Taranaki, New Zealand, HERALD, 25 May 1954, page

Pilots See Strange Objects in Sky Over East Taranaki

Strange objects flying in the sky over eastern Taranaki at daybreak yesterday were seen by three Taranaki aerial top-dressing pilots.

At 6:50 a.m. yesterday the three men, Messrs. F. Ferrier, D. L. Falwasser and N. Nodder, all of New Plymouth, left Bell Block airport in a cessna high-wing monoplane for an airstrip at Tahora, where they were operating.

They had not long left the field when all three saw three strange objects to the east in the direction of Taumarunui. They were then between Uruti and Tahora and flying at about 3000 feet. The sky was cloudless and visibility was excellent.

The pilots at first could not believe their eyes. The three objects seemed to be hovering about 7000 feet above them, but as they were flying at about 135 miles per hour it was hard to estimate whether or not they were moving. They were oval in shape and looked like giant discs. They seemed to be red-orange in colour with a reddish flame coming from them.

The pilots flew in the same direction for another three minutes and saw a number of other objects. It appeared to the men at this stage that the objects were flying in line-ahead formation. Suddenly all the objects climbed away steeply at great speed and disappeared.

The three men are all experienced pilots and have been engaged in aerial top-dressing for four years. They are used to flying in the early morning and this is the first time that they have sighted any strange objects in the air.

They know that there were none of their firm's planes in the area and they were not conventional aircraft. They have all seen the most modern aircraft flying in New Zealand today and many flying overseas saw these objects.