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This FAB CENDOC file, released through The Black Vault, holds material from 1978. Part of it is an issue of International UFO Reporter, edited by J. Allen Hynek, with a long report on the October 21, 1978 disappearance of pilot Fred Valentich over Bass Strait. That report includes his radio transcript, the search, and the competing explanations. The file also has a Brazilian newspaper clipping and a Fourth Regional Air Command investigation of a July 1978 landing report by eleven-year-old Dalton Legnaioli in Penha, São Paulo.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
CASE TIME PLACE NUMBER OF WITNESSES DURATION #1 2 PM Currie, King Island 1 (young woman) 10 min. APPEARANCE: Silver "golfball"-shape, 2 times the size of a small plane. BEHAVIOR: Seen 70° up in sky; moved out of a cloud, east to west toward the sea, very high up. After moving away a distance, it stopped and backed up slowly. #2 3 PM Corio, Geelong 13 (teenage boys) 10-15 min. APPEARANCE: Two cigars connected by shiny pipes. No wings seen. Metallic silk color against a bright blue sky. BEHAVIOR: Very slow travel directly overhead, moving west to east. #3 4:15 PM Cape Otway 2 (mother & son) APPEARANCE: Two cigars with fins at the rear—no wings—bright, gleaming silver, which became white. BEHAVIOR: Coming from the SW, 75° up. Flying in close, precise formation. Then they swept north with "jet-like" speed. (FRED VALENTICH SIGHTING HERE, FROM 7:06 to 7:12 PM) #4 7:10 PM Frankston 3 (mother & 2 kids) (1 mile of driving) APPEARANCE: Red/pink/white "skyrocket". BEHAVIOR: Seen up over the hills in the east. #5 7:10 PM Brooklyn 2 (bank mgr. & wife) (see text) APPEARANCE: Solid mass of light with 4 vivid projections. Green flashing lights on the left. Color of "a star". BEHAVIOR: Hovering directly before car at low angle. Moved at a slow pace and was not gone from sight until the couple drove to nearby Geelong. #6 8:15 PM Bateman's Bay (30 km N) 2 (couple) 5 min. APPEARANCE: Bright, white object seen against a clear sky. BEHAVIOR: "impossible acrobatics", completely distinguished from planes. Heading towards Sydney. #7 9 PM Warrnambool 2 (housewives) more than 30 min. APPEARANCE: Five times a star, red/orange. BEHAVIOR: Hovering at first in the SE at a 75° angle, then it moved quickly to the SW and stopped 10° up. It faded, left a yellow glow, and lit up again.
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 86 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.