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REPORT OF AIR FORCE RESEARCH REGARDING
THE 11ROSWELL INCIDENT"
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The "Roswell Incident" refers to an event that supposedly happened in July, 1947,
wherein the Army Air Forces (AAF) allegedly recovered remains of a crashed
"flying disc" near Roswell, New Mexico. In February, 1994, the General Account-
ing Office (GAO), acting on the request of a New Mexico Congressman, initiated
an audit to attempt to locate records of such an incident and to determine if
records regarding it were properly handled. Although the GAO effort was to look
at a number of government agencies, the apparent focus was on the United States
Air Force (USAF). SAF I AAZ, as the Central Point of Contact for the GAO in this
matter, initiated a systematic search of current Air Force offices as well as
numerous archives and records centers that might help explain this matter.
Research revealed that the "Roswell Incident" was not even considered a UFO
event until the 1978-1980 time frame. Prior to that, the incident was dismissed
because the AAF originally identified the debris recovered as being that of a
weather balloon. Subsequently, various authors wrote a number of books claiming
that not only was debris from an alien spacecraft recovered, but also the bodies
of the craft's alien occupants. These claims continue to evolve today and the Air
Force is now routinely accused of engaging in a "cover-up" of this supposed
event.
The research located no records at existing Air Force offices that indicated any
"cover-up" by the USAF or any indication of such a recovery. Consequently,
efforts were intensified by Air Force researchers at numerous locations where
records for the period in question were stored. The records reviewed did not
reveal any increase in operations, security, or any other activity in July, 1947, that
indicated any such unusual event may have occurred. Records were located and
thoroughly explored concerning a then-Top Secret balloon project, designed to
attempt to monitor Soviet nuclear tests, known as Project MOGUL. Additionally,
several surviving project personnel were located and interviewed, as was the only
surviving person who recovered debris from the original Roswell site in 1947 and
the former officer who initially identified the wreckage as a balloon. Comparison
of all information developed or obtained indicated that the material recovered
near Roswell was consistent with a balloon device and most likely from one of
the MOGUL balloons that had not been previously recovered. Air Force research
efforts did not disclose any records of the recovery of any "alien" bodies or
extraterrestrial materials.
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