1964 · Vandenberg AFB launch, filmed from Big Sur, California

Big Sur: a beam at an Atlas warhead

Sourced, unconfirmed

Strength C · 5/10 · 1 independent

Evidence 1/4 · Witnesses 3/3 · Backing 1/3

Two named officers, Jacobs and his commander, describe the same film; the film itself has never been released.

Plausibility Very high

Score 16 · 9 factors for, 0 against

Two named officers describe the same tracking film of an object beaming a warhead, taken away by men from Washington; the film itself has never been released.

See the factors ↓

Unresolved

Part ofThe nuclear connection

From Lt. Robert Jacobs's account (The Age of Disclosure, 2025): an object flies in beside an Atlas D dummy warhead on 15 Sep 1964, fires beams of light at it and leaves. · Illustration for uaptrail.com

When15 September 1964

WhereVandenberg AFB launch, filmed from Big Sur, California

Backing1 independent

Witnesses1 named

On 15 September 1964 an Atlas D missile launched from Vandenberg AFB was filmed through a telescope camera at Big Sur. First Lieutenant Robert Jacobs of the 1369th Photographic Squadron says the film showed an object fly up to the dummy warhead, fire four beams of light at it and leave, at closing speeds of 8,000–9,000 mph. His commander, Major Florenz Mansmann, later confirmed seeing the film and said men from Washington took it away.

Evidence, in date order (1)

1980Maj. Florenz Mansmannwitness
Jacobs's commander confirmed seeing the film in later letters Mansmann letters

How plausible · Very high

Two named officers describe the same tracking film of an object beaming a warhead, taken away by men from Washington; the film itself has never been released.

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Access Jacobs ran the camera; Mansmann was his commander.
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Cost of speaking Jacobs faced ridicule and harassment for decades.
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Consistent over time The same account since 1982.
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Character record Officers; Jacobs later a professor.
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Independent convergence Mansmann confirmed it in his own letters.
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Fits the documented skeleton Fits the documented pattern of objects at nuclear tests and sites.

Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.

On the record

Mansmann's signed letter to Paramount staff confirming Jacobs's account as published in the January 1989 MUFON Journal.

Claims

The tracking film showed an object fly in, fire four beams of light at the dummy warhead and leave.firsthandSourced, unconfirmedRobert Jacobs

Men 'from Washington' took the film away.firsthandSourced, unconfirmedMaj. Florenz Mansmann (letters)

Decoys or chaff released from the warhead. Natural cause proposed, not demonstrated (no frame has been shown).speculationLeadskeptic analyses

'I am writing to confirm Dr Jacobs's account as he described it in the January 1989 MUFON Journal.'UFOs and Nuclear Weapons - A Fascinating ConnectionfirsthandSourced, unconfirmedMaj. Florenz Mansmann (signed letter to Paramount staff)

The men in grey suits cut the UFO section out of the film with scissors and took it in a briefcase.UFOs and Nuclear Weapons - A Fascinating ConnectionsecondhandSourced, unconfirmedRobert Jacobs

He was told to explain the film away as 'laser tracking strikes' if ever asked, at a time when lasers were in their infancy.firsthandSourced, unconfirmedRobert Jacobs

Where

Vandenberg AFB launch, filmed from Big Sur, California

34.7°N 120.6°W

In The picture

They came when we split the atomIt is not history. Jay Stratton says his own involvement began with a DIA video of a black triangle over nuclear missile silos, and that when his team parked a nuclear submarine off the East Coast as bait, with a P-3 Orion standing by, a UAP appeared on the very first mission. Marco Rubio says there have been 'repeat…

Sources

Mentioned on (4)

Pictures2

Illustration. Sequence drawn from Jacobs's and Maj. Florenz Mansmann's accounts: the object flew in, fired four beams at the dummy warhead and left. The film itself was taken away and has not been released. Positions are schematic.

Context, not the 1964 shot: an Atlas D lifts off from Vandenberg AFB, 11 December 1966 (OV1-09/OV1-10). The Big Sur film of 15 Sep 1964 tracked an Atlas D from the same base; that film has never been released.