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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. 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report and publication would not have been possible without the expert assistance and outstanding…
  • p. 6 balloon files; Neal Stark and Jack Griffin, of the Geophysical Directorate's Aerospace Engineering Group, whose…
  • p. 17 …the Roswell Incident, this event has become the most celebrated UFO encounter of all time and…
  • p. 19 …such amusing events as the one reported by the New York Times in which a secret…
  • p. 21 …Nevertheless, the attached report is a good faith effort and the first time any agency of…
  • p. 25 …until the 1978-1980 time frame. Prior to that, the incident was dismissed because the AAF…
  • p. 27 …times, most research- ers will not dispute that anything in UFO history can compare with the…
  • p. 28 …the "Roswell Incident" was not considered one of these 1947 events until the 1978-1980 time…
  • p. 29 …weather balloons on the ranch, but _that what he found this time did not in any…
  • p. 30 …the persons interviewed were, in fact, stationed at, or lived near Roswell during the time in…
  • p. 31 …Collectively, the above represent the "pro" UFO writers who allege that the government is engaged in…
  • p. 34 …at Roswell Army Air Field during the period of time in question. It is anticipated that…
  • p. 35 …Since much of this testing done at nearby White Sands was secret at the time, it…
  • p. 36 …the 509th Bomb Group was the only military unit in the world at the time that…
  • p. 37 …If such a system had been in effect at the time, it would 21
  • p. 38 …Marcel, MD (son of the late Major Jesse Marcel; 11 years old at the time of…
  • p. 39 …Brazel; 14 years old at the time of the incident). Affidavit dated September 22, 1993. " ... The…
  • p. 40 …He thought at the time, and continued to do so today, that what he found was…
  • p. 42 …of the project, but they did not know of the project nickname at the time. They…
  • p. 43 …Additionally, a copy of a professional journal maintained at the time by A.P. Crary, provided…
  • p. 45 …first generation) prints of the photographs taken at the time by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram…
  • p. 46 …Although that project was Top Secret at the time, there was also no specific indication found…
  • p. 47 …good faith but in the "fog of time," misinterpreted past events. The review of Air Force…
  • p. 56 …time periods (1947 to present) to determine whether proper procedures were followed. {3) For the incidents…
  • p. 73 …Why have I decided to write at this time This is the 45th year anniversary of…
  • p. 77 …Also, the Blue Book records and the Condon report do not mention the Roswell incident, though…
  • p. 81 …of time, but in some cases, it is advantageous to do while in others the wreckage…
  • p. 82 …Please note that mishaps involving unmanned air vehicles (which during the 1940s included remotely piloted aircraft…
  • p. 94 …for the 1947 time frame in their holdinqs. They noted that the histories for the 509th…
  • p. 99 …the crash of a weather balloon near the base in the June/July 1947 time frame…
  • p. 113 …held in the Southwest U.S. concerning subject (atch 2). At that time, District 17, Kirtland…
  • p. 143 …that time make a deciaicn as to approval of KeMey's orgar.izatian and howr extensive…
  • p. 149 …Amerson tlla t he was definitely againSt his l.eating Washingtan at the present time and…
  • p. 159 …What Marcel did with this material at the time was unknown to me. although I know…
  • p. 163 …the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) (at that time ofthe US Army) in 1947? SC: Yes ... the…
  • p. 164 …Well, there again I couldn't swear to the dates, but in that time, which must…
  • p. 165 …Were you familiar with weather balloons at the time? SC: I had seen them. I had…
  • p. 166 …t think at that time we might not even been taking the paper. We heard no…
  • p. 167 …Do you remember at the time the article or the photo of General Ramey and Marcel…
  • p. 168 …incident occurred until the time he left? Or, anywhere up until the time he died? SW…
  • p. 169 …He use to be a mechanic at one time, Rick did, in the Air Force; the…
  • p. 170 …I assume .. .! assume when I read this thing for the first time that they sent me…
  • p. 172 …Which at one time was on the Plains of San Augustin and now it has apparently…
  • p. 175 …No, .. .I didn't spend any extended time down there at the site. RW: O.K…
  • p. 176 …In the mean time, the CIC man would head back to the crash sit with some…
  • p. 177 …at that time, just like in OSI, you did not wear uniforms for the most part…
  • p. 178 …derivatives of the V-2, that we were playing with at that time). Schmitt asked if…
