Posted On: April 18, 2022

The year is 1968, a flight from Adelaide to Perth, Australia. A formation of UFOs was witnessed by two pilots. The UFOs made maneuvers that conventional aircraft could not make. The UFOs did not show up on radar. The sighting lasted about ten minutes.

On August 22^nd, 1968, at about 09:40 hours, Captains Walter Gardin and Gordon Smith were flying an eight-seat Piper Navajo, registration VH-RTO, was returning empty from Adelaide and cruising at 8000 feet, with an airspeed of 190 to 195 knots and tracking 270 degrees magnetic, Smith was asleep in the cabin when the sighting first occurred:

"At 09:40 hours Walter abruptly wakened me in great excitement and asked me to come into the cockpit quickly. I did so, and he asked me if I could see what he was looking at. At first I didn’t, because I was still suffering from the effect of sleep. However, after about thirty seconds I could see what he was excited about.

Some distance ahead at the same level, and about 50 degrees to my right (I was in the right seat), I saw a formation of aircraft. In the middle was a large aircraft, and formatted to the right and left and above were four or five smaller aircraft.

We were on a track of 270 degrees and these aircraft appeared to be maintaining station with us. As we had not been notified of this traffic, I radioed Kalgoorlie Department of Civil Aviation communications center asking them what traffic they or RAAF had in our area.

The answer was none. So I then notified Kalgoorlie that we had this formation in sight and they, in turn, notified some east bound traffic of the danger of unidentified traffic 130 NM east of Kalgoorlie.

At about this time we lost communications with Kalgoorlie on all frequencies. We were receiving Kalgoorlie carrier wave with no voice propagation, only a hash and static. In the next ten minutes I transmitted about seven times and I believe Walter did about five times with no results. Also at about this time we noticed that the main ship split into two sections still maintaining the same level, and the smaller aircraft then flew out left and right but staying in the same level and coming back to the two main halves of the bigger ship.

At this time there appeared to be about six smaller aircraft taking turns of going out and coming back and formatting on the two halves. Sometimes the two halves joined and split, and the whole cycle continued for ten minutes.

The shape of the main ship seemed to have the ability to change, not drastically, but from, say spheroid to a slightly elongated form with the color maintaining a constant dark gray to black. However, the smaller craft had a constant cigar shape and were of a very dark color.

Their travel out and back had a peculiarity not associated with normal aircraft in that they appeared to travel out and come back without actually turning like a normal airplane would have to do.

At 09:50 hours the whole formation joined together as if at a single command, then departed at a tremendous speed. It did not disappear as, say, gas would, but it departed in about three or four seconds diminishing in size till out of sight."

Captain Smith reported that radio communications were restored immediately following the departure of the UFOs. Distance of the objects was impossible to estimate, since their size was unknown, but for comparative size the main craft compared with a Boeing 707 as seen from ten miles away.

Neither Gardin nor Smith "had the presence of mind to check if any deviation existed in our magnetic compass or Automatic Direction Finder whilst in the presence of the UFOs," they said.

Explanations in terms of balloons, conventional aircraft, tricks of light, gases, etc., were ruled out by the pilots. "We conclude that the UFOs were in fact aircraft with the solidity of aircraft, except perhaps for the fact of the ability of the larger UFO to split and change shape slightly."

When the distinguished American atmospheric physicist and UFO researcher Dr. James McDonald attempted to make further inquiries about the incident, the pilots refused to respond. Years later, a pilot member of the Victorian UFO Research Society who was personally acquainted with Gardin and Smith confirmed that the captains had been ordered not to discuss the encounter further.

My Take: This was an extraordinary encounter. Daylight hours. Clear skies. Two pilots observing the same thing. Communications going down while in proximity to the UFOs.  The craft making maneuvers impossible even today. This appears to me the real deal here folks.

Resources: Summary from Above Top Secret, Timothy Good, 1988.

Posted On: April 18, 2022

The year is 1968, a flight from Adelaide to Perth, Australia. A formation of UFOs was witnessed by two pilots. The UFOs made maneuvers that conventional aircraft could not make. The UFOs did not show up on radar. The sighting lasted about ten minutes.

On August 22^nd, 1968, at about 09:40 hours, Captains Walter Gardin and Gordon Smith were flying an eight-seat Piper Navajo, registration VH-RTO, was returning empty from Adelaide and cruising at 8000 feet, with an airspeed of 190 to 195 knots and tracking 270 degrees magnetic, Smith was asleep in the cabin when the sighting first occurred:

"At 09:40 hours Walter abruptly wakened me in great excitement and asked me to come into the cockpit quickly. I did so, and he asked me if I could see what he was looking at. At first I didn’t, because I was still suffering from the effect of sleep. However, after about thirty seconds I could see what he was excited about.

Some distance ahead at the same level, and about 50 degrees to my right (I was in the right seat), I saw a formation of aircraft. In the middle was a large aircraft, and formatted to the right and left and above were four or five smaller aircraft.

We were on a track of 270 degrees and these aircraft appeared to be maintaining station with us. As we had not been notified of this traffic, I radioed Kalgoorlie Department of Civil Aviation communications center asking them what traffic they or RAAF had in our area.

The answer was none. So I then notified Kalgoorlie that we had this formation in sight and they, in turn, notified some east bound traffic of the danger of unidentified traffic 130 NM east of Kalgoorlie.

At about this time we lost communications with Kalgoorlie on all frequencies. We were receiving Kalgoorlie carrier wave with no voice propagation, only a hash and static. In the next ten minutes I transmitted about seven times and I believe Walter did about five times with no results. Also at about this time we noticed that the main ship split into two sections still maintaining the same level, and the smaller aircraft then flew out left and right but staying in the same level and coming back to the two main halves of the bigger ship.

At this time there appeared to be about six smaller aircraft taking turns of going out and coming back and formatting on the two halves. Sometimes the two halves joined and split, and the whole cycle continued for ten minutes.

The shape of the main ship seemed to have the ability to change, not drastically, but from, say spheroid to a slightly elongated form with the color maintaining a constant dark gray to black. However, the smaller craft had a constant cigar shape and were of a very dark color.

Their travel out and back had a peculiarity not associated with normal aircraft in that they appeared to travel out and come back without actually turning like a normal airplane would have to do.

At 09:50 hours the whole formation joined together as if at a single command, then departed at a tremendous speed. It did not disappear as, say, gas would, but it departed in about three or four seconds diminishing in size till out of sight."

Captain Smith reported that radio communications were restored immediately following the departure of the UFOs. Distance of the objects was impossible to estimate, since their size was unknown, but for comparative size the main craft compared with a Boeing 707 as seen from ten miles away.

Neither Gardin nor Smith "had the presence of mind to check if any deviation existed in our magnetic compass or Automatic Direction Finder whilst in the presence of the UFOs," they said.

Explanations in terms of balloons, conventional aircraft, tricks of light, gases, etc., were ruled out by the pilots. "We conclude that the UFOs were in fact aircraft with the solidity of aircraft, except perhaps for the fact of the ability of the larger UFO to split and change shape slightly."

When the distinguished American atmospheric physicist and UFO researcher Dr. James McDonald attempted to make further inquiries about the incident, the pilots refused to respond. Years later, a pilot member of the Victorian UFO Research Society who was personally acquainted with Gardin and Smith confirmed that the captains had been ordered not to discuss the encounter further.

My Take: This was an extraordinary encounter. Daylight hours. Clear skies. Two pilots observing the same thing. Communications going down while in proximity to the UFOs.  The craft making maneuvers impossible even today. This appears to me the real deal here folks.

Resources: Summary from Above Top Secret, Timothy Good, 1988.