Department of Civil Aviation file digitised

Hi all,

Paul Dean's program of paying for UAP files of the National Archives of Australia (NAA) to be digitised, has resulted in another file. This one is NAA file series B595 control symbol 21/1/387 PART 2 titled "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena." Its barcode is 9044809, Canberra office, with a date range of 1960-1965. The file is 70 pages in length, was opened on 10 Aug 1959 and closed on 11 Aug 1965. The file originated with the former Department of Civil Aviation (DCA.)

The file contains numerous reports of UAP, including:

* 29 May 1961, Tennant Creek, Northern Territory. At 1125hrs two men, saw a passing Bristol Freighter aircraft in the sky. Near this aircraft they saw a white object. It generally travelled south, but at times appeared stationary. The Director General's office of DCA suggested "...scientific balloons released at Mildura...or one of the daylight visible planets."

* 17 Nov 1961. Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. 1630hrs z. A bright flash lit up the sky. Looking up, witnesses saw vapour trails in the south-western sky.

* 17 Apr 1962. Policemans Point, South Australia. 2000hrs. A man sighted a fast flying, low down, soundless craft. It had three very brilliant cabin lights on it. 15 minutes later, and 125 miles away, a similar object was seen.

* 27 Apr 1964. 36deg 36mins South 127 deg 22 mins East. 1240hrs z. Report from a ship, MV Burwah. Starlike object seen near the star Sirius, about the same brightness. Originally stationary, it then moved south, then east, curved north then south. Duration 5 minutes.

* 7 Nov 1964. Rockhampton, Queensland. 2045hrs z. An observer at the aerodrome saw what they took to be a high flying aircraft and associated vapour trail. However, there was no known aircraft in the area. The vapour trail was inspected 10 minutes later through binoculars but no aircraft was visible. A check of adjacent air traffic control units failed to identify any aircraft in the region at the time.

* 5 Nov 1964. Bisbane, Queensland. 2000hrs. Mr M German on duty at the weather radar installation noted a return on the radar at 075deg T, range 140 mls. The return was travelling in a northerly direction. There were no known aircraft in the area.

In all these cases, DCA forwarded the reports of UAP on to the RAAF for further action.

Comments:

The Disclosure Australia Project (2003-2008) located a number of UAP files held by DCA. Material on these files are in the date range from the early 1950's to 1986. This means that the DCA was involved for a long a time as the RAAF, in collecting (but not analysing) UAP reports. Their role was to be a collection point for reports from airline pilots; air traffic controllers, other DCA staff, and members of the general public and then pass details on to the RAAF.

Through the Disclosure Project we are aware of the file numbers of several other DCA UAP files, which have not been located using the NAA's electronic database RecordSearch.