New book alert - Whitehead and Wingfield

Dear readers,

Adelaide has now settled into its winter weather pattern. We have cool days of clear blue skies and sunshine, followed by south-westerly changes, which bring rain and cooler temperatures. It rained here overnight and I took the opportunity to pull out another unread UFO book from "the pile by the bed." This one has just reached the bookshops in Adelaide. So here are my impressions of it.

Library:

My local library has just joined up with the new "One card" network which allows you to see the catalogue of other libraries in South Australia, and borrow from throughout the combined network. A great initiative, which has just produced today's new book.

'UFO Strange Space on Earth" was published this year, 2012, and is written by Paul Whitehead and George Wingfield form the UK. The front inside cover tells me that "Paul Whitehead was editor of the Flying Saucer Review for many years. He lives in England. George Wingfield is an expert in astronomy and ancient sites, and has studied UFO cases for more than 20 years. He lives in England and Iowa."

The book (ISBN 978-0-8027-7788-1) is one in a series of titles being published by Walker & Company of New York, under the theme "Small books, Big ideas," and is 58 pages in length.

Subject matter:

"Every year thousands of people see unfamiliar aircraft, stars, planets, artificial satellites and even luminous clouds, which they fail to recognise. Yet, while these certainly account for many UFOs, there remain hundreds of others that defy explanation and it is these encounters that are the subject of this book." (p.1.)

The book starts off by taking a look at ancient writings and drawings of things which are suggestive of UFOs. There are then snippets of information on Roswell; the 1959 Father Gill CE3 case; contactees; the 1964 Socorro CE2 and the 1965 CE3Valensole event.

The 1975 Walton and 1957 Villa Boas cases are used to illustrate the abduction phenomenon. "But are these real events or fantasises, and is there any historical precedent for such bizarre claims?" (p.16.) The author's views on abductions may be deduced from the next item which is headed "Away with the Faeries: getting closer to the truth." Each section of text is richly illustrated with between three and eight illustrations.

The work continues with all too brief sections on the 1976 Tehran, Iran, aircraft encounter; Rendelsham Forest; the Hudson Valley wave; the Belgium flap, and the 1993 Kelly Cahill encounter from Australia.

It moves on to discuss researching the phenomenon. "Researching the UFO phenomenon can be extremely difficult. Not only do we not know where and when to find them, but many of the more interesting events, affecting national security as they do, tend to be covered up, or "shown" to be hoaxes." (p.40.)

Origins:

A review of the origins of the phenomenon includes a look at "Could UFOs be archetypal visions...djinns - naughty spirits parading as physical craft...a Mercurial communication, timely confusions brought to us by the trickster messenger of the gods..." (p.42.)

In conclusion the authors write "The UFO phenomenon therefore spans all points of view from sinister paranoid outlook ("We are being farmed") to evolutionary spiritual models of the universe ("They are waiting for us to awake.")."

The book closes with a list of "100 notable UFO sightings" between 1878 and 2010. However, some of their summaries, eg the January 1988 Knowles family event lacks knowledge of the detailed documentation on a case and seems drawn from mass media source. No doubt, due to space limitations, there are no references cited for these case summaries, which reduces their value.

In conclusion:

A very light weight contribution to the UFO literature.

Australian government UFO files I would like to find

Hi all,

Introduction:

Over the years I have accessed over a hundred Australian government UFO files, via either the Archives Act or the Freedom of Information Act. However, there are a number of files which I have not been able to locate. I'll describe what I know of these; perhaps a blog reader has come across them?

Darwin RAAF files:

National Archives of Australia (NAA) file series E1327 contains three files which I have  seen, namely control symbols 5/4/Air Parts 1, 6, and 6/7. The file titles are "Unusual sightings and incidents." I asked a reference officer at the NAA Darwin office if they could locate parts 2,3, 4 & 5 of this series. Their response was that they had "...no record of thse files coming into our possession." The originating agency for the series at the moment is  RAAF No 321 Combat Support Wing, Darwin, based at RAAF Base Winnellie.

HQ Support Command:

NAA file series A9755 control symbol 4 is a file formerly numbered B 5758 control symbol 5/6/1 Air part 8 with a date range of 1978-1989. I had a copy of the file digitised. It contains UFO reports from 1978. File series A9755 control symbol 5 has the same title with a  date range of 1986-1992, hence not available under the Archives Act. I asked a reference officer at the NAA Melbourne office if they could locate parts 1-7? Their response was that an examination of file series B5758 and B5759 had failed to locate any other parts held by them. This could imply that the files had been destroyed in accordance with standard Archive procedures, or that the originating agency still holds onto them.

