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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.
“Headquarters”37 pages
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SUBJECT: # Top-level Talks On "Flying Light" Mystery 5 NOV 1955 Special to the Daily Times The pilot and co-pilot of the National Airways Corporation Dakota which reported sighting a mystery "flying light" on Monday night last were temporarily relieved of their duties today to attend top-level talks in Wellington. WELLINGTON, Nov. 4. Both the commander of the aircraft, Captain W. T. Rainbow, and First Officer S. G. Trounce, who remain unshaken in their belief that the light was not a planet, comet, meteor or other natural phenomenon, held discussions with the director of civil aviation, Mr E. A. Gibson and senior officers of Civil Aviation Administration. The log of the flight and tape records of radio-telephone communications. between the plane and ground control station were discussed for some time with officers of flight control. # "FLYING LIGHT" DOMINION INVESTIGATION BY R.N.Z.A.F Investigations into the sighting of a "flying light" over the Walkato on Sunday night by two pilots of a National Airways Corporation DC3 aircraft have begun. The deputy Chief of Air Staff, Group Captain T. F. Gill, said last night that intelligence officers of the Air Department in Wellington had taken statements, from the two pilots, Captain W. T. Rainbow and First Officer S.. G. Trounce, and these were being studied closely. Captain Rainbow was the first to sight the object, which he claimed was travelling at the same height as the aircraft-8000 feet—and was clearly visible. He judged the object's speed to be seven times greater than his own aircraft. It contained some kind of perinbia. It also changed colour nightly. The Inspector-General of the R.N.Z. A.F., Air Commodore R. J. Cohen, a passenger on the aircraft, told an inquiry, that he was wakened by one of the pilots who reported the strange object. "I looked out and told him it was a planet and promptly went back to sleep." When he landed, he checked with references and decided positively that what he saw was the planet Venus, low down on the horizon. The director of the Carter Observatory. Mr. I. L. Thomsen, said that from the information presented to him the possibility of Venus being the "flying light" could not be excluded. However, he was not prepared to give a definite opinion till informed of the aircraft's height, course and the time of the sighting. It is not expected that a report on the matter will reach the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Shand, who initiated the inquiry, until early next week. The R.N.Z.A.F. can call its inspector general, Air Commodore R. Cohen as a star witness in the inquiry, says a Press Association message. The air commodore was a passenger on the plane which reported the object, and he believes it was Venus-not an errant outer space visitor. This is his evidence: "I was asleep and when Captain Rainbow shook me awake he told me he had seen something strange. "That was the thing Captain Rainbow describes as 'like a marine beacon revolving with some kind of a porthole in it and changing colour, flying seven times faster than we were.' "I looked out," Air Commodore Cohen says. "I told him it was a planet—and promptly went back to sleep." That was the stage Captain Rainbow decided not to tell the women passengers because the news might alarm them and it was then, too, that his co-pilot. First Officer Trounce, agreed it was not a planet but something flying alongside them. The air commodore slept on. When he landed he checked with references and decided positively that what he saw was Venus, low down on the horizon.. He is still sure.
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. 445 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.