Did They Chase Venus ?
p. 12 · Read in the full issue
Story of Mysterious Balloons
rE Sydney newspapers, on September 9, published extremely humorous articles concerning a couple of brave men in Salamaua. New Guinea, who sighted the planet Venus in the noon sky (Venus, being very near the earth at pre sent, is discernible in the day-time) and, thinking it was an enemy balloon or some thing, went after it, armed with rifles, in Ray Parer’s Boeing aeroplane.
The Commonwealth duly laughed.
But a report in the “Rabaul Times”, of September 6, puts a different aspect upon the story. When the aviators re turned, they insisted that the object they chased was a balloon, with a small basket floating below. They photographed it be fore it disappeared behind clouds. Sala maua jeered, of course.
Two days later the aviators got their own back. Four more balloons are said to have been seen floating over Sala maua district. One came very low. It is reported to have been about 6 ft. in dia meter, made of black rubber, with a small basket attached. The purpose of the balloons (or, as the doubters say “alleged balloons”) is a complete mystery.