A703 554/1/30 Part 1 — RAAF Air Force Office Flying Saucers / UFO Policy

Brief

This 309-page National Archives of Australia file is the foundational administrative record for the Royal Australian Air Force's formal UFO reporting and investigation network. Correspondence from 1967 shows the RAAF securing cooperation from the Bureau of Meteorology — limited to meteorological phenomena and balloon trajectory data — alongside CSIRO's agreement to receive base reports directly in Melbourne, and liaison protocols with NASA's Melbourne office and the Department of Civil Aviation. When the Commonwealth Aerial Phenomena Investigation Organization formally asked CSIRO to establish an Australian equivalent of the University of Colorado Condon Project, CSIRO declined citing fully committed resources, redirecting the inquiry to the Department of Air. A parallel investigative thread concerns unusual light sightings over Southern Victoria on 27 June 1967, whose investigation report was praised by the RAAF Director of Air Force Intelligence as a first-class product.

Metadata

Agency

Royal Australian Air Force / National Archives of Australia

Release

1953-01-01

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

309 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED (on public release via NAA)

Programs

University of Colorado UFO Study (Condon Project), RAAF UFO Reporting Framework (A703 554/1/30), RAAF UFO Reporting Series (A703 580/1/1)

Tags

UAP policy, Australia, 1967, Southern Victoria sighting, unusual lights, interagency liaison, Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, Condon Project, J. Allen Hynek, Mount Stromlo Observatory, unidentified orbital objects

Key points

• A RAAF Air Force Office policy letter referencing a 25 August 1966 directive granted RAAF bases authority to correspond directly with government departments and private organisations to support UFO investigations, with an attached nationwide contact directory covering the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, NASA, and Civil Aviation offices.p.3
• The Bureau of Meteorology formally agreed in April 1967 to co-operate in initial UFO investigations through its regional, area, local, and interpreter offices, explicitly restricting its role to meteorological phenomena and balloon release data, and declining to provide astronomical information.p.14
• CSIRO concurred in March 1967 with the RAAF's proposal that RAAF bases send UFO reports directly to CSIRO in Melbourne, formalising a direct-reporting channel — predating and separate from its later refusal to sponsor active research.p.19
• Peter E. Norris, President of the Commonwealth Aerial Phenomena Investigation Organization (CAPIO), wrote to CSIRO in April 1967 proposing an Australian scientific UFO investigation modelled on the University of Colorado Condon Project, citing Congressional hearings, Dr. J. Allen Hynek's public statements, and the potential for data exchange between the two projects.p.10
• CSIRO declined CAPIO's proposal, stating it would not be appropriate in Australia at that time and that its resources were fully committed, redirecting CAPIO to the Commonwealth Department of Air.p.12
• The RAAF Director of Air Force Intelligence commended the investigating flight lieutenant's report on the 27 June 1967 Southern Victoria unusual light sightings, describing it as a first-class report making excellent use of the available evidentiary material.p.8
• A 1967 RAAF letter to the Director of Mount Stromlo Observatory sought expert scientific comment on the 27 June 1967 sightings, noting the events attracted significant publicity and that an authoritative statement on their likely source would be of great value; individual sighting reports were withheld as the investigation report was judged to describe them adequately.p.7
• A Canberra Times feature article from 25 March 1967, preserved in this policy file, reported three unidentified orbiting objects of unknown origin detected by US tracking radar in May–June 1966 and withheld from public disclosure until October 1966 while officials debated whether to admit they had found objects whose origin could not be determined.p.21

Most interesting

• The RAAF's 1967 UFO investigation contact network extended beyond Australian states and territories to Bureau of Meteorology offices in Papua New Guinea — Lae and Port Moresby — and Cocos Island in the Indian Ocean.
• NASA maintained a Melbourne city representative office in 1967, listed as a primary contact in the RAAF's UFO investigation liaison directory alongside Bureau of Meteorology regional directors.
• A sketch by Sydney witness Denis Crowe of a flying saucer he reported seeing at Vaucluse Beach on 19 July 1965 was reproduced in the Canberra Times newspaper feature preserved within this administrative policy file.
• The Canberra Times article filed here reported that three objects in Earth orbit — discovered by US tracking radar in May–June 1966 — were kept classified until October 1966 while government officials debated disclosure; the article noted secrecy prevented discussion of the objects' sizes, though tracking agencies could in principle detect objects as small as 32 inches in diameter.
• CSIRO's meteorological branch at Aspendale had already established informal contact with the University of Colorado Condon Project before CAPIO formally proposed a full Australian equivalent study — a detail Norris cited as evidence that cooperation was feasible.
• The U.S. Air Force grant to the University of Colorado for the Condon Project was reported in the clipped Canberra Times article as $313,000; within weeks of the announcement, more than 400 letters had arrived at Dr. Condon's desk from people seeking roles or offering assistance with the investigation.
• Despite CSIRO declining to conduct active UFO research, it accepted a passive reporting role simultaneously — a bureaucratic distinction that allowed the RAAF to claim scientific liaison without requiring CSIRO to commit analytical resources.