Claim: Melton 'UFO's' Melbourne, Australia (1983)

ManInBlack

ManInBlack

Active Member
On the 21st of July 1983, several Melbourne (Australian) police officers and several public witnesses are baffled by two UFO's flying over Melton in the Western Suburbs in Australia. What experimental craft were they?

What we know:

- Object first sighted at 12:40 am, reports from local witnesses are sent through to the Melton police station.
-UAP were sighted by two police officers Constable Peter Ferguson & Constable Ray Allen at about 1:00am to 1:30am.
- The two craft depicted looked like a Gyrocopter and a Delta winged jet. Low humming noise heard from each of them.
- Both policeman observed objects within about 50-100ft with a flashlight.
- At 1:00am the International airport in Tullamarine Melbourne observed a momentary blip on the radar.
- Sighting went for 5-6 hours.
- Last sight of objects was at 5:45am.

(Please refer to attached for investigation by citizen investigator).

Object 1:

- Tail section similar to tubular steel, with bright light on fin and red strip on fin.
- Object appeared to be similar to a gyrocopter and 20ft in length.
- Admitted a whirling sound (not like a conventional helicopter).
1685152525207.png


Object 2:

- Delta/Triangular wing shaped.
- Grey in colour, looked like a rubber raft with red flashing light in the centre.
- Estimated to be 20 ft wide.
- Admitted a low pitched humming sound.
- Traveled around 70 to 80 mph.
1685152544574.png


News report below:


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhDuFB1ZfxY


Have not been able to find any other additional information at this time.
 

Attachments

ManInBlack said:
At 1:00am the International airport in Tullamarine Melbourne observed a momentary blip on the radar.
Click to expand...
ManInBlack said:
News report below:
Click to expand...

your news report says twice specifically there was nothing on radar. (im not clicking 4 pages of pdfs to try and see where you got this from. you are supposed to quote and link sources.

ManInBlack said:
Both policeman observed objects within about 50-100ft with a flashlight.
Click to expand...
what!? they were able to shine their flashlight on it? when? where?
 
deirdre said:
your news report says twice specifically there was nothing on radar. (im not clicking 4 pages of pdfs to try and see where you got this from. you are supposed to quote and link sources.


what!? they were able to shine their flashlight on it? when? where?
Click to expand...
1685191855303.png


This is what I could find on the radar observation.

1685192277199.png

I have to redact the 50-100ft distance from the police witness for now, I noted that down from another source for this information but do not have a link I can't provide at this stage.

Object 2:

I have found further information regarding about the aircraft used by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during that time:
  1. F-111C
  2. Mirage IIIO
  3. Macchi MB-326H
  4. Canberra B.20
  5. Macchi MB-326K
The Mirage IIIO is definitely a delta winged craft but it is extremely loud (I've heard one first hand) and could only be doing the speeds suggested when landing.
 
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ps everything im finding, including this old newspaper article[{add: and your youtube link above]says July 22nd. not July 21st.

Bill Chalker "Project 1947 forum" 1996
Article:
Melton, Victoria, on July 22nd, 1983.
...
The intelligence world was in an uproar because the Rockbank site was an Australian Signal Intelligence facility, where Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) monitoring occurs as part of our UKUSA SIGINT intelligence alliance. The site is linked with the nearby Watsonia facility which has direct satellite communications with the NSA and CIA. In this light, one can understand the acute sensitivities with the security "breach" that occurred that night. In intelligence parlance, one could suggest that the Melton UFO showed "clear intent" in its intrusion at the DSD Rockbank aerial array. We probably don't know the full story of that nights events.
 
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ManInBlack said:
I have to redact the 50-100ft distance from the police witness for now, I noted that down from another source for this information but do not have a link I can provide at this stage.
Click to expand...
where did you get that screen grab from? i found the same text (on a random citizen site) but had more attached to the statement. (which means it may not be true). although your source says "mph" and mine says "kph"..i'm guessing australia does indeed use kilometers vs miles, no? although do they use "feet?"

