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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. 12 …He jettisoned his long-range tanks and did diving turns out to sea. He flattened out…
  • p. 19 …He then did diving turns out to sea and flattened out at 4000ft, heading north-north…
  • p. 41 …From the above data, Venus would set for an observer at sea level, at 8.25…
  • p. 46 …when it disappeared on the horizon at sea level. As the red colour was brighter than…
  • p. 77 …sea level with no refraction, Z.D. = $ 9 0^{\circ} 0 0^{\prime} $ (b) At sea…
  • p. 94 …Screen for SEA '
  • p. 100 …table for the following factors:- (a) At sea level with no refraction, $ \mathbf{Z}.\mathbf{D…
  • p. 104 …THEY SAW LIGHT WELL OUT TO SEA. AT FIRST IT APPEARED LIKE A STAR AND THEN…
  • p. 107 …table for the following factors:- (a) At sea level with no refraction, $ \mathrm{Z.D.}=9…
  • p. 130 …world's land masses and the seven seas have been THERE is scope for intriguing contemplation…
  • p. 150 …Azimuth 246 $ ^{\circ} $ T, Altitude -0.39 at sea level. Mr. I.L. Thomsen,Director of…
  • p. 170 …An excellent little printed UFO magazine.) # A VETERAN SEA CAPTAIN REPORTS ## "I SIGHTED A FLYING SAUCER…
  • p. 171 …At that time the ship was 50 sea-miles east of Ambrose lightship, the spot where…
  • p. 182 …Mountbatten is one of the subscribers. (First Sea Lord). No news for a long time from…
  • p. 189 # Strange Object Seen Hovering Over Sea By Two Dunedin Men Two Dunedin men may have been…
  • p. 192 …a subsequent report from a ship at sea in the same vicinity. This described what was…
  • p. 202 …They buzzed Bloomington, Indiana on September 7, 1877, ships in the Yellow Sea in 1893, and…
  • p. 203 …to exist at the bottom of the sea. The Uranides, I think, have been examining the…
  • p. 212 …The pilot said after landing that the two objects were much faster than his Sea Fury…
  • p. 215 …And had been flicked up by a sea gull and then drifted. It made no sound…
  • p. 217 …Our observer does not believe these government men tossed the object in the sea, and nor…
  • p. 218 …Our observer does not believe these government men tossed object in the sea, and nor do…
  • p. 242 …Due west of Whenuapai takes you out to sea off the Muruwai coast-line. ## May 24th…
  • p. 243 …smoothly in an easterly direction out to sea. This report was made to Mr Metcalf, President…
  • p. 244 …hovering, shortly, it darted off at high speed out to sea and then as suddenly returned…
  • p. 251 …watched a strange moving light out to sea off the coast of Muruwai Beach. The light…
  • p. 262 …The shaded area in the diagram shows pieces of the Comet airliner recovered from the sea…
  • p. 265 …northwards, high in the sky above the sea. "The movement of the object seemed similar to…
  • p. 266 …The object, which he took to be a meteor, lit up the sea for a considerable…
  • p. 267 …hills, must have been out over the sea. He added that the Wadestown man who had…
  • p. 295 …Supply at sea it was reported at 6.10 p.m. on February 28, 1904, that…
  • p. 307 …sound of its striking the earth or sea was heard, -- a loud and lengthened noise, to…
  • p. 314 …his 1931 solo crossing of the Tasman Sea from Auckland to Sydney via Norfolk and Lord…
  • p. 315 …under the title " Alone over the Tasman Sea "starting on page 299 line 11. Please let…
  • p. 331 …It could not have been a plane, as the wind was blowing in off the sea…
  • p. 336 …engine-driver noticed a light out to sea. It was moving up and down and advancing…
  • p. 366 …about 20 feet above the sea, parallel with the Llandovery Castle, and travelling in the same…
  • p. 368 …Schofield, aboard a navy supply vessel at sea. Shortly after six o'clock on the morning…
  • p. 391 …It was well out at sea opposite Whenuapai immediately to the north of Auckland, and soon…
  • p. 392 …From its course it appeared to have some over the city from the sea off St…
  • p. 393 …moving across the sky towards the open sea. They changed colour from red to green while…
  • p. 399 …The Taeiri district would be an obvious place for a sea-borne landing. 43. In general…
  • p. 407 # RUSSIAN SUBMARINES IN NORTH SEA MANOEUVRES New Zealand Press Association—Copyright. LONDON, January 5 (Rec. 7…
  • p. 412 …Hovered Nil Descended and moved out to sea New Brighton 29.10.52 9 pm One…
  • p. 430 …The lights, he said, appeared to be moving across the sky towards the open sea. They…
  • p. 433 …The object was well out at sea, opposite Whenuapai, and soon disappeared silently. A man and…
  • p. 436 …The object was well out at sea, opposite Whenuapai, and soon, disappeared silently. A man and…
There was a promise to phone back, but none came. The writer's phone, unfortunately, remained busy the remainder of the evening, but we cannot help but wonder what had happened.

