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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
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# 'Flying Bus' Is Latest Reported Sky Phenomenon PARIS, Sept. 24 (Rec. noon).—A Rural Guard, M. Louis Moll, said yesterday he had seen a "flying bus" bedecked with "tube lights" descend from the night sky and land near the Lorraine village of Tromborn. M. Moll said; "A great light came down out of the sky. It had the form of a little bus and seemed to have lighter tubes around it. There seemed to be little black objects moving around in the lighted machine. After 40 seconds it took off vertically and disappeared, trailing orange jets. During all the time I heard no sound." Another report in the recent series of stories of strange sights in the sky over France, came from the town of Origny-en-Thierache, in the north. M. Robert Chovel, an industrialist, said he and two of his relatives, "suddenly saw an enormous orange disc which seemed suspended a few hundred metres above the trees." He said it remained still for a time, "and then disappeared at a whirlwind speed." At Chateauroix two policemen said they saw a luminous machine hovering at an altitude of about 5000 feet. Then two other machines of a greenish colour at a greater height. In the Southern Department of Herault, several witnesses reported seeing what appeared to be a "flying cigar" towing a fiery red ball at a high speed. A French Deputy has submitted a written question to the Secretary of State for Air asking whether the aerial phenomena are being studied so that the public can be told "what is going on." # Flying Objects Thought New Secret Weapon LONDON, Oct. 26.—Reuter's Belgrade correspondent says that a Yugoslav scientist suggested today that seven "flying saucers" reported to have been seen over the northern and central part of the country yesterday were "some new secret weapon of the Americans or the Russians." Mr. Peter Djorkovic, assistant director of the Belgrade Astronomical Observatory, said the objects could not have been parts of a meteor, "but must be some technical contrivance." The Yugoslav Air Force today investigated reports from many parts of the country that up to seven "flying saucers" were seen early yesterday. They were variously described as pear-shaped, cigar-shaped, and round, while their colour shadings were given as blue, green, orange, and white. He said their steady flight along a straight line to the horizon excluded the possibility of their being meteors. Besides, he added, "They left traces of their rockets' exhaust." The Yugoslav Air Force would have to find out whether they were not perhaps some new secret weapon of the Americans or the Russians, Mr. Djorkovic stated.—N.Z.P.A. (Rec. 11 am). ## 23/10/27 # 'NOT A SAUCER Large Meteor In Western Sky A large meteor—a Wadestown man who saw it estimated it to be nearly as big as the moon—was seen in the western sky about 7.35 last night. It was travelling from south to north, and was visible for two or three seconds. According to reports he had received, the meteor was of a pale green phosphorescent colour and left a trail behind it, said the director of the Carter Observatory (Mr. I. L. Thomsen) today. It was a big fireball and, though it seemed to be over the Karori hills, must have been out over the sea. He added that the Wadestown man who had seen the meteor had seemed to be a reliable observer. "Otherwise, it might have been described as a flying saucer," he said.
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