4 January 1958
(The Canberra Times, ACT, Australia)
Source: Trove (National Library of Australia,
Canberra, ACT, Australia)
The whole article:
“Air Marshal Sir George Jones, Chief of the Air Staff from 1942 to 1952,
to-day told how he had seen a strange object in the sky less than three months
ago.
Sir George, who was in the Air Force for 35 years, said he had seen a
shadowy object like a transparent balloon with a brilliant white light at the
bottom on the evening of October 16 [1957].
It travelled overhead silently about the speed of a Sabre jet plane.
His wife, Lady Jones saw it first and pointed it out to him at their Mentone
home.
Sir George watched it for about four or five seconds before it
disappeared.
Yesterday when Sir George was addressing a group of Rover Scouts at Warburton he was asked if he believed in flying saucers.
He said, ‘Yes, I have seen one, but I’m not going to stick my neck out
by saying anything about it.’
Sir George said to-day, ‘Nothing can shake me from my belief in what I saw.
But I wish I had had four or five witnesses.
‘I
have reported it, but I have been [loath] to talk of it publicly lest people think I was either an
incompetent witness or getting a little screwy in the head.’
Sir George said he had done considerable night flying during his 5,000 hours
in the air and he knew what normal aircraft and other night phenomena looked
like. He had seen a disintegrating meteor and it was not that, nor was it reflected
light.
The object came from the south and disappeared north. It appeared to be about
1,000 to 1,500ft. above the earth and its most mysterious feature was its
absolute silence, he said.
It looked like a meteorological balloon with a very bright light at the
bottom but ‘meteorological balloons don’t float over at 400 m.p.h.,’ he added.”
Wikipedia article: “George Jones (RAAF officer)”:
Related posts:
realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=1957
Portrait of Air Vice-Marshal Sir George Jones, CBE, DFC,
Chief of the Air Staff, Royal Australian Air Force.
(text by Wikipedia) (wikimedia.org photo)
Satellite photo of Mentone,
Victoria, Australia
(tageo.com)
(tageo.com photo)