RAAF Mirage jet intercepts UAP - 1986

Hi all,

Introduction:

The Disclosure Australia Project uncovered National Archives of Australia (NAA) file series A9755, and determined that it consisted of about two dozen RAAF UAP files for the period 1984-1996. Dominic McNamara and I visited RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia to look at these files which were brought from Canberra to Edinburgh, specifically to allow us to peruse the files. However, there were conditions applied. We could not take digital photographs of documents. We could not dictate details into a recording device. We were permitted to take notes, but not to record witnesses' names. A RAAF Military Police Officer sat in the room with us at all times, and checked our hand written notes before we left the base. We later applied for copies of all the documents on these files under the FOI Act, but our request was denied on the grounds that there were several thousand pages and this was too much of a workload for the RAAF to undertake. We recorded our notes in a Project Newsletter.

Move forward to 2013 and we now find that some of the files under A9755 are finally (partly) available under the Archives Act. I submitted an application for access to those parts of the series which turned up in RecordSearch, and two have just been digitised for me to view. This post will provide details of one file. A later post, the second file.

Control  symbol 6:

File series A9755, control symbol 6, is titled "Headquarters RAAF Base Williamtown [Unusual Aerial Sightings] [UAS] UFO - Unidentified Flying Objects." Its date range is 11 Jan 1984 to 11 Dec 1986. It is held in the NAA's Canberra office, barcode 3533436, and is open with exception (closed period.)

There are 46 pages currently available. The file's original reference is 6/44/Air Part 1 "Unusual Aerial Sightings." The blue file over has a handwritten note "RDA1013 2.2 (A) Feb 92 (D) 2067." It was opened on 18 Sep 1984 and closed 3 Feb 1987. Its classification level was originally "Restricted." 49 pages have been withheld as outside the Archives Act date range.

What's on the file?

There are a number of low interest UAP reports from the period, for example:

* 10 Jul 1984 1840hrs Mayfield, NSW. Formation of lights travelling east to west.

* 17 Aug 1984 2100k Williamtown, NSW. 10 mins. Red light travelling south to north.

* 29 Jun 1984 Time not stated. Six or seven bright white lights travelling fast in all directions.

*29 Dec 1984 2130hrs Wallsend NSW. Stationary light in the west.

Radar/visual report:

On the 14 Jul 1985 the base received a number of calls that day about UAP. Some of them referred to what was apparently the same object:

0830  Liddell Power Station, NSW. Stationary steady silver light in the sky at 10,000 feet to the west.

1315 Lauriton(?) Silver object very high. Stationary and spherical.

1345 North George. Silver spherical object north at 45 degrees elevation.

1440 Tarree. Large, round, silver object above cirrus clouds. 18 degrees elevation. NNE. Stationary.

The RAAF actually conducted an investigation of these reports. An undated RAAF minute includes "Various agencies such as RAAF Richmond Ops and the Dept of Aviation briefing office at Sydney were contacted but none had received similar reports or were aware of the identity of the object.

A second, undated, minute about the object reports "I enquired at the Williamtown Met Office and spoke to Mr Jeff Smith and then Mr Larry McGrath in Sydney.

2. Mr McGrath reported that on the 14th July he had received a number of similar reports and in response had tracked an object on radar. Since it was drifting with the wind at 15-20 kts he deduced it was a balloon. However, since it produced a significant radar paint he assumed it was a research balloon which can carry up to a 5 tonne payload. He checked a number of authorities but could not determine if it was launched by any one of them. Natams(?) did not warn of any such landing. McGrath suspected that it may have been launched at Parkes, NSW. A police witness reported seeing a "radio package" beneath the object and this trends to substantiate the balloon theory.

Mirage jet intercepts UAP:

The file contains a report by a Mirage Jet pilot, which has a handwritten notation of 1230pm 5 Sep 1986.

"Report by Despot 546 -Vector to UFO

"I was vectored under 3CRU control to a target approx 320 degrees at 170 miles reference Williamtown, TACAN. Height estimated was either FL250 to FL300 or FL900.

2. Cruising at FL300 at a distance of approx 35 miles I sighted the object in my 12 o'clock position, high. I turned 15 degrees off attack heading and climbed to FL500.

