Documents / FOIA release
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.
“GAO”35 pages
THE ROSWELL INCIDENT On July 7, 1947, W.W. (Mac) Brazel, a rancher from approximately 75 miles northwest of Roswell, NM, contacted the local sheriff and reported that sme metallic debris had come to rest on the ranch on which he worked near the town of Corona, NM. This was during the "UFO Wave of 1947," and he told the sh¢riff that he thought this debris may be part of a "flying disc."1 The sheriff conta<;ted Roswell (Army Air Field) AAF, which in tum sent intelligence officer, Maj J~sse Marcel, and two Counterintelligence Corps Agents, Capt Sheridan Cavitt and MSgt Lewis Rickett, to evaluate the debris. The officers collected a portion of the material and brought it back to Roswell AAF on the evening of July 7. 2 The following day, the Public Information Office released a statement saying that the Army Air Forces had recovered a flying disc. This press release was provided to local newspapers who sent it out to wire services. Meanwhile, Brig Gen Roger Ramey, Eighth Air Force Commander, ordered that the debris be flown to Eighth Air Force Headquarters at Fort Worth AAF, TX, for his personal inspection. Upon viewing the debris, he and his staff recognized parts which looked similar to a weather balloon. He then summoned the base weather officer, who identified 1 the debris as the remnants of a weather balloon and its attached metallic radar target.3 General Ramey then invited the local press to view and take photographs oft the materials and he declared the episode to be a misunderstanding (Atch 1). The above summarizes the previously reported information of what happened on July 7 and 8, 1947. Before now, however, a larger portion of the story was never told. Recent research indicates that the debris recovered from the ranch on ]uly 7, 1947, was a weather balloon-but it was not being used strictly for wea~er purposes; its real purpose was to carry classified payloads for a Top Secret US Army Air Forces project. The project's classified code name was MOGUL. The current investigation discovered that an experimental ba1loon project was being conducted at nearby Alamogordo Army Airfield (now Holloman AFB, NM) during the summer of 1947.4 An examination of unclassified technical and progress reports prepared by the balloon project revealed that a highly classified program, Project MOGUL was the ultimate reason for the balloon experiments. Project MOGUL was classified Top Secret and carried a priority level of 1A.5 It is Project MOGUL that provides the ultimate explanation for the "Roswell Incident." 1. Roswell Daily Record, Jul 9, 1947, p. 1. 2. Intvw, Col Richard L. Weaver with Lt Col Sheridan Cavitt, USAF (Ret}, May 24, 1994. 3. Intvw, Lt Col Joseph V. Rogan with Irving Newton, Jul21, 1994. 4. Ltr, Lt Col Edward A. Doty to Mr David Bushnell, Mar 3, 1959. 5. Ltr, Brig Gen E. O'Donnell, Deputy Chief, Engineering Division, HQ AMC, to Commanding General, USAAF, subj: Change in Classification of MOGUL, Item 188-5, Jul 8, 1946.
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.