1985 Papua New Guinea Diplomatic Cable
DOS Papua New Guinea Cable (Jan 1985)
On the evening of 24 January 1985, multiple Papua New Guinea localities reported high-altitude, high-speed contrail-leaving objects — frightening Wewak residents enough that the Prime Minister convened a public meeting in his electoral district. An Air Niugini pilot lifting off from Wewak picked up a south-to-north, high-altitude, high-speed contact on radar over Angoram. The next day the PNG National Intelligence Organisation queried the US Embassy whether US B-52s had overflown; the embassy confirmed no US aircraft had been in PNG airspace.
Notable excerpts
“We knew of NO B-52 OVERFLIGHTS AND NO U.S. AIRCRAFT IN PNG AIRSPACE ON JANUARY 24.
“His radar picked up aircraft flying south to north at high altitude and high speed when he was over Angoram.
Witnesses
- Air Niugini pilot
- PNG National Intelligence Organisation officer
- Local residents and the Provincial Premier of Wewak
Locations
- Wewak / Angoram, Papua New Guinea (4°S 144°E)
Significance
A rare UAP record combining radar contact, multi-witness visual confirmation, and a formal government-to-government query — demonstrating the incident was taken seriously at diplomatic level.
Related images (click to zoom)
Key entities (auto-extracted)
Date-time groups, coordinates, aircraft types, weapons, classification markings — pulled by regex straight from the PDF text layer.
Per-page highlights
The most signal-bearing sentences on each page (mentioning UAP / radar / observation / altitude / coordinates). Kept in the original language to avoid translation drift.
- p.1EN· EMBASSY JANUARY 28 RECEIVED INFORMAL INQUIRY FROM PNG NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ORGANIZATION (NIO) CONCERNING REPORTED SIGHTINGS OF HIGH-ALTITUDE, HIGH-SPEED AIRCRAFT OVER PNG DURING EVENING JANUARY 24· MATTER CAME TO NIO'S ATTENTION WHEN ITS OFFICER IN WEWAK REPORTED LOCAL RESIDENTS HAD BEEN FRIGHTENED BY OVERFLIGHTS, WHICH LED TO THE PROVINCIAL PREMIER'S CALLING OF A PUBLIC MEETING ON THE SUBJECT ATTENDED BY THE PRIME MINISTER WHO WAS WEEKENDING IN HIS ELECTORAL DISTRICT中文· EMBASSY JANUARY 28 RECEIVED INFORMAL INQUIRY FROM PNG NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ORGANIZATION (NIO) CONCERNING REPORTED SIGHTINGS OF HIGH-ALTITUDE, HIGH-SPEED AIRCRAFT OVER PNG DURING EVENING JANUARY 24· MATTER CAME TO NIO'S ATTENTION WHEN ITS OFFICER IN WEWAK REPORTED LOCAL RESIDENTS HAD BEEN FRIGHTENED BY OVERFLIGHTS, WHICH LED TO THE PROVINCIAL PREMIER'S CALLING OF A PUBLIC MEETING ON THE SUBJECT ATTENDED BY THE PRIME MINISTER WHO WAS WEEKENDING IN HIS ELECTORAL DISTRICT
- p.2EN· NIO SAID THERE HAVE BEEN VARIOUS REPORTS OF UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENA THE NIGHT OF JANUARY 24, INCLUDING FAST-MOVING OBJECTS WITH LIGHTS, CONTRAILS, LIMITED OFFICIAL USE LIMITED OFFICIAL USE PAGE 02 PORT M 00199 2807042 AND NOISE· THE REPORT IN WHICH NIO PLACES SOME CREDENCE ORIGINATED WITH AN AIR NIUGINI PILOT WHO HAD JUST TAKEN OFF FROM WEWAK ENROUTE PORT MORESBY中文· NIO SAID THERE HAVE BEEN VARIOUS REPORTS OF UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENA THE NIGHT OF JANUARY 24, INCLUDING FAST-MOVING OBJECTS WITH LIGHTS, CONTRAILS, LIMITED OFFICIAL USE LIMITED OFFICIAL USE PAGE 02 PORT M 00199 2807042 AND NOISE· THE REPORT IN WHICH NIO PLACES SOME CREDENCE ORIGINATED WITH AN AIR NIUGINI PILOT WHO HAD JUST TAKEN OFF FROM WEWAK ENROUTE PORT MORESBY
- p.3EN· UNCLASSIFIED CSP-2025-00040 B-00002707027 "UNCLASSIFIED" 3/2/2026 Dissemination Rule中文· UNCLASSIFIED CSP-2025-00040 B-00002707027 "UNCLASSIFIED" 3/2/2026 Dissemination Rule