  • p. 179 …He said the ranks ofCIC agents were all classified at the time" (I know that's…
  • p. 181 …royalties for a long time. RW: Oh, this wu out of the Global Reliance. I don…
  • p. 183 …But at the time a portion of it was Top Secret. It bas since then be…
  • p. 184 …At the time I thought this was sort of stupid. They had a list back at…
  • p. 185 …When did all of this first surface, in your life? After you picked up the original…
  • p. 187 …Apparently at that time, as near u we can tell, one of the baBoon manufactures did…
  • p. 188 …Haut? The public affairs guy at the time? SC: Just vaguely. What was he, base information…
  • p. 191 …period of time and all of a sudden they change the period of time. MC: Well…
  • p. 201 …At one time I was sent by the US government to assist the South Africa meterological…
  • p. 202 …The radar reflectors were sheets of reflective material and they changed over time but I don…
  • p. 205 …GeNII was the Project Engineer for the NYU balloon project during the 1947 time frame. I…
  • p. 206 …of the 1883 Krakatoa explosion where the pressure waves circled the earth seven times. Dr Cracy…
  • p. 217 …One of the individuals, Sheridan Cavitt, who at that time was a Counter-Intelligence Corps officer…
23-24). These interviews confirmed that Project MOGUL was a compartmented,
sensitive effort. The NYU group was responsible for developing constant level
balloons and telemetering equipment that would remain at specified altitudes
(within the acoustic duct) while a group from Columbia was to develop acoustic
sensors. Doctor Spilhaus, Professor Moore, and certain others of the group were
aware of the actual purpose of the project, but they did not know of the project
nickname at the time. They handled casual inquiries and/ or scientific inqui-
ries/papers in terms of "unclassified meteorological or balloon research." Newly
hired employees were not made aware that there was anything special or
classified about their work; they were told only that their work dealt with
meteorological equipment.
An advance ground team, led by Albert P. Crary, preceded the NYU group to
Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, setting up ground sensors and
obtaining facilities for the NYU group. Upon their arrival, Professor Moore and
his team experimented with various configurations of neoprene balloons;
development of balloon "trains" (see illustration, Atch 25); automatic ballast
systems; and use of Naval sonobuoys (as the Watson Lab acoustical sensors had
not yet arrived). They also launched what they called "service flights." These
"service flights" were not logged nor fully accounted for in the published
Technical Reports generated as a result of the contract between NYU and Watson
Labs. According to Professor Moore, the "service flights" were composed of
balloons, radar reflectors, and payloads specifically designed to test acoustic
sensors (both early sonobuoys and the later Watson Labs devices). The "payload
equipment" was expendable, and some carried no "Reward" or "Return to ... "
tags because there was to be no association between these flights and the logged
constant altitude flights which were fully acknowledged. The NYU balloon flights
were listed sequentially in their reports (i.e., A, B, or 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 ... ), yet gaps
existed for Flights 2-4 and Flight 9. The interview with Professor Moore indicated
that these gaps were the unlogged "service flights."
Professor Moore, the on-scene Project Engineer, gave detailed information
concerning his team's efforts. He recalled that radar targets were used for tracking
balloons because they did not have all the necessary equipment when they first
arrived in New Mexico. Some of the early developmental radar targets were
manufactured by a toy or novelty company. These targets were made up of
aluminum "foil" or foil-backed paper, balsa wood beams that were coated in an
"Elmer's-type" glue to enhance their durability, acetate and/or cloth reinforcing
tape, single strand and braided nylon twine, brass eyelets and swivels to form a
multi-faced reflector somewhat similar in construction to a box kite (see photo-
graphs, Atch 26). Some of these targets were also assembled with purplish-pink
tape with symbols on it (see drawing by Moore with Atch 21).
According to the log summary (Atch 27) of the NYU group, Flight A through
Flight 7 (November 20, 1946-July 2, 1947) were made with neoprene meteorologi-
cal balloons (as opposed to the later flights made with polyethylene balloons).
Professor Moore stated that the neoprene balloons were susceptible to degrada-
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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.