"A silvery thing... it had little lights around the edges." [7NEWS Spotlight feat. Ross Coulthart, 2021] Click image for a 2-min video.
UPDATE: In December 2022 I contacted Steven Thorn (alias) who wrote his memoirs of the Mildura HIBAL Project, cited on these pages. I've summarized our correspondence here: Westall sighting: evidence from HIBAL project technician.
What is HIBAL?
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Project HIBAL was a joint scientific balloon project between the Australian Department of Supply (DoS) and the US government, starting in 1961 and based in Mildura (500km/300mi NW of Westall High School). (I am using HIBAL to denote the program, and Hibal to denote the high-altitude balloon and payload.)
These enormous helium balloons do not resemble weather balloons (see comparison at right), although both expand dramatically in the stratosphere and dangle a payload of instrumentation. Hibal's payload was built into a cylindrical bank of instruments or "gondola", about 1.2-1.5m (4-5ft) in size and weighing 200-300kg (440-660lb, or about a quarter of a ton), with the primary purpose of sampling the upper atmosphere for radiation. [Thorn, 2021, p.41] |
Relative size and altitude of weather balloon vs Hibal
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For reference, click the images below for short videos of (1) a pilot passing a weather balloon at high altitude and (2) a deflating weather balloon tumbling around overhead. While there's a passing similarity between a weather balloon and Hibal, what the Westall witnesses saw during the first part of their sighting better describes the enormous translucent Hibal.
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The table below lists the differences between a weather balloon and Hibal system. In relation to the Westall event, it's important to understand that the balloon itself is supposed to be destroyed (ripped up) when the payload is cut down, but a balloon at altitude or perhaps with with a slow leak descending through the lower atmosphere, deflates (due to air pressure) and looks rather like a translucent pancake or jellyfish. Also remember there are additional components: the payload, its parachute, the chase plane, and the ground crew.
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WEATHER BALLOON |
HIBAL |
Size at release |
1.5m (5ft) diameter |
Approx. 15m (50ft) (based on photos) |
Expanded size in stratosphere |
6m (20ft) diameter |
80m (260ft) diameter x 100m (330ft) tall |
Material |
white, latex/neoprene (synthetic rubber) |
translucent, plastic film 20μm thick (human hair is 70μm) |
Payload |
radiosonde is a shoebox-sized cardboard box with radio transmitter |
gondola weighs up to 300kg (600lb) |
Maximum altitude |
30km (100,000ft) |
24 to 41km (80,000 to 135,000ft) |
Descent |
balloon bursts at high altitude, radiosonde descends with small orange parachute |
payload detaches automatically or by radio signal, rips balloon as it detaches, and descends on 12m parachute over 1 hour |
Payload retrieval |
radiosonde does not need to be retrieved |
payload must be retrieved by ground crew |
Payload gondola for Project Ashcan (precursor to HIBAL), 1958, Mildura.
Scientific balloons are still in wide use, but I'll be describing the 1960s program specifically. Flights were scheduled to last up to 8 hours and might take place during the day or night. The Bureau of Meteorology tracked wind conditions to help predict the approximate flight path and landing site. "It is not unusual for the wind to be in different directions at different heights." [Thorn, 2021, p.13]
At the end of the mission, if all went according to plan, the payload was "cut down" by an explosive squib, triggered either by the closing down of the instrumentation or by radio command. As the payload broke free, it ripped the balloon open to release the helium, causing the balloon to collapse and quickly fall. The payload then took about an hour to descend to the ground on a 12m parachute. (The parachute was red-and-white-striped in the images I've found.)
At the end of the mission, if all went according to plan, the payload was "cut down" by an explosive squib, triggered either by the closing down of the instrumentation or by radio command. As the payload broke free, it ripped the balloon open to release the helium, causing the balloon to collapse and quickly fall. The payload then took about an hour to descend to the ground on a 12m parachute. (The parachute was red-and-white-striped in the images I've found.)
Project HIBAL typical payload [https://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/dev/hillger/wx-balloons.htm]
A light aircraft, the chase plane, would fly ahead to the anticipated landing site, wait on the ground until the end of the flight, and then take off with an eagle-eyed observer on board to spot the descending payload. The parachute became visible once it had fallen to an altitude of 2.4-1.5km (8000-5000ft). The chase plane then relayed the landing site to a ground crew in long-wheel-base Land Rovers, and they retrieved the payload (after disarming the explosives), parachute, and balloon remnants.
