Miami Beach, Florida: Marine Ralph Mayher films high-speed object, Air Force keeps film
At 9:35 p.m. on July 29, 1952, Marine Pfc Ralph C. Mayher filmed a high-speed UFO over Miami Beach, Florida, on 16 mm film; he submitted most of the footage to the Air Force, which never returned it, and the CIA examined the film in 1957 without comment.
Background
At 9:35 p.m. on July 29, 1952, Marine Pfc Ralph C. Mayher, using 16 mm film exposed at 24 frames per second, obtained footage of a high-speed UFO over Miami Beach, Florida. Retaining a few frames for personal study, he submitted the main portion of the film to the Air Force for analysis; the film was never returned and no analysis report was ever released. Enlargements of the retained frames show a fiery-looking, roughly circular, symmetrical object with two small peaks or projections on opposite sides of the disc. The CIA examined the film in 1957 and returned it with no comment or analysis. The case later featured prominently in the lawsuit by Ground Saucer Watch against the CIA as a confirmed instance of direct CIA interaction with a witness. The entry cites the NICAP case file, the Fort Pierce News-Tribune of July 31, 1952, Mayher's own 1954 article in Pic, UFOEv and Timothy Good's Above Top Secret. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.