Case 99, Cincinnati, Akron, Ohio and General Michigan, Aug. 22nd, 1955 At 10.10 p.m. John Kluemper and other Woodlawn residents witnessed a brilliantly lit object in the sky - "definitely not a star". In view for 45 minutes, occasionally pulsating, Kluemper described three distinct lights within the object - red at 1 o'clock, green at five and white at nine. Looking through 8 x 30 binoculars, he said the object appeared as large as a "golf ball".

The stars, he said, through binoculars, looked like pinpoints, as they should. On one occasion the object's brilliance suddenly blinked out, then reappeared. Finally, it blinked and vanished. Same night over Akron, Ohio, George Popowitch and members of the GOC witnessed a bright, soundless orange ball flying from north to south reporting it to the Air Filter Centre as a UFO.

Also, that evening, a flashing, luminous object was sighted in the sky over central and western Michigan by GOC and many residents in these areas. A report was sent to the Air Filter Centre, Grand Rapids, and Air Force planes went up to investigate. The object seen over Culterville was described by Sgt. Earl Kirkpatrick as red and green, moving in a counter-clockwise arc, blinking with a bobbing motion. GOC in Saginaw said the object had a bluish tinge. From Roseville, GOC members, Frank Gallagher and Dominic Sondy reported a strange light following a jet preparing to land at Selfridge Field. The light was "round and pure white", according to Gallagher. Calling the Filter Centre,-they had their sighting confirmed, and learned that other GOC posts had reported similar objects.

"FLYING SAUCERS" IIth Quarterly issue for December I955

S.A.C. JETS "DOGFIGHT" THREE UFO's OVER CINCINNATI.

CSI Central committee wishes you all a most joyous Xmas and properous New Year. We hope you all enjoy this issue

Case 100, Cincinnati, August 23rd, 1955 -

About midnight, residents throughout the city were jarred by the roar of jets. From S.A.C., Lockbourne Air Force Base, south of Columbus, the air National Guard jets were alerted, scrambled and were over Cinicnnati in 12 minutes - A REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE. The alert began when three UFO's were sighted and confirmed by radar somewhere between Columbus and Cincinnati. In the meanwhile; Walter Paner, Supt. of Hamilton County GOC, on duty at the Mt. Healthy Post, phoned the writer of the existent alert and relayed the word that jet interceptors were due over the area.

He said the UFO's had been active over Mt. Healthy and could be seen clearly by observers from the tower. In short time, the jets, at approximately 20,000 ft., roared over Cinicnnati East, but poor visibility prevented the writer from seeing the UFO's which had deployed over a wide area. According to radar, the interlopers had extended 37 miles south, 24 miles north of the city, and as far as 10 miles east of Mt. Healthy. A later call from Paner disclosed that a UFO was seen hovering in pendulum-like motions directly over the tower.

About 12.10 a.m., the interceptors made contact, and swooping in, at about 20,000 ft. chased the UFO - which disappeared at incredible speed. In the meanwhile, the Forestville and Loveland GOC Posts reported the erratic flights of UFO's, to the Air Filter Centre, describing them as round, brilliant white spheres and discs. The writer remained on watch from Madison Place with binoculars, but heavy clouds prevailed, obscuring the activity. However, overhead, the continuous din of low flying jets gave the writer a familiar choking chill, one that he had known during the Pacific campaigns while waiting for the inevitable attack. Incongruously, the public, asleep or perhaps

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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.