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. 17 …Others remain nonbelievers or at least skeptical of the existence of alien beings and elusive vehicles…
  • p. 19 …Moreover, operational necessity required that these balloons be launched during daylight hours. It was therefore not…
  • p. 30 …This has since grown from a minimal amount of debris recovered from a small area to…
  • p. 35 …This included, for example, a small amount of missing "decimal files" from the 509th Bomb Group…
  • p. 36 …This was a small section of the July Historical Report for the 509th Bomb Group and…
  • p. 37 …To believe that such operational and high-level security activity could be conducted solely by relying…
  • p. 39 …The foil-rubber material could not be tom like ordinary aluminum foil can be tom... " Sally…
  • p. 40 …Although there does not appear to be much dispute that Cavitt was involved in the material…
  • p. 43 …Lt Col Cavitt described a small area of debris which appeared, "to resemble bamboo type square…
  • p. 72 …being per:ormed on these bodies. The bodies were described as the body of a small…
  • p. 99 …It should be noted that the period from approximately 1946 to 1950 is the least well…
  • p. 105 …Several small projects were completed during ~1e mont.~ includine signs on all the·office doors, a…
  • p. 149 …Streett 1s office recaumends against it on the ground that that is a small enterprize down…
  • p. 159 …I do not recall the incident being mentioned again as being any big deal and I…
  • p. 201 …We even simulated a small lightning strike over dry snow (just from the snow blowing over…
  • p. 258 …Big plastic balloon with small auxiliary plastics," etc. "Watson Lab and gear." "Followed" (inaudible) "receiver until…
  • p. 261 …explain bodies or material that can't be folded) by a sledge hammer. Q: Let's…
  • p. 328 …The witnesses have recalled small pink/purple "flowers" that appeared I to be some sort of…
  • p. 401 …b7 how ra* the receiver •7 be re110ve~ .t'rows the pre~er. red height withqut…
  • p. 443 …geostrophic wind (the latter being derived under certain simplifying assumptions) and since the geometry of the…
  • p. 458 …Two designs which compro- mise extreme cost (required for balloons of high internal pressure) with small…
  • p. 479 …This means that several hours might be required to fall through the lanes of aircraft traffic…
  • p. 484 …The change in drag effect may be realized by a decrease of relative size of the…
  • p. 487 (a) Then: (9) or for small temperature differences: (10) : - _L (.AI.)1-B T the nega…
  • p. 490 …gas of a balloon can be lost by: leakage through small holes in the fabric or…
  • p. 491 …for l:n•y small section of altitude is assumed to be constant); and re.J…
  • p. 506 in the preceding, section on diffusion end leakage the appendix opening should be small. It can…
  • p. 521 …is li~ited as indicated above, small variations may be detected with the result that it…
  • p. 555 …being exposed about 10 hours at cold temperature. (:S) During the floating period :many small oscilla…
  • p. 565 …The very usef.ul information about be.llast flow was reported clearly, and the principle of…
  • p. 566 …Since the small external appendix with cardboard stiffeners was not suitable for the large balloon, a…
  • p. 580 …Following the initial activation at about 38,500 feet, small oscillations were introduced into the flight…
  • p. 614 …Figure 4 shows this appendix construction on a General M lls balloon which is being inflated…
  • p. 652 …At high altitudes, a difference of 40°C may be expected in the temperature of the…
  • p. 658 …To facilitate handling of the line segments each length is prepared with a small hook on…
  • p. 672 signals may be arranged so as to consume a very small portion of -transmission time. D…
  • p. 738 …These values may be compared with a diffusion loss of lift of the order of magnitude…
  • p. 742 …The constancy of level will be better the lower the diffusion and the lower, therefore, the…
  • p. 762 …te .::mrcht:.se of small item£. A furth..:r rec:uest ~s been subr:rl tte…
  • p. 783 …be of such a valve that with a large r~diosonde frequency variation for a small…
  • p. 785 …It is expected that this equipment will be flown about 8 l-1ay. A description of…
  • p. 815 …Before gear could be recovered, most of it had be~~tolen. Stations operating at north hanger…
  • p. 842 …Range started to slowly increase as did elevation with azimuth being stationary. The echo remained beyond…
  • p. 862 …By using this stressed tape design, much larger loads may be carried than the thin polyethylene…
  • p. 874 …At this point, two small holes about 18" apart have been made, and the rip line…
  • p. 881 …If thodolite stadia determinations are being made, the banner can be used as one of the…
  • p. 898 …laid out, A small amount of gas at very low pressure Should be valved into the…
  • p. 910 …The motor gears may be cleaned with carbon tetrachloride and a small clean brush. If the…
  • p. 918 …Each combination of dots or dashes may be identified by ear, and with a calibration chart…
example, it was originally reported that there was only recovery of debris from
one site. This has since grown from a minimal amount of debris recovered from
a small area to airplane loads of debris from multiple huge "debris fields."
Likewise, the relatively simple description of sticks, paper, tape and tinfoil has
since grown to exotic metals with hieroglyphics and fiber optic-like materials.
Most versions now claim that there were two crash sites where debris was
recovered, and at the second site, alleged bodies of extraterrestrial aliens were
supposedly retrieved. The number of these "alien bodies" recovered also varied.
These claims are further complicated by the fact that UFO researchers are not in
agreement among themselves as to exactly where these recovery sites were
located or even the dates of the alleged crash(es). Consistently, however, the AAF
was accused of securing these sites, recovering all the material therefrom, keeping
locals away, and returning the recovered wreckage (and bodies) to Roswell under
extremely tight security for further processing and later exploitation.
Once back at Roswell Army Air Field, it is generally alleged that special measures
were taken to notify higher headquarters and arrangements made to have
recovered materials shipped to other locations for analysis. These locations
include Fort Worth, Texas, the home of the Eighth Air Force Headquarters;
possibly Sandia Base (now Kirtland AFB), New Mexico; possibly Andrews Army
Air Field, Maryland; and always to Wright Field, now known as Wright-Patterson
AFB, Ohio. The latter location was the home of "T-2" which later became known
as the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) and the Air Materiel Command
(AMC), and would, in fact, be a logical location to study unknown materials from
whatever origin. Most of the Roswell stories that contain the recovery of alien
bodies also show them being shipped to Wright Field. Once the material and
bodies were dispersed for further analysis and/ or exploitation, the government
in general, and the Army Air Forces in particular, engaged in covering up all
information relating to the alleged crash and recovery, including the use of
security oaths to military persons and the use of coercion (including alleged death
threats) to others. This, as theorized by some UFO researchers, has allowed the
government to keep the fact that there is intelligent extraterrestrial life from the
American public for 47 years. It also supposedly allowed the US Government to
exploit recovered extraterrestrial materials by reverse engineering them, ultimately
providing such things as fiber optic and stealth technology. The "death threats,"
oaths, and other forms of coercion alleged to have been meted out by the AAF
personnel to keep people from talking have apparently not been very effective,
as several hundred people are claimed to have come forward (without harm) with
some knowledge of the "Roswell Incident" during interviews with nongovern-
ment researchers and the media.
Adding some measure of credibility to the claims that have arisen since 1978 is
the apparent depth of research of some of the authors and the extent of their
efforts. Their claims are lessened somewhat, however, by the fact that almost all
their information came from verbal reports many years after the alleged incident
occurred. Many of the persons interviewed were, in fact, stationed at, or lived
near Roswell during the time in question, and a number of them claim military
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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.