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. 12 …Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Photographs of Balloon Debris, July 9, 1947 17. Satement, Lt. Col. Sheridan…
  • p. 13 …Photographs, ML-307C/AP Device with Vintage Neoprene Balloons and Debris 32. Synopsis of Balloon Research…
  • p. 15 …Balloons Project MOGUL Balloon Train Components and Debris Recovered Heights of Familiar Architectural Structures Relative to…
  • p. 19 …Additionally, many claims of a flying saucer crash at Roswell rest on the description of debris…
  • p. 25 …Prior to that, the incident was dismissed because the AAF originally identified the debris recovered as…
  • p. 28 …When the debris was gathered up the tinfoil, paper, tape, and sticks made a bundle about…
  • p. 29 …Marcel, claimed that he had recovered UFO debris near Roswell in 1947. Also in 1978, a…
  • p. 30 example, it was originally reported that there was only recovery of debris from one site. This…
  • p. 32 …the exact location(s) of the purported debris, and the extent of the wreckage. Such discrepancies…
  • p. 35 …forth as a possible explanation for the debris recovered near Roswell. Since much of this testing…
  • p. 38 …There were three categories of debris: a thick, foil like metallic gray substance; a brittle, brownish…
  • p. 39 …The debris looked like pieces of a large balloon which had burst. The pieces were small…
  • p. 40 accompanied Major Marcel to the ranch to recover the debris, sometimes along with his Counter Intelligence…
  • p. 43 …Lt Col Cavitt described a small area of debris which appeared, "to resemble bamboo type square…
  • p. 44 …Pflock concluded from his research that the Brazel Ranch debris originally reported as a "flying disc…
  • p. 46 …This organiza- tion was able to obtain measurements from the "sticks" visible in the debris after…
  • p. 48 …Photos of ML-307C/ AP Device, With Vintage Neoprene Balloon and Debris 32. Synopsis of Balloon…
  • p. 67 …reporting air vehicle crashes, investigations, and wreckage/debris retention and disposition; (c) identify~ records (unclassified or…
  • p. 71 …existence of any relevant documents, flying saucer debris, or space aliens on WPAFB. AF/IN's…
  • p. 72 …miles from the rest of the OFO debris. There has been rumors of post-mortem examinations…
  • p. 75 …They discovered a gre:~t deal of lightweight debris which couldn't be cut. burned, or…
  • p. 81 …Normally, the safety investigation is done first, after which the wreckage/debris retention and disposition becomes…
  • p. 85 …reporting air vehicle crashes, investigations, and wreckage/debris retention and disposition. Additionally, we do not possess…
  • p. 151 16 Fort Worth Star-Telegram Photographs of Balloon Debris July 9, 1947
  • p. 159 …When we got to this location we subsequently located some debris which appeared to me to…
  • p. 164 …we heard that someone had found some debris out not too tar &om RosweU and it…
  • p. 172 …the next morning they headed out into a field were Brazel had found the debris." So…
  • p. 175 …type of rocket when you saw the debris in the field? SC: No. No. I never…
  • p. 177 …the senior intelligence officer walked into the debris field, examined the wreckase. Rickett said it looked…
  • p. 182 …through the security phalanx and saw metallic debris scattered in an outer circle with a diameter…
  • p. 187 …It was something that was written or printed on some of the debris, Do you recall…
  • p. 201 …balloons for the detection and collection of debris from atomic explosion. Although I was involved in…
  • p. 202 …There was also debris coUection on sticky paper. Most of the balloon projects were not concerned…
  • p. 206 …others were involved in other activities so debris from rockets, aircraft dropsondes, etc. may have been…
  • p. 213 …someone had come to him with some debris from Ne~ Mexico and he said, "this SW…
  • p. 214 apparatus and materials for the project, so if he said that it was debris from the…
  • p. 219 …When this purplish-pink marking on the debris came up, I immediately remembered this sort of…
  • p. 222 …He indicates in this newspaper article that he actually found the debris in mid-June, however…
  • p. 232 …And left pieces of debris everywhere. Depending on •..
