PROFESSOR MOORE - 6/8/94 39
A: On the afternoon of the 8th. It may have been
published on the 9th, but ••.
Q: You're right. Evening of the 8th. Examination by the
Army revealed last night, a high altitude weather balloon.
General Ramey, Commander, 8th Air Forces, cleared up the mystery.
A: In these pictures here, don't show these flaps. This,
I think, is my step ladder that I used to reach high targets,
when we have these big balloon trains going way up in the air.
Here again, is an unorthodox use of radar targets. We did that,
and as far as I know, other people didn't.
Q: Did you ever use radar targets with the polyethylene
balloons?
A: Yes, sir. In fact somewhere I have a picture where we
flew a missile, we launched a missile for O&R Special Devices
Center in 1949. I have a picture showing the targets up and down
the balloon train there.
Q: Do you remember trying to pin down some of these
flights that could possibly cause this misunderstanding? You
talk about putting a target with the neoprene balloons, but at
that time you also launched them with the polyethylene?
A: This picture I showed you right here. This is a
polyethylene balloon.
Q: So you used a visual by the aircraft to watch the
balloon? It would circle underneath.
A: The aircraft circling underneath were really to pick up
the microphone signals. That was part of the Watson Lab
operation. our operation, we depended on radiosons and where we
could get radar tracking for tracking air balloons. But the
aircraft operation here was entirely to support Project Mogul.
We didn't consider ourselves Mogul because I didn't even know the
name.
Q: The summary of flights ..•
A: That's one of the flights with the mixed
interpretations because of the radiosondes.
Q: In one column it says "tracking percent." Then
sometimes it will say by aircraft.
A: That's true.
Q: So "aircraft observation", was that a visual
observation or an electronic?