Venus, satellites and an unknown

Hi all,

The final two parts of the RAAF's main UAP file series A703, control symbol 580/1/1, parts 34 and 35, held by the National Archives of Australia, have just been digitized, courtesy of Paul Dean of Melbourne.

 Part 34 barcode 646593:

The “Department of Air” file, titled “Reports on flying saucers and other aerial objects” is 167 pages long in the digital version. There are 18 separate reported sightings on the file.  RAAF explanations for these observations range from “re-entry of 1973-027J,” “Mars, Hamal and Menkar,” to “unknown, possibly flock of birds.”

Most of the reports are of the lights in the sky variety, and reading their details as given on this file, I tend to agree with most of the RAAF’s explanations for the sightings recorded. Perhaps the most interesting report on the file is the following.

A flock of birds?

Garry and Coral Baldwin, a police constable and a teacher respectively, on 23 Nov 1973 at 1045hrs, were at O’Donnell Town, via West Wallsend, latitude 32 deg 53min south and longitude 151 deg 32 mins east. The sky was fine and clear. A number of objects were sighted against a mountain west of their position, at about 60 deg elevation. There was an associated loud noise similar to a low flying jet aircraft. They thought there were between 10 and 15 objects in a loose formation. The total duration of the sighting was 15-20 seconds. The objects appeared to descend to tree top height.

The colour of the objects was described as white/silver. At the time, the weather was wind from the SSW at 3kts. Visibility was 15 miles. There was 1/8 cumulus cloud at 2,500 feet. The temperature was 22 deg C.

 

The RAAF investigation revealed that there were no civilian aircraft in the area, but military planes were in the area at 30,000 feet. The official RAAF response letter to the witnesses dated 2 Sep 1974 said “…this Department has been unable to definitely determine a cause of the sighting.”

Part 35 barcode 646598:

This is a “Department of Air,” file, 181 pages long titled “Reports of flying saucers and other aerial objects.” There are 21 separate reports on it, with RAAF explanations for the observation ranging from “Venus,” “satellites,” to “hallucinatory or hoax.” Reading the details supplied by witnesses, I tend to agree with most of the explanations given by the RAAF.

In conclusion:

This means that all 35 parts are now available for you to read on the website (click here) of the National Archives of Australia. Go to "search the collection; then "begin your search:" then in "basic search" type the keywords "flying saucers" and click on the search button and up comes the files. Happy reading!