Project 10073 Record Card — Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, 20 April 1952

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and supporting correspondence regarding a sighting report from 20 April 1952. A civilian witness, residing in Downey, California, submitted three photographs to the Western Air Procurement District in Los Angeles. The witness had taken these photographs at the Griffith Park planetarium in Los Angeles, approximately an hour and a half after dark, while accompanied by his wife and another couple visiting from Wichita, Kansas. The witness reported that while he and his companions were looking at the scenery, he captured three images of 'lights' in the sky, which were not apparent to the naked eye. The photographs were taken with a Kodak model 35 camera using an exposure of 1/25th at a lens opening of 5.6, with approximately 15 to 20 seconds between each shot. The witness, who was in the business of selling building supplies and had no connection to Air Force contractors, submitted the photos for evaluation due to recent coverage of 'flying saucers' in Life Magazine. Upon review by the Air Technical Intelligence Center, the official conclusion was that the objects appearing in the photographs were 'undoubtedly due to water spots on negative,' noting that such artifacts are common in photography. The record card explicitly states that the negatives were not requested for further evaluation, and the case was closed with the determination that the images did not represent unidentified aerial phenomena.