View Full Version : Westall 1966 flying saucer incident
Dick Smith
2nd Oct 2023, 23:43
I have been talking to Andrew Greenwood, who was a teacher at Westall High School not far from Moorabbin Airport, when a UFO was sighted near the school on 6 April 1966. It has become quite famous – known as the Westall flying saucer incident. Here is a link (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1966westallflyingsaucerincident) to the Facebook page.
You might also like to look at the Wikipedia entry here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westall_UFO).
Andrew Greenwood said that on the day, he and one of the other teachers rang the Moorabbin Tower to ask about four or five aircraft that were seen flying close to the UFO. Andrew says that the tower said there were no aircraft flying in that area at the time. This seems quite mysterious that the Tower would say that, considering the Westall High School was right on the boundary of the control zone.
Does anyone have any information on this, or does anyone know a controller who could have been present at the time?
I realise it is unlikely that any of the air traffic controllers operating the tower in 1966 are still around – however, there may have been a hand down of discussion or history of the Westall incident. It would be great if we could shed some extra light on this.
Lead Balloon
3rd Oct 2023, 03:14
I spoke to a guy who said that while he was working as ATC in the YMRE TWR in the late 60s he saw objects of the same description heading in a north-westerly direction. Weeks later the first reports of the geoglyph that's now called 'The Maree Man' were made.
Spooky.
There were also ufo sightings in SA in the 60s at the time of the bomb tests at Maralinga.
Some objects were seen over Adelaide. All unexplained.
It was a great time for aeroplane spotters too with all the unusual UK stuff associated with that.
What year was the Bass Strait ufo episode?
Paul O'Rourke
3rd Oct 2023, 04:47
There were also ufo sightings in SA in the 60s at the time of the bomb tests at Maralinga.
Some objects were seen over Adelaide. All unexplained.
It was a great time for aeroplane spotters too with all the unusual UK stuff associated with that.
What year was the Bass Strait ufo episode?
It was the 20th / 21st October, 1978. George Simpson (Author) said a farmer in the Murray Bridge area had observed an aircraft stuck to the side of a ufo, a few days after Valentich’s disappearance. A few months ago I was chatting with some Cobden pilots. 2 of them said there was a chap in the Cape Otway area that witnessed the aircraft stuck to a ufo and the chap was recently living on the western side of warrnambool. Maybe the second witness read George’s book? If not, 2 witnesses corroborating the same story is interesting.
Dick Smith
3rd Oct 2023, 05:56
Yes. The human power of imagination and self delusion is unlimited!
Squawk7700
3rd Oct 2023, 07:29
It was the 20th / 21st October, 1978. George Simpson (Author) said a farmer in the Murray Bridge area had observed an aircraft stuck to the side of a ufo, a few days after Valentich’s disappearance. A few months ago I was chatting with some Cobden pilots. 2 of them said there was a chap in the Cape Otway area that witnessed the aircraft stuck to a ufo and the chap was recently living on the western side of warrnambool. Maybe the second witness read George’s book? If not, 2 witnesses corroborating the same story is interesting.
Wreckage from Valentich’s aircraft was found on Flinders Island afterwards and the find was not made overtly public at the time. He was obsessed with UFO’s and it was clear that the whole thing was fabricated.
The Westall UFO sighting is possibly the most credible UFO sightings worldwide of all time. The sheer number of credible witnesses is compelling.
Dick Smith
3rd Oct 2023, 11:37
Squawk. I suggest you key "false memory" into Wikipedia and you may have the answer.
Squawk7700
3rd Oct 2023, 20:21
Squawk. I suggest you key "false memory" into Wikipedia and you may have the answer.
I know the term well, it’s how our police force get convictions from witness statements!
Squawk7700
3rd Oct 2023, 20:23
I might go to this, it’s just down the road from my place.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/920x2000/ec12e856_4a0b_4688_b0aa_b1bf9129db4a_9ac7d2eedd320189290e043 c0f6407eedca9587d.jpeg
Capn Bloggs
4th Oct 2023, 06:06
The human power of imagination and self delusion is unlimited!
