Documents / Document
This Project Blue Book file from the USAF, released via The Black Vault, covers the 16 January 1958 sighting at Trindade Island. Its record card says two Rio de Janeiro newspapers printed photos of an alleged flying saucer taken from a Brazilian naval ship, and that ONI analysis judged them a hoax. The file also holds galley proofs from a Menzel book arguing the Barauna photographs were faked, plus APRO Bulletin and NICAP material.
ROB MERCERscheowe at Trincrade, it ilaO on ooar(l several CIvilIan gues(s WIlU were to collaborate in variolls aspects of the research. Among them was Almir lI"aUna,.a profeSSional photographer. Aftel 'era} days at the isla¥' the ship prepared to leave for the returnr~:ip to Rio on January 16. Shortly after noon Barauna was on deck with his: camera, waiting to film the departure. The sky was thinly overcast, the sea was rough, and waves dashing against the ship and the ' rocky shore created a noisy background. According to the news accounts printed several weeks later, Cap' tain Viegas, of the Brazilian Air Force, suddenly shouted "Olha 0 disco! [Flying sallcer!]" Hearing the shout, Barauna peered at the sky and saw a luminous oval object moving swiftly toward the is ~ land. Officers and crewmen on deck also observed the UFO, he said, and interfered with his aim as they ran about excitedly. Never- theless he managed to take six shots of the UFO as it approached the island, disappeared behind a mountain peak, reversed direction and reappeared at a lower altitude, retraced its course, and van- iShed wi th incredible speed against the horizon. The unknown had arrived and departed in a period of about twenty seconds. According to the news stories, the photographer had retired to the ship's darliroom under the supervision of an officer to develop the negative, and found that four of the six exposures showed the mys- terious object. He was not able to make prints, he said, because the darkroom supplies unfortunately did not include any photo- graphic paper. However, he did exhibit the negative and the of_ lished several years earlier. A~ though to emphasize this point, the magazine assigned the Trindade story and the interviews with wit- nesses to the same staff reporter who had described the Hha dos Amores saucer in 1952. The Naval ~ Ilinistry refrained from further comment and, since the military authoritie", sho'wed no alarm about the possibility of extraterrestrial patrols, public interest in the pic- . tures quickly died . The report sent home by the U. S. Naval attache included the comment: "There appear to be only two explanations for this peculiar in- cident, and the peculiar handling of it by the Brazilian Govenl- ment: (a) Some overwhelming power has told the Brazilian Navy not to verify this incident officiaily (which they should easily be able to do, 11 it actually occurred) or to deny it (which they should easily be able to do if it is a fake). I personally do not believe that anyone has told the Brazilian Navy to keep quiet about it because there has been no hint of such suppression in either Brazilian or United States circles. I also doubt that their control of the individual officers and men would be good enough to hold the line in any event. (b) The whole thing is a fake publicity stunt.... This seemSJllore likely . . .." [21] j' " j
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 54 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.