SEC.CD2/2:

There are references on a number of files e.g. file series PP4741/1 control symbol 5/5/Air (16 Jan 1951); A11339 control symbol 5/7/Air Part 1 (21 Nov 1953) andA703 control symbol 554/1/30 part 1 (16 Nov 1953), to a file numbered SEC.CD2/2.

In March 2005 a Disclosure Australia representative, David Hearder, found a file series A1196 control symbol 29/506/13 Part 1 which contained a top numbered document from a DAFI file numbered CC1/3. It had some top numbered documents in exactly the same format as the Jan 1951 document mentioned above. David therefore deduced that file SEC/CD2/2 was an early DAFI file.

Folio 37 of file series A703 control symbol 554/1/30 Part 2 has a memo on it, which in part, says, "...the loss of Part 1 of the file 114/1/197 (ex CD2/2) in the move of the Department from Melbourne to Canberra. Two searches through records and the archives has failed to trace this file."

A request by me in 2005 to the RAAF Historical Section also failed ot locate this file.

The 1954 Nowra incident:

Australian researcher Bill Chalker interviewed the main witness to this case, Shamus O'Farrell, involved in the 31 Aug 1954 aircraft encounter near Nowra, NSW. In an article, by Bill, he wrote that O'Farrrell met J Allen Hynek in 1973. Farrell said "I had a telephone call one day from Sir Arthur Tange saying that Hynek was coming and he would like me to meet him. I said, well, I haven't got all the facts, they're all a bit hazy. So he sent me the two Defence Department files over to read, to refresh it all..." It was all investigated by the Joint Intelligence Bureau."

I'd like to locate these two Defence files.

Department of Supply files:

The Disclosure Australia Project located a number of Department of Supply files dealing with UFOs. However, on some RAAF files there appear reference numbers to Department of Supply files apparently dealing with UFOs. Yet, these have never been located.

The Westall incident:

RAAF officers were reportedly involved in the 6 Apr 1966, Westall High School, Clayton, Melbourne event where students and at least one teacher, reported observing an unusual object both in the sky, and at close range. However, despite searches by a number of people, no-one has yet located any RAAF or other agency documentation on this spectacular case. If any blog reader knows of such material, I'd like to hear from them.

Hope:

There is always hope that files such as the ones above, and others currently unknown, will in fact, turn up. I have had a couple of instances myself of just this.

One time, I submitted a request for any files on various Australian UFO groups held by the intelligence agency, ASIO. The initial ASIO response was that they held no such files. A year later, an ASIO file on the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau quietly turned up, unannounced in the NAA. I came across it by accident while looking for other material.

A more recent example is the discovery of the Department of Transport Aircraft Accident Investigation file on the 1978 disappearance of Frederick Valentich, which again, quietly turned up in the NAA. Its presence went unseen, until I literally stumbled over it looking for other files.

So, there just may be hope for us to come across the files I have mentioned in this post.

Book alert - "UFO Conspiracy" - McLaren - which mentions Westall

Dear readers,

A beautiful, cloudless, blue sky winter's day here in Adelaide, South Australia. A chilly 3 degrees C at the start of the day, rising to a cold 14 degrees this afternoon. I was up at 6.30am this morning to take a look at the planets Venus and Jupiter, which were close together in the pre-dawn sky in the north-east. I have the luxury of a non-working day so earlier dug down to the bottom of the "book pile by the bed." There I found "UFO Conspiracy" published last year by Schiffer Publishing of Atglen, PA in the USA. ISBN 978-0-7643-3893 for those who might want to buy a copy for their personal UFO library.

The author:

Carmen McLaren in the "About the author" section is described as follows. "Since the age of 9, he has  read every book, article and periodical; watched every movie, documentary and special on television; and attended as many conferences/symposiums concerning UFOs and related phenomenon as possible."  He has been a member of APRO, CUFOS and is currently a MUFON member.

What are his views?

"...for over six decades the government and their lackeys, namely the vocal debunker/pseudo-experts and the media, have created a fiction surrounding the UFO phenomenon...They have intentionally mislead the general public...They have withheld the truth..." (pp6-7.)

