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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.
“Hamilton”28 pages
and, on occasion, by experienced observers. (c) sunlight reflections from aircraft and balloons which themselves are too distant to be observed. (d) car headlights reflected on low cloud. (0) meteorological, radio sonde and cosmic research balloons of all types. (f) bright meteors and fireballs. (g) planets observed at certain times of the year. (h) birds. (j) cloud formations. (1k) meteorological phenomena, such as mock moons and mock suns. There are other reports of visual sightings which are admittedly very strange and difficult to classify. They tell of objects which appear to change shape quickly, which move erratically and at fantastic speeds across the sky. Under no consideration could these reports be classified in terms of the objects listed above. It is firmly believed that these reports are made in all sincerity and are in fact actual sightings - but of reflections from conventional objects. To give a simple and practical illustration, consider the erratic movements of the reflection on a coiling from a mirror held under a light and moved even slightly by hand. Similarly, on a vaster and more extended scale, reflections from planets, meteors, aircraft and objects on the ground may be projected on to cloud formations and haze. Then there are the sightings of those planets which are low on the horizon. at certain times of the year and which appear to change colour and move erratically, and at fantastic speeds, when observed through haze, or misty atmospheric conditions. Many reports of such sightings have been received and here is an example of a particular instance where a satisfactory answer was provided. A report made by an experienced B.O.A.C. pilot of a sighting at 19,000 ft. over Goose Bay, Labrador, on Wednesday 30th June, 1954, stated that objects had been observed, one primary and six secondary, which "accompanied" the B.O.A.C. aircraft for a distance of about 80 miles; all the time they were under observation, the main object was constantly changing shape. An investigation was carried out by the Americans who obtained a subsequent report from a ship at sea in the same vicinity. This described what was apparently the same phenomenon. Members of the ship's company, however, definitely identified the sighting as the planet Mars, and gave full details of the mirage conditions which were prevailing on that day. Photographs/ 41 11 L2
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