The 4 December 1980, Perth, radar/visual case - new data

Ray Brooke

In a previous post I mentioned the passing of South Australian UAP researcher Ray Brooke, and the fact that Ray's daughter Louise had given me some of Ray's UAP papers. Buried in these papers were details of the Perth radar/visual case of 4 December 1980, some of which I had never heard of before.

Background

It turns out that five years after the event was briefly summarised in "The ACUFOS Bulletin" of January 1981, Peter Zehmeister of the group South-West UFO Research & Investigations (Tasmania) had quietly conducted an investigation into the incident. Ray Brooke had acquired a copy of Peter's investigation papers.

Media articles

One of the things which Peter had done, was to contact the West Australian Newspaper Limited and obtain relevant press clippings from them. namely:

1. The "West Australian" dated 5 December 1980.

"Mystery objects tracked.

Unidentified Flying Objects were tracked on radar at Perth airport yesterday. Air traffic Controllers made two or three visual sightings between 8am and 11am. Danielle Russell (12) of Jennings Way, Lockridge saw four objects moving quickly across the sky from north to south about 11am. She said "When I first  saw them through the lounge-room window I thought they were birds or a plane. They were changing colour from red, blue and green."

The Regional Director of transport, Mr Ellis Kell, said last night that the silver tumbling discs were tracked on radar at a height of more than  8000 metres until they disappeared at more than 20,000m.

There were no aircraft or weather balloons in the area to explain the sighting.

A spokesman at RAAF Pearce, Wing Commander Ian Lindsay, said last night that an object picked up by radar at the base between 1pm and 1.30pm turned out to be a weather balloon. It had been released after the airport sightings. A Macchi jet had gone up after Perth Airport reported the first sightings, but had seen nothing."

2. The "West Australian" dated 6 December 1980.

"Riddle of UFOs unsolved.

The mystery of the Unidentified Flying Objects that were seen and tracked on radar on Thursday may never be solved. The RAAF is handling the investigation but is concerned only with establishing that there were no aircraft or obvious objects such as weather balloons in its air space.

Two or three sightings of the objects were made at Perth Airport by air traffic controllers between 8am and 11am. They were tracked on radar at a height of more than 8000 metres till they disappeared at more than 20,000 metres. 

It has been established that there were no aircraft in the area. An RAAF spokesman said that the atmospheric conditions were unusual on Thursday and this could have accounted for the sightings."

3. The "Western Mail" dated 5 December 1980.

"Mystery objects baffle RAAF

Four unidentified flying objects, sighted over Perth, have the RAAF baffled. The UFOs were seen by Mr Graham Moyle, an air traffic controller at Perth Airport. And the Department of Transport confirmed that they had been tracked on radar from 8000 metres to 20,000 metres. Then they disappeared.

Wing Commander Ian Lindsay, Administrative staff officer at Pearce Air Base, said the RAAF had "eliminated all sequences of events" in their air space and could not account for the UFOs. They also sent up a Macchi jet after Perth Airport reported the first of three visual sightings. But the pilot saw nothing.

The airport sightings were made between 8am and 11am yesterday and a 12 year old girl also reported seeing four objects speed across the sky about 11am. Danielle Russell of Jennings Way, Lockridge said they were changing colour from red, blue and green. "At first I thought they were birds or a plane."

A spokesman for the Commonwealth Department of Transport in Perth said the objects may have disappeared from the radar screen at 20,000 metres after moving into a "cone of silence" a sort of radar blind spot, or because they were out of range of the equipment being used to track them. Or they might have just disappeared."

Air traffic control "daily journal"

Another item which Peter was able to secure was a copy of the Air Traffic Control "Daily Journal" which recorded details of events from that day. This was supplied to him by Duncan S. Asquith-Ellis, of the Department of Aviation, Perth Airport. 

2338 [GMT 3 Dec 1980 - KB]  UFO Reported by TWR. First sighted by RFF 15 min ago glinting in sun. Sighted by TWR. Radar had a paint for 5 mins (From 097 degrees/6nm -  into cone of silence of radar). Tower also lost sight of it then (5min ago). Radar estim G/s 120 kts in S/E direction (against wind). Painting quite clearly seen until cone of silence. PE FPO advised PR radar not yet manned. 

0330 [GMT 4 Dec 1980 - KB] Mrs? Russell 2796181 reported watching 4 discs "tumbling" and flashing in the sun.Moving from a very high posn near Lockridge moving towards PH AD. PE FPO will ask UFO Officer. PH radar reports 4 returns 045 degrees/5 PH AD moving SE 20 kts. Will check with PE App.

Lockridge and Perth Airport

0340 PH TWR sights 4 objects. Radar positions of 4 returns agrees with TWR sightings.

0405 PH radar advise the tracks taken by these 4 would be identical with 2338 sighting.

0422 Radar adv PE had return on QUAD radar 18nm due south of PE @ 26,000ft. TWR sighted an object vertically above Rwy 20 paralleling centreline to S. 5min later altitude now 72000 ft."

Pearce (in suburb of Bullsbrook) and Perth Airport

You need to know the following to be able to decipher parts of the above text:

All times are GMT. 

PH = Perth  AD = Aerodrome  PE = RAAF Pearce  FPO = Flight Planning Office  NM = Nautical mile  QUAD = Quadrant radar RFF = Fire fighting unit. 

Ground observers

On Friday 20 October 1985 Peter interviewed the Russells. His notes read as follows:

" Q1. Mrs Russell, I was wondering if you could tell me the events of 4 December 1980?

 A.  I was sitting in the lounge, and my daughter was looking out the lounge room window north towards Broome, and she said, what's that up in the sky, and we didn't take much notice of her, you know, we made the usual small remarks about  "Superman" and what not, and the look on her face was pretty intense so we looked  and sure enough there were these four objects there. And they seemed to b changing colour, they went from red, to green, but they were spinning you know, and as they were spinning the colours where they were catching the light or not, but the colours were changing. They actually did a ballet up there with very intricate passing and maneuvering. They were up there for quite some time.

