Puerto Rico East Island Upper Carribean [Sic] Missile Range Photographs
![Puerto Rico East Island Upper Carribean [Sic] Miss](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/176/067/1702067176.0.x.jpg)
- SIGNED Photo album containing 155 photographs, twenty-one measuring 8 x 10 inches and the remainder 3 ½ x 5 inches, most with manuscri
- Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos , 1964
Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos, 1964. Photo album containing 155 photographs, twenty-one measuring 8 x 10 inches and the remainder 3 ½ x 5 inches, most with manuscript captions verso, and twenty-six postcards, with some filled out; three newspaper clippings, and a sheet of lottery tickets. Excellent to Near Fine.. An album mainly of photographs taken by John Hudson, a member of the US Air Force based at the Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, documenting his time in Puerto Rico in the early 1960s. Hudson arrived in San Juan in 1961; the first section of his album focuses mostly on the city and its attractions and daily life, though some show the more impoverished living conditions of smaller towns. After San Juan, Hudson toured a number of Air Force-related locations, focusing especially on the construction of the Punta Salinas radar site. These photos show men at work grading roads and laying foundations, and the buildings for the radar array under construction.
He also documents a tour of many other nearby bases, including Grand Bahama, Mayaguana, and Eleuthera in the Bahamas, Grand Turk in Turks and Caicos, and others; these were part of the US’s Atlantic Missile Range, as was Patrick AFB, where Hudson was stationed. Grand Turk in particular is famous for being the site where astronaut John Glenn was brought to dry land following the US’s first crewed orbital space flight in 1962, which landed a few miles off the coast.
The latter part of the album consists of postcards, some of which are filled out to Hudson’s wife and children. The postcards are vivid, and Hudson’s photos are well-shot and attractive. Overall a meticulously assembled record of Hudson’s trip, of interest to historians of the US’s military and aerospace activities in the Caribbean.
He also documents a tour of many other nearby bases, including Grand Bahama, Mayaguana, and Eleuthera in the Bahamas, Grand Turk in Turks and Caicos, and others; these were part of the US’s Atlantic Missile Range, as was Patrick AFB, where Hudson was stationed. Grand Turk in particular is famous for being the site where astronaut John Glenn was brought to dry land following the US’s first crewed orbital space flight in 1962, which landed a few miles off the coast.
The latter part of the album consists of postcards, some of which are filled out to Hudson’s wife and children. The postcards are vivid, and Hudson’s photos are well-shot and attractive. Overall a meticulously assembled record of Hudson’s trip, of interest to historians of the US’s military and aerospace activities in the Caribbean.