3. The target from an easterly approach appeared to be balloon shaped with some sort of appendage hanging below. However with the target approx 30 to 40 thousand feet high it was hard to detail accurately.

4. The target did not appear to be moving at any speed and I flew one 360 degrees orbit around it from north and westerly aspects. The object was unrecognisable due to the high reflection of the Sun.."

A RAAF Minute about the event states:

"1. Following a sighting of a UFO by civil ATC radar and RAAF 3CRU a Mirage was launched to investigate. Attached is a report by the pilot identifying the object as a balloon." The Minute details efforts to locate the origin of the balloon. "None of these authorities have or appear to be interested to investigate this incident more fully to determine the balloon's origin." "Since the matter is not of a National Security nature no further action is required in regard to UFO as laid down in Ref A."

Comments:

A number of questions come to my mind:

1. Whose balloons were they?

2. With the possibility that a balloon would collide with an aircraft, wouldn't the then equivalent of Air Services of Australia be very interested in this object (balloon?)?

3. How many UAP reports have been, or continue to be, caused by unidentified "balloons?"

4. Given the lack of determination of whose "balloons" they were; were they in fact balloons?

Paul Dean's National Archives of Australia search

Hi all,

As mentioned in a previous post, Melbourne researcher Paul Dean, has been digging deeper into the National Archives of Australia (NAA) looking for additional files on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP.)

Previous searches of the NAA's electronic database RecordSearch, have used such keywords as "Unidentified Flying Objects;" "Unusual Aerial Sightings;" and "Flying Saucers." Dozens of UAP files were located, and the Disclosure Australia Project (2003-2008) documented these files.

Paul has tried different keywords, including "anomaly;" "phenomena;" "occurrence reports;" "flashing lights;" "abnormal occurrences;" and, thinking about close encounter cases involving aircraft, "air incident reports." Large numbers of new files have turned up. Only by examining these files will anyone be able to determine if their contents relate to UAP.

Dead ends:

Searching for UAP material in the NAA sometimes leads to dead ends. Paul has an example of this with the file series A703 control symbol 564/7/43 titled "Air Defence - Unusual reporting by aircraft captains Intelligence sightings." One would think that this would possibly contain UAP reports amongst other more mundane foreign aircraft sightings. Paul asked for a copy of  this file. The NAA responded:

"We have written to the relevant agency requesting that this record be transferred to our custody in response to your application for access..." However, the next NAA communication read, in part, "The controlling agency for this record have informed us that it was destroyed in July 1998 under General Disposal Authority 14..."

One asks why it is therefore, still listed in the NAA's RecordSearch in 2013?

Another example:

Although we will never know what the next dead end file referred to, file series A1533 control symbol 1955/4448 was titled "Discovery of Secret Naval Intelligence Memorandum." Paul applied for a copy of the file and the NAA advised "Unfortunately the National Archives of Australia does not hold this item as it was withdrawn by the AFP." (Presumably the Australian Federal Police.)

Again, why is the file still listed in RecordSearch if the file is not in the physical custody of the NAA?

Intriguing file title:

Another intriguing file title is file series P1566, control symbol Phenomena - Mawson - 1958, titled "Visual phenomena - Mawson - 1958 - sighted from Taylor," currently held by the Hobart office of the NAA. Paul Dean had the file examined and digitised. Although not a classic UAP, it is a UAP in the broadest sense - and from the details on the file, a mystery to me even after reading the file. For interest sake, I will record basic details here.

 At about 1300hrs (GMT+7) on 17 Jul 1958, four experienced observers saw "...an unusual display of lights and shadows" for about 20 minutes. The Sun was below the horizon and the sky almost clear of clouds. First came an "...indefinable blob of shadow  travelling ...at great speed..." Then came "...a group of parallel rays" white in colour. A most unusual display.

Final note:

On a final note, file series K95 control symbol 1986/871, when first located by Paul, was titled "Aerial Phenomena - General (DCA-Transport.)" After Paul requested it to be examined, the NAA has now changed  the title to"Aerial Phenomena - UFOs (DCA-Transport.}" It is waiting to become available for us all to read.

Again, congratulations to Paul on his research initiative.