I came in and phoned the airport, and they said they were tracking them. I phoned the airport and they phoned Pearce. Apparently  Pearce did have a plane up, but we did not hear any more about it, because the media chose to use my daughter's name. She was only twelve at the time. But apart from being told that they were tracking and they did have a plane up, nobody said yea, we saw it too. We have got a six foot wall around our home, we had a barbecue and we  watched them, for, it must have been for a good 2-3 minutes after I made the  phone call. But the strange thing about it was, that it was a beautiful day, it was not hot, everything was deadly quiet! There wasn't even a bird! No birds made any noise it was just no noise at all, everything seemed to stop.

Q2. Are there usually birds in the area?

A2. Oh yes, we are a part of the bush. There wasn't a sound. We all remarked on that.

Q3. What were the shapes of the objects?

A3. They were circular.

Q4 Did they seem to change shape at all?

A4. No, no change of shape at all, only this sort of a "ballet dance": and going round each other. It was very disciplined very disciplined. And at terrific speed, and then they sort of came over the house, and stopped above us. They just sort of stayed there, and we said we have got a boarding kennels for cats here and as I said oh perhaps they have some monkeys on board they want to drop off. They hovered there for about three or four seconds and then they went at terrific speed south. 

Q5. Was there any physical reaction at all?

A5 No, nothing.We were awed, just completely fascinated by this.

Q6. How did you feel when all this was going on?

A6. Ah, we were interested and fascinated,but no displacement, we talked about it a lot afterward. No we did not have any adverse effects at all. I always said I was a skeptic, from seeing that I definitely agree that there was something.

Q7. So obviously you have not seen anything like this before?
A7. No, but about six or seven months later we were at the drive in and this thing hovered around the screen and shot off north. But that particular road is known for that sort of thing, there is always sightings there.

Q8. What actually caught your attention to these craft in the first place?

A8. Just my daughter looking out the window, she just looked up and said what that up in the sky? We didn't rush but we eventually looked out the window and they they were. It couldn't have been a plane coming down from the north because there were four of them to start with and it was the change in colour in them all the time, they were silver, green, red, blue and they were spinning, they seemed to be spinning.

Q9. Do you think there may have been an aura or blurry layer around these craft?

A9. No., They were very high and were very sharp in my vision. They really stood out. The sky was completely blue. There were no clouds. They were definite object up there. They left across us to the south. They came from the north and went south. North would be Broome. Then I rang the tower, all they said is that they were tracking, that they had picked up some interference and that they would phone Pearce. Danielle is here now, she's 17 now and she may be able to tell you some more.

Q. Can you remember what happened on the morning of Dec 4 1980?

A. I was sitting on the couch, and I looked out of the window and i said to my mum and sister what's that in the sky? And they started cracking jokes and everything and I said no, there is something up there. It's not a plane and they looked and then we all went outside. I was about 12 at the time.

Q. Could you be able to describe what you actually saw on the morning?

A. There were our or five of them. There was one in the middle and the rest were around him. They were all changing colours and going from the outside into the middle to where the other one was and coming back out again. They were sort of dancing all the time.

Q. Did they conform to any shape at all? In their maneuvers.

A. No really, there was one in the middle and the rest were dancing around him.

Q. So there was one stationary craft and the rest were dancing around him?

A. Yes."

Other sightings

Peter was able to retrieve details of other reported sightings for the relevant time period. These were:

3 Dec 1980 Wanneroo 1955hrs

Oval, brilliant white light fluctuating to grey. 2 miles east of Lanejandabup. Middle ring rotating around main body. Shining red, blue, green, flashing light causing eye strain. Seen for 20  minutes. Airliner to south-east.

4 Dec 1980 Lockridge 1035hrs

Danielle (12) saw four objects changing colour red, blue, green, rapidly from north to south.

4 Dec 1980 Burrendah 1120-1130hrs

Mrs M Gamble saw brilliant white object, oval in shape with a "dart" on top. Stopped in flight. Quivered. Rose up quickly then descended.Disappeared low to the south.

4 Dec 1980 Kelmscott 2035hrs

S Chiverton saw a red ball of light south of Kelm. Moving slowly, then hovered about 90ft above power lines near a small lake.

5 Dec 1980 Lesmurdie 1915-1930hrs

Five objects in an inverted v formation appeared to be observing a jumbo jet approaching Perth Airport. Then four left, one stationary. Took up positions around the jet. Moved into straight line, then formed 2 different v formations with the previously stationary object. 

The 1965 Margaret Brock Lighthouse photographs

Introduction

Thanks to the hard work of the Swedish Archives for the Unexplained (AFU); UK researcher Isaac Koi; Boston based researcher Barry Greenwood and myself, I am now able to go through digitised issues of the Australian magazine named "Panorama." This magazine was published by one Fred Stone of Adelaide.

Background

I have been working on a series of "cold case" analyses of classic Australian sightings for many years, and one of the cases which I have been hoping to find some more original source material on, has been the 17 March 1965 sighting, and series of photographs, taken on a ship near the Margaret Brock Lighthouse off the coast of South Australia. Two issues of "Panorama" have provided just such source material.

The event

The most original source is the "Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate" dated 23 March 1965. The text of the article reads as follows, and there were two accompany photographs.

"Mystery object

"Moon object" pictures.

These photographs, taken at sea off the Victorian coast last Wednesday, show what appears to be an object moving around the moon. 

They were brought to Newcastle by the man who took them, Mr Walter Jacobs, 38 of The Terrace, Newcastle, an assistant steward on the BHP ore freighter Iron Duke. Mr Jacobs, an amateur photographer, said he saw the object by accident when he began to photograph a moon-cloud effect. He said he developed the negatives in his cabin on the trip to Newcastle. He became convinced the light was an object. Crew mates who saw the prints had speculated on it being a space vehicle.

Bright glow

"The ship was approaching Margaret Brock Lighthouse, between Adelaide and Melbourne, when I went on deck to take the moon pictures," Mr Jacobs said. "It was a few moments after 10pm. The moon was fairly low in the sky in the direction of Adelaide. I looked through the camera at the moon, which was behind the clouds and saw a light on the left hand side of it. "It was a bright yellow-orange glow. At first I thought it was a planet."

"As I started to photograph it the light began to travel. it swung under the moon and up the other side." He adjusted the camera's shutter speed and when he looked again the light was above the moon. He took one picture, and by the time he took another, in two seconds, the "object" had shot high above the moon. He took other pictures. 