You can say that again! :}
thunderbird five
4th Oct 2023, 06:30
VH-DSJ farmer’s sighting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBrhq9SsJRs
I tell you, I HATE IT when I'm flying my Cessna and some damn alien beams me up and sticks me to his ship. Bastards!
The entire VH-DSJ investigation docs 341 pages are available in www.naa.gov.au Fascinating reading.
Advance
4th Oct 2023, 06:32
by Ross Coulthart
A lot of detailed sighting reports backed up by footnotes, references etc.
BUT it is of course up to you how much you believe. I found the reports mainly credible but it is the explanations that mostly lack solid evidence.
Still, I've read lots worse (like the aviation regs).
Lead Balloon
4th Oct 2023, 07:52
At least these events did not involve the often typical and personally invasive behaviour of these despicable aliens: probing.
Dick Smith
4th Oct 2023, 07:57
Why would 4 or 5 light aircraft be flying in that area.
It looks to be right on the control zone boundary.
Or was it all imagined?
Lead Balloon
4th Oct 2023, 08:16
It's known as: "The Beaumaris Bay Black Hole".
Aircraft enter but are never seen again....
Squawk7700
4th Oct 2023, 09:52
VH-DSJ according to Wikipedia:
According to his father, Guido, Valentich was an ardent believer in UFOs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unidentified_flying_object) and had been worried about being attacked by them.[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Frederick_Valentich#cite_note-CSICOP-1)
What is significant about the file, Mr Basterfield argues, is that for the first time it is revealed that parts of aircraft wreckage with partial serial numbers were found in Bass Strait five years after the disappearance. Mr Basterfield says Valentich's aircraft serial numbers fell within the range of those found on the wreckage,
This is in a completely different ballgame to the Westall incident. Teachers, students and others all saw the Westall UFO. Credible witnesses, all with the exact same story.
Dick Smith
4th Oct 2023, 10:03
I reckon it was most likely false memory!
Squawk. If not , where do you think the UFO came from and where did it go?
And what was it.
Squawk7700
4th Oct 2023, 11:01
I reckon it was most likely false memory!
Squawk. If not , where do you think the UFO came from and where did it go?
And what was it.
That all depends if you believe in UFO’s or not! It’s very different to believing in Santa!
This chap seems quite adamant and credible As to what he saw:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yePuBSftyhQ
Dick Smith
4th Oct 2023, 11:48
So what do you reckon " this chap" saw?
What could be the answer to the mystery?
Surely someone must have a suggestion re what happened
Squawk7700
4th Oct 2023, 23:53
Surely someone must have a suggestion re what happened
If anyone will find this out, I reckon it will be you!
In the 57 years since, we haven’t invented silent VTOL and they sure as heck didn’t have it back then, so it’s either a weather balloon/lighter than air vehicle or a target drone that magically landed and took off again, or literally something from out of this world.
The military and police involvement certainly doesn’t fit with the idea that it was a weather balloon from Williamstown.
Back in those days, people were better at doing what they were told and keeping secrets. Whole Navy ship crews could be executed at sea and nobody would ever say a word.
Dick Smith
5th Oct 2023, 02:10
Or it all could be imagined!
Slippery_Pete
5th Oct 2023, 02:41
I’ve always been surprised that the creator of the Marree Man didn’t draw it with a Frenchman’s Cap.
No chance of getting ATC tower confirmation of sightings these days. Most of the towers don’t have any controllers in them.
You could land an aircraft at Darwin military airport (our most important military base geographically) in the middle of the night, and no-one would even know.
Lead Balloon
5th Oct 2023, 02:56
Don't tell the aliens!
Earlier apparent UFO encounter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRQTAHAVG_0
Dick Smith
5th Oct 2023, 04:04
If the UFOs were flying in close formation ( within a few metres) with him how could ATC see them all separately on radar?
Squawk7700
5th Oct 2023, 04:18
If the UFOs were flying in close formation ( within a few metres) with him how could ATC see them all separately on radar?
I think they said 30 metres off each wing.
