Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, April 1960April 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On April 21, 1960, a U.S. soldier stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, took photographs with a 35-millimeter camera without realizing an unusual object had appeared in the images. The soldier used a Zeiss Ikonette camera with a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second, aimed toward the southwest between 1000 and 1200 hours (10:00 a.m. and noon). Three prints from the photograph showed a disc-shaped object in the upper left corner. The soldier did not notice the object when taking the picture.

The Air Force's photography analysis team examined the negatives and 35-millimeter color slide. They concluded that the photograph was probably taken from inside a building looking through a glass window. The disc-shaped object was most likely a reflection of a ceiling light on the windowpane. The inside of the window shade created an elliptical shape, while the bright white area in the top center of the image matched the appearance of a light bulb producing a halo effect. The Air Force also analyzed movie film that accompanied the case materials but found nothing unusual in it, noting only that it was poorly exposed and appeared to have been filmed by a child.

The Air Force rated this case as "Probably Balloon," though the photographic analysis suggested the more mundane explanation of an indoor light reflection. The complete case file, held by the National Archives, spans 8 pages.

Reported location

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, April 1960

Date of incident

April 1960

State / country

? / XX

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 38

RRA ER euro e ET ORe a SAR! woitRten . FAT or al ne prep : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD a Ta a I DATE ; 2 LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS _ | ; 0 Was Ball 21 Apr 60 Guantanamo Bay, Cuba D Probably Belloon 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION O Possibly Balloon | Loco 1000-1200 | ©OGround-Visvel ~~ OGround-Redor [3 Mou Aiercht | BIE hl 0 AirVisvel O Air-Intercept Rodar O Possibly Aircraft | 5. PHOTOS « SOU - we Bg eh il § i op Military 0 Possibly Ashonemiaet | 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE ff Other EXOD Reflection | 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation n/a | one n/a w — | 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING | 11. COMMENTS Three photos showing disc-shaped object in uppe Analysis of the photo indicated that it | left corner. Camera was aimed toward SW. Source| was probably exposed inside a building did not notice object when he took the photo- and through a glass window. The object . |graph. is probably a reflection on the window | from a light hanging from the ceiling. PihoTe Id PHYSICA SPecim en Frue) ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) : i 1 ’ La [) : FER A Fa GE Se ME Or Ee REE PY EE ER TERRIER SR what ha j