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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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2. In September last resident or Uruahu, in the city of Auckland, reported that he and his wife had seen an "object" flying high over the harbour about 11 p.m. on Saturday the 26th of that month. On this being published two people at interview, two at Grey Lynn and one at Epsom said they had seen the same object. It was luminous, bluish-green, torpedo shaped and travelling at a high speed. It was well out at sea opposite Whenuapai immediately to the north of Auckland, and soon disappeared silently. The direction was not given. A man and his wife at Castor Bay, near Auckland, claimed to have seen a similar object about 5.30 p.m. on Friday 25th. It was heading down the harbour in the direction of Clovedon and took about 30 seconds to pass out of sight. 3. A report also received from a resident of Te Puke in the Bay of Plenty appears to confirm the first reported sighting. About 11 p.m. on the Saturday night this man was fishing with a friend on Papamoa beach when an object appeared, slightly above and behind Mount Maunganui, travelling in a southerly direction. Its shape was eliptical and its colour blue-green. It was visible for about eight to ten seconds, when it disappeared behind a bank of cloud. The direction indicated would place the object between Mount Maunganui and Auckland (about 100 miles away in a north-westerly direction). 4. A Pukekohe resident also saw a phenomenon in the sky about 11 p.m. on that night. Pukekohe is about 30 miles to the south of Auckland. 5. The next sighting was at Dunedin. On 28th October. 1952, the Evening Star published a story obtained from Mornington, an experienced pilot with eight years flying to his credit, and a former Mr. Burke was awakened at 2.45 a.m. by a ringing metallic noise, which he described as very similar to the noise made by a jet engine with the throttle back. As he was arousing his wife he saw an object through the window. He got out of bed and watched it with his wife for "fully two or three minutes". The object flew a straight and level course under 6,000 feet. then began a gradual climb and disappeared out of sight when it reached the cloud base, which he estimated to be 10,000 feet. "looked exactly like an inverted cymbal used by a dance band drummer. It had a raised portion on the upper centre, and dir underneath was an oblong part". The whole machine, making a
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