Willis Lamm's
Traffic Signal Collection

  JFK: The Lost Bullet
Part Two: The Investigation

Frank DeRonja (FBI retired) and John Howlett (Secret Service retired)
return to Dealey Plaza to go over assassination details with Max Holland.
Max Holland and a team of experts poured over digitally enhanced photos taken in 1963 and established a time line for the shots based in part on the trained reactions of Secret Service personnel. They determined that at the time the first shot was fired, John F. Kennedy was passing beneath the traffic signal on the corner of Elm and N. Houston Streets.

The FBI didn't consider the traffic signal as a factor in its initial investigation because Kennedy's head was not obstructed by the signal in the FBI's reenactment. The 2011 detailed analysis of the digitally enhanced 1963 films revealed that the position of the limousine in the FBI's reenactment as the car passed under the signal was slightly in error. In the reenactment the limousine was a couple of feet closer to the book depository than during Kennedy's ill-fated motorcade. When the historic limousine was once again driven down the center lane of Elm Street, traveling more precisely along its original path, the signal did block a sniper's shot for a split second.

Kennedy's limousine takes another trip down Elm St.
This time the position of the vehicle is more accurately placed.
Although the original signal heads had long been removed when Dallas upgraded its traffic equipment, the original Union Metal signal mast was left in place.
The crew analyzed the signal mast and its relative position to Oswald's nest.
The original signals that were in service in 1963 were installed around 1956. The crew's next problem was to accurately identify the make and model signal and come up with identical signals for analysis.


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