FAB CENDOC Envelope 09 (1978)

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

## Arguments Against:

2) Valentich's friends say pilots commonly "rounded the turn" at Cape Otway once the lighthouse was in sight without actually flying over it That Tiger Moth disappeared in daylight at lunchtime.

3) Victorian police officials denied that they have information on a mysterious plane landing. (An earlier press account had senior police officials neither confirming nor denying the report). Department of Transport spokesmen said it would be very difficult to pull off such a landing; "we have no reason to believe the aircraft was anywhere else but near Cape Otway when the message was received."

4) According to Mike Duggin of the University of Sydney, Valentich did file a carefully-prepared 2-way flight plan. It is strange that the didn't request the lights, although he did only make one night flight in the past.

51 Researcher Paul Norman went to Currie, King Island and deliberately waited until 8 PM to check if crayfish could be secured without a prearranged order. He had no difficulty finding fishermen who were happy to comply.

6) Almost all light aircraft tanks are kept topped up at Moorabbin, even for training and practice around the focal circuit. What is strange is that Melbourne did not advise Valentich to switch to another fuel tank as soon as he encountered engine difficulty.

IV. THE STRONGEST PROOF THAT VALENTICH IS HOAXING A DISAPPEARANCE LIES IN THE PRESS ANNOUNCEMENTS BY 16-YEAR OLD SHOP ASSISTANT, RHONDA RUSHTON, FRED'S GIRLFRIEND. IT'S EVEN KNOWN THAT SHE WENT TO AN APOLLO BAY MOTEL TO MEET HIM THERE!

## Arguments in Favor:

1) World-wide attention was given to Miss Rushton's press statement: "We all know Fred is alive and we have told the authorities this, but it is all top secret now." Miss Rushton, who said she had known Fred for six months, told the AUSTRALIAN; "I know Fred is alive. We will see him soon." The Department of Transport announced it would not divulge the details of her confidential disclosures. Miss Rushton said that after telling her story to unnamed authorities, she was told not to tell anyone else. The next day, she dismissed the UFO theory, saying, "I think he has landed somewhere, not crashed."

Rhonda Ruston searched the Cape Otway area by air only to return red-eyed and empty handed.

2) The WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN (Oct. 28-29) declared that on Thursday, Oct. 26, Rhonda had walked into the Bay Pines Motel at Apollo Bay (100 miles from Melbourne). She asked motel owner Mrs. Joyce Ford to see Fred Valentich. The paper quoted Mrs. Ford as saying, "when I said there was nobody by that name staying here, she seemed ready to cry. She said she had arranged to meet him at 7 o'clock. She just stood there for several minutes as if she couldn't believe me and didn't want to leave."

## Arguments Against:

1) The October 29th SUNDAY PRESS quoted Fred Valentich's mother about Rhonda Rushton: "He met (her) six months ago through friends, I think, and they have been going out regularly ever since. He liked her very much but as far as I know there were no marriage plans." Fred's father took a more aggressive stand in the SUNDAY OBSERVER (Oct. 29), stating that Miss Rushton's allusions to the case being a hoax were "very upsetting". "Fred didn't see her very often. She's just got on the bandwagon and the reports have been very upsetting to the family."

2) On the subject of the "motel rendezvous", Rhonda told the SUNDAY PRESS. "I had only gone there to satisfy my own mind about what had happened." To another paper, she said. "I only went there to see what the bush was like where he might have landed." Indeed, Rhonda went on to search the beaches and rugged bush for two days, aided by her parents and a group of Valentich's friends from the Air Training Corps. Miss Rushton envisioned the lost pilot as having returned to Cape Otway and landed, possibly injured

somewhere. She said Valentich often told her he was "scared of water". "If he had any trouble, he would have headed for land, that's for sure." This is contrary, of course, to Valentich's last stated intention. Another friend of Fred Valentich was in the Apollo Bay area, and told the Melbourne AGE, "we know Fred is alive. He's up in the hills but we can't get to him." Sgt. B. C. Klemm of the Apollo-Bay Police commented on the terrain: "There are old abandoned logging towns up there you can't even get to. It could take days for a man to get out of there even if he could survive a plane crash." Rhonda Rushton succeeded in chartering a twin-engined plane which retraced the flight path Valentich used one week earlier between Cape Otway and Lorne (to the NE). Scanning miles of forest with binoculars, Rhonda responded with awe when she saw the thick, desolate terrain. Returning home empty-handed, she told the Oct. 29th SUNDAY PRESS, "I have no plans to