Like saucer

Mr Jacobs said he was more concerned about getting a good picture than wondering what the object was, and he went below. The object seemed stationary then. "It wasn't until I printed the photographs that I began to wonder. In one you can see a knob on the bottom and a depression on the top - the usual description of a flying saucer," he said.

A "Newcastle Morning Herald" representative accompanied Mr Jcobs to Newcastle University and saw Professor C D Ellyet, head of the Physics Department and Dean of the Faculty of Science. After studying the photographs Professor Ellyet said the phenomena was probably caused by the reflection or refraction of the moonlight by ice crystals in the clouds. This would explain how the "object" changed shaped with time, he said. Movement of the light around the moon could be explained by the movement of air and the ice crystals in the clouds.Mr Jacobs' photographs were the best and clearest he had seen of such a phenomena, he added.

Footnote

Professor Ellyet emphasizes he was putting forward a theory and that "in these cases one can never be certain." No satisfactory answer had been put forward for some sightings made in the sky over the years.

Adelaide "News"

The 5 April 1965 issue of the Adelaide "News" carried  the following photograph, and accompanying text.

"He shot a 'saucer'

"I didn't believe  in all the space talk, but now I am convinced I photographed a flying object of monstrous size," Mr Walter Jacobs said today. Mr Jacobs a steward on the freighter "Iron Duke" which berthed at Port Adelaide on Saturday, took seven pictures  of a bright orange object in the sky off south-east coast on the night of March 17th.

Mr Jacobs disagreed with statements that the object in his picture could have been an aeroplane using a strong spotlight or a satellite illuminated by the moon. "It was much too big and moved too quickly for an aircraft. The light was bright orange nothing like a spotlight" he said. The photo clearly shows the object was in front of the moon. 

Two clouds

Mr G P Danvers of Cheltenham, today reported having seen the similar "object" over Adelaide about the same time. He was conducting a Mini-Tour party at Observation Point when they sighted a light orange coloured "flying saucer." It appeared to be spinning around the moon. As the party watched it slowly changed shape and was ultimately revealed to be two dark clouds parting with the moonlight breaking through the gap. He said today the wind affecting the edges of the cloud was believed to have made the "flying saucer" appear to spin round the moon.

Adelaide "Advertiser"

The 5 April 1965 issue carried the following text.

"Film taken of S Aust sky object

A sky "object" with the characteristics usually attributed to "saucers" has been clearly photographed over S Aust. Astronomical experts in SA have been unable tom positively identify the object, which took the form of a bright orange glow with a "dent" on top and "knot" on the bottom. All have agreed, however, that the description given could not be explained as a planet.

Photographs of the object were taken by Mr Walter Jacobs, a steward on the freighter "Iron Duke" which berthed at Port Adelaide on Saturday. The photographs show what appears to be a glowing object moving around the moon. Mr Jacobs who is an amateur photographer, said he saw the object shortly after 10pm on March 17th when he began to photograph a moon cloud effect while at sea on the way to Newcastle. The ship was approaching the Margaret Brock Lighthouse, between Adelaide and Melbourne.

"It was a bright, yellow orange glow, at first I thought it was a planet." "As I started to photograph it, the light began to travel. It swung "under" the moon and up the other side." He took one picture and by the time he took another, two seconds, the object had shot upwards vertically from the moon and "was high above it." He took more pictures. "I went below and it wasn't until I printed the photographs that i began to wonder" he said. "You can see a knob on the bottom and a depression on top -the usual description of a flying saucer."

The Professor of Physics at the uni of Adelaide, Pro J H Carver, said that the described behaviour of the object was  consistent with that of an aircraft equipped with a very strong spotlight. An RAAF spokesman said, however, that to the best of his knowledge there had not been any planes using powerful spotlights in the area at that time.

The Astronomical Society Senior Vice pres said "The only planet neat the moon at this time was Mars and that this would have been stationary and not behaving n the manner described." Another astronomer unnamed said he felt the object could have been a satellite. But a WRE spokesman said the sharp upward trail described by Mr Jacobs did not coincide with the path which a satellite might take."

"Panorama"

Volume 4 number 2 pages 2 and 19,of this magazine, firstly carried the text of the 5 April 1965 issue of the Adelaide "Advertiser" then continued:

"Your editor interviewed Mr Jacobs who added these further facts. He had watched it for 7 minutes and it was still there when he went below. We cannot understand why he did not draw the attention of the rest of the crew to the unusual object, and especially when the man on the bridge above who did not see it. Also another man who was on deck who said he did not see it.

He said it was very large and he felt it would carry a crew of 40-50 people. The camera which he took the object with was a Japanese Minoca and the shot was taken at F2 60 on a black and white 35mm film.

We sort (sic) to get copies of the photos from him  and at first he consented but later after discussing the matter with other people said he  would first try and sell them to USA magazines but would later give us photos, which he did.

We were not at all surprised by this as he was  interviewed by TV and shots were shown on the interview. Also he was taken to see other people after this event, and it was from this he rang us up to withdraw his original offer. However next day he showed us the negatives and we examined them as best we could and he gave us some photos on condition that we did not reproduce the,. We regret therefore we cannot reproduce anything without his consent,and further feel that his desire to "cash in" on them unfortunately does lessen the authenticity of the films; in that people will naturally concur that it is a gimmick. However we feel ourselves at this moment that until we see the whole 7 shots at close range on reproduced photos we accept his story with reservations, for until such a close examination of them is made it is hard to determine what the object rally is, although it certainly has all the general characteristics of the saucers. We have drawn below the various drawings he gave us of the object and its movements, and also our own drawing of it as shown in the reproduced picture in the "Advertiser.""

"Panorama" Volume 4 number 3 pages7-8 continued the story.

"The Jacobs photo of UFO over Adelaide

We have received many inquiries regarding this photo  of which we gave a resume in our last edition, and since which we had time to make more intense investigations. Frankly we are not happy about this photo, because of the co-related evidence  which at times became quite contradictory. So much so that we wrote to the "Advertiser" which published the photos, but our letter was not published. So we point out here to our readers some of the highlights.

