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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
The object was noiseless and kept a constant altitude. The duration of the movement on its course from coming into view from the south-west and vanishing in the telescope in the north-east was $ 3 \frac{1}{2} $ minutes. Mr F. Dewing of 3 Lloyd Road Norwich, saw the strange object about an hour later when he was near the Plumstead Road Library. This time it was travelling on the reverse course and disappeared to the south-west.
The editor of the particular news column goes on to comment that quite a number of further reports had come to him prior this incident, he says the similarity in discriptions is remarkable, even to other mentions of seeing little windows (lighted).
The illustration (on cover) bears a remarkable similarity to the "spacecraft" which Mr George Adamski says he photographed and is published in his and Desmond Leslie's book "FLYING SAUCERS HAVE LANDED". this book is now available in New Zealand at Whitcombe & Tombs 12/6.
## A MOST CAREFUL, THOROUGH AND EXPERT AERIAL OBSERVATION
Here are the facts to a recent most outstanding sighting that should convince the most ardent sceptic, providing he can understand what he reads and is not fool enough to consider the case as just another hoax.
This report appeared as a full page story under 3 in headlines in the London"SUNDAY DISPATCH" 18, October 1953. No mention was made in the New Zealand Press at the time. Was briefly referred to in cable news R.A.F. INVESTIGATING FLYING SAUCERS" published 12, November 1953.
This sighting was also confirmed by Radar along with many others in the European theatre of morp rocnt date. Now read on.
Two experienced European Airways pilots have reported to London Airport that on a recent flight to Paris they watched FOR THIRTY MINUTES a mysterious object in the sky that might have been "flying saucer"
Captain Peter Fletcher of Putney has been a pilot for 18 years, first with the R.A.F., and since its beginning with B.E.A.; First Officer R. L. Lemon of Iver Bucks, became a pilot in the R.A.F. 14 years ago.
Each described the incident Technically and dispassionately. Neither has the least doubt that he saw an "Unusual Aircraft" of some description They agree, although they cannot prove it, that they were not deceived by a trick of light. Here is their story, factual and unvanished, it is told by Captain Fletcher:
Our Elizabethan flight left London Airport at nine O'clock on the morning of October 9. There was a certain amount of low cloud and fog, but when we climbed we found ourselves in an absolutely clear atmosphere. Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 445 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.