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…
the supposed first ever recovery of extraterrestrial materials. (Detractors claim
Blanchard did this as a ploy to elude the press and go to the scene to direct the
recovery operations.) The history and the morning reports also showed that the
subsequent activities at Roswell during the month were mostly mundane and not
indicative of any unusual high-level activity, expenditure of manpower, resources
or security.
Likewise, the researchers found no indication of heightened activity anywhere
else in the military hierarchy in the July, 1947, message traffic or orders (to
include classified traffic). There were rlo indications and warnings, notice of alerts,
or a higher tempo of operational activity reported that would be logically
generated if an alien craft, whose intentions were unknown, entered US territory.
To believe that such operational and high-level security activity could be
conducted solely by relying on unsecured telecommunications or personal contact
without creating any records of such activity certainly stretches the imagination
of those who have served in the military who know that paperwork of some kind
is necessary to accomplish even emergency, highly classified, or sensitive tasks.
An example of activity sometimes cited by pro-UFO writers to illustrate the point
that something unusual was going on was the travel of Lt Gen Nathan Twining,
Commander of the Air Materiel Command, to New Mexico in July, 1947.
Actually, records were located indicating that Twining went to the Bomb
Commanders' Course on July 8, along with a number of other general officers,
and requested orders to do so a month before, on June 5, 1947 (Atch 14).
Similarly, it has also been alleged that General Hoyt Vandenberg, Deputy Chief
of Staff at the time, had been involved directing activity regarding events at
Roswell. Activity reports (Atch 15), located in General Vandenberg's personal
papers stored in the Library of Congress, did indicate that on July 7, he was busy
with a "flying disc" incident; however this particular incident involved Ellington
Field, Texas and the Spokane (Washington) Depot. After much discussion and
information gathering on this incident, it was learned to be a hoax. There is no
similar mention of his personal interest or involvement in Roswell events except
in the newspapers.
The above are but two small examples that indicate that if some event happened
that was one of the "watershed happenings" in human history, the US military
certainly reacted in an unconcerned and cavalier manner. In an actual case, the
military would have had to order thousands of soldiers and airman, not only at
Roswell but throughout the US, to act nonchalantly, pretend to conduct and
report business as usual, and generate absolutely no paperwork of a suspicious
nature, while simultaneously anticipating that twenty years or more into the
future people would have available a comprehensive Freedom of Information Act
that would give them great leeway to review and explore government documents.
The records indicate that none of this happened (or if it did, it was controlled by
a security system so efficient and tight that no one, US or otherwise, has been
able to duplicate it since. If such a system had been in effect at the time, it would
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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.