RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia - UAP officer from 1973 interviewed

Hi all,

Recent blog readers will be aware that Melbourne based researcher Paul Dean and I, have been conducting a "cold case" investigation of the intriguing event which is reported to have happened on 25 October 1973 at the US Base at North West Cape, Western Australia.

If you have just commenced reading this blog, it would be useful to read three earlier posts on this incident. These may be found here, here and here.  This will bring you up to date on our research. Now for some new information.

Report form used in the NW Cape incident:

In an earlier post, we noted that the format (page 2) of the RAAF UAP report form used in the North West Cape incident, did not conform to the format (page 2) of forms used by RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia, in October 1973. This suggested to us that the incident was not reported through Pearce, the nearest RAAF base with an intelligence officer, part of whose duties was to process incoming UAP reports.

The question then arose in our minds as to whether the North West Cape form came from another RAAF Base? We therefore browsed through a large number of 1973 RAAF UAP report forms, which were generated by RAAF bases in Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales (as well as more from Western Australia.) None had the same format (page 2) as the forms used for reporting the North West Cape incident. The mystery of exactly where the North West Cape report form came from, remains unanswered.

Paul Dean interview:

We had previously found the name of the RAAF Base Pearce, UAP officer in 1973, on a file in the National Archives of Australia. Paul Dean recently located this individual and spoke to him by telephone. Mr (at the time Flight Officer) Pyers, confirmed that he was indeed the RAAF Base Pearce UAP officer in 1973.

Paul then asked him if he recalled a UAP sighting from North West Cape in 1973? Pyers responded  that he did not recall such an incident. Even after Paul described the event to him, Pyers did not recall coming across it. This would appear to confirm our deduction that the North West Cape report form did not originate from RAAF Base Pearce, but from elsewhere.

Interestingly, Pyers said he was surprised that such an incident would have made it onto the RAAF system/proforma at all. He thought it would have been handled by Canberra or someone higher up.

RAAF UAP files:

The North West Cape sighting, is not on the current RAAF files series A703 control symbol 580/1/1 parts 1-35 held by the National Archives of Australia, even though they extend to the end of 1973. The papers we received courtesy of Bill Chalker, were not on these files when Bill reviewed these same files in 1982.

Harry Turner:

In 1973, Harry Turner was a physicist working in the Department of Defence's Joint Intelligence Bureau/Joint Intelligence Organisation. Turner had a long interest in the subject of UAP, in fact since 1954 when the RAAF asked him to review their UAP files. Turner was the unofficial liaison between JI/JIO and the RAAF's Directorate of Air Force Intelligence (DAFI.) For a detailed interview with Turner click here.

We wondered whether or not Turner had been aware of the North West Cape incident? Our understanding, via Bill Chalker, is that Turner was not aware of the incident. This, like Pyers' comment ,suggests that the report may have been processed outside of the normal UAP reporting system. However, there remains the fact, that the sighting is recorded on what appear to be two RAAF UAP report forms!

Moira McGhee:

McGhee was a member of the civilian, Sydney based UFOIC in the 1970's. Our understanding is that she was the individual who first received the North West Cape documents. I therefore went back to my notes of a telephone conversation I had with her on 18 January 2013. I asked Moira for her recollections of how the documents came to be in  her possession? She informed me that she had received them from a Ron Rayner, a Public Relations Officer with the RAAF.

Henry Ross Rayner:

An Internet search (click here) reveals that Henry Ross Rayner (1914-1989) was appointed to the position of director of Public Relations, Department of Air, in Canberra in 1959. In 1965 he was then appointed Director of Public Relations, Department of Defence. He retired in 1979.

So, in 1973, the date of the North West Cape sighting; and also in 1975, the year UFOIC received the documents, Rayner was indeed Director of Public Relations, Department of Defence.

Where do we go from here?

Paul Dean has been unsuccessful, in tracking down Bill Lynn, and Lt Commander Moyer, the US Navy personnel who reported the incident. Paul is still trying to locate the US Navy Base commander, whose name we located in a 1973 newspaper article. Given their ranks and ages at the time, it may be that one or indeed all three of these individuals may have already passed way.

We are continuing with a few other leads we have on this intriguing report. Any assistance from blog readers would be very much appreciated.