Waikiki Beach, HawaiiJune 1959

In June 1959, a U.S. Navy sailor on leave at Waikiki Beach took a photograph that would catch the attention of the Air Force's UFO investigators. The sailor, who was stationed aboard the USS Pine Island, snapped the picture on June 18 at 1400 (2 p.m.) using an Argus C-3 camera loaded with Kodacolor film. Like many of the dozens of photos he took that day on the beach, it seemed ordinary at first.

It was not until eight months later, after the sailor left the Navy in January 1960, that he noticed something unusual on the developed slide. A bright spot appeared in the image alongside the familiar landscape of Diamond Head. Not knowing what to make of it, he held onto the slide until he found work as a draftsman with Boeing Airplane Company. There, he reported the curious image to the company's liaison office with the Air Force.

The Air Force's initial reaction was skeptical. An officer at the ARDC Liaison Office in Seattle examined the slide and suggested it was likely a double exposure, a technique sometimes possible with the Argus C-3 camera. However, the sailor denied reloading his camera near any light source and had no explanation for how such an accident could have occurred. The case was forwarded to the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for further analysis, and the Air Force requested the original photographic negative.

After examining the negative in early 1961, Air Force photo analysts concluded the bright spot was almost certainly caused by sun striking the camera lens, possibly with water droplets on the front element. They noted that a series of less prominent spots scattered across the frame supported this explanation, consistent with the appearance of sun flare. The analysis found this explanation more likely than either a double exposure or a processing flaw. The Air Force thanked the sailor for his interest and returned his negative. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 12 pages.