Predicting the future of UAP research

Hi all,

In 1975, J Allen Hynek (click here) and Jacques Vallee (click here) sat down for a series of discussions on UAP. The resultant collection of conversations was published in book form as "The Edge of Reality: A Progress report on Unidentified Flying Objects." (Henry Regnery Co., Chicago. ISBN 0-8092-8150-3.) Dr Arthur C Hastings, (click here) a psychologist and parapsychology researcher chaired the discussion sessions.

In chapter 9, "For their final session, the authors and Dr Hastings decided to discuss what they see as the possibilities in the years ahead, what might be the future behavior of UFOs and the development of UFO problems. Author  Vallee began by asking "What if we were writing "The UFO in the Year 2000?"" (p.235.)

I thought it would be of interest to review just what these preeminent researchers thought of their future, albeit they were looking forward 25 years, and it is now 38 years later. They came up with a number of scenarios.

Seven scenarios:

(1) "Things keep happening as they have for twenty-five years, and we keep publishing more books about it. Blum and Blum publish more books, about it. Von Daniken publishes more books, and nothing else happens. Every two or three years there's a flap somewhere. There is no visible effect on society, there is no direct threat, there is no mass landing..." (p.235.)

(2) They land, they take over. Okay. They say, "We're from Zeta Reticuli and this business has been going on too long!" I call this the "Twilight Bar" scenario, after the play by Arthur Koestler." (p.236.)

(3) "They could stop and go away entirely." (p.236.)

(4) "We learn to contact them. We set up a crash program to communicate with them telepathically, using all the characteristics we have learned that somehow seem to be associated with landings..." (pp236-237.)

(5) "The Air Force shoots one down and they attack, they block all electronic communications." (p.238.)

(6) "Let's say you have a billionaire friend who is interested in helping out and you say to him, look, a lot of people are seeing them but they're not reporting them. What I want to do is set up this universal hot line service. Okay, so we now have twice as many or five times as many...and the reports are about the same, again, not much evidence but the same quality." (p.238.)

(7) "Somebody publishes a book that explains what they are - somebody discovers what they are. Now they have to do something about that!...It would be interesting to find that the behavior of UFOs changes after certain books are published..." (p.240.)

My assessment:

Hynek and Vallee's scenarios 2-7 haven't happened. Scenario 1 is the closest to the situation today. No visible effect on society. No direct threat. No mass landing.

There are still plenty of reported observations of lights in the sky, but the reported number of close encounter cases has noticeably decreased.

In 2013, science as a whole is not interested in UAP. Government intelligence agencies (officially at least) have given up studying UAP. Civilian UAP researchers continue their efforts. However, almost all of these have publicly decided their stand - UAP are extraterrestrial visitors.

Another Australian April 1966 school case?

Hi all,

Most blog readers will be aware of the 6 April 1966 sightings at the Westall High School, Clayton South, Melbourne, Victoria (for details click here.)

In the newspaper clipping collection of UFO Research (NSW) (click here) I just came across a curious item from the "Sunday Mirror" dated Sunday 1 May 1966, about another mass school sighting.

"Flying saucer flap
A flying saucer report had officials in the Education Department up in the air this week.

They spent several days trying to check a claim that 1000 school children and their teachers had seen a flying saucer.

The claim was made on Channel 7's Bob Crosby show by Sydney flying saucer fancier, Miss June Marsden.

She told Crosby and thousands of viewers that the children had been startled by the saucer as it swooped low over school buildings.

She claimed that the Education Department had been given a full report of the incident.

No sign:

Miss Marsden thought the school was Caringbah or Carlingford but could not remember which.

So the Sunday Mirror asked the Education Department. An official said "Give us a little time to check this." "Off hand I can't remember a report about a flying saucer, but it may not have reached my section yet. It depends on when the report was sent by the school. It may take several days to find its way through the various departments."

Several days later there still was no sign of the report - or the flying saucer."

Comments:

For further information on June Marsden (click here.)

Have any blog readers any additional information on this (probably) April 1966 school case?

Cataloguing the data

Hi all,

One of the areas of my research over the years, has been the collecting of reports of UAP, and the preparation and distribution of a number of catalogues ( click here to access a list of them, and links to them.)

