roswell

Air Forces, in conjunction with Project MOGUL. 10 The NYU "balloon group" was
to develop and fly constant-level balloons while simultaneously developing
telemetering equipment to transmit data obtained in the upper atmosphere. 11
Group members launched, tracked, and recorded data only in regard to constant-
level balloon flight and telemetering of information. They did not have access to
observations and measurements that had military applications. MOGUL, in other
words, was conducted as a compartmented, classified project in which partici-
pants knew only what they needed to know, and no more. Due to the compart-
mentation, balloon flights made by NYU were divided into two categories,
"research" and "service."12 Research flights tested balloon controls and telemeter-
ing systems and were fully reported in the unclassified NYU reports. 13 A total of
110 research flights were flown during the contract. Service flights were flown at
the direction of Watson Laboratory personnel, but the military purpose was Top
Secret. These flights carried classified equipment, which could not be fully
reported in the unclassified NYU documents. Further evidence of the exclusion
of classified information from the reports is the lack of data for balloons flown in
association with the Sandstone nuclear tests held in April and May of 1948.14 In
recent interviews with former NYU personnel, Dr. Athelstan F. Spilhaus, NYU
Director of Research, and Professor Charles B. Moore, NYU Constant-Level
Balloon Project Engineer, stated that they were never informed of the classified
name, MOGUL, nor did they ever have access to the scientific data that was
obtained by the USAAF as a result of their efforts. In response to inquiries,
professional or casual, project personnel simply said that they were engaged in
balloon research. 15
The first balloon launches associated with Project MOGUL were carried out at
several locations on the east coast of the United States.16 However, unfavorable
winds, conflicts with commercial air traffic, and the need to gather data on the V-
2 flights currently being conducted at White Sands Proving Ground, NM, led the
NYU group to conduct further tests from Alamogordo AAFY The NYU group
would make three "field trips" during the summer of 1947 for test and evaluation,
labeling them Alamogordo I, II, and Ill. The majority of the balloon flights over
the next four years originated from Alamogordo AAF.
10. Research Division, College of Engineering, NYU, Technical Report No. 93.03, Constant Level
Balloons, Final Report, Mar 1, 1951 (hereafter NYU, Final Report), p. 3.
11. Research Division, College of Engineering, NYU, Technical Report 93-02, Constant Level
Balloons,
Sect 1, General, Nov 15, 1949, p. 5.
12. NYU, Final Report, p. 13.
13. Research Division, College of Engineering, NYU, Technical Report No. 1, Constant Level
Balloon, Apr 1, 1948, Table VII, "Summary of NYU Constant-Level Balloon Flights" (hereafter
NYU, Technical Report No. 1, Table VII); ibid., Technical Report No. 93.02, Constant Level Balloons,
Sect 3, Summary of Flights.
14. "Sonic Balloon Test Kwajalein."
15. Athelstan F. Spilhaus, C.S. Schneider, C.B. Moore, "Controlled-Altitude Free Balloons,"
Journal of Meteorology, 5 (Aug 1948): 130-137.
16. NYU, Technical Report No. 1, Table VII.
17. Research Division, College of Engineering, NYU, Progress Report No. 6, Constant Level
Balloon, Sect II, June 1947 (hereafter Progress Report No. 6, Sect II), p. 4.