  • p. 252 …But you're quite right, there's debris that was reported to us that ••• Q: ••• some…
  • p. 257 …in the area who could explain this debris that was brought in. There were no experts…
  • p. 261 …a radar to substitute for the real debris. I think there's a very high likelihood…
  • p. 262 …I asked her did he ever talk to her about anything regarding this debris that had…
  • p. 266 …that's been substituted for the real debris, and there are also stories where Marchelle said…
  • p. 270 PROFESSOR MOORE - 6/8/94 54 including that debris, are pictures that he sent to me…
  • p. 275 …Someone came from New Mexico with this debris? A: Yes, I believe that's correct. Q…
  • p. 276 …Why did they bring this debris to Colonel Duffy? Why didn't they bring it to…
  • p. 278 …I knew him only by the path of debris he left behind. I never met him…
  • p. 311 31 Photographs ML-307C/AP Device with Vintage Neoprene Balloons and Debris
  • p. 318 …Meanwhile, Brig Gen Roger Ramey, Eighth Air Force Commander, ordered that the debris be flown to…
  • p. 325 …Descriptions of the debris provided by Brazel, Cavitt, Crary's diary, and the photos of the…
  • p. 326 …It now appears that the debris from MOGUL flight no. 4 had come ·to earth on…
  • p. 327 …Newton positively identified the debris as the remnants of a balloon and RAWIN target. 37 With…
  • p. 328 …Research has revealed that the debris found on the ranch and displayed in General Ramey's…
  • p. 329 …weather balloons and targets, positively identified the debris as a weather device.42 In short, descriptions…
  • p. 331 …4 Photographs of Balloon Debris JAMES McANDREW, 1st Lt, USAFR Declassification and Review Officer SAF/AAZD…
  • p. 333 Fort Worth Star-Telegram Photographs of Balloon Debris July 9, 1947 1
  • p. 379 …When the .debris was :gathered of these. . .· . originally gave tbe'<information of Jesse_. A. Mateel and…
  • p. 975 …In fact, General Ramey displayed the original debris recovered from the ranch, which came from a…
  • p. 978 …They also contend that the debris recovered by the rancher was transported to Andrews AAF, MD…
COL TRAKOWSKI - 6129/94 6
Q: A few more names came off that news article where they're displaying the balloon
launch-Maj. W. D. Pritchard, Maj. C. W. Mangum, Lieutenant Siegal, and a Capt. L. H. Dyvad.
A: None of those names are in my memory, firm in my memory, at all.
Q: You were aware of the previous Colonel Duffy's predecessor, Major Crane ...
A: I never met Richard [Robert] Crane. I knew him only by the path of debris he left behind.
I never met him.
Q: When you took over, was there any worry about security on the project, that security was
possibly a problem, or that there was a problem or that there could be a potential problem that might
warrant scrutiny by Air Force intelligence or security people?
A: We were aware of the delicacy of security on the project, and the reason was obvious. You
could not conduct field operations of the size that we had to without somebody asking questions. Anybody
with a pair of 8x50 binoculars on the side of the mountain could look down and see what was going on,
and that, of course, would prompt questions. We were aware of all that, and we didn't really know what
to do about it except to go on doing our job and taking care of things as they occurred. But we were
aware of the sensitivity and of the weakness of security in Project MOGUL. Not from the people in the
project, not disclosure by them, but simply the obvious activity that could be observed.
You can't fill a balloon that's give-or-take 60 feet high without somebody seeing it.
Q: When you were at Alamagordo and some of the various balloons were being launched,
what was the largest array that you saw out there?
A: You mean payload?
Q: No, the entire assembly. The balloons, payloads, reflectors ...
A: I didn't observe any of the reflectors, and if I did, they were so commonplace that it
wouldn't have stuck in my memory. The neoprene balloons bearing reflectors were just common
occurrences. I wouldn't have lodged any of those observations in memory because they were just too
common.
Q: Charlie Moore has indicated that some of the balloons they tried during the early
experiments were the relatively new types of reflectors that probably had never been used in New Mexico
before, the M307B model, and that Ed Istvan had gone to several essentially toy manufacturers, to try to
get some of these reflectors made.
A: That's correct. I don't know [about] that Ed Istvan ... Ed Istvan got out of line. Charlie may
have told you this, and I don't mean to tell tales about Ed, but Ed was a very .. .indeed, every man on
Colonel Duffy's staff was very energetic. It was the Signal Corps' responsibility to procure those targets;
it was not the responsibility of our and Colonel Duffy's office. However, to accelerate the activity of the
Signal Corps and spur them to action, our Air Force officers in Colonel Duffy's office were literally on
the backs of the Signal Corps people who did the job, and oftentimes did things they shouldn't have and

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About this file

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.