"Having studied the UFO phenomenon for over thirty years, I can say wholeheartedly that UFOs are real...I concentrate on sightings by credible people only, with little or no mention of crashed UFOs and abductions to muddy the waters...My main aim is to disprove the notions of the UFO phenomenon that the government and the debunkers would like you to believe..." (pp.7-8.)

The book's introduction concludes with "I feel safe in saying that when you are finished reading this book, you will be among those of us who want answers to what these things are, where they come from, who the overlords are that operate these UFOs - and most importantly: why they are here!" (p.14.)

The contents:

The main body of the book contains chapters in chronological order starting with "
From Primitive Man to the Victorian Era" progressing through eras labelled " The Early 1950's - The Korean War Years" and " "1966-1969 - The Golden Age of UFOs" to "2000 to the Present - New Millennium, Same Old Story."

Each of these chapters has a similar format. They contain dozens of case summaries on individual UFO reports from  around the world, drawn from a range of books, UFO magazines and more recently the Internet.

Living as I do, in Australia, I thought that one way of sampling the case summaries, was to focus on those UFO reports in the book, which come from Australia. The "Location Index" pages 346-352 told me there were summaries on Clayton (p.178); Cressy (p.143); Grafton (pp 183-184); King Island (pp230-231) and Mackay (p.161.)

Clayton (Westall):

I first took a look at the summary of the Westall High School case. The summary reads:

"On April 6th, a science class witnesses this object or one very similar to it as it performed in Australia. Andrew Greenwood was busy about the business  of teaching his students scientific principles at the Westall School, just outside of Clayton, Australia."

There is a reference number at this point which indicates that the source of the material on this case was "Lorenzen, 273." However, looking at the bibliography in the back of the book one finds that the only book by the Lorenzens (p.338) is "The Great Flying Saucer Hoax," 1962. This book, published in 1962 , of course. cannot be the reference for a case which happened in 1966. So the cited reference is incorrect.

The book's account of Westall continues:

" His attention was averted to the classroom windows, when he saw a strange object rise up from its resting place, behind a row of pine trees some distance across the schoolyard. He moved towards the window, and saw upon closer examination that it was a large, gray, cigar-shaped object, now clearly visible through the classroom windows as it began moving toward downtown Clayton. Soon the class had joined their teacher at the window and all watched intently as the object hovered and flew around the sky in a somewhat erratic fashion. The class had watched the object for over twenty minutes, when it disappeared from sight at the conclusion of one of its strange maneuvers. Australian authorities did nothing in the way of investigating the object."

Anyone who has read the original Australian sources material on Westall will recognise that the above account, wherever it came from, contains many inaccuracies of detail.

Other Australian cases:

Next, I checked the entries for Cressy (Sourced to vallee 1965); Grafton (sourced to Edwards 1967); King Island (sourced to Good 1988) and Mackay (sourced to Edwards 1966.)

Most of the details given on these cases appears more accurate than the Clayton account. It is a pity though that the author used no Australian books, magazines, or researcher's first hand notes when compiling these case summaries. This reliance on non-Australian sources leads to errors of fact which distort the picture. For example, in the King Island (Valentich) incident summary in the book we find "...flying instructor Frederick Valentich..." (p.230). Valentich was not an instructor. "At 6.19pm while flying over the Bass Straight..." (p.230) when the aircraft did not take off until 6.19pm. "At 7.12pm...the plane disappeared off radar." (p.230.) The aircraft was flying below radar sight from Melbourne long before 7.12pm. Finally, "...the last anyone has ever heard from Richard Valentich..." (p.231.) The pilot's first name was Frederick, not Richard.

Looking at the bibliography list, the same, non-use of the material form other countries, for their UFO case summaries, could also be made. It leaves me with a sense that many of the non-US case summaries may carry errors of fact.

US examples:

Moving away from Australian cases, I did enjoy reading the many US examples given in this book and felt that the author lived up to his promise to "...show you that, contrary to what the afore mentioned parties have claimed, many honest, competent, scientific community and leaders in the government, have all witnessed these things we call UFOs." (p.10.)

Appendices:

Appendix A lists "UFO organisations from around the world" but contains only seven entries (one for Australia.) Likewise, with Appendix B, "UFOs on the World Wide Web," which is also a short list centred on the US.

As mentioned before, the bibliography is heavily loaded with books published in the USA and the "Periodicals/Journals" listing is almost entirely US based. David Clarke's "The UFO Files" is listed as a "Periodical/Journal" when it is in fact a book.