On the ground, winds could cause the parachute to drag the gondola some distance. Battery malfunctions could cause ground fires. [Thorn, 2021, p.20]
On the ground, winds could cause the parachute to drag the gondola some distance. Battery malfunctions could cause ground fires. [Thorn, 2021, p.20]
Strong winds have dragged the payload until the parachute became entangled in a tree. Burnt patch in the foreground is due to a battery fire. [Photo from Thorn, 2021]
Watch and learn
Some very short videos from Stratocat showing airborne Hibal balloons, taken from several decades of flights including some from Project Loon which flew from 18 to 25km in altitude. Click each image to watch.
Phoenix, 1985, UFO news report, includes remains of balloon on ground
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Denver, 2020
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Columbia, 2021
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Bolivia, 2020
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Hibal emerging from clouds, Wyoming 2020
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"Cut down" from the payload's perspective showing the balloon ripping, 2004
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How far could a Hibal balloon travel?
There are numerous accounts of Hibal traveling hundreds of kilometers and staying aloft longer than the anticipated 4 to 8 hours. The map below displays information mostly gleaned from Steven Thorn's memoir (2021; he worked on HIBAL at Mildura from 1963).
HIBAL landing sites in the 1960s, mostly from Steven Thorn's memoir Project HIBAL (2021) with Westall also marked
The map also includes a Mildura-launched Hibal balloon that failed to self-destruct and continued drifting for days as far as Millmerran, QLD (1100km away) in late August, 1969. "The balloon was equipped with a radar deflector and systems package which were designed to be jettisoned after the tests were completed, at the same time the balloon should have self-destructed... It is probable that this balloon failed to self destruct and was then sighted visually in South East Queensland as it continued its easterly drift." [NAA: A703, 580/1/1 PART 12, p.96, see also p.99]
Was Hibal seen near Westall on Apr 6?
On the Westall Flying Saucer Incident Facebook Group in November 2017, Shane Ryan published the account of a UFO sighting relayed to him by a witness who was 7 years old at the time. On the morning of Wednesday April 6, 1966, 38km (24mi) north of Westall at Smiths Gully, the boy saw an object flying low over tree tops about 100 yards from where he stood.
As an adult he described it as: "Two saucers joined together with a band in the middle that revolved and was illuminated; hose like vacuum cleaner hose trailed behind it.” He is convinced it was not any kind of balloon. [Westall Facebook Group, Nov 4, 2017]
Comparing his illustration (extracted below) to a Hibal (being filled in this photo - remember that a descending balloon that "failed to self-destruct" would have a very different shape), note the band across the middle and the trailing hose. The helium hose would remain attached to the balloon during flight. (Balloons also had an exhaust duct to siphon off excess helium and prevent bursting at high altitude. [Thorn, 2021, p.39]) The edges of the balloon, as can be seen in the video at the top of this page, can look like a band of flickering lights.
Would a 7-year-old boy know what a deflating high-altitude balloon looked like? It seems almost certain that what he saw was a runaway Hibal - on the very same morning and only 38km from Westall High School.
As an adult he described it as: "Two saucers joined together with a band in the middle that revolved and was illuminated; hose like vacuum cleaner hose trailed behind it.” He is convinced it was not any kind of balloon. [Westall Facebook Group, Nov 4, 2017]
Comparing his illustration (extracted below) to a Hibal (being filled in this photo - remember that a descending balloon that "failed to self-destruct" would have a very different shape), note the band across the middle and the trailing hose. The helium hose would remain attached to the balloon during flight. (Balloons also had an exhaust duct to siphon off excess helium and prevent bursting at high altitude. [Thorn, 2021, p.39]) The edges of the balloon, as can be seen in the video at the top of this page, can look like a band of flickering lights.
Would a 7-year-old boy know what a deflating high-altitude balloon looked like? It seems almost certain that what he saw was a runaway Hibal - on the very same morning and only 38km from Westall High School.
