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This is a New Zealand Defence Force public release of RNZAF file AIR 39/3/3, "Flying Saucers," which covers 1952 to 1955 and was declassified in September 2010 under the Official Information Act. It collects sighting reports from the public and military personnel, press clippings, and a table of 1952 sightings. It also holds Carter Observatory opinions attributing some reports to meteors. A large part covers the inquiry into lights seen from National Airways Corporation Flight 108 on 31 October 1955, which the RNZAF could not fully explain as Venus.
“Sea”47 pages
One report said that the object was cylindrical in shape, as the February mid-afternoon visitation was reported to be, and left a long vapour trail. Though some Greymouth residents have reported sighting the object, it was apparently seen particularly clearly at Kumara where, according to reports, a big proportion of the townspeople saw it. One resident was able to view it through field glasses, though it moved too quickly for any long clear view to be obtained. The February visitation was accompanied by an explosion which seemed to shake the earth, being felt over a considerable distance. Today's object was reported to have spread across the sky accompanied by a loud roar like an aeroplane engine. When the Air Material Command at Dayton, Ohio; published its report on "Project Saucer" in 1949 some experts regarded it as final and relegated saucers to the limbo where the Loch Ness monster reposes. But down through the years the authorities continued their watching brief on sightings of unusual shapes up aloft. The latest report, published on October 27 last, said there was no such thing as a flying saucer but warned the public to expect radical new planes soon that could give the illusion of being saucers. In consequence of this, it is likely that the New Zealand inquiry will not overlook a probe into the possibility that some new long-range aircraft belonging to this world has been testing its powers far from base. If this theory is regarded as too tall it is certain that there are other explanations which should take pride of place before the idea that visitors from other planets are keeping an eye on us. hour. It has not been questioned that this launcher of the flying saucer saga saw something. Later, however, the Air Force authorities, said it was significant that such stories came into circulation just when a new plastic balloon, with a diameter of 100ft when fully inflated, was sent up freighted with automatic instruments to record cosmic rays. Thus has New Zealand been brought a step nearer to a serious study by air experts of queer objects in the sky. The news will no doubt be welcomed by all lovers of a mystery-more particularly the kind of mystery which, so some people think, may have its origin in sources beyond our own planet. But before any attempt is made to reach a conclusion it would be as well to consider the outcome of the eight-year investigation undertaken by the United States Air Force. The inquiry began that there is no such thing as a flying saucer the pilot and some of the passengers in a National Airways DC3 bound from Wellington to Auckland on Monday night report having seen for about five minutes a bright "flying light" travelling alongside the aircraft. On the same night the strange light was also seen near the plane by two men fishing on the upper reaches of Raglan Harbour. They were convinced that it was neither part of the DC3 nor a reflection. As a result of the phenomenon a full investigation has been ordered by the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Shand, while the acting Minister of Defence, Mr Halstead, has asked the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal W. H. Merton, for the full co-operation of the Air Force in the inquiry.
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