Conclusion:

All in all, in my opinion, this book is just an average read, with several of the Australian case summaries containing errors of fact, which could have been so easily corrected by using Australian source material.

Squadron Leader Gordon Waller and his "flying saucer"

Hi all,

Introduction:

RAAF Squadron Leader Gordon Waller's name first came to my attention some years ago, when I was researching the 1960 Cressy, Tasmania case (click here.) I noted that he was the investigating officer for the RAAF.

Interview:

In 2010, courtesy of an introduction by Sydney based researcher Bill Chalker, I interviewed Gordon. I opened up the conversation by asking him how he had come to investigate the Browning's (Cressy witnesses) report? Gordon told me that he was, at that time, the senior RAAF officer in Tasmania. As such he was in charge of the RAAF's University Training Squadron (Air Training Corp.) He said that he received a request from the Minister of Air to investigate a UFO sighting at Cressy. He was stationed in Hobart, so he went to the local Aero club and hired an aircraft, flew it to Launcston , where he landed the aircraft in a paddock near to the Browning's residence.

Gordon said that he "Was struck by the ordinariness of these  two people" referring to the Brownings. He was impressed by the fact that the observation "Was not a fleeting observation." I asked Gordon whether or not at that time in 1960, he had any interest in the topic of "flying saucers?" He said he did not. Gordon completed his official report on the case and sent it off to higher authority.

Other cases he investigated:

Later, while examining the RAAF's UFO files series A703, control symbol 580/1/1, I came across another case (580/1/1 part 3 p43.) which Gordon had investigated. Electricity Commission workers at Yass, sighted a silver coloured object in the sky on 22 Aug 1962. The object was said to have been in the same position all day. Fairbairn RAAF base was asked to send up an aircraft to take a look. On 23 Aug 1962 Fairbairn advised "...no solid object seen." On the 23 Aug 1962 a witness contacted the RAAF to say that the object was again visible, at 1345hrs at bearing 060 degrees and 15 degrees to the vertical, in cloudless skies.

Squadron Leaders Waller and McAltec were sent to investigate. Gordon said the object was "...silver on side facing Sun, dark on other."  A theodolite showed it was "...moving from NE to SW at 20 deg in 2 or 3 hrs." The Mt Stromlo observatory, when consulted, suggested Venus. "Case closed" notes the RAAF file.

At another time, I found a third case which Gordon had looked into. On NAA file series A703 control symbol 580/1/1 party 2, pages12-13 are a memo from Gordon to the Department of Air dated 3 Dec 1960. The case is dated 18 Oct 1960 from a Mrs D A Webster and her daughter Miss S Webster of Delmont, Tasmania. They reported seeing a moving object which then hovered, at 1630hrs. It was cigar shaped with a round nose and a sloping tail. Gordon's report draws attention to a number of similarities between this sighting and the Cressy event. A hand written note on the file states that a TAA VIscount VH-TVG was in approximately the position of the sighting at the time.

New aircraft design:

During the course of my interview with him, Gordon fetched an ancient manila folder from another room. From it he produced newspaper clippings concerning the USAF?Canadian  circular aircraft from the 1950"s - the AVRO car (click here.)

(As an aside at this point I'd like to mention that I once came across a file in the National Archives of Australia, file series A6059 control symbol 3/441/7 titled "Flying saucer- Avrocar, with a date range of 1959-1959. The originating agency was the Department of Defence -Central Office.)

Also, from the same folder, he produced some of his own old papers relating to an aircraft propulsion system which he had designed. I noted this at the time, but thought little of it at that point.

Gordon's NAA file:

Last year while browsing the NAA RecordSearch, I came across a file which mentioned Gordon's name, which intrigued me. File series MP1469/1 control symbol R13/2/29 was titled "Request by Department of Air for Aeronautical Research Laboratories to undertake a feasibility study on a new aircraft design invented by Squadron Leader G L Waller." I decided to ask for the file to be examined and released to me. Several months later, I was able to read a digitised copy. It turned out to contain papers relating to the material which Gordon showed me in 2010.

The file is 29 pages in length and highlights include:

Page 27 is a memo from the Department of Air , Canberra dated 22 Mar 1966 to the Department of Supply. It refers an aircraft design by Gordon and seeks the advice of the Aeronautical Research Laboratories (ARL)  (click here) on Gordon's design. "In very broad terms the aircraft as described as consisting essentially of a body, which could be circular in shape..."

