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NZDF declassified RNZAF UFO files

NZDF / RNZAF via Internet Archive · 2010-12 · 445 pages · text by OCR

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.

  • p. 11 …I have never seen a planet move like that. My co-pilot (First Officer S G…
  • p. 22 …I can only add if anyone believes my something they have never seen then here's…
  • p. 50 …they have landed, someplace, but I have never been able to track it down, but as…
  • p. 51 …the space people? A. It was not. Never deliberate on their part, but our aggression and…
  • p. 52 …Well I was taken pretty close to one other planet like that of Venus but never…
  • p. 53 …to class-room, for graduation which is never attained because eternity is eternity. Do they have…
  • p. 62 …lot on this great took it has never been strong yet I gave my standing son…
  • p. 72 …I never read who-dunnits, and I shun thrillers like poison; I suppose I have to…
  • p. 91 …such things for personal files but have never had copies made. I can see the value…
  • p. 97 …g) No peculiarities except that I have never observed its like before. (h) Solid in appearance…
  • p. 126 …moment. "In all my flying I've never seen anything 'like it," he said today. Air…
  • p. 137 …Someplace, but I have never been able to track it down, but as far as I…
  • p. 138 …the space people? A. It was not. Never deliberate on their part, but our aggression and…
  • p. 139 …Well I was taken pretty close to one other planet like that of Venus but never…
  • p. 140 …to class-room, for graduation which is never attained because eternity is eternity. Q. Do they…
  • p. 145 …we are making them," stated Mr. Quarles. Never in the history of our subject have I…
  • p. 151 …I have never said that the Big Four gathered to discuss the question of the UFO…
  • p. 152 …The real issues at Geneva are not yet known, and may never be, but we are…
  • p. 157 …a subjective reason why more stories have never been related, especially so, where PROMINENT PEOPLE are…
  • p. 158 …Wallace's mother, whom we later interviewed, claimed that her son had never been so frightened…
  • p. 167 …the phenomenon of Horseheads, N.Y., may never be known. ## ******* ## THE SWEDISH GHOST ROCKETS by S…
  • p. 172 …ALTHOUGH THE STORY WAS WIDELY REPORTED, IT WAS NEVER PUBLISHED IN FULL OUTSIDE SCANDINAVIA. NOW Flying…
  • p. 174 …I was never more than three or four minutes walk from the girls, and I reckon…
  • p. 176 …to time in the area, but they never heard of them flying at night. "What I…
  • p. 183 …He could not say whether or not it might be a meteor as he had never…
  • p. 201 …Besides, you never know what they could do to you . . . There is no material we know…
  • p. 213 …Church-because of the probability that they never contracted "original sin." ## Flying Discs Sir,—Periodically, Mr…
  • p. 216 …phenomena, there are many individuals who have never reported "sightings" of their own or knowledge. Hope…
  • p. 222 …France, never to be outdone, when it comes to autumn tourist attractions, has also had its…
  • p. 223 …It is necessary for me to state here that I would never falsely colour or manufacture…
  • p. 224 …They said this because they had never seen a modern deep-water diving suit. What they…
  • p. 231 …first reports were immediately followed by a never-ending chain of fantastic stories mostly created by…
  • p. 242 …I do not know what it was, I have never seen such an object before. President…
  • p. 248 …We have never heard of & find it difficult to imagine any meteors or aurorae presenting such…
  • p. 249 …He says that he and his companions never thought of flying saucers, being sure that it…
  • p. 254 …Civil Aviation Dept for some years, but never with the openness and seriousness of these last…
  • p. 256 # ore Observers Confirm # "NORTHERN ADVOCATE" # Seeing Strange Object 凯6 NOV 195本 "I HAVE never seen anything…
  • p. 257 …the man and his family. "I have never seen anything like it in my life," he…
  • p. 263 …or Martians, they reiterate that astronomers have never made any observations which could indicate a high…
  • p. 271 …With this weight of evidence you could well ask why saucers have never been, officially accepted…
  • p. 272 …chances are greater—a planet we have never even heard of. But wherever they come from…
  • p. 273 …I have never seen a saucer—but at least I have seen Mars! Vow the first…
  • p. 280 Acura shall call the existing currency All Min the Prairie neverer less len Qian FILE. for…
  • p. 286 …The world may never know, although he definitely has had a hand in the disk project…
  • p. 302 …observing of evidences, while those who have never seen a flying saucer make a show by…
  • p. 306 …In 18 years of flying I have never seen anything like it. If it had been…
  • p. 307 …and not forgetting those very important ones never to be forgotten sightings. We sincerely hope you…
  • p. 308 …likes light reading as well, but can never find the time now, so great is the…
  • p. 320 …Another official said that the Air Force had never accepted this theory. By classifying sightings as…
  • p. 321 …I never saw it happen before. If the acceleration explanation is true, then the speeds involved…
  • p. 324 …The Air Force has never denied that such a possibility exists. Some of the personnel believe…
  • p. 332 …more closely, I am sure they would never be so keen to rashly debunk it. Right…
  • p. 356 …These have never been confused with flying saucers as some sources of information contend. Recent events…
  • p. 367 …happenings in the sky that science had never been able satisfactorily to explain. Unger, beginning in…
  • p. 373 …Forefathers, the great majority of their ranks never dreamed of or envisaged that which is ordinary…
  • p. 401 …nuclli open to doubt because there have never been reports of them from sailors, astronomers and…
  • p. 416 …to bright red. "I wish I had never seen it," he said. "It's too fantastic…
  • p. 436 …In spite of all the flying saucer reports all over the world, science has never been…
36. When he heard of these reports

