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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.
“Christchurch”32 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
# FLYING LIGHTS' A STRANG CHCH. STAR SUN AND UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENON By Cedric R. Mentiplay 4 NOV 1953 THE passengers and crew of an Auckland-bound National Airways Corporation Dakota from Wellington who on Monday night saw mysterious "flying lights" travelling at high speed alongside their aircraft are only the most recent witnesses to a strange and unexplained phenomenon which for at least thirteen years has been baffling scientists. The lights were similar in all respects to those reported in December,1942,by a New Zealand Hurricane pilot. But on that occasion they appeared in enemy skies in France, over the mouth of the River Somme. The name of the pilot was Flight-Sergeant B. C. Lumsden, who finished the war as a Flight Lieutenant, and who is now secretary of the New Zealand Timber Merchants' Federation. At the time of the encounter he was a member of No.3 Squadron, Royal Air Force, and was flying a coal-black Hurricane fighter with long-range tanks on an intruder mission. From his note of the incident, which can be read in his logbook, was made an intelligence report which was circulated throughout the Allied forces. It was the first mention of these strange visitors, which were christened by R.A.F. intelligence officers as "Lumsden's Lights." an unusual and almost impossible degree." ## At 7000ft When asked what were the first reactions of those who heard his story, Mr Lumsden grinned. "The usual—the sort of reactions they give to people who say they spotted a flying saucer," he said. "The implication is—give up drinking, old man, it isn't doing you any good." ## Many Sequels Here is part of that summary: "December 9, 1942—climbed to 7000ft while flying along French coast until he found himself at mouth of Somme. Deciding to get a little further south before setting course, so as to miss Abbeville, he turned sharply right. "that as he straightened to But there was a sequel, the first of many. A dour and doubting character in the same squadron took off next night to cover the same area, determined to lay "Lumsden's Lights." He returned shaken and thoughtful. His report was promptly dubbed "Lumsden's Lights Mk II." His story was that he had been followed closely by a green light, which kept squarely behind him no matter what he did. Finally, in cloud, he managed to get away from it. He spent no further time in searching. "That is why the expert.
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.