We admit that initially we were very impressed by the photos and the story told in the paper and over TV by Mr Jacobs, but after two lengthy interviews with him we feel we must in all honesty place our findings before the public for a clearer evaluation of the case.

It has been suggested that Mr Jacobs when interviewed by Mr Norris of the AFSRS hinted that he tried  to fool us or leas us astray. Rather a strange thing for a man who was trying to convince the public of what he had seen and witnessed  and who told us he was trying to sell them to interested journals. Surely he would have been only too anxious to make every point of his story true rather than mislead people.

Firstly the photos. The first five shots which he showed us on the negatives were taken as the "object" was approaching the moon-cloud. He then altered his timing and shot the one which was shown in the paper and the TV "above the moon cloud..." The previous five were by no means as clear and defined as the one shown. In all this it must be remembered that the ship was moving whilst this was taken and this factor must be taken into account as regards the photo.

The lighthouse according to Mr Jacobs was 50 miles away, but when interviewing the crew they all stated that it was only 15 miles away. Here a contradiction of fact.

He insisted he did not realize it was an unusual object until he developed the photos, if so why was he aware enough to change the timing.

The one man who was beside him and to whom he called his attention to it, was no longer on the ship. He had been signed off at Newcastle before the ship had returned to Adelaide. Mr Jacobs gave the photo to the Advertiser. Also the captain of the ship has been changed. The man on the bridge who may have seen the sighting if it was so unusual as Jacobs claimed, said in an interview that he did not see anything unusual.

Mr Jacobs said he went down after taking the photo to the TV room and shot some shots of the TV. These were on the negatives, but when he showed us the "spot" where he had taken the photo from on the side of the ship, the TV room was immediately BEHIND him and within arms reach. Being a hot night so he said, it was more than likely the door would be open as it was not air conditioned. Even if not, it is rather strange he did not turn around and knock or call out to those in the room to see what he had taken.

His excuse here as stated before "he did not realize it was an unusual object." Yet when being interviewed he was quite certain he "saw the top part spinning around whilst the bottom section was also lit up." Surely such an odd behaviour of a "cloud" would cause one to know it was something out of the ordinary and create a desire to call witnesses. Yet he called no one from the TV room behind , or consider it unusual until later when he realized he had shot some unusual object.

The position of the lighthouse from the point of photography must not be overlooked for under certain cloud conditions the light from this may have had some contributing factors.

One factor was Mr Jacobs' contradictory statements re the value of the pictures. he was most anxious to impress us he had no need to "make money" out of it. For on the first day he said 40 pounds per week on the ship. The next day he said his salary was 52 pounds pw. He had admitted he had been practicing in getting good photos and had been successful in "selling" some recent ones to the Navy and the BHP Oil Co., but kept re-insisting he was not out to make money on this one. However on the second day in the interview he said he was going to see if he could sell the photos to some American interests who paid big money. he had been "advised" to this by a Sydney representative of the same.

Of course we do not blame him for cashing on on his efforts. If these are genuine, but we felt that before he could expect our society to pass them as such, he should be willing to give some complete copies of the whole sequence of the event, instead of the one single photo of the object above the cloud.

We are well aware other groups here have been elated by this case and as one of their investigators exclaimed rather ecstatically "Oh its wonderful" yet we prefer to keep out feet on the ground and as much as we would like to prove this as one of the most outstanding photos taken in Australia, yet we are not prepared to lower out standards as investigators or make an attempt to bolster up this case on a false premise and thus deceiving the public, when we feel the facts when taken altogether are not as clear as they could be or we would very much like them to be. For we want good saucer photos but not any which cannot stand the test of keen investigation and scrutiny.

Should further evidence prove we are wrong we shall be most glad to admit we have been wrong, meanwhile we prefer to be cautious."

Information

1. The Margaret Brock Lighthouse used to be situated near the township of Kingston South East, South Australia, which was 26 kilometres north east of the lighthouse. Kingston SE is situated at latitude 36.84 degrees south and longitude 139.85 degrees east.

2. The 17th March 1965 was a Wednesday.

3. The astronomical software "Stellarium" shows that on the relevant date and time from the ship's position the following astronomical objects were positioned:

The sun had set. The planets Jupiter, Venus and Saturn were below the horizon. The moon was at 35 degrees elevation at an azimuth of 47 degrees (ie close to north-east). The planet Mars (orange in colour) was at 38 degrees elevation, and at 34 degrees azimuth.

Comments

1. I searched online and in hard copy for images of all seven photographs. I failed to find the complete series available anywhere.

2. Upon first seeing the photographs which appeared in the media, my initial impression was that we were looking at an internal lens reflection of the moon.

3. In 1968 I worked for the Postmaster Generals' Department of the Australian Government. One of the staff there, a gentleman named Ken Ellis, advised me that he had been the radio operator on the "Iron Duke" in March 1965. He informed me that the story told by Mr Jacobs was in fact a hoax. That Mr Jacobs had taken pictures of the moon and clouds, and when developed saw that he had captured a lens reflection of the moon, and had then made up the story he told the media and Fred Stone. I have no reason to doubt Mr Ellis' information. 

That classic 1957 Mt Stromlo observatory sighting - explained?

Astronomers and UAP

Those who haven't bothered to conduct any research, often state that astronomers never report seeing UAP. One of the sightings which is used to counter such arguments is from November 1957; by astronomers at the Mt Stromlo observatory, near Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

UAP periodicals as sources for the account

The APRO Bulletin, January 1958, page 3 carried the following:

'Canberra, Australia, 9 November. Four astronomers of the Commonwealth Observatory, Mount Stromlo, observed a bright pink object in the sky at about 3am. The object was observed for about 8 minutes as it moved across the western horizon, then disappeared. No aircraft in the sky at the time. Astronomers could not identity the object. Sputniks, meteors and the like were ruled out as possible explanations by the astronomers themselves.'

My comments:

1. The Bulletin cites no source for their information, and places the date of the sighting as 9 November, presumably 1957.