Where my interest came from:

I have often been asked where my interest in cataloguing came from? The answer lies with the work of Jacques and Janine Vallee. Many people have forgotten (or never knew) that the 1967 book "Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma", published by Neville Spearman of London, was written by both Janine and Jacques Vallee.

In order to examine various hypotheses, the Vallee's prepared one of the first detailed catalogues of UAP. This work, of 500 observations, in machine-readable form, was completed in 1962. They went on to complete a much larger catalogue of over 3,000 sightings by 1964.

My interest in UAP started in the mid 1960's, and one of the first books I read was "Challenge to Science." I was immediately taken with the concept of cataloguing as the first step to analysis of data. By the early 1970's I had started preparation of some rudimentary Australian catalogues. I sometimes worked with other Australian researchers, e.g. Paul Jackson of TUFOIC (on vehicle interference cases.) However, most of the work remained a solitary pursuit.

Over time, I have compiled catalogues about observations from aircrew; "angel hair;" physical trace cases; vehicle interference cases; "implants;" and abductions, among other things. I have also conducted an analysis of some the data in these catalogues, e.g. "angel hair."

An ongoing research project of mine is the maintenance of an Australian wide catalogue of interesting cases. I have spent time checking material in Australian UAP magazines. Recently I finished checking on-line series of the APRO Bulletin; the NICAP UFO Investigator, and the MUFON Journal, for Australian events. I also have utilised files on UAP held by the National Archives of Australia; and newspaper collections held by the National Library of Australia and UFO Research (NSW.)

Interestingly, by checking original sources of material, I have detected a large number of erroneous pieces of data in the published literature. This has enabled me to prepare the most accurate Australian UAP catalogue todate. Naturally, I welcome corrections, additions, etc to this catalogue. Comments may be directed to me at keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au

Other data sources:

Listings of Australian sightings, and other research material may be found on the following websites:

TUFOIC (Click here.)

UFO Research (New South Wales.)  (Click here.)

UFO Research (Queensland.) (Click here.)

AUFORN. (Click here.)

VUFORS. (Click here.)

VUFOA. (Click here.)

UFO-PRSA (Click here.)

Colin Norris's collection. (Click here.)

Readers should be aware that some of the reports on these websites have not been investigated, and thus the collections probably contain both UFO and IFO reports.

If any blog readers are aware of other Australian collections of sightings, I'd be pleased to hear from you.

Will a newly found file help us explain Westall?

Hi all,

Paul Dean is a researcher from Melbourne, Victoria, who has been very successfully mining the files of the National Archives of Australia (NAA.) (Click here for NAA website.) Paul has recently located two UAP files, which not even the Disclosure Australia Project found.

The first is file series K95 control symbol 1986/871 titled "Aerial Phenomena - General [DCA-Transport]" held by the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport, with a date range of 1982-1986.

Westall related?

Of possibly greater significance is file series MT 1298/1 control symbol VTI-66/319 titled "Unidentified Aerial Object 3/4/1966 Tullamarine." Owned by the former Department of Civil Aviation, Victoria-Tasmania region. The significance of this second file is that the famous Westall High School case occurred on 6 April 1966, three days before whatever the Tullamarine incident turns out to be.

Other events:

Some blog readers will recall that April 1966 was a particularly interesting time in the Australian state of Victoria for reports of UAP.

2 April 1966 - Balwyn, Melbourne, Victoria.
Noticing his garden was lit up by an unusuall light, a man looked up to see a metallic looking mushroom-shaped object some thirty-six meters or so, up in the air, "floating" towards the ground. As he watched, it made a 180 degree turn through its vertical axis. The man managed to take a polaroid photograph of the object at this stage. The object then shot off northwards at terrific speed. (Click here to see the photo.)

4 April 1966 Bourkes Flat, Victoria.
Driving alone, a man saw an unusual light in a paddock and his car's headlights veered to the right for no apparent reason. A saucer shaped depression was found in the bare paddock where the light had been. Later there was a fatal car crash at the same location. (For more information click here.)

