Mr. UFO – Colin Norris
30 Sept 1920 – 13 July 2009
Colin Norris, known
to the South Australian media as “Mr UFO” was a colourful and controversial
figure in the South Australian paranormal community.
Mr Norris fashioned himself as a “UFO expert” and could often be found at the forefront of any media presentation about the subject during the 1980’s and 1990’s, but his story began much earlier than that.
Mr Norris fashioned himself as a “UFO expert” and could often be found at the forefront of any media presentation about the subject during the 1980’s and 1990’s, but his story began much earlier than that.
Mr Norris was schooled on the South Australian West Coast
and eventually found himself a member of the RAAF based in Geraldton, Western
Australia. Norris was employed as the turret gunner, positioned in the nose of
a Liberator Bomber, stationed to patrol the South Pacific.
It was during one of
the World War Two routine patrols over the South Pacific that Norris
experienced his first of many UFO encounters. Described by military personnel
at the time as a “Foo Fighter”, Norris witnessed what he described as “flying
disc of metallic colours, being brown with a purple U shape around its
perimeter”.
Another eye witness report often talked about by Norris was an encounter on the air force runway tarmac in which Norris described a flying disc hovering over him silently. The object beamed a blue light into his head, which left a scar on his head that Norris was eager to show off as “unexplainable”.
Another eye witness report often talked about by Norris was an encounter on the air force runway tarmac in which Norris described a flying disc hovering over him silently. The object beamed a blue light into his head, which left a scar on his head that Norris was eager to show off as “unexplainable”.
Over the next decade
Norris took a great interest in the large amount of new UFO sightings that were
beginning to become a regular occurrence around the world. In 1957 he joined
his first UFO research group “Australian Flying Saucer Research Society”,
headed by Ufologist, Fred Stone.In 1962, Norris would take leadership position of Vice President of the group after the departure of Fred Stone.
In 1965, Norris was invited to be a guest speaker at the Ballarat UFO conference where he delivered a presentation titles “History of UFOs”. Later in 1971 he was a guest speaker at the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science symposium on UFO’s.
Norris claimed during
the 1970’s that he was in contact with academics in the USSR, this brought him
to the attention of ASIO.
Norris became the
highest profile South Australia UFO researcher during the 1980’s, which
culminated with an appearance on the Mike Walsh Show on national day time
television. His detractors often accused Norris of seeking publicity, but never
revealing much detail about cases or sightings.
Norris collected huge amounts of data on UFO sightings across South Australia, a collection that passed on to his son after his death in 2009. Norris was competent researcher, investigator and story teller, and brought the field of Ufology into the public forum with his own flair.
His contribution to Australian UFO research, bringing UFO documentation into the mainstream and removing stigma, is undeniable and should be lauded by the Australian paranormal community, which tends to forget those that came before them.
Vale Collin Norris,”
Mr UFO” one of many pioneers of Australian UFO research
Written and researched by Allen Tiller
Bibliography
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theozfiles: The Passing of South Australia's - "Mr.
UFO" COLIN NORRIS (1920 - 2009). 2016. theozfiles: The Passing of
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Photo’s: http://www.australiancosmicconnection.com.au/images/moz-screenshot-12.jpg
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