Pretty old tech none the less, so your point is probably still valid.
Eutychus
5th Oct 2023, 06:48
Whole Navy ship crews could be executed at sea and nobody would ever say a word.
Err, wait, what?
Not executed….abducted !!
What about those folk driving on the Nullarbor that claimed to be followed by a UFO and then an attempt to take the vehicle ,,,and the occupants.
Top hoax or a very frightening event.. Late 60s 70s ??
Squawk7700
5th Oct 2023, 07:43
What about those folk driving on the Nullarbor that claimed to be followed by a UFO and then an attempt to take the vehicle ,,,and the occupants.
Top hoax or a very frightening event.. Late 60s 70s ??
You’re trying to make us all feel old!
It was 1988.
Squawk7700
5th Oct 2023, 07:44
Err, wait, what?
During war my friend.
Dick Smith
5th Oct 2023, 07:44
Yes. As someone said previously-the human power of imagination and self delusion is unlimited
Hollywood1
5th Oct 2023, 15:56
Yes. As someone said previously-the human power of imagination and self delusion is unlimited
So, are you trying to tell us you don't believe in UFOs, Dick?
Squawk7700
5th Oct 2023, 22:37
So, are you trying to tell us you don't believe in UFOs, Dick?
Sounds like it :-)
I swung past the area yesterday and took some photos. This park is in the direction from the school towards where the "craft" was seen, but there is conjecture over exactly where it landed (as in the distance from the school). I was advised that the trees / terrain that you see here is reminiscent of how it was back then.
They have erected a flying-saucer in the playground as a memento of the day and did their best to make it look like what all the witnesses saw on that day back in 1966.
Back to Dick's point though, what did they actually see? UFO's aside, there aren't really that many things that it could have actually been that match the visual description along with it's performance capabilities. As best as I can tell, back in the 1960's, weather balloons looked like the below. The target drone that they said it could have been would look something like the below too. Last I heard, target drones didn't do vertical takeoffs and landing, didn't have purple light and didn't make a humming sound.
The Jindivic? They are a far cry from the flying "saucer" that everyone drew. You also have to question how they all drew the same thing and talked about purple lights.
This is a good video about it:
Melbourne’s Westall UFO sighting continues to fascinate | Herald Sun (https://www.heraldsun.com.au/web-stories/free/herald-sun/melbournes-westall-ufo-sighting-continues-to-fascinate?nk=e2f1da494adad7910be12a5fa513b3e5-1696545104)
I find the comments interesting about the "4 or 5 planes" following it. The site is around 2.5 nauticals from Moorabbin airport. It was 11am on Wednesday the 6th April. I don't know how busy Moorabbin was back then, but it also seems a bit strange that there were actually 4-5 aircraft in the area at the time and of those that were nearby 4-5 of the pilots had the courage to head out of the circuit to Westall to follow them and take a closer look. Were those 4-5 plane circling around, or chasing the UFO? One of the girls said that there was more than one UFO, like 3 of them.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/300x206/jindivik3_9410aea5f8a40d48e87da138e05907eb84f0ea95.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/771x572/westall4_941fa590014ea36f90fd35ed15d776f70f42e128.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/640x480/westall1_761f4c8178b8cd586cd43e2c03b3aac8f4acb074.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/290x388/westall2_jpg_a96c78b2e028f6761bc339fbbff2140ed9a6610d.png
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/640x480/westall3_747d526bf6e422d86413f630eae82c8967cc8ff0.jpg
thunderbird five
6th Oct 2023, 00:13
What if you just imagined that you had imagined that you had seen something?:rolleyes:
Back in the fifties brother and self were responsible for the local paper reporting a UFO, dark night, torch with red cellophane over the lens, tied to the tail of a kite, as the tail swung about the light moved and seem to flash on and off. Simpletons we were back then, if we'd had TV wouldn't have been outside trying to amuse ourselves. ;)
Captain Dart
6th Oct 2023, 04:15
After having travelled bazillions of light years to get to Earth aliens got bored with anally probing Californians and departed via a flyby of a school at Moorabbin 🙄
Squawk7700
6th Oct 2023, 05:00
After having travelled bazillions of light years to get to Earth aliens got bored with anally probing Californians and departed via a flyby of a school at Moorabbin 🙄
See your conventional thinking here… based on our knowledge from scientists on earth. You’re probably thinking they spent a long time travelling, but it may have been the blink of an eye, using their far superior tech to ours.