Constable Ferguson [allegedly] gave this description:

"The object then proceeded from over Melton in an easterly direction directly towards our position. As the object got closer and eventually passed directly over head we shinned the spotlight onto its underside and observed it to be of gun metal grey in colour and to have the appearance of a very large rubber raft with two lights inset in the front and two white lights on the rear and a red flashing light in the centre. The underside appeared to be slightly curved and the side .. panels (were slightly) curved also. The object was approximately 30 feet in length and was approximately 20 wide. The object made a low pitched humming sound and appeared to be travelling at about 70 to 80 kph. The object was approximately 200 feet above us and was illuminated by the spotlight."
Click to expand...
 
deirdre said:
although your source says "mph" and mine says "kph"..i'm guessing australia does indeed use kilometers vs miles, no? although do they use "feet?"
Click to expand...

According to good ol' Wikipedia,
Before 1970, Australia mostly used imperial units, inherited from the United Kingdom. Between 1970 and 1988, imperial units were withdrawn from general legal use and replaced with the International System of Units, facilitated through legislation and government agencies.
Click to expand...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Australia

So use of Imperial units, or a mixture of both, would not be too surprising in 1983.
 
deirdre said:
ps everything im finding, including this old newspaper article[{add: and your youtube link above]says July 22nd. not July 21st.

Bill Chalker "Project 1947 forum" 1996
Article:
Melton, Victoria, on July 22nd, 1983.
...
The intelligence world was in an uproar because the Rockbank site was an Australian Signal Intelligence facility, where Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) monitoring occurs as part of our UKUSA SIGINT intelligence alliance. The site is linked with the nearby Watsonia facility which has direct satellite communications with the NSA and CIA. In this light, one can understand the acute sensitivities with the security "breach" that occurred that night. In intelligence parlance, one could suggest that the Melton UFO showed "clear intent" in its intrusion at the DSD Rockbank aerial array. We probably don't know the full story of that nights events.
Click to expand...

Yes a US radio communications station was setup in diggers rest & rockbank right next to Melton.

'...International radio communications were vital to the establishment of US headquarters in Melbourne. By April 1942 survey works for radio stations at Diggers Rest (transmitting) and Rockbank (receiving) stations had been completed....'

LINK: https://bpadula.tripod.com/australiashortwave/id68.html

More detail here:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjv9djO15X_AhVoSWwGHZyHD3MQFnoECAkQAQ&url=https://www.melton.vic.gov.au/files/assets/public/services/building-planning-amp-transport/strategic-planning/studies-strategies-guidelines/heritage-study/volume-3-ho/026-050-heritage-overlays/ho_049_army_radio.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3U-mNP5l6ho-ESeJhmmMCg
 
ManInBlack said:
Curiously there used to be an Army base near by the siting according to this map?
Click to expand...
at 3:50 mins in your video above the announcer says it and chief implies this when he says he thinks they might be flying experimental military stuff.

"i don't know if anyone was doing special exercises [..]at this stage, there might be some intelligence that they're not prepared to say what's in the area. i dont know".
 
Well... what do you know? Australian Army Bell 47s with pontoons.

GNK_3A1_397.jpg
BL_3A1_399.jpg

Note red strip on tail.
Tail section similar to tubular steel, with bright light on fin and red strip on fin
Click to expand...

This one crashed and went turtle.
BW_3A1_647a.jpg

1685152544574.png


Any resemblance at all?
 

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  • 1685152544574.png
    1685152544574.png
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The object made a low pitched humming sound and appeared to be travelling at about 70 to 80 kph. (Or m.p.h.?)
Click to expand...
Even by 1970's people were used to large helicopters with gas turbine engines and rotors that go wop wop for complex reasons. Noisy things.

The Bell 47 is from a different age. It's light with relatively little thrust from the rotors. It has a small piston engine rather than a gas turbine. You only sometimes hear a relatively subdued wop wop sound.

You generally just hear a big fan noise from the rotors and the sound of the piston engine. So I'd guess that witnesses, expecting a big noisy helicopter, were confused by a light quiet helicopter.

 
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Z.W. Wolf said:
Well... what do you know? Australian Army Bell 47s with pontoons.

