Jet fighter put on stand-by to check U.F.O. sightings

Press, 2 January 1979, Page 1

Jet fighter put on stand-by to check U.F.O. sightings

A Sky hawk of the Royal New Zealand Air Forceps strike squadron has been put on stand-by to investigate any further positive U.F.O. sightings.

A defence spokesman said last evening that one of the 75 Squadron fighterbombers at Ohakea would be “scrambled” if the Wellington Airport radar picked up .my more positive sightings that “looked as though they could be interesting.” The Press Association reports that an Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft may also be moved from Auckland to Ohakea to join the investigation.

The move comes after a spate of week-end sightings of U.F.O.s over the Clarence River area, near Kaikoura. They, in turn, followed positive sightings by an aircraft, which were also recorded on radar, 10 days earlier. An Australian television crew, flying in a Safe Air Argosy, filmed one object early on Sunday morning. The film, which Melbourne Channel 0 says is the bestdocumented sighting of an unidentified flying object, has already been screened in Britain and in Australia.

A few hours earlier on Saturday night, Mr Geoff Causer, an air traffic con-

troller at Wellington, had picked up “scores” of U.F.O.s on the airport radar. At one stage he had 10 on his radar screen at one time.

The Safe Air pilot, captain Bill Startup, of Blenheim, said yesterday that the large object filmed by the television crew — “a very bright, white, light” — apparently tracked his plane, moving in front, above, and below it.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “We do not consider there is a defence threat, but it is all very interesting.”

The film will be shown by TVI at 6.30 p.m. today. Mr D. C. Grant, a news reporter for TVI, said that Channel o’s description of the film coincided with what he had seen.

Mr Grant said yesterday that “a spherical object” kept pace with the aircraft for about 70km, flying slightly below and in front. The Argosy’s radar put it about 15km ahead. The light varied in intensity and height, and appeared about 35km northeast of Christchurch. Christchurch Air Traffic

Control did not pick up the objects, said a radar operator, Mr D. Clemens. The Clarence River was outside Christchurch radar range. The object seen by Mr Grant north-east of Christchurch was not recorded either, possibly because it was moving below the height at which the radar worked efficiently. On the flight to Christchurch from Blenheim between 12 midnight and 1 a.m. on Sunday, a Melbourne television reporter, Mr Quentin Fogarty, shot film that showed an object, and two other lights, tracking the aircraft for about 10 minutes, Mr Grant said. On the return flight to Blenheim about 2.30 a.m. an object appeared in front of the aircraft, fluctuating in height and intensity, and kept pace slightly beneath it for about 70km. Mr Grant said that this object had a white circumference, and white bands of light through it. It had been reported that Clarence Bridge residents had seen U.F.O.s, but people spoken to by a reporter of “The Press” last evening said that they

did not give much credence to what they had seen. Mr R. J. Todhunter, of Clarence, said that his sighting was of a “white flashing light, well out, just like an aeroplane light, except that it was the wrong colour and not moving very fast.” He saw it at 12.30 a.m. on December 19.

“ft could have been anything,” he said. “I wouldn’t have said anything if people weren’t talking about it now.”

Tim Stace, aged 11, of Kekerengu, said that he saw something in the sky shaped “like a drip of water, and red all over. Every couple of seconds it ‘flashed.’ It did not move very fast.”

Tim said he was lying in bed at 9.30 p.m. several weeks ago looking at the sky when he saw the “pinprick” from the corner of his window. He saw it for about a minute.

Two other Clarence residents, Mr R. D. Middleton, and a son of Mr J. R. Johnston, said they did not know of anyone in Clarence who had seen U.F.O.s. People were talking about them now “as a joke,” they said.

The Press Association reports that details of all the week-end sightings had been passed on to the Ministry of Defence. The defence spokesman said last evening: “If Wellington air traffic control have any more positive radar sightings in the next night or so and they think they are worth investigating, we will do so.

“An aircraft is ready, and we will react.”

Mr Causer welcomed this news. “I am de* lighted,” he said. “We now have recorded sightings by six pilots on three Argosy aircraft over 10 days and a host of radar sightings. “Obviously some strange phenomenon exists and it needs to be investigated.” Mr Causer said that the number of inexplicable radar “returns” — as the sightings are known to air traffic controllers — recently was far greater than anything experienced in New Zealand before.

“I was a complete sceptic,” he said. “But obviously there is something there. I couldn’t hazard a guess a' what it might be.”