Pge 24 of the file shows that the Acting Deputy Chief Scientist referred the matter to the ARL, Fisherman's Bend, Melbourne, Victoria, on 1 Apr 1966. To set this date in a UFO context, the Westall High School, Melbourne event (click here) happened five days later.

Page 21 is a letter from Gordon, dated 5 Apr 1966 to a Dr W A S Butement, Chief Scientist, Department of Supply, and included the line "Your and Mr Wills interest in my VTOL aircraft concept..." Included at page 19 is a cross sectional drawing of the proposed design, clearly showing it was indeed a circular air body.

Gordon submitted a patent application on the design and pages 7 to 19 of the file are a copy of this application, for an "Aircraft with Annular Aerofoil" dated 4 Feb 1966.

At page 3 is the ARL report which included the comment "The data provided by S L Waller is too inadequate to attempt a precise feasibility study...At this stage it is only possible to say, in view of the foregoing remarks, that there does not seem to be any obvious aerodynamic advantage in the proposal over systems obtaining lift by directional axial acceleration of a vertical jet..."  Finally, page 1 is a memo from the ARL dated 23 May 1966 to the Department of Air - effectively no further action to be taken.

Back to my interview:

At the conclusion of my interview with Gordon, and while still talking about his aircraft deign proposal, Gordon mentioned that he had sent off a copy of his material to a Professor "Muller" (my spelling) in the USA.

Enter Jacques Vallee:

At around this time I was reading Jacques Vallee's book "Forbidden Science - Volume 2:, published by Documentica Research, LLC. 2008. ISBN 978-0-615-24974-2. Surprisingly, I came across the name of one Paul Moller. Vallee's entry on page 294 of his book was dated 26 Apr 1975. The entry reads:

"I spent the afternoon with Paul Moller, a professor of aeronautical engineering at U.C. Davis who's built a saucer-shaped vehicle that flies a few feet off the ground, using a series of propellers powered by snowmobile engines. He is a  young fellow in blue jeans interested in UFOs. Moller's research contradicts Claude Poher's statements about the aerodynamic properties of a disk. Poher concluded that discs were aerodynamically poor. "That's only true as a gross generalization" Moller told me. "The situation changes if you take  into account the properties of the interface between the object and the air.""

It certainly appeared to me that this Moller was Gordon's "Muller." A recent check on the Internet revealed that Paul Moller is an engineer who has spent the last forty years developing the personal VTOL vehicle (click here.)

In conclusion:

After reading the NAA file on Gordon's new aircraft design, the first thought that came to my mind was, that Gordon's proposal was suggesting a circular or disc shaped aircraft. I then wondered if he got the idea from his examination of UFO reports?

Second Valentich disappearance file digitised

Hi all,

Introduction:

In the last post I advised details of the Australian Government Department of Transport's Air Accident Investigation file on the 1978 disappearance of Australian pilot Frederick Valentich. Now, thanks to the work of Andrew Arnold and his Melbourne based team at Victorian UFO Action, we have access to the digitised version of a second file on the Valentich disappearance.

There is information on this file which does not appear on the Air Accident file, and both the files need to be read to completely understand the incident.

National Archives of Australia (NAA) file series A4703, control symbol 1978/1205 is titled "VH-DSJ Light aircraft overdue King Island," barcode 11485989, and held at the Canberra office of the NAA. The file, of 292 pages was owned by the Department of Transport's Marine Operations Centre, and is a MARSAR (Marine Search and Rescue) file.

Contents:

The file contains:

Details of aircraft which completed:

* a coastal search between Torquay and Cape Otway to Warrnambool and return
* a search of 15NM radius based on latitude 3925S and longitude 14352E
* a land search of King island.

By 25 Oct 1978 there had been air searches:

* of the complete coastline of King Island (twice)
* of the northern part of King Island ( four times)
* of the Victorian coastline between Torquay to Warrnambool (6 times)
* of the coastline between Cape Otway and Torquay (3 times).

There were sightings of:

* Boxes in the water at 3917S 14406E
* An oil slick at 3919S 14401E
* An underwater object at 3919S 14354E
* Two objects in the water at 3847S 14400E
* 4 pieces of material 400m off 90 Mile Beach.