Similarities between Hibal and Smiths Gully sighting on the morning of the Westall event, 38km away
When the Smiths Gully drawing was posted on Facebook, Westall witness Erika H commented: "Very similar to what we saw at Westall" [Westall Facebook, Nov 2017]. Phyll T commented: "Wow Shane.....so similar.....& so vividly remembered after so many years have passed." She later drew her impression of the Westall UFO, which looks similar to the bulges and folds of a deflated balloon:
Phyll's drawing of the Westall UFO (Westall Facebook Group, 2018)
Tanya described the UFO like this: "it appeared to be metallic, it was silver in colour, and it seemed to have two parts (like it was two-storied), with a flat saucer-like bottom, on top of which was something like a dome." [via Shane Ryan, Westall Facebook Group, Nov 23, 2021]
Special launchings: a secret payload
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While HIBAL was not a secret program, information surrounding certain flights was classified. This proposed schedule of "special launchings" from DoS shows that NASA and the Office of Naval Research (among others) hitch-hiked their own instrumentation to the payload. In March/April 1966, NASA planned to add 90kg (200lb) of instrumentation to measure X-rays to the payload for two or three 8-hour flights from Mildura.
Was the April 5 Hibal one of these special launchings? |
PROJECT HIBAL - SPECIAL BALLOON LAUNCHINGS PROPOSED FOR AUTHORITIES OTHER THAN U.S.A.E.C. AUTHORITY: ONR/NASA MANIFEST: X-rays NUMBER OF FLIGHTS: 2-3 PAYLOAD: 200 lb FLOAT TIME: 8 hrs DAY/NIGHT FLIGHTS: Day LOCATION: Mildura DATE REQ: March/Apr ‘66 |
HIBAL Special Launchings proposed schedule, including for NASA in March/April 1966. Source: NAA: A1838, 694/7/23 part 2, p.81
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We can narrow down one of NASA's special launchings thanks to a tale in Steven Thorn's memoir about the day he came to the rescue by finding a roll of special tape that the NASA technicians had run out of. Aside from that, he noted NASA's instrumentation for the April flight "used techniques I had not seen in the past". [Thorn, 2021, p.81]
There is a fair chance this April flight took place on the 5th, and therefore had classified NASA equipment in the payload. If that quarter-ton payload went missing on a runaway balloon heading for a populated area, and was located in the process of crashing near a schoolyard full of kids... it may well have caused an overblown response to avoid a PR disaster that would embarrass the governments of both countries and might even end Project HIBAL. |
EXCERPT from Project HIBAL by Steven Thorn, 2021 In April 1966 a team from NASA was at the station to fly a payload looking at x-rays. The team had brought their payload and instruments from the United States to Mildura with the intent that Hibal would fly the payload for them. The actual payload was rather interesting and used techniques I had not seen in the past... This team had constructed a payload on a gimbal using a large aluminium wheel as a counterpoise... the jet nozzles pointing in both directions to keep the payload pointing in the desired direction, the energy coming from Titanium spheres filled with nitrogen at very high pressure... |
Whatever else was on board the gondola of the April 5 flight, it was at least a partly successful mission as this data table reveals:
Part of the data collected from the April 5, 1966, HIBAL flight.
Source: Health & Safety Laboratory (1968), US Atomic Energy Commission, p. 318.
Next up: An account of what was seen at Westall High School on Apr 6, 2021, focusing on early witness reports, and a re-examination of these accounts in light of what we know about Project HIBAL.
Sources
- Health & Safety Laboratory (1968, Jan 1). Fallout Report: Fallout program quarterly summary report. US Atomic Energy Commission. Retrieved from osti.gov.
- Project Hibal (1964-69). A1838, 694/7/23 part 2. Department of External Affairs. Retrieved from NAA.
- Reports on flying saucers and aerial objects (1969). A703, 580/1/1 part 12, p.96, see also p.99. Department of Defence. Retrieved from NAA.
- 7NEWS Spotlight feat. Ross Coulthart (2021, Dec 9). Secrets of the UFOs - Full Documentary [Video]. YouTube. [Westall is covered from 14:00]
- Stratocat (2020, Sep 24). Project Loon: deflated Hibal in lower atmosphere above La Paz, June 20, 2020 [Video]. YouTube.
- Thorn, S. (2021). Project Hibal. Self-published. (Available on Amazon Kindle and National Library of Australia Trove)
- Westall Flying Saucer Incident Facebook Group (created 2007, Dec 2). Shane Ryan (admin). [Cited as “Westall Facebook” throughout.]
(c) Charlie Wiser 2022
