Project 10073 Record Card and Correspondence Regarding Toledo, Ohio Sighting

This document file contains a Project 10073 record card and associated correspondence regarding a photograph submitted by a civilian, identified as Mrs. Kay Murphy, from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The photograph, taken in mid-September 1957 in Toledo, Ohio, depicted ore boats in the channel of Maumee Bay leading into Lake Erie. The witness reported that an object appeared in the photograph that was not visible to the naked eye at the time the picture was taken with a Kodak camera and 620 film. The witness initially suspected the mark was a flaw in the film but sought an official evaluation. The Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base received the print and initiated a request for photoanalysis. Internal military correspondence between AFCIN-4E2 and AFCIN-4D4a indicates that the ATIC photoanalysis branch was unable to perform a complete evaluation using only the print and requested the original negative. Colonel Richard R. Shoop and other officials facilitated the request for the negative. Ultimately, the Air Force concluded that there was no positive analysis to support the presence of an anomalous object, and the mark was attributed to a flaw in the film. The final correspondence, dated 24 June 1960, from Lt. Colonel Lawrence J. Tacker of the Public Information Division, acknowledged the receipt of the letter and print, reiterated the need for the original negative for a definitive analysis, and informed the witness of the Air Force's inability to evaluate the print as it stood.