Documents / FOIA release

roswell

Office of the Secretary of Defense · 993 pages · text from the file's own layer

The Roswell Report: Fact versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert was published in 1995 by Headquarters United States Air Force. It was written in response to Representative Steven H. Schiff's request and a General Accounting Office audit, and it contains Col. Richard L. Weaver's report and 1st Lt. James McAndrew's synopsis, along with attachments, appendices and photographs. The report says researchers found no evidence of an extraterrestrial craft or crew. It concludes that the 1947 debris came from a Project MOGUL balloon train.

  • p. 43 …to the sun for only a few days. The plasticizers and antioxidants in the neoprene would…
  • p. 205 …ashes after exposure to the sun for only a few days. The balloon material and radar…
  • p. 221 …to the sun. Q: Is this the neoprene type or the ••• A: That's the neoprene…
  • p. 230 …such as the balloon material degraded, and maybe fused in the hot sun? 14 A: I…
  • p. 282 …We worked in the old Sun newspaper building in downtown Baltimore. Q: They had intelligence personnel…
  • p. 465 …the values of superheat ob- tained by the gas when the balloon is in the sun…
  • p. 484 …Superheat and Its Effects The effect of the heatin~ of lifting gas by the sun's…
  • p. 489 …Since the effect of the sun in heating the lifting gas decreases the effect of different…
  • p. 524 …when the ex- ternal temperature was measured, since no adequate protection from the sun was available…
  • p. 525 …Daytime flights had the added advantage or heating from the sun. The temperature of the lifting…
  • p. 541 …in the aneroid val~e as intermittent clouds shut off' the sun, and (3) the overcompensation…
  • p. 547 …stmset, and the balloon took on superheat whioh was lost_when the sun went down. ntis…
  • p. 558 …the transmitter was not insulated, and there was no heat to be gained .from the sun…
  • p. 570 …Since the sun had set between the third and -40-
  • p. 579 during the sunset descent (caused when the superheated helium lost the sun's heating ei'i…
  • p. 591 …that seen earlier with the balloon gas being warmed by the sun to acquire a superheat…
  • p. 666 …the changing buoyancy of the balloon as cloud masses intermittently shielded it from the sun's…
  • p. 736 …the subst;q.uent descent, superheating of the balloons by the nsmg sun would cause the…
  • p. 739 …Flight termination was usually due to deteriora- tion of the balloon caused by the sun. In…
  • p. 740 …the ambient tem- perature after the sun had risen. The automatic ballast valve operates. when the…
  • p. 801 …April 14 Sun. Down to lab this am with Joe looking for G9A files. Jim Peoples…
  • p. 802 …Discussed with Crane possibilities of getting sound through the ground part of the ocean sound channel…
  • p. 803 …Over to Jim and Rowes tonight and to Euzzards Bay bowling, l'ay 5 Sun. L…
  • p. 806 …Stayed at Amarillo - at Clinton Hotel Jan 19 Sun Left Amarillo about 1130 CST IC.ent…
  • p. 808 …Correlated between the ~ower and Dona sites for se·reral sources. 'o!orked total travel times…
  • p. 810 …April 6 Sun. Checked clocks. Cleaned out hanger and emptied trash out at East White Sands…
  • p. 811 …April 20 Sun. Worked on plans for bombing runs and V2 monitoring. April 21 Mon. Alamogordo…
  • p. 812 …All equipment loaded on plane this pm. ~ay J-4 Sat, Sun. Left Alamogordo about 9…
  • p. 815 …29 June (Sun) NYU personnel and some of Watson Lab men working today with equipment in…
  • p. 816 …July 1a Sun. to cabins in Ohio just out of Springfield. July 1 Mon. To cabins…
  • p. 852 …4C.~~~ies• .tJi~J.tl~e ..• a 'telemeteririg ·device to indicate· the rate of ballast flow…
  • p. 861 …a sun- set. (3) By adding altitude control equipment, it is possible to maintain the balloon…
~t with your hands. There was also debris coUection on sticky paper. Most of the balloon projects
were not concerned ~ith weather--that's why there weren't radiosondes on all the balloons. The
"cosmic ray train" was probably just a cosmic ray ex~~t on one of our ballons. The balloons
were made of secri£ms and had tape reinforcements but ~recaJJ any specifics on the tape material.
Mylar was not called that originally--it may have originated as polyethelene. AU the polyethelcne
we use was of a translucent material. Neoprene was used during the war; generally for
meterological and artillery firing ballons. The artillery radar tracked the balloons with comer
reflectors--this ga·ve the vo.inds aloft to assist the gunners. The radar reflectors were sheets of
reflective material and they changed over time but I don't recall the details of the changes. On
reviewing Charlie !\loore's letter, the acoustic detection relates with the atomic debris coUection.
The reflectors were for tracking and was made up of a metaJized paper or fabric. Charlie explains
the flowers-rd heard about the flowers before, don't remember where-we used whatever we had
in the experimental realm. The targets were throw-aways-we didn't put a tag on them, maybe a
radiosonde, but not a target. Such a train would make gouges (shallow) as it was dragging the
ground. We used meterology as a cover story-it was a natural. It had a purpose beyond the
project--we could use the constant level analysis of the constant pressure (isobaric) vs constant
altitude to study atmospherics mathematically-therefore using it was natural. Ramey's press
conference-the Air Force position makes sense for the mistake that the PIO made in his
statements. (All the NYU personnel had left Alomogordo when the "material" was brought in-
someone stated that it may have been Col Duffy's and therefore sent it to him at Wright Patterson-
-not because it was extraterrestial) It is a logical reason to send it (the debris from the desert)
there-not because it was special--Col Duffy was a fine officer and rm sure he'd recognize it. I
was not aware of any association between our balloon projects and the aDcgcd "Roswell incident"
Wltil this interview. I am not part of any conspiracy to withhold infonnation from either the US
government or American public. There is no classified information that I am withholding related
to this inquicy and I have never been threatened by US Government persons concerning not talking
about this situation . ~
SIGNED:
WITNESS(s):
Subscribed and sworn to before me, a
person authorized to administer oaths
this
3rd day of June 1994
VA
~COL, USAF
)Jj:/JL

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FOIA release, from the osd collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 993 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.