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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.
“Hill”41 pages
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Under the microscope the substance, according to the astronomer looked not unlike a form of cobweb but it was more white in colour and ashy in texture than normal spider-web. This Manawatu press report was followed by a letter to the editor from a Mr XD claiming that shortly after the Hastings incident he had been motoring near Marton and Rata and had seen a large amount of this strange thread-like substance hanging over fences etc. "It had looked like long chains of small thistle-down or spider webs of huge size." C.S.I. received two other reports around this time one from a lady in Christchurch and another from four civil pilots wives. These ladies were at an aero club display at Ashburton Drome and shortly after see a silvery round object fly across the drome at high altitude and them soon straight up to disappear in the blue, noted that a great deal of fine thread-like substance was floating down. They discussed it with their husbands and decided to write C.S.I. of the incident, but wished to remain anonymous. We were recently given the brief details of a similar case in Australia. A.F.S.B.'s Melbourne Observer reported to Mr Jarrold. "A few days ago I was cycling home when I noticed what seemed to be threads of a long cobwed-like substance hanging on a tree and adjacent telephone wires, There was no great quantity of it but it was very long. I took it in my hand but it did not disappear until I rubbed it. I took some home and but some on the top of an ink bottle on top of my desk. About an hour later it had quite disappeared." We note that in this case the substance did not vapourize or dissipate immediately on being handled. This substance was also left behind by a number of objects (seven) that landed at Flatwoods West Virginia USA at sundown on Sept 12th 1952. The details to this incident would thoroughly shake anyone, A number of people were violently ill after this incident, C.S.I. has much data on overseas incidents that have not received mention in New Zealand News papers. ( the horrible stench and mist-like substance that was thrown off from one of these objects when investigated was the cause of the violent illness ( Doctors likened the effect of the mist on humanes as to the normal reaction to mustard gas.) Two other inexplicable happenings are allied with the "saucers". These are:- (I) The mysterious violent explosions that have occured quite a large number of times. These explosions have not been traceable to normal causes and have happened quite a surprisingly number of times to our knowledge. We have reports from France, America, Australia and quite recently from Hamilton New Zealand. Waikato Times Nov 9th, A loud explosion of sufficient force to awaken a number of people in many parts of Hamilton and to shake houses as far a part as Hamilton East, Hill-croft Whitiora, and Maeroa and which occured right on midnight is still something of a mystery. The report goes on to say that enquires were made to all those bodies who would most likely be in the know as to the cause of the explosion, no one could account for it. O.S.I. has a report from an Honorary Observer in Hamilton % He says "I heard the explosion it was not a bit like thunder( The Press noted this) It was a very clear
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 445 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.