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NZDF declassified RNZAF UFO files

NZDF / RNZAF via Internet Archive · 2010-12 · 445 pages · text by GLM-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. 14 …a "Aying saucer" over the Hawock North Hills is claimed to have been obtained by Mr…
  • p. 15 …to be coming slowly down towards the hills. It bore the appearance, she said, of a…
  • p. 20 …They first noticed the light high above the hills behind Bay View. It hovered there for…
  • p. 21 …To-night it will set shortly before 9 o'clock, though, with hills to the west…
  • p. 28 …very powerful one, flashing on the Patterang hill, about a mile distant. First it kept pointing…
  • p. 61 …step they shall be Sahin Discover the Hills will. Often and thing will be set free…
  • p. 72 …On reaching the brow of a hill he saw a brightly lit object coming toward him…
  • p. 94 …the following from the top of Kinbarni Hill : at 3: 32 p.m. shortly after a…
  • p. 125 …large star low down over the Wellington hills drew the attention of a prominent Auckland business…
  • p. 130 …climbed a hill in Lancashire to photograph birds. They set their camera to infinity and directed…
  • p. 132 …Both then disappeared slowly behind the outline of the hill. 北川羌族自治县
  • p. 175 …CLOSE-UP OF THE GREAT GALLOWAY HILLS MYSTERY - WHAT CAN THIS THING BE? This is reported…
  • p. 188 …On February 15 this year two schoolboys were reported to have climbed a hill in Lancashire…
  • p. 189 …Stewart, a farmer, of Saddle Hill, one of the men who saw the fire ball (or…
  • p. 212 # SCIENTIST EXPLAINS STRANGE SKY SIGHTS On top of Kelburn hill two silver observatory domes gleam in…
  • p. 225 The objects that landed were not Meteorites, because they travelled horizontally, manoeuvred around hills, stopped in…
  • p. 233 …This club formed by students of a Primary School, One Tree Hill. Master Kelvin Barton advised…
  • p. 249 …see a bright star, slightly above the hill behind Whakarewarewa, suddenly, "take off" on a circuit…
  • p. 251 …to see the object disappear over a hill in a manner that suggested to him, would…
  • p. 256 …He was on top of the hill in Commons Street, Oneraht, when the sun had just…
  • p. 257 …and at the time was on a hill overlooking the countryside. He was looking toward where…
  • p. 258 …over the penisula and disappeared over Saddle Hill. A boy said it looked like a football…
  • p. 267 …It was a big fireball and, though it seemed to be over the Karori hills, must…
  • p. 278 …Three policemen plodded solemnly into the hills accompanied by the sisters and surveyed the scene of…
  • p. 312 …as far a part as Hamilton East, Hill-croft Whitiora, and Maeroa and which occured right…
  • p. 320 …This corresponds with the rotation of a parabolic antenna located on a nearby hill. As the…
  • p. 327 …vapor, flashing across the sky over Box Hill at 2.30p.m. I saw what appeared…
  • p. 335 …Scoffers were con- founded, however, by the unusual story of a settler at Kauroo Hill. It…
  • p. 336 …time the airship had disappeared over a hill. The object was also seen at Mahono. The…
  • p. 363 …a south-East direction near the Adelaide hills. In the meantime I called my wife who…
  • p. 368 …Southwest had seen flash across the bare hills in straight, silent, horizontal flight, Unger recalled a…
  • p. 379 …191953 A group of people at surrey hills yesterday reported seeing a four minute display by…
  • p. 392 …was well above the line of the hills. When he resumed his journey he saw the…
  • p. 393 …The main light, however, seemed to hover over the Hokonui Hills. For some time it swung…
  • p. 396 …blue object was seen over the Port Hills at Christchurch at 11.45 p.m. A…
  • p. 422 …Brown, of Hill Grove, Naenae, their daughter Alice and her friend Ron Middleton, all saw a…
  • p. 430 …was even above the line of the hills. When he resumed his journey he saw the…
  • p. 431 …motion well above the outline of the hills. It was going in an easterly direction. I…
  • p. 436 …bearing says, a church spire or a hill, we can draw a line on a map…
  • p. 439 …disappeared in a northerly direction over the hills of Khandallah. The object was viewed from the…
  • p. 444 …Sugarloaf hill near Napier DATE: 30/10/52 TIME: approx 9.30pm. A/C.TYPE(s…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

The object was in itself radiating a light, and it was no reflection from any cloud effects, because when sighted it was clear of any cloud.

It is difficult to believe that the authorities can believe that two airline pilots cannot tell the difference between an object passing between 5 - 15 miles from the aircraft, (that is allowing for F/O Trounce's belief that it was more like 5 miles than my 15 mile estimation), and a planet on the horizon.

After observing the planet Venus six nights after sighting this object, I kept a continuous watch on the planet for 65 minutes under similar conditions, and at no time was there any comparison, especially in regards to the distance and the size of the object. When the object was at its minimum brilliance it was far smaller than Venus, but at its maximum brilliance, it gave an impression of being far brighter and larger.

A point that I would like you to investigate is, at the time I received my clearance to descend to 4,000 ft., the object was still in full sight, slightly ahead and below, and above 8/8th cloud. Now the time of obtaining this clearance was not given, therefore could you please check and see if it was after the planet had set, when this clearance was obtained. This is apart from the facts that at that time it was close in, above 8/8th cloud, ahead of us, and below, and appeared to be west of Waikato River mouth.

Mr. Gibson stated that we would receive the fullest consideration if any pilots reported any further of these objects, but personally after all the newspaper reports, phone calls, R.N.Z.A.F. statements plus personal embarrassment, I would have to have the little men waving to me before I made any further reports of this nature.

Please do not consider this at all personal; I do not refer to you when I mention authorities, but I wonder what other excuse they would make up if the planet Venus was not in this area at the same time. Please include this in my personal report.

Enclosed you will find a typical letter, one of the many received.

FILE

Yours faithfully.

N. d. L. Kansbiew

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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.