Fort Belvoir black ring

An Army draftsman at Fort Belvoir photographed a black, apparently solid ring drifting overhead that then became obscured by an opaque white cloud; about fifteen people saw it. The pictures did not surface until nine years later because the witness feared ridicule and a security reprimand, and they were then promoted as a UFO photograph. Hartmann's investigation for the Condon study (Case 50), with interviews of Fort Belvoir staff, identified the ring as the smoke ring of an 'atom bomb simulation demonstration' of the kind routinely staged on the post at that time.

Smoke ring from an Army atomic-blast simulation

• Condon Report, Case 50: Fort Belvoirfiles.ncas.org