Cigar-shaped UFO photographed over Peru
Chet Dembeck
About 4:30 p.m. on July 19, 1952 Customs Inspector Sr. Domingo Troncoso spotted a strange cigar-shaped UFO streaking across the sky in a Peruvian jungle bordering Bolivia, according to UFO Casebook.
The craft was flying low in the air and leaving a thick trail of vapor behind it.
Observers estimated the size of the UFO to be at least 100 feet long, which prompted Troncoso to quickly find a camera and snap a photograph of the strange interloper.
The following report was submitted by Colonel McHenry Hamilton, Jr., USAF, American Air Attache, Lima, Peru. It identifies and unnamed school teacher as the person who took the photo of the UFO.
Apart from a few comments, his report consisted of a translation of a newspaper article in a Lima daily.
A luminous disc was supposed to have sped over the Puerto Maldonado area of Peru near the Bolivian border at 4:50 p.m. on July 19th, and among those who claimed to have witnessed the passage was a Peruvian school teacher who took a picture of the UFO, an object that was spewing an impressive wake of smoke. A newspaper account read in part:
"The color 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.
It is interesting to note that the Air Force instantly discredited the sighting and the photograph.
