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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.
“Nevers”58 pages
When these objects got away from each other a bit, there was a whitish trail between them, like an electric arc. The Saucers left an abundant trail in their wake, like flakes of Cotton Wool, which floated slowly to the ground. Many witnesses were able to collect this thread-like substance. It looked like Cotton Wool or Nylon, and soon became gelatinous, then to melt and disappear completely. Some remained for hours adhered to the telephone lines and lightning conductors. The presence in the air of these objects was confirmed by Radar. In fact, according to the French report, the Radar Unit at Mont-de-Marsan acted most unusually. A short while later this other incident happened, also in France, on approximately 21st October. About twenty residents of Gaillac, in the south of France, reported a formation of White circular objects surrounding something like a giant "Flying Saucer". As the objects passed overhead, they let fall a string of bright white threads, which looked like Glass Wool, and melted away as soon as touched. A Police Officer said two of his men reported picking up the thread like substance, but it melted. Observers said the objects; slightly swollen at the centre, spun across the sky in formations of two. They were over the area for nearly half an hour. On the 16th April, 1953, at Onga Onga near Hastings, New Zealand, a fall of this strange thread-like substance puzzled many local residents. I made a note of the very similar description and behavior of this substance to that seen to drop from the Saucers over France. I released a report to the N.Z. Press linking this report with the Flying Saucers, and subsequently received reports of other New Zealand and Australian incidents. Here is the Hastings report. "A fine thread-like substance has been falling from the sky at Onga Onga, puzzled residents report. They have found it hanging over telephone wires, on fences, and spread on lawns in widely separated parts of the district. People reported that it apparently fell overnight. Reports say the mysterious substance, which is White and not unlike Candy Floss, disintegrates. in the hand. One theory is that it is a form of cob-web which has been carried aloft from some Pacific Island. Portions of the substance were up to five feet long." There were no sightings of mystery objects recorded around Hawkes Bay at the time of the fall, however, the following adds some credence to my suspicions. Two letters were received from ladies. A Mrs. E. Carter had reported the incident to the Christchurch, N.Z., Press, and later decided to write to C.S.I. She wrote:- "I was walking along Kilmore Street when I saw some tangled threads caught by a splinter on a telegraph pole. On taking them in my hands, I was astonished as they suddenly seemed to disappear, perhaps melted by the heat of my hands. The threads were Bluish White in colour, and about a foot and a half long. I read that same week of the Onga Onga threads." The other letter was from a group of four persons, who preferred to remain anonymous. It appeared that this group of ladies, wives of private pilots, were at an air display at Ashburton Aerodrome. Shortly after they had witnessed the flight of a swift moving, silvery, disc-like object high over the 'Drome, which didappeared by zooming up into the blue, they, among others present, saw a large amount of thread-like substance falling. They said the air was thick with it. These ladies discussed the matter with their husbands and subsequently wrote to C.S.I., remaining anonymous because they feared it might bring ridicule to themselves and their menfolk, who were well known in the district. On the 30th May, 1953, this report appeared in the Manawatu Press. "A resident of Palmerston North saw an unusual object in the sky, through his telescope, at 11.10 a.m. today. He is an amateur Astronomer, and was looking for the Planet Venus, which is visible in the daylight now. He thought he had found it, until the bright Blue object seen in the 'scope suddenly dived, rose again , and made off with an unusual irregular motion, quite unlike an aircraft. Continuing to look, he noticed a large amount of filament of a substance resembling spider web floating down." The Press report says that the presence of threads can be confirmed because one of their reporters brushed through some of it on his way back to work after lunch. The amateur Astronomer examined some of it under a microscope.
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