If they are going to land, they need to land somewhere and they don’t exactly know the difference between Moorabbin and anywhere else do they?
Perhaps the reason that they haven’t come back again is because they did land at Moorabbin.
I know pilots in fixed wing conventional aircraft that haven’t been back after landing there once too!
Captain Dart
6th Oct 2023, 05:45
OK, maybe it was these guys (the clicking pen reminds me of many a line check):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVLoc6FrLi0
thunderbird five
6th Oct 2023, 06:02
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/dscn7496_51c0d0d38b0a91e681486178b1ee751d7192f1d7.jpg
Dick Smith
7th Oct 2023, 05:53
At last some real evidence!
thunderbird five
7th Oct 2023, 07:21
Pity they don't have PANTS in the Zeti Reticuli system.
GreenDream
4th Dec 2023, 10:49
Of interest is a new documentary on UFOs produced by Steven Spielberg - I think it’s called encounters. Worth watching even if you are sceptical. Also there’s a documentary I think by a guy called Jamie Fox about a UFO crash in Brazil which was covered up. I think also the Roswell New Mexico incident seems to have been a coverup. Initial reports were that they had found a crashed UFO; this was quickly changed and it became a weather balloon. There are reports that one of the aliens survived the crash and was kept in captivity until he/she died a few years later from unknown causes. Anyway Dick I’m only writing this so I can DM you about an unrelated upcoming documentary about entirely unrelated matters.
Ascend Charlie
4th Dec 2023, 20:02
The green men land, grab some Earthling, and say "Take us to your leader!"
Where would you take them?
Not to Biden or Trump, not to Putin.
Maybe to Yung Fat Wun, and they would just disappear? Penny Wong would sign them up for free housing and the dole.
GreenDream
4th Dec 2023, 21:03
The green men land, grab some Earthling, and say "Take us to your leader!"
Where would you take them?
Not to Biden or Trump, not to Putin.
Maybe to Yung Fat Wun, and they would just disappear? Penny Wong would sign them up for free housing and the dole.
Penny Wong would ask them to bring millions more for endless growth.
If the Aliens had an intergalactic craft which would be capable of phenomenal speeds for the journey, why would they idle around with their species Cessna struck on the side ..as claimed to be seen.
That wouldn’t last long when they throttled up to warp drive 7.
Any reports of blobs of molten aluminium falling from the sky. .?
I know the known universe is big…VERY BIG..that’s not to say that in a galaxy far away a planet may have got lucky with the chemistry. But…!
ramble on
5th Dec 2023, 12:24
There have been astounding reports of encounters in the past 80 years….you would have to be a fool if you off handedly discredited or discounted every single one of the people that report unusual encounters.
We will be like the Incas encountering Cortez, Indians encountering Columbus or aborigines encountering Cook only on a possible differential evolutionary time scale of millions or possibly hundreds of millions or billions of our years.
Some interesting starters
Ariel School - 1994 Zimbabwe
Reverend Gill - 1959 Papua New Guinea
Virginha Brazil - 1996
Lonnie Zamora - New Mexico 1964
David Fravor - USA West coast 2004
Donald Shrum - Cisco Grove California 1964
Hickson & Parker - Pascagoula USA 1973
Kelly Cahill - Dandenong 1993
Have a listen to this guys recent experience in South Africa
https://ufochroniclespodcast.com/ep-57-friday-skies/
Take a look at the number of stars in our neighbouring Andromeda galaxy and combine that image with the billions of galaxies revealed by Hubble Ultra Deep Field and it makes the argument that we are alone just absurd.
