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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.
“Hamilton”28 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
It was anclear day, in fact so clear that when we were over the English Channel we could see aircraft over the Airport at Orly 100 miles away. and if we had been high enough we could have seen the Alps. I had reported our position to Control when we were over Seaford, Sussex. We were en route to Paris on a course of about 150 degrees. London Radar said that an aircraft was overtaking me on my left. This aircraft a Constellation flying some fifty knots faster than ourselves passed on ahead and a few minutes later reached its cruising altitude of 13.900ft and was in a position immediately ahead of me and above. At this stage the relative position of my aircraft to the Constellation and the sun was such that the sun's light was reflected to me from the top surface of the aircraft's wing, making the lit surface very clear to see, while a darker shadow etched in the lower part. This is important in view of the later observations. It was then that I first noticed the "flying saucer". It was apparently another aircraft above the constellation and a little way to the left, and it seemed to have similar sun reflections. Bearing in mind that all airliners flying around Europe are basically of similar linear size-- that is a wing span of a hundred ft to 150 ft, I judged this other aircraft was flying at approx 20.000 ft and was about the same distance from me as the constellation or probably a further 20 miles away. After watching the two aircraft --- and I had no reason up to now to think that the other object was not an aircraft --- it became apparent that there was a subtle difference between the two. I must get a little technical here. Both my aircraft and the constellation were on precisely the same course and therefore its bearing from me remained exactly the same, but as it was drawing away from me at a greater speed, its relative position to me slowly changed. As slight irregularities occurred in the path of the Constellation's flight, the intensity of light reflected from the upper surface varied. Even when the Constellation was getting on for thirty miles ahead the irregularities of fuselage, engines, and tail could still be distinguished breaking up the reflecting surface of the top wing. But it was quite different to our "flying saucer". First Officer Lemon and I studied it intently. We had plenty of time. IT HAD THE APPEARANCE OF TWO SHALLOW SAUCERS WITH THEIR RIMS TOGETHER. WE NOTICED THAT: (I) Its relative position to ourselves remained completely unchanged for the whole of the 30 minutes that we had it under observation. IT APPEARED TO BE STILL. (2) The intensity of reflected light fromith top surface remained absolutely steady until the last ten of observation when it gradually dwindled away at a speed consistent with the changing position of the sun, (3) The top reflecting surface was smooth and unbroken. It was more highly polished than is usually the case with an aircraft's"skin". At first I had automatically classified the "stranger" as the Elizabethian that had taken off two or three minutes before no bound for Nice
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