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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.
“Headquarters”37 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
# "Flying Saucer" Reported Over Tauranga Another report of what is considered could be a "flying saucer" has been received by the Bay of Plenty Times, this time from a Tauranga resident, Mr D. Burrett. He said that a strange phenomenon in the form of a cylindrical or spherical, shining object was seen by him and several other people at about 11.40 a.m. yesterday travelling in a south-westerly direction and attaining a great altitude. After about 10 minutes the object changed direction and disappeared to the north still travelling rapidly. Mr Burrett makes no claims that the object was a "flying saucer" but suggests that it could have been, or alternatively that it was a balloon released, perhaps, by a practical joker. ## FLYING SAUCER REPORTED OVER DUNEDIN GREY RICH ARGUS. P.A. DUNEDIN, Nov. 4. The first flying saucer reports for months came in and daily Times last night in a steady stream. All tallied as to time, but there were widely varying descriptions given. Most coherent account was given by three members of the R.N.Z.A.F., serving at Taieri, at least one of whom is familiar with the sight of jet aircraft flying at supersonic speeds. They described a byliilliant white light, with no apparent solid sub-? stance, which swept over Taleri and disappeared in the direction of Invercargill. "It is naturally hard to estimate speeds, but it was travelling well above the speed of sound—possibly at about 1000 m.p.h." said one of the airmen. "It appeared to be between 1000 and 1500 feet up, though once again it is hard to be precise, especially as we saw it for only about four seconds. It made no sound." Most extraordinary thing about this aerial phenomenon is that everyone who saw it agrees that it was flying straight. A Brighton man suggested that it was white and looked very much larger than an orange—more the size of a football. It trailed white sparks. More elaborate reports came from some youths at Lookout Point who saw "an orange-colurel flying saucer with blue prtholes," which came from over the penisula and disappeared over Saddle Hill. A boy said it looked like a football with portholes and had a shower of sparks in its wake. ## DREDGE WORKERS SIGHT "FLYING SAUCER" OVER ARAHURA A small luminous object travelling in a south-easterly direction was reported seen over the Arahura district shortly after 11.30 o'clock last evening by four dredge workers. Mr H. Arnerich stated this morning that the object was in full view of the men for about two minutes. It appeared to be rotating and the colour changed several times. The Southside Meteorological Office advised this morning that a meteorological balloon was released at 10.30 p.m. and the light would have gone out by the time the object was reported over Arahura. ---
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