371 21 Oct 1978 Bass Strait CE4
Twenty year old Frederick Valentich disappeared over Bass Strait while flying a Cessna aircraft between Melbourne and King Island. One of the suggestions put forward is that he had been abducted by the occupants of an object which he reported observing just before radio contact was lost with him. Neither he nor the aircraft have ever been located. (World wide coverage.)
009 1944 Bass Strait CE1
Mr T. R. H. Royal was piloting a Beaufort bomber over Bass Strait when a dark "shadow" appeared alongside and kept pace for eighteen to twenty minutes. The object seemed to have a flickering light, and belched flames from its rear end. It maintained a distance of thirty to fifty meters from the aircraft before accelerating away. During the event all radio and direction finding equipment is said to have malfunctioned. (The Australian Saucer Record. 1957. 3(1):16.)
146 22 Apr 1969 Bass Strait NL 1919hrs
A moving light was seen by two pilots in the same aircraft but descriptions varied in colour and direction. Duration was four seconds. RAAF suggested meteor or re-entry of space junk. (RAAF annual sightings summary 1969.)