2. The time of observation is stated to have been about 3am. 

Flying Saucer Review, January/February 1958, page 3:

'Astronomers see pink UFO

The London Times , of November 7 reported that...hundreds of people at Bathurst, near Sydney, Australia...saw a metallic object over the town...on the previous day...However, on the same day, four astronomers at the Commonwealth Observatory, at Mt Stromlo, near Canberra, Australia on "sputnik watch" reported a strange object moving across the sky which was neither a meteorite nor one of the Soviet space satellites. The object was a vivid pink and unlike anything seen before, it was stated. It remained in view for about two minutes and disappeared under the Moon. "The strange thing is that it should disappear after passing under the Moon as it was a perfectly cloudless sky," said Dr Przybylski, who saw the object just after having completed observations of the passage of the two Russian satellites.'

My comments:

1. The date of the Mt Stromlo sighting as deduced from the above article is 6 November, presumably 1957.

2. The correct spelling of the main observer's name appears to be Przybylski. 

UFO researchers as sources

A number of books by UAP authors have mentioned this sighting; with one of the earliest being Jacques and Janine Vallee's 'Challenge to Science' (1966. Henry Regnery. Chicago. Page 19.

'The case of the Australian professors.

On November 8, 1957, the wire services (Reuters, AFP) - which are here the only available sources - carried information pertaining to an observation made by three astronomers in Mount Stromlo Observatory, of an object brighter than Venus, which crossed the western part of the sky at 5.02pm on November 7.

Dr Przybylsky (sic) saw the object, which was bright red in color, moving slowly, and remained in view for about two minutes. Its velocity was too small for it to be a meteorite, and the two Soviet satellites had already made their passage. The object in question was also seen by two colleagues of  Dr Przybylsky. No scientist at the observatory had previously observed such an object.

The press release added that Professor Przyblsky was impatiently awaiting word from other observatories that might have observed the same object. An exceptionally detailed series of observations were made the next day by French astronomers; these were never brought to the attention of scientists.'

My comments:

1. The date of the sighting, here is given as 7 November 1957.

2. The time is given as 5.02pm. However, note that 5.02pm 7 November French time is 3.02am on 8 November at Mt Stromlo (Canberra being UTC + 10 hours.)

Newspapers as sources for the account

I went searching for newspaper accounts of the sighting, and firstly, in the Dr Michael Swords' digital collection found the following; apparently from an unattributed New Zealand newspaper with a hand written note "NZ 1957."

"Australian scientists puzzled.

11.30   Canberra, Nov 8.

Scientists at the Commonwealth Observatory at Mt Stromlo are puzzled by a sighting there soon after 3am today of a strange object moving across the sky that was neither a meteorite nor one of the Soviet planets.

The object was seen by Dr Przyblski (sic) who had just completed observation of the passage of the two Russian satellites. It was sighted long after the observations on the eclipse of the moon had been completed.

Dr Przyblski who went to bed after sighting the strange object reported it this afternoon.

He described it as a vivid pink object which moved slowly across the sky, and which was visible to the naked eye for about two minutes. 

It appeared in the southern sky just above the horizon at 3.03am, moved in a westerly direction, passed the Moon and finally disappeared.

Its speed was far too slow for it to have been a meteorite, and it was not one of the satellites which had already passed.

Dr Przyblski said that the object, which was seen also by two colleagues, was completely unlike any object which the Stromlo scientists had so far observed.

There is speculation that the object might have been some new Russian space vessel, but there is still an element of complete uncertainty about its character."

My comments:

1. The item is datelined 11.30 Nov 8 and states that the sighting was "today." Thus placing the date of the sighting as 8 November (1957). 

2. Time is given as 3.03am.

Also in the Dr Michael Swords' electronic collection I found another newspaper account, from of all places Malaya. It was from the Penang 'Straits Echo and Times of Malaya' dated 12 November 1957 and datelined "Canberra Nov. 11."

'Mystery object still unexplained.

The object seen in the north western sky near Canberra on Friday morning by four astronomers from the Mt Stromlo Observatory is still unexplained.

The Director of the Observatory, Dr B J Bok, said today that following the sighting of the object, which was seen a few minutes after 3am and which was much brighter than either of the Soviet satellites, scores of reports from the eastern states had been received from people who claimed to have seen lights in the sky similar to that observed at Canberra. None of the reports however, could be linked with the Canberra observation and many who made them had undoubtedly seen the lights of high flying aircraft.

Dr Bok said that whatever the nature of the object seen at Mt Stromlo, it seemed certain that it was far too bright to have been the capsule containing the space dog of Sputnik II which some scientists think has been ejected from the satellite and has been orbiting with it instead of returning as planned to earth...Reuters.'

My comments:

1. Note that Dr Bok states that none of the scores of reports could be linked to the Canberra observation.

2. The sighting date as deduced from the above, is Friday 8 November, and the time as around 3am. As this article is based on a Reuters release it may, perhaps, be regarded as the most accurate so far.

The Canberra Times

I thought that the most logical place to look for a newspaper account would be from Canberra itself. Fortunately, while most digitised newspapers in the TROVE collection of the National Library of Australia end in 1954, The Canberra Times goes through to 1995. I therefore retrieved the following from TROVE.

The Canberra Times dated Saturday 9 November 1957 carried a front page story of the sighting.

'Scientists see strange object over Canberra.

Speculation as to whether the Russians have launched a new space weapon increased yesterday when scientists at the Commonwealth Observatory Mount Stromlo observed a strange object in the sky over Canberra early yesterday morning.

The object was seen by the scientists after they had watched the eclipse of the Moon and had tracked the course of the Rusian satellites, Sputnik and Sputnik II.

Checks with civil aviation and the RAAF have shown that no aircraft were in the vicinity at the time, and the observers are so puzzled they would like to contact anyone else who saw the object.

The object first came into sight just above the horizon shortly after 3am yesterday.

One of the astronomers Dr A Przybyleski (sic) said the object, which was vivid pink and completely unlike anything ever sighted by scientists passed across the sky in a westerly direction under the Moon and disappeared.

He said he saw the object for about two minutes with the naked eye and after it passed out of his sight other astronomers picked it up in their line of vision.

Dr Przybyleski said he and the other scientists, having tracked the path of the two Sputniks were amazed when the new object came into sight.

It bore no relation to either of the satellites, but a further watch would be made in case it was some sort of satellite circling the globe.

