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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.
“Open Minds”13 pages
# EXCITEMENT ON WEST COAST Object In Sky Almost Certainly Meteorite GREYMOUTH, Today (PA).-What appears certain to have been no more than a common meteorite, which disintegrated on contact with the atmosphere of the earth, was responsible for some excitement and speculation in the Grey district last evening. Reports of an object varying in size and dazzling bright flashing from south-east to north-east across the West Coast towards the mountains, a "mysterious explosion of terrific force" and a column of smoke seen rising from the foothills soon after the explosion, have come to hand. Some observers put the height of the object at only a few hundred feet. The matter has been placed in better perspective, however, by a Greymouth motorist driving west in the vicinity of Cass, in the Canterbury foothills, about 5 o'clock yesterday. He said he saw an object; "Looking like a skyrocket travelling high above the Alps at an altitude of at least 100;000 feet. After moving rapidly, it disappeared in a puff of smoke high in the air." ## High Above Alps This report discounts completely any suggestion that the object approached close to the ground, or that part of it came to earth in the foothills. Many who did not see any object in the sky nevertheless heard an explosion. Cricketers, fishermen, and other sportsmen in Greymouth, Rotomanu, Brunner, Rapahoe, and even as far away as Westport heard the noise. It closely resembled a long peal of thunder—startling in its effect on a brilliantly sunny day. ## Due To Shock Waves? Many people were left with the impression that the ground trembled with the explosion. It was pointed out this morning that if the meteorite disintegrated on reaching the Earth's atmosphere it was possible that the percussion could have caused shock waves in the atmosphere, giving the impression of a rumbling explosion.
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