planes were not available.

Capt. George Wilson, Pan American Airways, gave the following account: "While flying a Boeing Stratocruiser at 20,000 feet on a 224 degree heading [about 900 nautical miles northeast of Honolulu] a large and bright light appeared on the horizon at 11 o'clock position [SSW]. The large bright light was flanked by 3 or 4 smaller lower magnitude lights in a line below, behind and to the left of the main vehicle. The lights passed from 11 o'clock to 10 o'clock position, the formation made an abrupt right turn and disappeared to the south."

The co-pilot, Richard Lorenzen, and Flight Engineer Bob Scott, also saw the UFOs. Lorenzen commented that "the rate of closure with us was much greater than any I had ever experienced before. It was not until the object turned that I was able to distinguish the smaller lights associated with it."

First Officer D. W. Frost, on another Pan American flight in the vicinity, reported essentially the same phenomenon. The UFOs were also observed by Air Force bomber crews, a Slick Airways plane, and a Canadian Pacific airliner. Capt. Lloyd Moffatt, pilot of the Canadian airliner, told the press: "You can take it from me they were there. I never saw anything like it in my life and there are four of us who saw the same thing at the same time."

For about 10 minutes at 7:00 a.m. (Honolulu time), September 21, 1961, two airliners and a U.S. ship at sea observed a UFO simultaneously. The object passed overhead, apparently at extremely high altitude, angling southeasterly above the North Pacific. (See map.)

Reports from the Federal Aviation Agency, and the U.S. Navy Oceanographic Office publication "Notice to Mariners," establish the following facts.

At 1700 Greenwich Mean Time, the S. S. Iberville, north and east of Midway Island, noticed a white object about 20 degrees above the NW horizon. Its apparent angular size was about 1 degree (twice the apparent size of the full moon). For about 10 minutes, the UFO was observed passing over the ship headed southeast. As it neared the ship's meridian, it resembled a huge halo with a bright object in the center. The apparent size increased to over four times the size of the full moon. [See Notice to Mariners report, reproduced below.]

At the same time, a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) airliner about 800 miles northeast of the ship saw the object overtake the plane. From a steep angle above the plane, the UFO continued southeasterly and disappeared over the horizon. Capt. R. F. Griffin described the UFO as "like a large smoke ring about 2 degrees in diameter [about 4 times the size of the full moon]." He said the center of the ring was clear sky, and once a star was visible through it. A ray of light seemed to project downward from the object.

A Pan American Airways plane, about 400 miles southeast of Capt. Griffin's position, confirmed the report. The pilot re-