https://youtu.be/udAL48P5NJU?feature=shared
nonsense
5th Dec 2023, 13:47
Now almost everyone has a camera in their pocket, the UFO photos should be everywhere, unless of course they don't exist.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1200x1200/osjpy2_i17klnjscqoupljhw2dfxitnyhcu7ykkbzze_8e7038b47bd6208d 542be41cd41600c90583ba50.png
Checkboard
5th Dec 2023, 13:55
Perfectly understandable for there to be life on other worlds, even intelligent life. It's a totally different thing to think that some other life has both solved the tyranny of interstellar distances AND decided to visit Earth (of all places!) AND kept it secret.
in 20,000 hours. I have seen green flash meteorites, shower of spark meteorites, Russian rocket stage re-entries, sun dogs, brokenspecrtres, sparks jumping inside the cockpit (in charged clouds near thunderstorms), large amature-launched balloons, St. Elmo's fire on the windows and lancing forward of the aircraft into clouds, satellite flares (the Starlink flares at the moment regularly confuse airline pilots on the radio who don't know what they are looking at), comets, planet alignments ... never anything I didn't understand or wasn't normally understandable with a small amount of thought.
ramble on
5th Dec 2023, 17:24
Perfectly understandable for there to be life on other worlds, even intelligent life. It's a totally different thing to think that some other life has both solved the tyranny of interstellar distances AND decided to visit Earth (of all places!) AND kept it secret.
in 20,000 hours. I have seen green flash meteorites, shower of spark meteorites, Russian rocket stage re-entries, sun dogs, brokenspecrtres, sparks jumping inside the cockpit (in charged clouds near thunderstorms), large amature-launched balloons, St. Elmo's fire on the windows and lancing forward of the aircraft into clouds, satellite flares (the Starlink flares at the moment regularly confuse airline pilots on the radio who don't know what they are looking at), comets, planet alignments ... never anything I didn't understand or wasn't normally understandable with a small amount of thought.
Yeah, sure you did.........show us the evidence. ;)
Dick Smith
6th Dec 2023, 01:19
It appears up to seven schools in the Melbourne area also sited similar UFOs !
Amazing they can travel many light years through space only to be sited by school children.
Or as someone said on a previous post it could all be imagination and self delusion!
Now with ten years of just about everyone carrying a camera phone there is still not one bit of good evidence
There have been astounding reports of encounters in the past 80 years….you would have to be a fool if you off handedly discredited or discounted every single one of the people that report unusual encounters.
We will be like the Incas encountering Cortez, Indians encountering Columbus or aborigines encountering Cook only on a possible differential evolutionary time scale of millions or possibly hundreds of millions or billions of our years.
Some interesting starters
Ariel School - 1994 Zimbabwe
Reverend Gill - 1959 Papua New Guinea
Virginha Brazil - 1996
Lonnie Zamora - New Mexico 1964
David Fravor - USA West coast 2004
Donald Shrum - Cisco Grove California 1964
Hickson & Parker - Pascagoula USA 1973
Kelly Cahill - Dandenong 1993
Have a listen to this guys recent experience in South Africa
https://ufochroniclespodcast.com/ep-57-friday-skies/
Take a look at the number of stars in our neighbouring Andromeda galaxy and combine that image with the billions of galaxies revealed by Hubble Ultra Deep Field and it makes the argument that we are alone just absurd.
https://youtu.be/udAL48P5NJU?feature=shared
Lend me your ear while i call you a fool.You were kissed by a witch one night in the wood,And later insisted your feelings were true.The witch's promise was coming,Believing he listened while laughing you flew.
compressor stall
6th Dec 2023, 02:46
I am moderately well versed in astronomy and atmospheric effects and illusions, and also rocketry. I've been lucky enough to have seen most of what Checkerboard (above) has seen as well (except substitute Russian reentry for Hyabusa entry and recovery).
However I have been unable to plausibly explain multiple crew reports on different nights in the cruise of bright points of light moving rapidly across the sky, stopping suddenly, and abruptly changing direction. I have yet to see them. This does not fit the pattern of the starlink satellites.
