PROFESSOR MOORE - 6/8/94
A: Oh, yeah. I visited people in Washington.
Q: Just for the record, ·Major Marcel later worked at
[AFOAT-1]. Do you recognize him at all?
involved with were
list of people at
26
A: Not at all. The people I was
civilian scientists. If we looked at a
Northrop, Doyle Northrop sort of sticks
other names I've seen related to that.
but I never knew Marcel.
in my mind, and there are
Yeah, I knew that guy,
Q: so you went, moving into Mogul, you did go on the June
and July field trips.
A: I ran them.
Q: How many did you go on? All of them?
A: I didn't go to the one in the Pacific. If you look at
the planning on the Project Fitzwilliam, my name was listed as
the person as being there. Then suddenly, I'm not. What
happened, my people got taken away from me and I had to recruit
brand new people to help me fly balloons into Alamagordo during
the April and May 1948 operations. So I had new personnel, and
we went up and down the Rio Grande Valley trying to launch
balloons so they would pass over the ground stations at
Alamagordo.
Q: During that early period, before you had your full
complement of various types of balloons, did you ever use any of
the Japanese balloons? We were given the impression there were
at least a few of the Japanese balloons made available.
A: I got very interested in the Japanese balloons and
communicate, and I have pieces of the Japanese balloon downstairs
if you're interested in seeing a piece of it. And I've got
translations. I met tbe chief of the Central Meteorological
Office, a Dr. Wadati, and he put me in contact, so I have
extensive files on the Japanese balloons.
Q: But were any of those used as precursors to Mogul or ••.
A: None whatsoever. That was part of a promotion that .•.
When I went to General Mills, Winzen who had been the great
entrepreneur, had gotten fired. He'd gotten caught in a
prevarication about whether or not the Navy was going to provide
money. He was replaced by a fellow named Frank Jewitt. Jewitt
recruited me out of graduate school. We really promoted
balloons. That's part of the balloon promotion.
Q: None of the Japanese balloons were actually used as far
as a precursor to Mogul or anything like that.
A: That is absolutely correct.