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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
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# LIGHT IN SKY AGAIN SEEN FROM NAPIER "DLY TELEGRAPH, NAPER A bright, cigar-shaped light last night hovered high in the sky, then flashed above the Porate hills and hovered again, lower and farther inland, a Napier man and his daughter claimed to-day 1955. It is the second night in succession that a bright light has been reported above the Poraite hills. The man:Mr.D.M. MacDonald, of Wellesley road, gave this description of the light: "It was sausage-shaped, changed colour, and it was big-too big to be mistaken for a star or a planet." His daughter, Miss M. MacDonald, said: "It was cigar-shaped. It changed colour from red to blue, pink, green and orange. It appeared to be spinning as it moved slightly from side to side." ## STOPPED OTHER CARS STOPPED OTHER CARS They were travelling by car along the Westshore embankment road when they first saw the light at about.8.45 p.m. within minutes of the time a light was seen by Messrs A. E. Ingram, and M. Gannaway the night before. They stopped seven or eight other cars. "Several other people in the cars saw the light," Miss MacDonald said. They first noticed the light high above the hills behind Bay View. It hovered there for about five minutes, rapidly, spinning and changing colour, they claimed. Suddenly it vanished. Three minutes later it reappeared, this time lower and nearer Taradale. Five minutes later it vanished again. Miss MacDonald said: "To get to its second position it must have travelled thousands of miles at a terrific speed. It was Mr. McDonald stopped his car and several other vehicles pulled up behind to watch the strange sight. It was in view for about 10 minutes. Travelling in a circle, it disappeared one stage beyond the Porville Hills but came into view again immediately afterwards. Mr. McDonald's daughter, Miss M. McDonald, and the light was more or less ocular shaped. When she first saw it, the light was fairly stationary in the sky but was apparently revolving. After about five minutes it faded rapidly as though it was travelling far into the distance. It appeared again further along the hills to the south. Its colours
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