"What we saw certainly was not a meteor, as they can be seen for only a few seconds, but it could be a special rocket which will not reappear," he said.

One puzzling aspect of the object was that it travelled towards the Moon, passed under it and disappeared, although it was a perfectly cloudless sky at the time.

Dr Przybyleski said he was surprised there had been no reference to the object in reports from overseas.'

My comments:

1. The date of sighting is clearly Friday 8 November 1957 and time shortly after 3am.

2. Interestingly, no one overseas had reported a similar object. The reference to overseas reports is presumably if it were an Earth orbiting object then it should have been visible from parts other than  Canberra. 

3. Although there is reference to Mt Stromlo Observatory intending to keep a watch for it again, there is no mention I have seen that it was ever observed from Mt Stromlo again.

Searches for accounts in other places

I wondered if the sighting had been reported to the RAAF who were the official body of the Australian government tasked with looking at such sightings. An inspection of various UAP files in the National Archives of Australia, failed to locate any documents about this sighting.

An additional note from Dr Michael Swords' electronic collection, is that he has an uncited item which states that 'Astronomer A R Hogg saw a UFO with 3 colleagues at Mt Stromlo.' No other source cites the names of any of Dr P's colleagues who observed the object.

Can we explain the sighting in conventional terms?

What could be the stimulus for the sighting at 3.03am in the morning, cloudless sky, of a vivid pink object, seen for between two an eight minutes, tracking from one horizon (southern?) to the north west and then disappearing? 

It wasn't one of the two Soviet satellites; and seemed not to be a rocket, or debris from those satellites. It wasn't a meteor as the duration it too long. There is no tail or trail described. It is referred to as "an object" but actually appears to have simply been a bright light. Its astronomical magnitude is not stated; nor is any angular size given. The Vallee reference states it was brighter than Venus.

What was in the sky at that time? A check using the Stellarium software program shows that the Moon was at 22 degrees elevation at azimuth 310 degrees (north west as mentioned in some reports.) There were no bright planets above the horizon. Sunrise was at 4.55 am. There was a total Lunar eclipse on the evening of 7 November 1957. 

What was the weather like at the time? November is Springtime for Australia. A check of The Canberra Times dated Saturday 9 November 1957 provided the weather details for Friday 8 Novermber 1957. At 9am the wind was from the south west at 2 miles per hour.

So do I have any thoughts as to what was seen? Actually, I do. Given that:

(1) there were no other sightings of a vivid pink object traversing the sky from other observatories who were out watching the Sputniks;

(2) there were no other reports from around Canberra that matched the Mt Stromlo sighting;

(3) the wind (albeit six hours later) was from the south west at 2 miles per hour, ie almost still; 

(4) the observation time was between two and eight minutes;

(5) the observatory, despite stating they were to keep a watch for the object didn't report seeing it again;

(6) it simply disappeared from view in a dark, cloudless sky below 22 degrees elevation in the north western sky. 

I would propose that the sighting might have been of a fire balloon.

If this was a modern sighting these factors would certainly make me suggest this as a likely explanation. During my research into Australian sightings pre 24 June 1947 I came across examples of such fire balloons being launched, from as early as 1920. Perhaps some local decided to prank the scientists at the Observatory knowing they were watching for things in the sky? 

Of course, we will never know for sure just what the stimulus for this sighting was, but the above is my best guess.

Update: 19 July 2018

The Vallee reference in part stated:  'An exceptionally detailed series of observations were made the next day by French astronomers; these were never brought to the attention of scientists.'

Today, while browsing electronic copies of old Australian UAP publications I came across the following reference.

'A young astronomer at the National Observatory at Toulouse on Friday night, November 8th sighted in the sky a mysterious, elliptical, brilliant, canary-yellow coloured object.

The astronomer M Chapuis, followed it for five minutes with a small telescope when it appeared west-north-west of Toulouse. He said it sped west, made two sweeping turns, then sped in the opposite direction. It disappeared for 30 seconds, descended almost vertically in a clear sky, and vanished again in shadow.'

['Australian UFO Bulletin,' Vol 1 No 3, December 1957, page 5.] 

Police report on the Boyup Brook encounter, uncovered

Background

On 30 October 1967, an intriguing encounter happened near Boyup Brook, Western Australia. 

The story broke in the Wednesday 1 November 1967 edition of 'The West Australian' newspaper. According to the newspaper, the sole witness reported the incident to a constable L Johnson of the Boyup Brook police station.

I had always wondered what happened to the police report of the event? No one I knew of, had ever seen it, or had a copy of it.  A couple of years ago, I thought that I might have located the report, when a Western Australian Police Department file, number 64/2885 was found, titled 'Unidentified Flying Objects.' However, the file contained only 56 pages, despite the file's folio numbering system indicating that there had been 148 pages on the file. It turned out that there seemed to be missing folios, numbered 32-122, covering the years 1955-1969. So, no luck in locating papers dealing with a 1967 incident.

An image of the file cover.

2017

Fast forward to mid-August this year, when US researcher and historian Barry Greenwood of Boston, visited the archives of the J Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, in Chicago. One of his aims was to search for Australian material, which had not been seen for years, if ever, by most Australian researchers. Barry located the long missing Western Australian Police Department report on the Boyup Brook incident. Many thanks to Barry for sharing this find with me.

Firstly, Barry located a letter dated 20 February 1968, reference 64/2885 (the file we had part of already) from the Acting Commissioner of Police, addressed to 'Staff Assistant, National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena, Washington DC 20036 USA.' It read:

'Dear Sir,

I refer to your letter of the 16th January 1968, addressed to Constable L Johnson of Boyup Brook Police Station and enclose herewith for your information, a copy of my officer's report in respect of a UFO sighting on the 30th October, 1967.'

'South Western District

Boyup Brook Station

1st November, 1967

Report of: Leonard Johnson, Constable 2514

Relate to: Reported sighting of  unidentified flying object, Kulikup (Kojonup-Mayanup Road) at approximately 9.20pm on Monday 30th October, 1967 by Alexander Roy SPARGO, 37 years, of 1270 Albany Highway, Cannington.

