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. 3 …The importance of attachment 32, Lieutenant McAndrew's synopsis, derives from his description of Project MOGUL…
  • p. 13 …Photographs, Project MOGUL Balloon Trains 27. Table No.7, Summary of NYU Constant-Level Balloon Flights…
  • p. 14 …Crane as Project Officer for MOGUL and TORRID, June 18, 1946 9. Memo, Maj Gen Curtis…
  • p. 25 …Records were located and thoroughly explored concerning a then-Top Secret balloon project, designed to attempt…
  • p. 27 USAF in September, 1947, the USAF inherited equipment, personnel, records, policies, and procedures from the AAF…
  • p. 29 …EVOLUTION OF THE EVENT FROM 1947 TO THE PRESENT General Ramey's press conference and rancher…
  • p. 31 …This included directing searches at current offices where special or unusual projects might be carried out…
  • p. 35 …USAF records showed that between June 24, 1947, and July 28, 1947, there were five crashes…
  • p. 41 …Its name was Project MOGUL (Atch 19). Project MOGUL was a then-sensitive, classified project, whose…
  • p. 42 …These interviews confirmed that Project MOGUL was a compartmented, sensitive effort. The NYU group was responsible…
  • p. 43 …It is very probable that this Top Secret project balloon train (Flight 4), made up of…
  • p. 44 …Trakowski provided specific details on Project MOGUL and described how the security for the program was…
  • p. 45 In order to provide a more detailed discussion of the specifics of Project MOGUL and how…
  • p. 48 …Copy of Vandenberg's Appointment Book and Diary, July 7-9, 1947 16. July 9, 1947…
  • p. 51 …Schiff complaiiled then that the Defense Department had been "unresponsive" to his inquiries about the 1947…
  • p. 73 …of the physicians who participated in this project. I must respect his confidentially and anonymity. He…
  • p. 74 •Freedom of Information Act Request February 5, 1993 Paqe 3 of 3 PROJECT SIGMA The project…
  • p. 76 SUMMARY OF HQ NAIC RESEARCH INTO THE ROSWELL INCIDENT, UNIDENTIFIED FLYING SAUCERS, AND PROJECT BLUE BOOK…
  • p. 78 …study project officer from 1951-1953 and he investigated a series of reports from 1947. He…
  • p. 104 …assWted command of Ro..;\vell .~rmy Air Field on e July 1947. Colo·nel i1. H…
  • p. 106 …Headqt~':'.!"ters, this station, datod 18 July 1947. 1st Lt. Lewis c. Bohanan. former commanding o…
  • p. 108 …Officer and AACS, regarding Headquarters AMC projects. 22 July- 1947 - Dr. E. M. Townsexrl, PBS, Ft…
  • p. 183 …There was a project run by New York University, out ofHoDoman at that time. It was…
  • p. 196 …Plans .for rasearoh on Project "t.t>cuJ. 1 " z. c. lS:~.-ll, priority lA, include…
  • p. 201 …On the December 1947 baUoon project reports the "service flights" probably refer to the then Top…
  • p. 205 …GeNII was the Project Engineer for the NYU balloon project during the 1947 time frame. I…
  • p. 206 …Dr Crazy and Dr Peoples were the advance people and scientific monitors for our project Dr…
  • p. 213 …I have also been contacted by several researchers and writers and discussed project Mogul and provided…
  • p. 217 Transcript from 8 June 94, Interview with Professor Charles Moore (A) Professor Charles Moore Project Engineer…
  • p. 218 …Is there any type of material from that project that you can think of that would…
  • p. 226 …so essentially you'd say there were no radar reflectors in New Mexico until 1947 until…
  • p. 246 …We got into an operation at Alamagordo in early June of 1947, in which we were…
  • p. 261 …It turns out that during this time frame, 1947, 1948, 1949, there were numerous aircraft accidents…
  • p. 275 …I remained project officer of Project MOGUL through our move of the laboratory from Watson Laboratories…
  • p. 281 …At some point in Project MOGUL did you utilize equipment based at Roswell Army Air Field…
  • p. 299 …B-29 crashed on T/0 from Albuquerque in Jan 1947 and a B-29 crashed…
  • p. 300 …Archivist (202) 504-5416 "no records of Project Mogul; recommend checking with DOE historian or the…
  • p. 309 …However, I was familiar with them because we used them and their products on various projects…
  • p. 318 …1947.4 An examination of unclassified technical and progress reports prepared by the balloon project revealed…
  • p. 320 …in January 1947, is shown in Attachment 2. Over the course of the project, MOGUL had…
  • p. 321 Air Forces, in conjunction with Project MOGUL. 10 The NYU "balloon group" was to develop and…
  • p. 322 …June 1, 1947.19 Present Olll this flight was C.B. Moore, NYU Project Engineer, Charles…
  • p. 323 …Dr Peoples, Project Scientist, decided not to bring the radiosonde recorder (an AN IFMQ1 weighing approximately…
  • p. 326 …Over the course of Project MoGUL, several balloons had landed and been recovered from that area…
  • p. 328 …Additionally, in 1949, General Yates received a full briefing bf the projects, including constant-level balloons…
