Correspondence Regarding UFO Slides from Mecca, California

This document collection details the administrative handling of a UFO sighting report submitted by a civilian from Beaumont, California, in early 1965. The civilian submitted photographs and slides of an alleged Unidentified Flying Object, which he claimed were taken on February 7, 1965, near Mecca, California. The witness, described by Air Force personnel as an 'eccentric,' claimed to have heard a 'rumbling thunder sound' after taking the photo, though he did not see the object at the time. The Air Force, specifically the Foreign Technology Division and the Project Blue Book office, requested the original negatives for analysis. The witness failed to provide the originals, instead sending duplicates and engaging in extensive, often erratic, correspondence with the Air Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The official Air Force conclusion was that no object was observed and that the images were likely the result of poor photo processing or artifacts on the negative. The file also contains a separate, unrelated report from an amateur astronomer in Rome, Italy, who claimed to have observed three luminous objects on January 31, 1965, and provided detailed, albeit speculative, calculations regarding their speed and altitude. The collection highlights the bureaucratic process of the Air Force in managing civilian UFO reports, emphasizing the requirement for original photographic evidence and the dismissal of reports deemed to lack credibility.