RAAF
Royal Australian Air Force UFO records
Royal Australian Air Force / National Archives of Australia
The Royal Australian Air Force formally collected and investigated UFO reports from 1950 until 1996. The records — covering pilot reports, radar contacts, and citizen sightings across the Cold War — are now in the National Archives of Australia and can be searched directly through RecordSearch.
About the program
RAAF UFO investigation was handled primarily by the Directorate of Air Force Intelligence (later DI(AF)) from 1950 onward. By the mid-1990s the air force concluded — much as the UK MoD would in 2009 — that no UFO report had ever been judged a threat to national defence and the resources were better deployed elsewhere. The directorate's UFO function was officially closed in 1996.
The RAAF transferred its UFO file holdings to the National Archives of Australia (NAA) over the following decade. The holdings include the 1966 Westall school incident file, the 1968 RAAF Edinburgh case, and the long-running 'TS' (Top Secret) UFO file. The NAA's RecordSearch interface is the canonical access point.
Landmark documents
Direct primary-source links. Where a backup mirror exists for a known link-rot risk, we name the host.
- Case collection · Records 1950-96; transferred to NAA from late 1990s
RAAF UFO file holdings — National Archives of Australia
Complete RAAF UFO investigation record, indexed in the NAA's RecordSearch catalog. Searchable by series number — A703, A9755, and related — for the original case files and policy correspondence.
- Case file · 6 April 1966
Westall incident file (Melbourne, 6 April 1966)
RAAF case file on the daylight Westall incident in suburban Melbourne, witnessed by more than 200 students and staff at Westall High School. The most famous Australian UFO case file.
Have a primary-source document or release we've missed? The catalog is curated and versioned in the public repository — see About for how to send corrections.