commented:

"You can't possibly ignore three straightforward, intelligently written reports like these. I can't give any explanation off-hand."

The Director of the Carter Observatory, Mr. I. L. Thomsen, who is an authority on the behaviour of Aurorae said:

"That looks to be quite worthwhile information. You have got times and you have got something that might give speeds. I am quite a little sceptical about this sort of thing but one has to have an open mind. The trouble with these reports from all over the world is that there is no accurate data that any scientific person can get his teeth into, and that is why, I think, scientific people are remaining very quiet about them. It would be interesting if those who want to report on flying saucers would try to notice the correct time, give altitude, direction, and reference to landmarks. Then if anybody wanted to look into the reports they would have something to go on. If we got enough such reports we could correlate them."

37. After they had analysed the reports and another astronomer, made the following joint statement:

'Assumin. that the reports of a swift-moving object in the sky on Saturday night are not the result of collaboration (and they appear to be genuine, independent observations) then they constitute a surprising weight of evidence in favour of the supposition that some object of a bluish colour did pass down the South Island at about 11 o'clock that night. The times of the Nelson sightings fit in well with the assumption that the object travelled from there southwards to be observed successively from the ferry steamer, from Christchurch, from Kysburn and finally from Waipahi. It would be interesting to know if anything unusual was seen from Oamaru which appears to be on the route.

Most detail has been given by the four observers at Mipahi. Their estimate of a sound lag of three seconds and apparent size of an orange at arm's length would indicate an object about the size of a ship (over 300 feet) at a height of 3000 to 4000 feet. The object may well have been smaller as there is a common tendency to over-estimate the angle subtended by an object seen in the sky.

The Christchurch observers given an apparent size of half a crown indicating a height of 6000 to 7000 feet there If the object passed about twenty miles east of the Kyebun observer, it would appear about one-third the apparent diameter of the moon, which is not greatly at variance with his account.

Regarding speed, the times given by the observers could indicate 400 to 600 miles an hour between Nelson and Wipshi. The times of the three intervening sightings fit in reasonably well with this assumption."

38. As soon as this was published three Oamaru residents wrote to the Otago Daily Times saying that they and at least two other people had stated publicly that they had seen the taucer" exactly as described in the reports.

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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.