Copy I if of 36 NEW ZEALAND DEFENCE FORCE UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS (UFO) FILES COPIES FOR RELEASE TO THE PUBLIC File Title: Investigations of Unidentified & Radar Sightings East Coast South Island - December 1978 File Timespan: Opened: 1978 - Closed 1981 File Declassified: December 2010 Location of Original File: Held at Headquarters NZDF Access to Original File: Restricted until 2051 File Contains: Interviews with people involved in the 1978 Kaikoura sightings conducted by the RNZAF preparatory to the preparation of a formal report into these sightings. File also contains technical reports from DSIR and other scientific experts and an independent report of the Kaikoura sightings by the NZ UFO Studies Centre. NEW ZEALAND DEFENCE FORCE PUBLIC RELEASE OF UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS (UFO) FILES These copied and redacted files of correspondence on Unidentified Flying Objects dating from 1952 to 2009 have been Declassified and released to the public by the New Zealand Defence Force under the Official Information Act. Access to the original files held by Archives New Zealand is restricted up until the year 2080 for Personal Privacy reasons. These copied files have had the personal details of members of the public making UFO reports removed to preserve their privacy. Personal details of service personnel and civilians employed by the New Zealand Defence Force and other Government Departments and Agencies have not been removed. No other information has been removed or omitted from these files. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF FILES Correspondence on Flying Saucers began in New Zealand Defence Force files in 1952 and continued under different names, Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) and Unidentified Aerial Sightings (UAS) until the present. The files contain reports of sightings by private individuals and military personnel, Investigations by Defence and other Government Departments and agencies into these reports, newspaper clippings on UFOs and letters from individuals who claim to be in touch with alien beings and craft. While the files are in general date order from 1 952 until the present some file periods overlap with one another and the documents within each file are not necessarily in strict date order. There can be duplicate documents within each file and copies of the same documents (particularly media releases and reports) can appear in different files. ACCESS TO UFO FILES These redacted files are available in hard copy from the Defence Library c/o Headquarters New Zealand Defence Force Aitken St Wellington. They are not available in electronic format. XMlJliTIFIED File Opened .... Previous File: , ... File Closed : ... Subsequent File: ;.rr; RELEVANT FILES ..iffiEOETS... VETTING RECORD SHEET PLEASE COMPLETE ONLY ONE PAGE PER RECORD *HQ NZDE/ARM-Y/NAVY/AIR FORCE/JSe^ FILE ^Delete as appropriate FILE NO LOCATION PARTNO_/ TYPE RFS7 (File or Non File Material) Sub-Series_ Subject /Af.</glT7M7>Z?ALl /f: HMt Please Tick the Appropriate Boxes: No NZ Documents on File No Classified Documents on File NZ Documents Cleared for Access No Classified NZ Documents on File No Foreign Source Classified Documents on File Some Foreign or Special-Source Documents placed on restricted Parallel File Some NZ (Non-NZDF) Documents placed on Restricted Parallel File Some All Classified Foreign Source or Documents Cleared for Access Release on 1 in the Year Review again before the Year VETTING COMMENTS IF NECESSARY igyauiaAecEss to this file m wmmmm UNTE^:^.s,t yfQjS^-V etting Commenced ^ D'JL! iO //^-Vetting Completed IVX^I iP pRovisioNi INFORMATION STAMP (place relevant NpI^Scision STAW^r^^^r^ File Number FILE RELEASE STATEMENT VETTING COMPLETED AND: /'iSroTlassified documents on file. ^-'d''7ZbF documents have been declassified Qdici NZ Govt DcplxlHssi'fled docuittculs have been cleared for access- \EQreisn Sourrp rlnwified documents have been dcaicd foracucss . ^fime_fnrf>ign nr-sfienial <;nnrr,e dr>onment& plnoRrl nn-a- . rpistnV.tp^d pars:|]lpl filp (cpf nh^^t^ lirr-vrith rr^'^riiuc tmnsfrr) Other comments: NB: Classified documents of other New Zealand Departments where there is some concern about declassifying them should be referred to the relevant department. Docuiiieiits action/filing. mainteiiaiiee responsibility filed/remdved Mr Quantin, Fogarty 11 flatuDg' St U ictorjia 3103 Dear Quantin, cuncei'ning dispatched Presumably, willingness Kind regards, Yours faithfully, lifting Coniraander /Director of Public Relations Department: Subject: File No, Department: 11 Metung St Victoria 3^03 . Australia publication. additional information. appreciate apparently a copy of the summary , or the summary i sue^e- V ouL cori"t3iC'b tiini ^ ^ ^ NEW ZEALAND UFO STUDIES CENTRE (NUSC) Dr . J.F.deBock 5 Ngahue Crescent, Ministry of Defence, A WELLINGTON. Dear Sir, Please find enclosed a copy of the provisional report malle by Dr. Bruce Maccabee on the Kaikoura UFO case. Through our contacts with CUFOS (Centre for UFO studies) and MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) in the USA, the report was forwarded to us. In a personal letter. Dr. Maccabee requested us to send copies to those who have been involved in the investigation. Copies are being sent to DSIR, Met. Off ice. Civil Aviation, Ministry of Defence, Carter Observatory and Wellington Air Traffic Control. Although Dr. Maccabee has released the copyright for some parts of the report, we still havei to emphasise its confidential character. MUFON will publish the complete report, while the magazine "Nature" will issue a more technical article on the New Zealand case. I would like to take the opportunity to inform you of the frequent sightings reported to us. Most of which can easily be explained after an initial investigation with the limited aids in our hands. However, some sightings have to remain unexplained since we are unable to obtain sufficient background information from such institutions as yours. With this problem in view we would be very grateful if you could advise us in future on those limited unexplained cases. In several overseas countries this assistance has led to the setting up of an advisory committee, with speciaiisuo committee, when necessary (perhaps twice a year) is to come to a natural explanation of the more complicated sightings, to avoid the public phoning your institutions, and to reduce speculation that reported sightings are Flying Saucers, space-ships and other types of so called extraterrestrial manifestations. We already have the promise of a representative from a few institutions, and we would be grateful if you could consider your participation as well in the advisory committee. additional information countries, unidentified phenomena. sincerely. -rBe Bock . with the compliments of the WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN NEW ZEAIAND Dr. Bruce S. Maccabee (copyright, Bruce Maccabee, 1979) Introduction 1 The Investigation 3 Sources of Information . 7 SvuTtmary of Events 9 Event Descriptions and Map Legend 15 Analysis of Events Technical Details for the Plight South 30 Technical Details for the Flight North 33 Natural and Artificial Sources of Light 34 Analysis of the Wellington Radar Sightings 35 Analysis of Radar-Visual Sightings 46 Analysis of the Film Obtained : South Flight Analysis of the Film Obtained : near Christchurch Analysis of the Film Obtained :last sequence Appendices (where available) A, Transcript of the Wellington Control Tower Tape Transcript Information The primary sources of information are the memories of the eight witnesses who were involved. These memories contain information nevertheless, information". information information includes a .. tape recording of the conversations between the Wellington ATC Center and the aircraft. This recording establishes an irrefutable time line for the events. Then there is the tape made on the aircraft by Quentin Fogarty (how many UFO sightings have information recorded ^ situ ?). Although this tape cannot be exactly synchronized with the Wellington tape, the approximate times of Fogarty's statements determined occasionally what Wellington had told the plane) . Then there are scribbled pencil notes by Dennis Grant, the Christchurch N,Z, reporter. ^e took the place of the cameraman's wife, Kgaire Crockett, on the trip northi) He was apparently the only one who actually sightings. is the film, which is a veritable tour de force of UFO images. Christchurch UFOs, The landing light sequences and the cockpit sequences serve to establish that the film was taken from inside the aircraft, A study of the edge numbers of the original film (edge numbers are put on by the manufacturer) shows that they are continuous, except for a change in film at Christchurch (they needed a new roll for the iourney north). Thus the film brightness information which can be used to calibrate the information supplemented Wellington interviews statements complement contradict variations descriptions contradictions. information contradicted information abstracted conjunction Descriptions Radar-Visual associated associated Wellington Specifically, Wellington target.(s) associated Christchurch(#21 reconstructed statements approximate statements, defocussed) milliradians (everything reconstructed Wellington Controller, impression bewildering occurrences Copyright , B ,S .Maccabee {HOTSi all miles are nautical and times are local D.S.T. ) . J PLIGHT SOUTH At 11:46 pm on December 30, 1978, a four-engine turbo prop Argosy freighter left Wellington, N.Z., on a standard Saturday evening-Sunday morning newspaper delivery run, from Blenheim, N.Z., to Wellington to Christchurch, and then back to Blenheim, Aboard the aircraft were the pilot. Captain Bill Startup, the co-pilot, Robert Guard, the Australian news reporter, Quentin Fogarty, and a film crew which consisted of the cameraman, David Crockett, and his wife, Ngaire, who.. Operated the tape recorder, tha.ireporter and film crew had been commissioned by a Melbourne TV station " Christchurch a previous UFO sighting that had been made by pilots on a