Mystery Remains 50 Years After Hawke’s Bay NZ UFO Visit
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November 2, 2019 ( nzherald.co.nz)
• In the early morning of October 30th 1969, just before dawn on a clear night, John Cudby, the security officer at the Waipukurau Aerodrome in Central Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand was making his rounds at the airport. He was alerted by his dog to a “humming” similar to a vacuum cleaner. Then he saw three lights hovering about 70 feet above the ground – two green lights separated by a red light. The humming seemed to be coming from this “large object” in the air. Cudby grabbed a flashlight from his vehicle and shined a light on the object. He estimated the hovering object to be at least 60 feet wide. Then it tilted at an angle and “shot up into the sky”.
• When the UFO flew away, a hanger windsock began rotating and squeaking, and then “suddenly the sock stood straight out from the pole and then dropped, as if cut with a knife,” according to Cudby’s report. Cudby ran behind the airplane hanger to where the object had been hovering. The spot of ground where the object had hovered over was still warm, as was the air above that part of the ground. But the rest of the grass was cool and wet. Cudby, who has since passed, went directly to the local police station where he recounted his story in an official report.
• Cudby said that the object had moved southwest in the direction of the town of Pukeora. Two farming families located near Pukeora reported that they heard what they thought was a jet passing over, possibly in distress. The farmer’s sheep were unusually disturbed.
• A Mr. Grant was driving down a highway from Pukeora toward the Waipukurau Aerodrome that night. Driving over a hill, he looked down toward the air field and saw what he reported to be a “dark” object over the area silhouetted against the starry sky. Grant realized “with a kind of sick shock” that he was looking at a UFO. He described the object as circular, stationary, and about 100 feet above the ground. Then, said Grant, “it gradually gained height, and abruptly took off southwards.” Grant was not aware that Cudby had also seen the object and had also filed a police report.
• Cudby’s son, Mike, who still lives in Waipukurau, said that he remembers that his father spoke about the incident.
A prominent UFO sighting in Central Hawke’s Bay half a century ago remains a mystery despite what became common acceptance of its authenticity.
The sighting, at “close quarters”, was made 50 years ago on a Wednesday by security officer John Cudby during his rounds at the Waipukurau Aerodrome.
Following up suspicions a loose dog was on the grounds and concerns about sheep that appeared to have been herded into the corner of a paddock, the now-late Cudby had, on later reflection, had his awareness of something less natural aroused when he heard a “humming” similar to that of a vacuum cleaner.
With his own dog growling and spotting unusual reflections in the windows of a hangar, he turned to see three lights — two green separated by a red light — coming from something that appeared to be hovering about 20m above the ground. The humming appeared to be also coming from the “large object” in the air.
Cudby ran to his vehicle, and grabbed a light which he managed to play on to the object, as the humming increased to a louder whining and he became aware of the size of the suspended object he estimated to be at least 20m across.
“It tilted towards me and shot up into the sky at an angle,” he wrote in a report reproduced in later UFO research.
“The windsock on top of the hangar started rotating very fast and squeaking, and I was distracted by this, but suddenly the sock stood straight out from the pole and then dropped, as if cut with a knife.”
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