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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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that he had seen lights in the sky above Kew which appeared to be moving across the sky towards the open sea. They changed colour from red to green while the object was in motion and finally disappeared about 10.35 p.m. near the Otago Heads. Immediately afterwards a call was received from a member of the transmitter staff of 4YA who said that he, with several others, had seen lights in the sky above the city. They were seen a few minutes after 10.30 p.m. and appeared to be moving up and down like a kite. The lights moved slowly towards him, but he had not seen them change colour. They faded away at 10.47 p.m. A reporter then went to the roof of the Daily Times but saw nothing. The sky was completely overcast. On returning inside he received another phone call from the 4YA staff with the information that the object had again been sighted in the area of Tasiri Mouth (30 miles to the south of Dunedin). 12. On the 10th November several readers rang the Daily Telegraph to say that they had seen strange objects in the sky in the direction of St. Olair about 10.30 p.m. on Sunday night. A resident of Opoho said that the object changed colour from the brightest green to the most distinct red. It was "going up and then coming down" for from six to eight minutes. It appeared to be the size of a soccer ball and twice as bright as any star. A Normanby resident saw two objects in the sky at 9.15 p.m. which remained in view until about 9.30. At 10.15 be noticed a single object which remained in sight for about fifteen minutes. He remained on watch and at 12.30 a.m. saw something that looked like a mushroom". Hues ranging from red to orange were seen, and there were changes of colours at frequent intervals. All the objects were moving slowly. 13. A passenger on the Express from Christchurch saw an unusual light in the sky near Camara (about 70 miles to the north of Dunedin) about 4 a.m. He watched it for about a quarter of an hour, during which time the light changed from blood red to yellow. 14. of Hastings saw an object at 10.10 p.m. on Wednesday travelling south-west. Orange in odour and moon-shaped it was just below the cloud ceiling and made no sound. He watched it for about three minutes. His father also saw it. 15. A Cromwell resident reported an object which matches exactly the description given by your correspondents flew from north to south at colossal speed. It looked about twice the size of a large star, perfectly round, with no trail of any sort and pursuing a flat course. It was as bright when I first saw it as it was when it finally disappeared over the Dunstan Range. It took about one to one and half seconds to move across the five mile range of my vision. ## 16. At Morton Mains, 17 miles from Invereargill, at midnight on November 17 heard a loud hissing sound. Looking up he saw a large brilliant object moving westward. Behind it trailed a stream of small star-like lights. Further back still was a circle of lights which quickly faded out. The main light, however, seemed to hover over the Hokonui Hills. For some time it swung in a wide arc, and after half an hour, diminished in size and was lost in the clouds. 17. By this time the public were becoming interested. Civilian Sensor Investigation (New Zealand) with Mr. H. H. Fulton as President was established in Auckland to prove or disprove the existence of flying saucers. It is affiliated to an international body with the same object. In its column "Fifty Years Age" the Dunedin Star republished the following paragraph which first appeared on 21st November, 1902.
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.