  • p. 329 …Pritchard, a Watson Laboratory Project Officer (not assigned to MOGUL) stationed at Alamogordo AAF. This article…
  • p. 330 …One instance, on April 7, 1947, Crary gave Pritchard a "progress report for MOGUL project to…
  • p. 418 …From September 1946 to Januar,r 1947, Colonel Dut!7 WRI in charge of apnlled nropagation…
  • p. 444 …was decided, during the autumn of 1947 to present the meteorological diagnoses in a different form…
  • p. 708 …20 March 1947 N. Y. Meeting No. 12 PROBLEM: 1. The Secretary of the Subcommittee presented…
  • p. 747 …1, 1947 to Ma7 31, 1947 §tqttoa II tt.aearch D1'fie ion, ProJect 1fo. 93…
  • p. 758 …January 1, 1947 to April 30, 1947 CONSTANT LEVEL BALLOON Research Division, Project No. 93 Preoared…
  • p. 776 …The project ~rsomlel !las been usiiU:; work bencl:.ea occ;.i.9ied by other projc:cts…
  • p. 790 …12. :20 l11arch 1947 PROBLEM: 1. The Secretary of t~e Subcommittee presented a request from…
  • p. 819 …June 1, 1947 to June 31, 19"7 Section II Research Division, ProJect No. 9S Prepared…
  • p. 975 …Army Air Forces, in 1947, and later Chief of Staff, United States Air Force, 1961-1965…
  • p. 979 …break during Project MOGUL operations at White Sands Proving Ground, NM, July 1947. Project MOGUL Field…
  • p. 982 …the NYU field trip in June 1947 prompted Project Engineer C.B. Moore to attach additional…
  • p. 983 …Moore, NYU Constant-Level Balloon Project Engineer. Moore pio- neered the use of polyethylene balloons for…
  • p. 984 …Sands Proving Ground, NM, in July 1947, by Project MOGUL balloon and ground-based sensors. Photo…
weather officer, Warrant Officer Irving Newton, to make an identification.
Newton positively identified the debris as the remnants of a balloon and RAWIN
target. 37 With this identification, the incident officially closed.
THE "COVER STORY"
From research, it appears that the wreckage displayed on July 8 consisted of
unclassified components of a MOGUL balloon assembly. Possibly withheld, if it
was indeed recovered, was the AN/CRT-1 Sonabuoy, which could have compro-
mised Project MOGUL. Although the Sonabuoy was not itself classified, its
association with a balloon would have exposed a specific military purpose, an
obvious violation of project classification guidelines (Atch 9). A device described
in 11
crashed disc" publications as II a giant thermos jug" was allegedly transported
from Fort Worth AAF to Wright Field. 38 This description is consistent with the
appearance of an AN/CRT-1 Sonabuoy such as was used on flight no. 4 (Atch
4). At some point General Ramey decided to forward the material to Wright Field,
home of AMC, the appropriate agency to identify one of its own research devices
or a device of unknown origin. If the debris was determined to be from an
unknown source, the AMC, T-2, Intelligence or Analysis Division, would conduct
scientific and/ or intelligence analysis in an attempt to discover its origin. But
since the balloons, reflectors, and Sonabuoy were from an AMC research project,
the debris was forwarded to the appropriate division or subdivision, in this case
the Electronics Subdivision of the Engineering Division. There, it was identified
by Colonel Duffy, under whose purview Project MOGUL operated. Colonel Duffy,
a former project officer of MOGUL with specific directions to "continue to monitor
upper air programs," was the appropriate headquarters officer to make an
identification, which he apparently did. According to Captain (now Colonel)
Trakowski, the officer who succeeded Colonel Duffy as project officer on MOGUL,
after returning from the Alamogordo II field trip, Colonel Duffy contacted him
by phone at Watson Laboratories and informed him that the "stuff you've been
launching at Alamogordo," had been sent to him for identification. He described
the debris to Captain Trakowski, and Trakowski agreed that it was part of his
project (MOGUL). 39
Another occurrence sometimes said to "prove" that General Ramey was part of
a cover story is that portions of the debris were flown to Andrews AAF, MD.
Andrews would have been a probable location to send the debris since it had
components of weather observation equipment. Andrews AAF was headquarters
of the Army Air Forces Weather Service. It is also interesting to note that the
commanding general of the Weather Service, Brig Gen Donald N. Yates, was
quoted in wire service newspaper articles on July 9, providing his opinion of the
37. Rawin is short for radar wind, a technique in which a single comer reflector is towed aloft
by a single neoprene balloon to measure wind speed by radar.
38. Kevin Randall and Donald Schmitt, UFO Crash at Roswell (New York, 1991), p. 103.
39. Intvw, Col Jeffrey Butler and 1st Lt James McAndrew with Col Albert C. Trakowski, USAF
(Ret), Jun 29, 1994, p. 4.

Cases discussed

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.