The file contains ten references to "UFO" which includes:

* Aircraft VH-DRB a C421 enroute Tennant Creek to Darwin at FL180 which reported "...a brilliant white light at level 30 miles north of him, in the Tindal area, on descent then disappearing." VH-CKU a C402 from Mataranka on the same track and lower saw some things at 0946Z on the 22 Oct 1978. "Brilliant white light falling fast and irridesent, nothing in area, nothing on radar, cannot explain it..."

* "Report from Empress of Australia may be relevant to plane search in strait. 3rd mate and lookout both reported what they describe as a brilliant white light moving very fast, no indication of height, moving from E to W of them. Posn 3952S 14534E 1245pm last night (221445z) course of ship 334/17.0."

Read the second file for yourself:

1. Go to http://www.naa.gov.au/
2. Click on search the collection
3. Click on Begin your search
4. Upcomes RecordSearch
5. In the keywords box type VH-DSJ
6. Up comes this file
7. Click on the View digital copy icon.

Comments:

As with my previous post, I'd appreciate blog readers comments about this second file, in the comments section of this post.

Valentich files released by Australian Government

Hi all,

Introduction:

The disappearance of Australian pilot Frederick Valentich, on 21 October 1978, over Bass Strait, Australia, has always intrigued global UFO researchers. Valentich, flying a light aircraft, registration VH-DSJ, disappeared on a flight from Moorabbin airport, Melbourne, Victoria, to King Island in Bass Strait. Neither he, nor his aircraft, have been seen since. He reported seeing an unusual object in the sky, during the flight.

Government documentation:

After the event, the Australian Government's Department of Transport released a three page "Aircraft Accident Investigation Summary Report" dated 27 Apr 1982. In part 7 of that document, headed "Opinion as to cause" the Department stated "The reason for the disappearance of the aircraft has not been determined." The file reference on this document was V116/783/1047.

Search for access to V116/783/1047:

In 1982 Australian UFO researcher Bill Chalker examined Department of Transport UFO files "...but was specifically denied access to the Valentich files on the grounds that they were Air Accident Investigation files and not UFO files." (Chalker, Bill. 1996. The Oz Files. Duffy & Snellgrove. Potts Point, NSW. Page 170.)

In 2004 I submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Department of transport. Part of the request was for access to file V116/783/1047. The Department advised me that they understood that the file had been destroyed by the National Archives of Australia (NAA.) I reviewed the NAA website's electronic database RecordSearch and found no record of the file. However, I understood that only some 10% of the files held by the NAA were on RecordSearch.

In October 2011, during a routine look at RecordSearch, I discovered that this file was now listed as file series B1497 control symbol V116/783/1047, title "DSJ-Cape Otway to King Island 21 October 1978 - Aircraft missing (Valentich) 1978-1992" barcode 10491375. It was shown as held by the Melbourne office of the NAA. However the status of the file was shown as "closed." Despite this status, I submitted a request for access to the file, reasoning that by 2012 the papers on the file dated 1978-1981 should now be publicly available.

Another file emerges:

In the meantime, Andrew Arnold, and his team, of the Melbourne based group, Victorian UFO Action, had been researching the Valentich case. Andrew found that there was another relevant file. This was file series A4703 control symbol 1978/1205 titled "VH-DSJ- Light aircraft overdue King Island." It was barcode 11485989 and held by the Canberra office of the NAA. The originating agency shown in NAA Notes was Department of Transport, Head Office, Canberra and Melbourne, Emergency & Special Services Branch. Andrew submitted a request for access to this file.

What does this A4703 file say about UFOs?

This file, of 292 pages was opened by the Marine Operations Centre and is a MARSAR (Marine search and rescue) file. The file cover indicates that both air searches and sea searches were conducted. The incident was opened on 21 Oct 78 and closed on 25 Oct 78. Authorities involved were the Victorian Police at King Island, Hobart and Lakes Entrance, plus the Department of Defence.

The file contains a two page narrative summary which gives an excellent overview of the incident, which commences:

"1. Airways Operations Melbourne advised that a Distress phase had been initiated on a Cessna 182 overdue at King island on a flight from Moorabbin to King Island. The aircraft had reported a rough running engine prior to communications being lost."

In part the summary reads "S.SOC AMML said the aircraft reported seeing things (perhaps a UFO) shortly after departing Cape Otway at 0903Z..."

Later "16. A number of reports of a fast moving brilliant white light were received from various parts of the country. Mt Stromlo observatory advised that the night of the 21st was the peak of the meteorite stream with 10-15 sightings per hour achieved."