I have to report that at approximately 9.35pm on Monday the 30th October, 1967, Alexander Roy SPARGO, 37 years, shearing contractor of Great Southern Co;, 1270 Albany Highway, Cannington (telephone 682794) called at this station and reported having sighted an unidentified flying object on the Kojonup-Mayanup Road, Kulikup approximately 10 miles from Mayanup at about 9.20pm 30th October 1967.

Kojonup in relation to the capital city of Perth. Image courtesy of Google maps.

Spargo stated he was driving his 1967 Valiant Utility, Reg. No. USG.076, towards Boyup Brook from Kojonup at approximately 60-65 mph with headlights on high beam.

When approximately 10 miles from Mayanup the car suddenly stopped - motor stopped - headlights went out - and became stationary without any sensation of braking or deceleration.

He had been travelling alone in the vehicle and was on a bitumen road.

A tube of light descended close to the windscreen. The tube was about 2 feet in diameter. He looked up the tube and could not see anything but felt he was being observed.

The tube of light had descended from object shaped like a football, iridescent blue colour (lightning colour but stationary), with a pulsating glow appearance, and approximately 30 feet in diameter.

Spargo stated he just sat looking at the tube of light and object for approximately 5 minutes. He felt no personal effect other than surprise and not being able to believe his eyes. He heard no noise.

The object then moved off very quickly and disappeared in a 'flash.' When it had gone Spargo found his motor running, lights on, and again travelling at 60 to 65 mph (previous speed). He felt no sensation of acceleration.

He stopped the vehicle and got out and inspected same but could find nothing unusual. He then continued on to Boyup Brook and called at the Police Station and made his report.

Spargo stated he reported the sighting as he believed it should be reported. He did not want his name or address disclosed to the press for fear of being regarded publicly as a 'crank.' He was prepared to give any information required to any interested authority but apart from that did not intend discussing the matter with anyone else.

He stated he employed 60 men shearers and if they learned of his report he would be ridiculed.

Prior to this sighting he had read of other people's sightings and he had regarded those people as 'cranks.'

Spargo was dressed in sports clothes and thongs and appeared normal. His eyes had a tired look and slightly red. He admitted having had two brandies at Kojonup and was not a regular drinker and nothing in his appearance would indicate otherwise.

He stated he left Cannington at 9am that morning and travelled to Katanning and Kojonup shearing teams. He had mid-day and evening meals at 'Glen Lessy,' Kojonup and had the two brandies at the Commercial Hotel, Kojonup with Des O'Halloran of 'Glen Lessy.'

The localities mentioned in the Police report. Image courtesy of Google maps.

Spargo said he had the brandies as he felt a cold coming on.

He travelled to Boyup Brook and stayed overnight at Bill Inglis' farm where he had a team of shearers working and returned to Kojonup on the 31st October.

There had been a fairly severe electrical storm on Sunday evening the 29th with a great deal of lightning and thunder but little rain.

On Monday evening the 30th the sky had become overcast and some lighting seen around 7pm.

At the time the report was made at the Police Station the sky was quite clear and no sign of any lighting.

L Johnson (sgd)

Constable 2514.'

Image of the first page of the report

My comments

1. Dr Paul Zeck, a Perth, Western Australia, psychiatrist, interviewed Spargo on Saturday 2 December 1967 in the company of Spargo's general practitioner doctor. I obtained a transcript of this taped interview, from Dr Zeck in 1982.

2. There are a few differences between the Police report and Zeck's interview, e.g. the size of the object is given as 30 feet in the Police report, yet as 100 feet in Zeck's document. However, most details are the same in both documents. Zeck's interview is more detailed than the Police report.

3. To my knowledge, the RAAF did not interview Spargo. Despite a look through RAAF files, I am unable to find any RAAF documents.

4. The NICAP 'UFO Investigator' Newsletter, of Jul/Aug 1968, page 6, carried a short summary of the event. At the end of the NICAP account was '...since constable Johnson apparently was impressed by the witness, we shall ask him to secure a signed, more detailed report if possible...' As far as I can ascertain, this second report was never obtained.

5. NICAP's 'The UFO Evidence, Volume II' page 273, lists the incident as dated 31 October 1967, which is incorrect.

6. The English magazine, Flying Saucer Review, Volume 14 no. 2, Mar/Apr 1968 carried a short report on the incident on page 33, citing 'The West Australian' dated 1 November 1967. A longer piece by Joanna Hugill, appeared in FSR volume 14, no. 4, Jul.Aug 1968, pages 15-16.

7. Thank you again to Barry Greenwood for providing a digital copy of the police report, which adds to our knowledge of this event.

Can the 'Sea Fury' case Joint Intelligence Bureau files be found?

Recently, an Adelaide researcher conducted a 'Cold case' review of the 31 August 1954, Australian 'Sea Fury' incident.

When I was examining some of the background information about this fascinating sighting, I was reminded that, although we have copies of two Navy files on the incident (NAA file series MP926/1, control symbol 3079/101/1 and SP338/3, control symbol 13/4/10;) that the Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB) files, have never been seen by UAP researchers. Although, I have made previous attempts to locate these missing files, I was unsuccessful. However, I have decided that it is worth one final effort.

Letter to the Minister of Defence

So, I have despatched the following letter by registered snail mail.

'Senator the Hon Marise Payne
Minister for Defence
PO Box 6100
Senate
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Dear Minister,

In 1991, Ken Llewellyn, then Public Relations Officer for the RAAF, authored a book titled 'Flight Into the Ages' (Felspin, NSW.) In it, inter alia, he discussed a number of sightings of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. One of these sightings was an alleged observation of two 'unknowns' by an Australian Navy pilot, Lt James Aloysius O'Farrell, near Goulburn, NSW, on 31 August 1954. In his book, Llewellyn states that, the then Secretary of the Department of Defence, Sir Arthur Tange, made available to O'Farrell, two DOD Joint Intelligence Bureau files, on the sighting.

In addition, the RAN 'Navy News', dated 9 March 1984 page 4, in an article about O'Farrell, included the words 'The Joint Intelligence Organisation holds a file on this sighting.'

These two JIB/JIO/DIO files are not in the National Archives of Australia.

The purpose of this letter is to ask:

(a) If the DOD currently retains JIB/JIO/DIO files about this 1954 sighting?

