Source: MUFON, Newport
Beach, California
NICAP’s Photographic Adviser Ralph Rankow, a New York photographer,
wrote the following in a letter to Arthur Sketchley:
“9. MARTIN B-57 (Circa 1954)
This photo taken by the Martin Co. for promotional
purposes. The disc in the upper right corner was not noticed until the negative
was processed. The lighting on the disc conforms exactly with the lighting on
the rest of the picture, indicating a real object was photographed. (The Martin
Co. had been attempting to explain the object as being a ‘scratch on the film’).”
The Martin Company defaced this photo twice, according
to several U.S.
UFO researchers.
There is some confusion (among U.S. UFO researchers) over whether this photograph was taken over Maryland or over the Edwards Air Force Base in California. But judging by the landscape, it seems that the photo was taken over Maryland. The photo was taken circa 1954 and not in 1957, as mentioned in several articles.
Related post:
The UFO in the original photo
(i299.photobucket.com photo)
The defaced photo of the UFO