6 April 1966 Clayton South, Melbourne, Victoria.
Many students and at least one teacher sighted at least one unusual object in the area of the Westall High School. Unusual ground traces were also located in the area where the object had descended. Witnesses told of officials suppressing the event. (Click here for Yahoo groups site.)

Other files:

Paul Dean has spent hours trawling through file series such as A703 and A705 - the RAAF's files series which includes UAP files. Paul has located a number of files which may contain items relevant to UAP research. He has also found certain files from the Department of Navy; RAAF and the Bureau of Meteorology, plus the Joint Intelligence Bureau which might also be of use to us. He has ordered copies of some of these files for examination.

Paul is to be congratulated on his diligent and patient research.

3 April 1966 Tullamarine:

The finding of A DCA file titled "Unidentified Aerial object" on 3 April 1966 at Tullamarine, Melbourne, Victoria, is therefore of great interest to UAP researchers. A copy of this file has been requested from the NAA. I will bring you its contents when I receive it from the NAA.

Who was Professor Stuart T Butler and why was he interested in UAP?

Hi all,

Scientists and UAP:

A number of scientists from around the world have, at times, taken an interest in UAP. This is also true of Australia.

I was recently consulting the book "Firestorm" by Ann Druffel (published by Wild Flower Press, Columbus, NC. 2003. ISBN 0-926524-58-5) on another matter, when I came across a reference to a Professor Stuart T Butler, which read:

"Dr Berson, together with another scientist, Professor of Theoretical Physics Stuart T Butler, quietly began their own study of Australian sightings, possibly encouraged by McDonald's example." (p.186.)

Australian UAP researchers have long known of Dr F A Berson's interest ( e.g. click here), but what of Professor Butler's?

Who was Professor Butler?

Butler was born in 1926 in Naracoorte, South Australia. In 1954 he was appointed as a reader in Physics at the University of Sydney. Later, in 1959, he was then appointed as Professor of Theoretical Physics and Professor of Plasma Physics at Sydney university. He worked there for 20 years and gained international recognition for his work. In 1977 he went on to become the Director of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission Research Establishment at Lucas Heights. He died in 1982. (Click here.)

Did McDonald know Butler?

According to Druffel's "Firestorm, "In his Australian journal, McDonald kept a list of a dozen physicists and astronomers, to whom he had been referred by Australian and American researchers." (p.185.)

It might therefore be deduced that McDonald was referred to Butler. Perhaps McDonald met Butler on McDonald's 1967 trip to Australia?

Another link between Butler and McDonald:

There is in fact another link between McDonald and Butler. At some point between 1966 and 1970, McDonald consulted for The Boeing Corporation to investigate the question "Would SSTs [supersonic transport aircraft] flying at the edge of the upper atmosphere, leave permanent condensation trails?" (p.488.)

McDonald researched the question and sounded warnings about SSTs possibly depleting the ozone layer. In March 1971 McDonald appeared before a sub-committee of the US House Appropriations Committee hearing on SST aircraft.

Stuart T Butler served on an Australian committee to report on atmospheric effects of supersonic aircraft, in 1971-1972, which might suggest another connection between McDonald and Butler.

Internet search:

I went on an Internet search looking for references to Butler and UAP. There was almost nothing. An excellent article about him (click here) mentions nothing about his apparent interest in UAP. I did find one newspaper clipping from "The Australian" dated 14 May 1968. The text reads:

"As Sydney University's Professor of Theoretical Physics Stuart T Butler remarks "I certainly believe there must be intelligence on some of the other inhabitable planets. It's the only logical interpretation from the evidence. I would go even further and say that there must be intelligent races far further advanced than us. Why should the earth be either at the start or the end of the scale? It is more likely that we are about average, in which case there will have to be older races out in space ahead of us in development. That is not to say that there is any reason they should want to visit us, even if it were possible for them, considering the enormous distances and time it would take to travel them.

I would emphatically dissociate myself from the people who claim to have contacted flying saucers. Their stories are so wildly improbable they seem to me to involve the suspicion of mental imbalance of some sort.

At the same time, in view of the probable existence of some other intelligent race in the universe, I think we have to keep an open mind on the possibility of some UFOs being intelligently directed."

Call for further information:

Have any blog readers come across Professor Butler's interest in UAP?