(b) If so, may I, either obtain a digital copies of them, or failing that, can the files be forwarded to the National Archives of Australia for retention and reviewed for release through them.

There is a precedent for release of JIB UAP files to me. In 2008, the then Minister for Defence arranged the release of a JIO files, JIO63, 3092/2/000, titled 'Scientific Intelligence-General-Unidentified Flying Objects' with a date range of 1957-1971. There was nothing on this file concerning the 1954 sighting.

Thank you for your response.'

The process of obtaining the previous JIO file took two years. Naturally, it may turn out that the current DIO no longer holds the relevant files. After all, they would now be 63 years old.

Comments on the 2017 paper

A number of people have responded to the anonymously authored Adelaide researcher's 2017 'Cold case' review paper, by way of private emails to me. I have passed all of these comments on to the paper's author. The consensus so far, is that while the hypothesis about Sabre jet fighters being involved, is possible; that it is not very likely. However, one of the purposes of conducting 'Cold case' reviews, is to generate peer discussion, based on an intelligent review of the data presented. The paper has certainly achieved this aim.

Notes:

1. For a complete listing of Australian government files concerning UAP, click here.

2. Update. 4 July 2017. Bill Chalker has pointed out to me, that the Llewellyn book does not in fact say anything about the two JIB files. The information about O'Farrell and the JIB files instead came from an interview between Bill and O'Farrell. I wish to correct this here.

Update 3 August 2017.

In a letter dated 26 July 2017, S Kearnan, Deputy Director, Defence Intelligence Organisation, of the Australian Department of Defence replied to my letter.

In short 'DIO records management staff conducted a search of our archival holdings, but unfortunately were unable to find any files on this subject.'

So ends the search.  

Four months before Kenneth Arnold

Kenneth Arnold

24 June 2017, is the 70th anniversary of the birth of the modern UFO phenomenon; the Kenneth Arnold sighting of 24 June 1947. However, there were many sightings which occurred, and were published, prior to Arnold's observation. One such sighting occurred in  my home state of South Australia, and remains unexplained.

The Port Augusta and Lock sightings

Between 7 and 8 am on the morning of 5 February 1947, a Mr F W Flavel of the country town of Lock, South Australia, stated that he had observed something unusual. He said he saw five, strange objects traversing the sky. In shape, they were oblong, with narrow points. They seemed to be floating from north-west to south-east and cast a shadow. (Adelaide 'Advertiser' 17 February 1947, p.2.)

At about 9am that same morning, Mr Ron Ellis and two workmates were at work at the Commonwealth Railways workshop, in Port Augusta. Ellis reported seeing five, strange, egg shaped objects crossing the sky, from north to south. They cast shadows, and appeared to be quivering. They were lost to view within a few seconds. Their colour was said to have been white to light pink. (Adelaide 'Advertiser' 7 February 1947, p.1.)

I wrote two blog posts about these two observations (click here and here.)

Potential explanations

At the time, a  number of possible mundane explanations were put forward as to the nature of the strange objects. These were:

1. Meteors.

An amateur astronomer (Adelaide 'Advertiser' 25 February 1947, p.1) suggested that the objects were daytime meteors. However, the South Australian government astronomer, Mr G F Dodwell, was quoted (Adelaide 'Advertiser' 8 February 1947, front page) as saying '...that the phenomenon did not fit in with anything astronomical and was a complete mystery to him. Mr Dodwell discounted the probability of the objects being meteorites.'

2. A mirage.

J C Fowler (Adelaide 'Advertiser' 22 February 1947, p.2) suggested that the explanation was a mirage. The South Australian government astronomer, Mr G F Dodwell (same paper) discussed the hypothesis but concluded 'This seems to correspond with real objects and not with a mirage reflection.'

3. Birds.

In a letter (Adelaide 'Advertiser' 1 March 1947) G L Forth wrote 'In all probability the strange objects in the sky at Port Augusta and Lock were flocks of galahs migrating from the arid districts in the far north.

It is not an uncommon sight to people living in the north. Galahs usually fly in packed formations and at a high altitude. They do not screech while travelling long distances. No doubt this would also account for the pink and grey colors mentioned by your correspondents.'

4. Other thoughts.

Researchers Chris Aubeck and Martin Shough (2015. 'Return to Magonia.' Anomalist Books. San Antonio, Texas, chapter 21) discuss a number of other potential explanations. These included balloons; wind borne objects; '...perhaps even small clouds.' (p.343);' lighter than air airships (p.345); aircraft and rockets.

Ultimately though, Aubeck and Shough   concluded '...this is a striking case, and is certainly of great historical and cultural interest. Simply put, this is a modern UFO...' (p.350.)

Naturally, I welcome hearing from any blog readers who either, have additional material on these sightings, or can suggest an explanation.

Cold case review - 31 August 1954 - 'Sea Fury' radar/visual

A classic Australian case reanalysed

One of Australia's classic cases, is an incident where a Navy pilot, on a night flight, near Goulburn, New South Wales, encountered two 'unknowns,' which were also picked up on radar.

On the Internet, the sighting is frequently, but incorrectly, referred to as the 'Nowra incident.' It would be better titled, either the 'Sea Fury' radar/visual event of 31 August 1954, or the Goulburn radar/visual event of 31 August 1954.

The sighting made headlines in many Australian newspapers, two examples of which, are shown below.

Courtesy NAA file series MP926, control symbol 3079/101/1

The case has been extensively investigated, and reported upon, by Sydney researcher Bill Chalker. I reviewed the case in two previous blog posts (click here and here.)

Courtesy NAA file series MP926, control symbol 3079/101/1

Despite all previous research, the nature of the 'unknowns' has never been resolved.

Courtesy NAA file series MP926, control symbol 3079/101/1

A fresh approach

Now, an Adelaide UFO researcher, who wishes to remain anonymous, has taken a fresh look, 'cold case,' approach to the sighting. The researcher reviewed all the published material on the event, and has come up with a very plausible, non-UFO, suggestion as to the identity of the two 'unknowns.'

Courtesy of John Stepkowski in Melbourne, we can now all read this new 'cold case' research paper.

The anonymous author (known to me) and myself, would be very interested to hear what blog readers think of the hypothesis.