NZDF declassified RNZAF UFO files

# OBJECT WATCHED FLYING OFF SUN

NEW PLYMOUTH, Today (PA).—An object flying off the sun at a terrific speed was seen in New Plymouth at 4.15pm on Tuesday by Mr. G. Flett, of New Plymouth, an experienced observer of

Mr. Flett was watching the course of a weather balloon when he saw the object, which he said today was round, but ill-defined in shape. It was while the sun was 270 degrees due west and at an elevation of 58 degrees.

The object appeared to be falling, and because of its speed he does not think it was the same one as seen by four fishermen off Bell Blvd at 9.20pm on Tuesday, by a pilot board a NAC DC3 aircraft in 9.27 and by a Nelson woman at Whangarei two minutes later.

[In the recently published book, "The Antarctic Today," it is recalled that on March 8, 1947, a group of Australian scientists, while observing a great solar flare through a radiotelescope, detected material flowing outwards from the sun at a speed of about 300 miles an hour. A solar flare is a particular occurrence in which solar particles are emitted. Sometimes, over an active sunspot group, there is a sudden flash of brilliant light, the cause of which is not known. Radio "fade-outs," which may accompany the flare, indicating that the energy has travelled with the velocity of light, 186,000 miles a second, are believed to be caused by an extra large burst of ultra-violet light associated with the flare.]

## A Meteor?

NEW PLYMOUTH, Jan. 7 (PA) An unidentified object sighted in the sky by an airman in a National Airways Corporation DC3 near Te Kuiti at 9.27pm on Tuesday, by a Nelson woman at Whangarei two minutes later, and by four Taranaki fishermen even minutes earlier was, according to a New Plymouth man, a meteor. Mr. D. R. B. Dobson, of Mill Road, saw the object just before 9.30pm. He is positive it was a meteor and feels certain that it was the same object as was reported elsewhere. A veteran of World War II, he spent four years in the Navy, and has seen numerous flying bombs, tracers, jet fighters, and meteors at night. The time of observation, the direction, and the colour corresponded with ports of the unidentified object.

## Report From Napier

NAPIER, Today (PA).A Greenmeadows man and his son have reported seeing a bright object hurtling at high speed through the sky west of Napier early on Tuesday evening.

Mr. S. P. Tuck, chairman of directors of Tuck Bros., Ltd., a timber firm, said today that he saw the object over two hours before several people in Taranaki as well as an Airways pilot saw a similar object.

When he first saw the object about 7pm it was a bright circular light. Within a minute it had faded into a reddish glow and disappeared.

First to see the object was Mr. Tuck's 16-year-old son, Mick. Mr. Tuck and his son were travelling to Napier and were just south of Tepohue, on the Taupo Road, at the time.

"At first I thought it was the evening aircraft taking off from Napier," Mr. Tuck said. "It looked like a side view of a plane with all the cabin lights on. The cloud base was 5000 to 7000 feet and it was just under the clouds."

## 'Not a star or meteor'

Mr. Tuck, who is interested in astronomy, was certain it could not have been a star. "A star would not disappear in a clear patch of sky like this object did," he said. "It was quite a large, very bright circular object. It faded into a reddish glow, then disappeared. It appeared to be travelling at a terrific speed towards a rift in the clouds about 12 miles from Napier. It was a peculiar thing! I would not like to say what it was."

Mr. Tuck is equally certain the object was not a meteor. "A meteor would have reacted in the opposite way and become brighter," he said.

# Fantastic Tale Of Flying 'Arrowhead'

NEW YORK, Jan. 6. A bright colourful object "shaped like an arrowhead" was reported to be in sight over Dallas, Texas, for two hours today, and people who saw it said it was definitely not a star or a plane.

A police official said he first began getting reports of the strange object about midnight. "People called in describing the thing as green, orange, and red. They said it was arrow-shaped, with a green, nose and wings that gave off a white light and a whirring noise."

He said he did not become much concerned until several police cars reported seeing the object. Then observers at an airport control tower north of Dallas said it was visible from there.

## Up to 100,000ft.

THE controller on duty at the tower said that when he first spotted the object he estimated its height at 30,000 feet, and he estimated that within thirty minutes it had gone up to 80,000 feet, and in another hour to 100,000 feet, when it could barely be seen. He said pilots in the control tower guessed the object was travelling at 2000 miles an hour.

Saying that he had worked in a control tower for 14 years and been a pilot for 27 years, he added: "I should know a plane or a star by now, and this was neither."

A fire department officer also said the object was not a plane or a star. He said he watched it for about two hours, and saw it change colour from orange to bright red. "I wish I had never seen it," he said. "It's too fantastic, and now there'll be a lot of talk."—N.Z.P.A. (Rec. 10am).

## Pilot Surprised By Bright Aerial Object

AUCKLAND, Today (PA).The first recorded air-to-air sighting of an unknown aerial object in New Zealand occurred at 9.27 last night.

The co-pilot of a National Airways DC3, First Officer K. G. Bond, watched a brilliant reddish-orange light move steadily across the path of the liner. He thinks it was too low and travelling too slowly to have been a meteor

The Dakota was on its Way from Wellington to Auckland, and 15 miles west of Te Kuiti. First Officer Bond at once checked by radio with air traffic control in Wellington and was told that no aircraft were flying in the Wellington or Auckland control areas.

When he was startled by the light dead ahead, he had just looked up after checking his instruments in the cockpit. "It was brighter than any meteor, and was moving from west to east in a straight line," he said today. "It was about the size of Venus in the sky, and had a definite tail of colour. It seemed to be about one and a half miles in front and at 8000 feet—1000 feet higher than the aircraft. But it must have been farther away, as the light would have moved towards the starboard wing tip in the 45 seconds that I was watching it. The brilliance gradually faded and the object disappeared. None of the passengers saw it, probably the forward angle was too acute."

[The pilot's description makes it fairly certain that what he saw was a meteor, and this is confirmed by reports from two places, in the Kaipara and Whangarei districts, that a "flying saucer" was seen there at times given as 0.28 and 0.29pm.]