Wellington, New Zealand: RNZAF Freighter instruments go wild, Dakota crew sees huge disc
In June 1956, an RNZAF Bristol 170 Freighter carrying Airman Derek Mansell near Wellington, New Zealand, met severe turbulence, spinning instruments and a 25-minute communications failure; after landing at RNZAF Base Ohakea, the pilot of a Dakota asked whether they had seen a huge metallic disc pacing the aircraft.
Background
In June 1956, RNZAF Airman Derek Mansell was a passenger in a Bristol 170 Freighter Mk 31M near Wellington, New Zealand, when the aircraft encountered severe turbulence and its compass and other instruments spun wildly. All communications failed and the engine spurted intermittently for 25 minutes before everything returned to normal. After the Freighter landed at RNZAF Base Ohakea near Bulls, the pilot of a Douglas C-47 Dakota landed and asked the crew whether they had seen a huge metallic disc about 250 feet in diameter, with a blue light on top and a red light on the bottom, which he had observed just above the Freighter pacing it. The Dakota crew apparently took photographs, but these have not turned up. After a two-hour debriefing, both crews were told never to discuss the matter. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.