Newburgh, New YorkAugust 1956

Insufficient Data

Summary

On August 22, 1956, a man in Newburgh, New York used a Polaroid camera to photograph what he believed were unidentified objects in the sky. The camera was equipped with a half-stop lens and a polarizing filter. He took four pictures over a span of about forty minutes. In the photographs, two round white objects appeared side by side next to the sun.

The pictures were sent to the Air Force for evaluation. Intelligence officers at the Air Technical Intelligence Center reviewed them and reached a conclusion: the objects were not real. Instead, they said, what the observer had captured was lens refraction, a optical effect that happens inside cameras. According to their analysis, the first two images were reproductions of the basic image (the sun itself) caused by the way light bent through the camera's lens and filters. The last two images showed a different filter setup, which created a marked contrast between clouds and the sun that was absent in the first pair of photographs.

The Air Force evaluation concluded the sighting was optical in nature. This case file, consisting of eight pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Newburgh, New York

Date of incident

August 1956

State / country

NY / US

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 26

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 8

View transcribed text

pea *$ 3 & A ¢ » UFOB INDEX CARD AISS<UFOB=295=56 ‘e . hy x
1. DATE: £: .._ |2 LocAaTION iA 1 12. CONCLUSIONS
22 Aug 56. Newburgh, New York | O Wes Balloon -
> _ |0O Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION @ Possibly iden
D Was Ai
22/1550Z Aug 56 2 Ground-Visuel O Greund-Reder E Probably Airer wy
0 Air Visvel : O Airintercept Radar | 0 Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS x Ou : - Ron Svetiiod “-
ve | civilmm | FE Ra |
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE p Othedaa Cpt. ical — |
Forty minutes : Two Stationary BEE Tr
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
Two round white objects, photographed side ATIC Form 16L was sen to observer on
by side next to the sun. Objects were photo= | 2h Aug 56, Concur with Reporting Office
graphed da a Polaroid Camera using a half that objects were the results of lens
step, a k=, and a polorizing filtdr, The refraction. It is further the opinion
shutter was set at 9, of this Headquarters thats
1. Image # 1 was a reproduction of
the basic image (the sun) due to lens
refraction,
2. Image # 2 was also a reproducti
of the basic image; but the source apparen-
tly rotated one or more of the filters prp=-
ducing the e fect of the moyement of the
AISOP Porm S (150¢? 84) Incl # L
K) : : : i :

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28967090