I'm not saying they are aliens practising dog fights in the upper atmosphere, however it doesn't align with any known (public) craft and I can't fathom what natural phenomenon they could be with the reported course reversal.
VH-MLE
6th Dec 2023, 03:05
Personally, given the trillions of stars/planets in the universe, the likelihood of intelligent life is 99.9% assured in my humble opinion, however, as stated above, the enormous distances between "us" & "them" is so great that travel is impossible, for us at least, at this point in time.
Just my 2 lire's worth...
Dick Smith
6th Dec 2023, 06:45
Compressor. How do you know if you simply imagined it?
Could be a possible explanation!
JustinHeywood
6th Dec 2023, 06:57
…you would have to be a fool if you off handedly discredited or discounted every single one of the people that report unusual encounters.
The plural of anecdote is not data.
Thousands of people, not all of them obviously stupid, claim to have seen ghosts, Elvis, Bigfoot etc.
And most of us are aware that there is almost certainly life elsewhere. Doesn’t mean that they’re here. The almost inconceivable (to us) vastness of time and space makes it very unlikely that their visit would coincide with the momentary flash of light that is human civilisation.
I am moderately well versed in astronomy and atmospheric effects and illusions, and also rocketry. I've been lucky enough to have seen most of what Checkerboard (above) has seen as well (except substitute Russian reentry for Hyabusa entry and recovery).
However I have been unable to plausibly explain multiple crew reports on different nights in the cruise of bright points of light moving rapidly across the sky, stopping suddenly, and abruptly changing direction. I have yet to see them. This does not fit the pattern of the starlink satellites.
I'm not saying they are aliens practising dog fights in the upper atmosphere, however it doesn't align with any known (public) craft and I can't fathom what natural phenomenon they could be with the reported course reversal.
They are Starlink satellites. There's an entire thread here somewhere that discusses the phenomenon.
Cedrik
6th Dec 2023, 10:17
I have seen something that I can't explain, my wife was with me and saw what I saw. Talking to somebody 25 years after in another state he described an experience very similar without prompting, I hadn't told him of my sighting.
In 45 years of flying I haven't seen anything unexplained whilst flying.
Dick Smith
6th Dec 2023, 10:23
Wikipedia reports that over 1600 people genuinely believe that have been abducted by aliens!
But not one good photo.
Once again - the human power to self delude -including pilots- is unlimited.
compressor stall
6th Dec 2023, 11:50
Dick, two crew operations. And called in cabin crew. And on different nights.
yes they all could have imagined it I guess.
Turin, do star link travel rapidly across the sky, stop and change direction? I’m familiar with the other thread 30W40W.
It wasn’t that long ago that pilot reports of lightning going up from thunder clouds into the stratosphere was considered preposterous and dismissed. Nowadays there is a good understanding of global electrical circuits and this lightning (sprites) has been observed scientifically and photographed.
There may be (and likely is) a non alien explanation.
Checkboard
6th Dec 2023, 14:50
I would say that rapid changes of direction on that scale are beyond what is capable of physical objects, so they must not be physical objects. Light projections of some sort - like playing with a laser spot on a wall.
ChrisJ800
6th Dec 2023, 19:16
I saw 3 ufos here in Philippines last here. Before then I was a skeptical but now I know there is weird stuff in our sky. But I got nowhere in trying to report it as a flight hazard.
helispotter
7th Dec 2023, 21:30
I would say that rapid changes of direction on that scale are beyond what is capable of physical objects, so they must not be physical objects...
The other alternative is that these are physical objects but that the viewing system is actually not stable. It is like when trying to take zoomed video of flying aircraft with an unstabilised camera: The aircraft moves all over the place in the field of view. Of course depends on whether there are clouds or terrain in the background. The following example is one where it is concluded the object moves rapidly but couldn't it be the sensor that is the one that is drifting?:
Watch USS Nimitz ‘Tic Tac’ UFO: Declassified Video Clip | HISTORY Channel:
https://www.history.com/videos/uss-nimitz-tic-tac-ufo-declassified-video
Is the $100K still up for grabs Dick?
A few contenders here!!