View attachment 59502View attachment 59503
Note red strip on tail.


This one crashed and went turtle.
View attachment 59506
View attachment 59507

Any resemblance at all?
Click to expand...

Object 1 was only ever partially seen, and the description definitely fits the bill. I need to see if they had a Bell in inventory at the time. Also seems they did not want to be seen....hmmm:

1685233115506.png

LINK: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Sea...ve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3533406&T=P&S=35



Worth noting that according to the official investigation their was no military aircraft in the air at the time, see below:
1685232854436.png


LINK: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Sea...ve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3533406&T=P&S=37
 
ManInBlack said:
View attachment 59509
LINK: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Sea...ve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3533406&T=P&S=35
Click to expand...
Witnesses often falsely think that objects are reacting to them. People are self-centered. Many witnesses claim that stars react when they shine a flashlight at them.
ManInBlack said:
Worth noting that according to the official investigation their was no military aircraft in the air at the time, see below:
View attachment 59508

LINK: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Sea...ve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3533406&T=P&S=37
Click to expand...
-I've been sloppy. This wasn't a military helicopter because those Bell 47s had all been stored or sold to civilian companies by 1983. Maybe it was privately owned?
 
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Z.W. Wolf said:
Even by 1970's people were used to large helicopters with gas turbine engines and rotors that go wop wop for complex reasons. Noisy things.

The Bell 47 is from a different age. It's light with relatively little thrust from the rotors. It has a small piston engine rather than a gas turbine. You only sometimes hear a relatively subdued wop wop sound.

You generally just hear a big fan noise from the rotors and the sound of the piston engine. So I'd guess that witnesses, expecting a big noisy helicopter, were confused by a light quiet helicopter.

Click to expand...

Yes I agree.

Below is a link to a Bell 47 at close range and you will notice that you cannot hear the blades but instead just the rattling of the motor. It is highly probable that this is what they heard.

https://youtube.com/shorts/lZhOGPyM5lM?feature=share

The next question is why was an Australian army Bell 47 helicopter doing flying at night without being identified in the airspace by the Tullamarine airport. There is also an airport in Essendon, Melbourne which is a stone throw away from the International airport. See the map below.

1685234008592.png

There is also a military airport close by as well:
1685234219021.png
 
@Z.W. Wolf I think you are on the money with Object 1.
1685234512023.png

1685234541133.png


I will do some research, I'm sure I'll be able to find a Bell 47 in inventory at either the Point Cook airbase or at Essendon airport, watch this space.

Object 2 however it interesting, the Australian army did have delta winged jets at the time but nothing that fits the description.
 
ManInBlack said:
The next question is why was an Australian army Bell 47 helicopter doing flying at night without being identified in the airspace by the Tullamarine airport. There is also an airport in Essendon, Melbourne which is a stone throw away from the International airport.
Click to expand...
are you asking why it would be flying too low for the radars to pick it up?

because uap1.pdf in your OP says why the radars didnt pick it up.
 
I'm going to go in a different direction. Even today Bell 47s are operating as crop dusters. This may explain the twin spotlights. Nice red strip on tail.



Maybe pesticide tanks rather than pontoons? Note the twin spotlights.



A Huey. But note twin spotlights.
 
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Z.W. Wolf said:
I'm going to go in a different direction. Even today Bell 47s are operating as crop dusters. This may explain the twin spotlights. Nice red strip on tail.



Maybe pesticide tanks rather than pontoons?



A Huey. But note twin spotlights.
Click to expand...

Possibly a crop dusting Bell 47 but at that time of night it is unlikely that someone would be operating it.
 
deirdre said:
are you asking why it would be flying too low for the radars to pick it up?

because uap1.pdf in your OP says why the radars didnt pick it up.
Click to expand...
Apologies yes, Australia has very strict aviation laws (even in 1980's). A helicopter would have been a) registered b) would have been picked up by either the Point Cook air base on radar or Essendon Airport. I'll see what I can find.
 
Do crop dusters fly at night? Surprisingly, yes.
Note the twin spotlights on these helicopters. Why are they there?



