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NZDF declassified RNZAF UFO files

NZDF / RNZAF via Internet Archive · 2010-12 · 445 pages · text by OCR

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.

  • p. 11 …I have never seen a planet move like that. My co-pilot (First Officer S G…
  • p. 22 …I can only add if anyone believes my something they have never seen then here's…
  • p. 50 …they have landed, someplace, but I have never been able to track it down, but as…
  • p. 51 …the space people? A. It was not. Never deliberate on their part, but our aggression and…
  • p. 52 …Well I was taken pretty close to one other planet like that of Venus but never…
  • p. 53 …to class-room, for graduation which is never attained because eternity is eternity. Do they have…
  • p. 62 …lot on this great took it has never been strong yet I gave my standing son…
  • p. 72 …I never read who-dunnits, and I shun thrillers like poison; I suppose I have to…
  • p. 91 …such things for personal files but have never had copies made. I can see the value…
  • p. 97 …g) No peculiarities except that I have never observed its like before. (h) Solid in appearance…
  • p. 126 …moment. "In all my flying I've never seen anything 'like it," he said today. Air…
  • p. 137 …Someplace, but I have never been able to track it down, but as far as I…
  • p. 138 …the space people? A. It was not. Never deliberate on their part, but our aggression and…
  • p. 139 …Well I was taken pretty close to one other planet like that of Venus but never…
  • p. 140 …to class-room, for graduation which is never attained because eternity is eternity. Q. Do they…
  • p. 145 …we are making them," stated Mr. Quarles. Never in the history of our subject have I…
  • p. 151 …I have never said that the Big Four gathered to discuss the question of the UFO…
  • p. 152 …The real issues at Geneva are not yet known, and may never be, but we are…
  • p. 157 …a subjective reason why more stories have never been related, especially so, where PROMINENT PEOPLE are…
  • p. 158 …Wallace's mother, whom we later interviewed, claimed that her son had never been so frightened…
  • p. 167 …the phenomenon of Horseheads, N.Y., may never be known. ## ******* ## THE SWEDISH GHOST ROCKETS by S…
  • p. 172 …ALTHOUGH THE STORY WAS WIDELY REPORTED, IT WAS NEVER PUBLISHED IN FULL OUTSIDE SCANDINAVIA. NOW Flying…
  • p. 174 …I was never more than three or four minutes walk from the girls, and I reckon…
  • p. 176 …to time in the area, but they never heard of them flying at night. "What I…
  • p. 183 …He could not say whether or not it might be a meteor as he had never…
  • p. 201 …Besides, you never know what they could do to you . . . There is no material we know…
  • p. 213 …Church-because of the probability that they never contracted "original sin." ## Flying Discs Sir,—Periodically, Mr…
  • p. 216 …phenomena, there are many individuals who have never reported "sightings" of their own or knowledge. Hope…
  • p. 222 …France, never to be outdone, when it comes to autumn tourist attractions, has also had its…
  • p. 223 …It is necessary for me to state here that I would never falsely colour or manufacture…
  • p. 224 …They said this because they had never seen a modern deep-water diving suit. What they…
  • p. 231 …first reports were immediately followed by a never-ending chain of fantastic stories mostly created by…
  • p. 242 …I do not know what it was, I have never seen such an object before. President…
  • p. 248 …We have never heard of & find it difficult to imagine any meteors or aurorae presenting such…
  • p. 249 …He says that he and his companions never thought of flying saucers, being sure that it…
  • p. 254 …Civil Aviation Dept for some years, but never with the openness and seriousness of these last…
  • p. 256 # ore Observers Confirm # "NORTHERN ADVOCATE" # Seeing Strange Object 凯6 NOV 195本 "I HAVE never seen anything…
  • p. 257 …the man and his family. "I have never seen anything like it in my life," he…
  • p. 263 …or Martians, they reiterate that astronomers have never made any observations which could indicate a high…
  • p. 271 …With this weight of evidence you could well ask why saucers have never been, officially accepted…
  • p. 272 …chances are greater—a planet we have never even heard of. But wherever they come from…
  • p. 273 …I have never seen a saucer—but at least I have seen Mars! Vow the first…
  • p. 280 Acura shall call the existing currency All Min the Prairie neverer less len Qian FILE. for…
  • p. 286 …The world may never know, although he definitely has had a hand in the disk project…
  • p. 302 …observing of evidences, while those who have never seen a flying saucer make a show by…
  • p. 306 …In 18 years of flying I have never seen anything like it. If it had been…
  • p. 307 …and not forgetting those very important ones never to be forgotten sightings. We sincerely hope you…
  • p. 308 …likes light reading as well, but can never find the time now, so great is the…
  • p. 320 …Another official said that the Air Force had never accepted this theory. By classifying sightings as…
  • p. 321 …I never saw it happen before. If the acceleration explanation is true, then the speeds involved…
  • p. 324 …The Air Force has never denied that such a possibility exists. Some of the personnel believe…
  • p. 332 …more closely, I am sure they would never be so keen to rashly debunk it. Right…
  • p. 356 …These have never been confused with flying saucers as some sources of information contend. Recent events…
  • p. 367 …happenings in the sky that science had never been able satisfactorily to explain. Unger, beginning in…
  • p. 373 …Forefathers, the great majority of their ranks never dreamed of or envisaged that which is ordinary…
  • p. 401 …nuclli open to doubt because there have never been reports of them from sailors, astronomers and…
  • p. 416 …to bright red. "I wish I had never seen it," he said. "It's too fantastic…
  • p. 436 …In spite of all the flying saucer reports all over the world, science has never been…
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.

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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 445 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.