"21. At 250900Z the search for the aircraft was terminated with no sighting of aircraft, wreckage or body made despite intensive search in a small area."

"22. As a postscript to this mystery, wreckage was reported off Lakes Entrance, checked by Police but was not relevant to this search. The pilot's father believed that a UFO had taken his son and would re(rest of word illegible) him later. The accident received wide newspaper and television cover because of the UFO connection."

I counted ten references to "UFO" on the rest of the file. These included a report from aircraft VH-DRB enroute Tenannt Creek to Darwin who saw a brilliant white light for 3-4 secs.

File V116/783/1047:

This file was released to me by the NAA a few days ago. The key document on this 315 page file is folio 103. This is actually 64 pages long, and is a report from the Director, Victoria/Tasmania Region dated 20 Oct 1981, addressed to AS(SI). It consists of a one page "Air Safety Investigation Minute" and 63 pages of report.

Documents include:

* Chart of the intended flight path
* Aircraft data
* Flight crew data
* Flight data
* Meteorological data
* A sequence of events
* An analysis of the cause
* Attachments.

The attachments include notes of conversations between Departmental investigators and:

* The Moorabbin briefing officer
* The person who refuelled VH-DSJ that night
* The Departmental OIC, King Island
* A cray fisherman from King Island
* The mess officer, ATC HQ
* An individual who flew VH-DSJ that morning
* Valentich's pilot tutor
* Valentich's father
* Valentich's girlfriend
* A close friend of Valentich
* An employee of Southern Air Services (SAS - whose aircraft it was)
* Four SAS instructors/pilots.

The attachments also include:

* A radar plot from Melbourne Flight Services
* An analysis of the radar returns from that time
* Valentich's flight plan
* A transcript of recorded communications between DSJ and Melbourne Flight Services which covers a greater time frame than that of the publicly released document from 1982
* A chart showing radio coverage at various heights and various distances from Melbourne
* A confidential personal history of Valentich
* A summary based on information from the RAAF
* Valentich's commercial pilot licence examination details
* Details of DSJ's radio equipment
* Weather forecasts for the area
* Best estimate of weather along the flight path
* A report on water samples ex Bass Strait by the Department of Defence Materials Research Laboratories
* A specialist report from a doctor on Human Factors Aspects
* A report on an aircraft towing a glide near Apollo Bay
* A UFO report from an individual
* A report on a shower of metallic "scintillations" seen in the sky.

The report's top page, in section 7, "Opinion as to cause" simply states "Not determined - aircraft missing."

The covering "Air Safety Investigation Minute" para 3, states " The Region does not intend to take any further action in this matter unless positive factual evidence is obtained."

Read the digitised file for yourself:

You can read the file, as released to me, by:

1. Go to http://www.naa.gov.au/
2. Click on "search the collection"
3. Click on "begin your search"
4. Up comes "RecordSearch"
5. In the keywords box type the word Valentich
6. Click on search
7. Up comes a list
8. Scroll down to V116/783/1047
9. Click on this entry
10. Click on digital file
11. Up comes the file.

Comments:

After you have read the file, I welcome your thoughts, please use the comments section of this blog post.

Australian naval vessel reports UFO

Hi all,

National Archives of Australia file series E1327 control symbol 5/4/Air Part 6 titled "Unusual sightings and incidents," generated by RAAF Base Darwin, Northern Territory, has just been released to me by the National Archives. It is a 37 page file with details in the date range 1976 and 1978.

The file consists mainly of tables of "Satellite look angles for Darwin," issued by the Satellite Prediction Centre of the Weapons Research Establishment, in Adelaide, South Australia. However, there are two UFO reports on the file.

White lights in the sky:

On the 13 and 14 Nov 1976 at Providence Hill, NT between 2030 and 2100hrs, a group of ten people including L Rourke, the Cumaiyi family; plus Kim and Stephen Cartwright watched a white light as it travelled south across the sky, too high and too fast to be an aircraft. They did not believe it was a satellite, as it veered around to the south-east before disappearing.

On the next night at about the same time, they saw another light, but much brighter and apparently at a lower altitude. Within the next 30 minutes they watched four other white lights travelling in varying directions.

Squadron Leader S L Harding responded on behalf of the RAAF. He advised that there were no known aircraft in the area, but that several satellites were in the general area at about that time. "However, only one or two of these could possibly have been observed as described and then only under conditions of heavy light refraction. This is thought unlikely. Some other possible sources were also examined but without success.