Crop Dusting at Night
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/wmm4y/crop_dusting_at_night/
keemotheoropy
·11 yr. ago

my father did this for 30 years in australia.. he calls it "entertaining flying" they read a charted map which indicates all obstacles locations and heights, and usually have flown the paddocks before during the day.. and my dad said "you don't judge you altitude at night by your eyes. you listen for changes in the sounds, and as the crop runs out, you pull the fuck up, turn around and do it again"..
Click to expand...
 
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Z.W. Wolf said:
Another Bell 47. Crop dusters pull up at the end of the field.
Click to expand...

This is a great video find @Z.W. Wolf and I believe confirms why the police officers said it didn't sound like a typical helicopter, because it doesn't. It sounds like a loud vacuum cleaner.

To be travelling in winter in pitch black to do crop dusting is unlikely as I have stated above.

It is more plausible that the Australian army was completing some night flying exercises.
 
they had one as a rescue copter but it was based in Newcastle. 500 miles away. and likely wouldnt be slinking around low at night.
the path triangle goes along the warribee river so i was wondering if they lost the river and couldnt land :)
Article:
History
The original helicopter service was created by The Newcastle branch of Surf Life Saving Australia, as a surf rescue and coastal observation operation during the summer months using a Bell 47 helicopter. At this time Westpac, (then the Bank of NSW), became named sponsor and has remained so to the present day. The service expaned to two helicopters in 1993. A second base was opened at Tamworth in 2000.


Article:
1975
Commenced operations as the Wales Rescue Helicopter in Newcastle, with an all-volunteer crew of local surf life savers flying a Bell 47 during summer weekends.


1685240499542.png

https://www.helis.com/database/cn/39642/



anyway i contacted a group into bell47s in australia and asked if they can shed any light on the topic. will let ya know.
 
deirdre said:
they had one as a rescue copter but it was based in Newcastle. 500 miles away. and likely wouldnt be slinking around low at night.
the path triangle goes along the warribee river so i was wondering if they lost the river and couldnt land :)
Article:
History
The original helicopter service was created by The Newcastle branch of Surf Life Saving Australia, as a surf rescue and coastal observation operation during the summer months using a Bell 47 helicopter. At this time Westpac, (then the Bank of NSW), became named sponsor and has remained so to the present day. The service expaned to two helicopters in 1993. A second base was opened at Tamworth in 2000.


Article:
1975
Commenced operations as the Wales Rescue Helicopter in Newcastle, with an all-volunteer crew of local surf life savers flying a Bell 47 during summer weekends.


View attachment 59514
https://www.helis.com/database/cn/39642/



anyway i contacted a group into bell47s in australia and asked if they can shed any light on the topic. will let ya know.
Click to expand...
Great work @deirdre !

Looks like the point cook airbase now has a museum, no doubt they will have some information also if any BELL 47's were in operation.

https://www.airforce.gov.au/community/visit-and-learn/raaf-museum

Object 2 is interesting though. I have done some research and it looks like the Australian airforce had a Sea Harrier FRS Mk. 21 enter service a couple of years later in 1985 (source in the link below).

https://themarshall.fandom.com/wiki/Royal_Australian_Navy_Fleet_Air_Arm#:~:text=The Boeing/BAe AV-8B,served the RAN since 1985.

Below is a Sea Harrier and the artist impression from the police witnesses, from the YouTube video in my first post. Note the underbelly red light at the rear.

1685242607796.png


1685242709597.png

The British did operate aircraft in Australia. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) had a presence in Australia during the 1980's. Any British Harrier aircraft would have been operated from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base in Williamtown or point cook.
 
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ManInBlack said:
It is plausible that this was being tested out of the point cook airbase. Below is a Sea Harrier and the artist impression from the police witnesses, from the YouTube video in my first post. Note the underbelly red light at the rear.
Click to expand...
the only problem is that colored version looks nothing like the drawings. i wonder if memory got messed up over the years and thats a late version.
 
deirdre said:
the only problem is that colored version looks nothing like the drawings. i wonder if memory got messed up over the years and thats a late version.
Click to expand...
Remember there were two seperate objects sighted. Object 1, was most likely a Bell 47, but still to be confirmed. Object 2's drawing is a different but there are no other 'known' aircraft that fit that description. No aircraft were delta winged and that could fly at those low speeds.
 
