New Plymouth, New Zealand, May 1963May 1963

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the night of May 18, 1963, someone near New Plymouth, New Zealand saw an unusual object in the sky. The witness was at a camp when they spotted it around 10:30 p.m. local time. The object appeared between the camp and a nearby mountain, and the witness watched it for about four minutes before it vanished.

The object was extremely bright and fuzzy in appearance. It displayed white, red, and blue colors that changed as the witness watched. The brightness also shifted during the sighting. The object made sudden movements and appeared to accelerate at times, yet made no sound. It was first seen in the western part of the sky and later disappeared toward the south. The witness noted that it seemed to move in front of something, possibly a mountain or terrain feature, suggesting it passed over or behind landscape features.

The Air Force did not reach a firm conclusion about what the object was. The case file marks the evaluation as "unknown," which means the investigators could not identify it as a known aircraft, balloon, astronomical phenomenon, or other conventional object. The full case file, containing nine pages of investigation records and the witness's detailed questionnaire responses, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

New Plymouth, New Zealand, May 1963

Date of incident

May 1963

State / country

? / XX

Page count

9 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 47

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD [ EP EE I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS : Hi OQ Was Balloon 18 May 1963 New Plymouth, New Zealand 0 Probably Balloon 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION Et Fess Balloon 2230 0 Was Aircraft Locals atain te sin Sr R:Ground-Visvol O Ground-Radar O Probably Aircraft ; GMT 18/ 10307 0 Air Visual DO Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft 3. PHOTOS . R O Was Astronomical OYes 0 Probably Astronomical Bo Civilian O Possibly Astronomical 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE [0 Bo 1], A GRR Re SE es D Insufficient Data for Evaluation 3 0 Unknown 3 4 minutes one mancuverod 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS Object observed on moonlit night, Stationary, sudden specds, flashing UNIDENTIFIED changing brightness associated with object, Observed between camp & mou- tain (below horizon). No sound. White red and blue colors, changing, Extre- mely bright, fuzzy & blurred, Observed in West and disappeared in . Pa WX ah - nN 1 or EI VAR South. JI¥ dpY foHaTYs vhARDL hue $y ATIC FORM 329 (REV 28 3EP 52)