"3. Your report together with our findings has now been passed to other agencies. Even though the source of this particular sighting may never be established, reports such as this add to our knowledge of the area and help eventually to establish patterns of activity. Please be assured that these reports are much appreciated and fully utilised. " (dated 23 Nov 1976.)

Crew of naval vessel reports UFO:

Pages 3-12 of this file describe observations by crew of the naval ship HMAS Adroit. This report is briefly mentioned by Bill Chalker in part four of his series "UFOs: Sub Rosa down under" (click here.) This newly released file contains more details.

The incident is summarised in a teletype from "NOCNA" to "RAYWACX/ MarineOPS Canberra" dated 112217z Apr 78.

"1. While at anchor in position 1208 south 12954 east a red light was observed at 112030IK bearing 280 estimated range 10NM for 30 seconds. I considered this to possibly be an ICOV and proceeded to intercept. Contact was not gained in 30 mins and I commenced a sweep to northeast and north.

2. At 112317IK in position 1205 south 12954 east an object bearing 285 was observed by several personnel to rise and hover and sink to the horizon several times before finally disappearing beyond the horizon. This object appeared very large and bathed with bright red lights and at one stage appeared to close the ship. Again the range could be estimated at 10 miles and bearing width was 4 degrees. The light also appeared at one stage to flicker on and off. The phenomenon lasted several minutes.

3. Weather conditions on both occasions of sightings were good. Visibility 8NM. 1/2 cloud with no cloud below 15 degrees elevation. Radar conditions and performances were excellent with land echoes at 25 miles and trawler size contact 15NM. No contacts were gained to offset these sightings.

4. There is no possibility that the second sighting was the Moon setting and I believe them to have caused by a UFO.

5. Personnel who observed the second sighting were Leut J D Napier RAN, SBLT I O Schmidt, RAN POQMG I Potter, PO COX B Cristensen, LSETC D Williamson, LSETP G Gillies, ABQMG G Brown, ABMTPD N Paser, ABQMG M Townsend, ABWM M Howard."

A multiple page RAAF form "Report of unusual aerial sightings: was completed by Lieut John David Napier, age 26, naval officer. The sighting location is given as 12 deg 5 min south, 129 deg 54 mins east. The second observation started at 2137 (IK) and finished at 2140 (IK) on 11 Apr 1978. Weather conditions are shown as "One half cloud, nil wind, sea calm, nil swell. Visibility 8-10NM.

The object was sighted at bearing 285 degrees at 4 degrees elevation. It was last seen at 285 deg 0 deg elevation. An accompanying sketch shows a large, oval shaped object with the major axis parallel to the horizon, with the centre of the oval at 4 degrees elevation. A note says "The lights around the entire object, bathing it in brilliant red light. No sound was emitted. Shape as shown. From observer's position - bearing width 4 degrees."

Under "additional comments" Napier wrote:

"In excellent radar conditions, no contact was gained to offset the sighting. The object appeared to hover above the horizon, then descend to the horizon then rise and switch off the lights. The object was next sighted on the horizon with lights only burning at both ends. The object then rose and became completely illuminated before sinking below the horizon. At one stage the light intensified and appeared to close the ship."

RAAF investigation:

The RAAF's investigating officer indicated on the report form that there were no military aircraft in the area. An Ansett DC9 heading 230 deg at 19/2000ft speed 400 departed from Darwin at 1024z to Port Headland. For some reason it returned to Darwin and then took off again at 1224z.

There were no known balloons in the area.

Temp was 28 deg dry bulb, 24 deg wet bulb. 79% humidity. Cloud cover 1 octo at 3000 feet cumulus. No temperature inversions. Nil wind. (Source Met bureau at Darwin.)

The RAAF investigating officer wrote " It has not been possible to interview the crew as Adroit is on sea duty with short refuel stops in DAR. They are scheduled for longer post(?) time early May. Will interview then."

The officer's evaluation of the sighting reads "Cause unknown but lack of radar response points to some form of light aberration."

A covering memo dated 27 Apr 78 from HQDAR to HQOC attention SOINTEL subject Unusual Aerial Sightings states:

"1. Herewith is a sighting report on an unidentified light observed by members of the crew of HMAS Adroit. The sighting is interesting as it was made by a group of servicemen and probably has more credibility than some civilian/urban reports."

Comments:

A rare observation submitted by an Australian naval vessel crew, of an unusual phenomenon, which remains unknown.