I don't see any reason not to think that they were the same thing.

How could object 2 be a jet aircraft? It's described as making little noise.
 
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ManInBlack said:
Apologies yes, Australia has very strict aviation laws (even in 1980's). A helicopter would have been a) registered b) would have been picked up by either the Point Cook air base on radar or Essendon Airport. I'll see what I can find.
Click to expand...
a) is not helpful because the registration wouldn't tell you where it is. You can fly VFR at night, so they may not have needed to file a flight plan.
b) helicopters are often too low to be picked up by radar. Depending on the shape of the controlled airspace around the airports (which is typically roughly shaped like a funnel), they may not have needed to check in with air traffic control. Note that the airport radar did pick it up "momentarily".

Especially the description of the lights, which includes the red strobe at the center of the underside, strongly suggests it's some sort of aircraft. There's absolutely no reason for a UFO to have one (especially if it means to stay hidden). There's a bunch of regulations mandating them for aircraft.
 
Z.W. Wolf said:
I don't see any reason not to think that they were the same thing.

How could object 2 be a jet aircraft? It's described as making little noise.
Click to expand...
You could be right however you can see above that a gyrocopter fits the description of object one but not object two?
 
Z.W. Wolf said:
1685152544574.png
Click to expand...
Object Two is referred to as a "delta wing" craft, but I don't see that at all from the drawings. Most notably, it does not appear to have winfs, delta or otherwise. It does not look a WHOLE lot like the image deirdre shared:
deirdre said:
1685240499542.png
Click to expand...
but with the two longitudinal sections to either side, the helicopter seems a better match TO THE DRAWINGS than does a jet aircraft.
 
ManInBlack said:
Object 2 is interesting though. I have done some research and it looks like the Australian airforce had a Sea Harrier FRS Mk. 21 enter service a couple of years later in 1985 (source in the link below).

https://themarshall.fandom.com/wiki/Royal_Australian_Navy_Fleet_Air_Arm#:~:text=The Boeing/BAe AV-8B,served the RAN since 1985.

Below is a Sea Harrier and the artist impression from the police witnesses, from the YouTube video in my first post. Note the underbelly red light at the rear.
Click to expand...
You might want to revisit the source you posted above, it looks to be for some fantasy or alternative history group. The Aussies never flews Sea Harriers as the site claims, nor did/do they operate the two aircraft carriers (HMAS Vengeance, HMAS Australia) the site claims the Sea Harriers flew/fly from. Probably a good idea for you to vet sources before posting them.

https://themarshall.fandom.com/wiki/Australia_class_(Principe_de_Asturias)_aircraft_carrier

ManInBlack said:
View attachment 59515

View attachment 59516
The British did operate aircraft in Australia. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) had a presence in Australia during the 1980's. Any British Harrier aircraft would have been operated from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base in Williamtown or point cook.
Click to expand...
It's possible RAF or RN Harriers/Sea Harrier flew in Oz for training and exercises. The Brits probably tried to sell one or both those a/c to the Aussies as well at one time or another. We know they were going to buy HMS Invincible from the Brits prior to the Falklands War, but after the war the UK decided not to sell it.
 
flarkey said:
Regarding that first UFO sketch...

View attachment 59495

It just reminds me of a Bell 47 Helicopter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_47


View attachment 59496

They were in service with the Australian Army from 1968 to the early 1970s but there may have been other airframes, either civil or Military Historic Flights still flying after then:

http://www.adf-serials.com.au/3a1.htm
View attachment 59497
Click to expand...
I had the same thought. Btw, the French Alouette helos resemble the Model 47, especially at a distance. In fact, sharp eyed viewers will note Allouettes occasionally appear as Bell 47s in episodes of M*A*S*H in long shots. I'm pretty sure the Australian military did not operate Alouettes, but as successful as the aircraft was worldwide, at least a few commerical variants probably made it to Oz.

SA318_(cropped).jpg
 
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