Peru 1952 Customs Inspector Photograph
At around 4:30 in the afternoon of July 19th 1952 the attention of Sr. Domingo Troncoso a Customs Inspector was called to a very strange cigar-shaped craft flying over the river area. The big cigar craft was flying horizontally and fairly low in the sky, passing from right to left from the observer's position. The object was leaving a dense trail of smoke behind it. The thick white substance appeared to be released from the end of the object the strange object was estimated as being over a hundred feet long. Troncoso was able to get his hands on a camera and snap a brilliant photograph of the bizarre object.
The following is a translated newspaper article reporting on the strange incident it was submitted by Colonel McHenry Hamilton JR, USAF America Air Attache, Lime Peru.
"The colour of the head or nucleus of this disc was an intense orange. The direction was south to north, was visible from 1 to 2 minutes, leaving a thick vaporous trail which floated for more than 15 minutes. The altitude was more or less 2500 to 3000 feet. It was seen in broad daylight. During its passage, the Peruvian Corporation of the Amazon radio went dead and wasn't able to transmit or receive any signals."
"The Peruvian Minister of Education later held discussions with American Embassy officials about the UFO report. The school teacher's photograph and an article about the discussion with the Americans was published in the August 15th issue of the Lima newspaper El Comercio.
"The American Intelligence report on the case seems to be incomplete because there is an unexplained reference to more than one photograph. Colonel Hamilton was informed by Peruvian authorities that some falsification had occurred involving "three different photographs taken by three different persons."
In a letter dated August 10, 1957, Mr. Moseley gave NICAP the following account of the incident:
In Lima I met Senior Pedro Bardi, who is an agricultural engineer. On July 19, 1952, while on a farm in the Madre de Dios section of Peru, he and others saw a saucer. It was about 4.30 p.m. and they were talking to Lima by radio.
Suddenly, according to Bardi, the radio went dead. They looked out the window and saw a round object going by at high speed. (The witnesses included Pedro Arellano, owner of the farm). The object had passed; it was at an estimated 100 meters altitude and was a little smaller than a DC-3, according to Bardi. It made a buzzing sound as it went by.
The object's speed, Moseley explains, was determined by a report that it was seen four minutes later near Porto Maldonado, 120 kilometers distant. This speed was computed at 1117 miles per hour. The photograph was secured from a customs administrator named Domingo Troncosco, who said he had taken it as the object flew near the port. Though the photo shows a cigar-shaped object instead of the round shape Bardi described, this could possibly have been due to an elongated effect caused by speed.
"It seems obvious to me, Moseley told NICAP, that the photo is genuine."
"Incidentally, I strongly doubt if this particular saucer was anything but earth-made."
"The object traveled from left to right at about airplane speed. When the trail settled to ground it turned out to be a mass of thin fibrous threads."
Written by Sam Willey