UFO?
For the evidence to back up this brief summary, please read the complete pages on Westall from the start. The PR Disaster hypothesis elaborates on Keith Basterfield's Hibal hypothesis, as well as synthesizing other possibilties.
The PR Disaster hypothesis
THE CASE
A EXPLANATION FOR THE SIGHTINGS
THE COVER-UP
CLOSURE
If and when supporting documentation comes to light and the PR Disaster hypothesis (or something like it) is borne out, the witnesses will learn that a 300kg payload almost fell on their tender heads - and yet despite the potentially disastrous risks, Project HIBAL continued dropping its payloads all over Australia for another 15 years.
- On Apr 6, 1966, one or more UFOs drifted over Westall High School (then a semi-rural outer suburb of Melbourne, Australia) during morning recess. Children watched one "flying saucer" go down behind trees 300 meters away, then apparently shoot up to play cat-and-mouse with several light aircraft before vanishing.
- The children were told not to talk about the "flying saucers" and there are only a handful of contemporaneous accounts. Adult witnesses were warned or threatened to keep quiet.
- This "cold case" was revived in 2010 by the documentary Westall '66, which showcased the testimonies of the witnesses as adults. They are confused about the cover-up and want answers.
A EXPLANATION FOR THE SIGHTINGS
- The first part of the event was most likely a scientific balloon from Project HIBAL (launched from Mildura) that failed to self-destruct at the end of the mission, causing it to stay aloft, drift toward Melbourne, and slowly descend. This is what a Hibal balloon looks like as it moves on the wind. These huge translucent balloons do not resemble weather balloons. They carry a 200-300kg payload of scientific instrumentation which is dropped on a parachute at the end of the mission, located during descent by a chase plane, and retrieved by a waiting ground crew.
- A Hibal was launched the day before the Westall sighting. Its payload may have included classified instrumentation from NASA. The balloon apparently drifted south overnight, was almost certainly spotted 38km north of Westall the next morning, and ended up over the high school. The separate components (balloon, parachute, payload) may be the reason that some witnesses saw more than one UFO. The landing site was possibly near a factory about 1km south of the school where workers saw burn marks (caused by a battery fire) and military personnel clearing the land.
- The second part of the event closely resembles an RAAF training exercise, where aircraft chase a wind sock for target practice. Flight school instructors from Point Cook flying Winjeels (similar to Cessnas) would have been the pilots, directed to carry out the exercise in a new location that morning. The RAAF had a policy to fake UFO investigations to cover for other activities, so this exercise may have been scrambled once it became apparent the balloon was drifting towards a populated area, to distract from what was happening on the ground and create plausible deniability.
- The apparently physics-defying capabilities of the UFO(s) have been embellished over the years. Initial accounts can be explained by the known behaviors of the mundane objects seen.
- Some witnesses did recognize at the time, or later, that what they were seeing was a deflating balloon. They feel their voices are shouted down by the majority who believe they saw flying saucers.
THE COVER-UP
- Witnesses were silenced or ridiculed because the authorities wanted to cover up the PR disaster of a fatally heavy payload that almost landed in a school yard. The landed payload was also dangerous - it could cause ground fires, and contained explosive squibs.
- Had the incident become public, it could have ended Project HIBAL. During that month, Australia and the US were in negotiations to extend the program a further 3 years. Despite a catalogue of near misses unrelated to Westall, the risks appear to have been downplayed. The project was extended.
- For reasons unknown, the cover-up continues to this day - no records have been found of anything unusual happening at Westall either in the RAAF's UFO investigation files or in the Department of Supply's HIBAL files.
CLOSURE
If and when supporting documentation comes to light and the PR Disaster hypothesis (or something like it) is borne out, the witnesses will learn that a 300kg payload almost fell on their tender heads - and yet despite the potentially disastrous risks, Project HIBAL continued dropping its payloads all over Australia for another 15 years.
(c) Charlie Wiser 2022
