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. 13 …Alamogordo News, "Fantasy of 'Flying Disc' Is Exlained Here: News Men Watch Army Radar Crew Launch…
  • p. 25 …allegedly recovered remains of a crashed "flying disc" near Roswell, New Mexico. In February, 1994, the…
  • p. 28 …Marcel, had recovered a "flying disc" from the range lands of an unidentified rancher in the…
  • p. 36 …the month answering inquiries on the 'flying disc,' which was reported to be in possession of…
  • p. 37 …7, he was busy with a "flying disc" incident; however this particular incident involved Ellington Field…
  • p. 38 …The disc is hexagonal in shape and was suspended from a balloon by a cable, which…
  • p. 43 …Concerning the initial announcement, "RAAF Captures Flying Disc," research failed to locate any documented evidence as…
  • p. 44 …Pflock concluded from his research that the Brazel Ranch debris originally reported as a "flying disc…
  • p. 46 …Marcel in originally reporting that a "flying disc" had been recovered when, at that time, nobody…
  • p. 75 …Haut, issued a news release that the Amry Air Force had recovered ''lying disc." Some of…
  • p. 99 …the Office of Public Affairs and "flying disc" activities in GP-509-Hl, July 1947, p…
  • p. 100 …produced no documents concerned with a flying disc and/or weather balloon crash at Roswell AAFld…
  • p. 105 …kept quite busy during the monti1 answering inquiries on the "flying disc", which.was reported to…
  • p. 144 …they understand these discs are a u.s. rlane that is still on the secret list…
  • p. 145 …Vandenberg's directive that he run dotm the story about the fiying discs. Col. W• .t…
  • p. 166 …famous newspaper says they found a "flying disc" in RosweU? That was actually the Roswell paper…
  • p. 206 …announcement was made concerning having · folUld the "discs". When we heard the news back in New…
  • p. 254 …Here's the morning paper, "Report flying disc found." Down here is about Colonel J.D…
  • p. 318 …debris may be part of a "flying disc."1 The sheriff conta<;ted Roswell (Army Air…
  • p. 325 …and was subsequently identified as a "flying disc" by personnel from Roswell AAF was, with a…
  • p. 326 …It should also be understood that the term "flying disc" was not at this time synonymous…
  • p. 327 …A device described in 11 crashed disc" publications as II a giant thermos jug" was allegedly…
  • p. 328 …made up Project MOGUL.40 While crashed disc proponents claim that General Ramey ordered a "colonel…
  • p. 329 …of the office was a crashed "flying disc." Newton, having seen many weather balloons and targets…
  • p. 331 …rumors that the "capture" of a "flying disc" occurred, ultimately left many people with unanswered questions…
  • p. 373 11 Alamogordo News "Fantasy of 'Flying Disc' Is Explained Here: News Men Watch Army Raqar Crew…
  • p. 430 …This report consists of a disc,1ssion o.f instrumentation for balloon systems, techniques for launching…
In order to provide a more detailed discussion of the specifics of Project MOGUL
and how it appeared to be directly responsible for the "Roswell Incident," a
SAF I AAZD researcher prepared a more detailed discussion on the balloon project
which is appended to this report as Atch 32.
Other Research
In the attempt to develop additional information that could help explain this
matter, a number of other steps were taken. First, assistance was requested from
various museums and other archives (Atch 28) to obtain information and/ or
examples of the actual balloons and radar targets used in connection with Project
MOGUL and to correlate them with the various descriptions of wreckage and
materials recovered. The blueprints for the "Pilot Balloon Target ML307C/ AP
Assembly" (generically, the radar target assembly) were located at the Army
Signal Corps Museum at Fort Monmouth and were obtained. A copy is appended
as Atch 29. This blueprint provides the specification for the foil material, tape,
wood, eyelets, and string used and the assembly instructions thereto. An actual
device was also obtained for study with the assistance of Professor Moore. (The
example actually procured was a 1953-manufactured model"C" as compared to
the Model B which was in use in 1947. Professor Moore related the differences
were minor.) An examination of this device revealed it to be simply made of
aluminum-colored foil-like material over a stronger paper-like material, attached
to balsa wood sticks, affixed with tape, glue, and twine. When opened, the device
appears as depicted in Atch 31 (contemporary photo) and Atch 25 (1947 photo,
in a "balloon train"). When folded, the device is in a series of triangles, the largest
being 4 feet by 2 feet 10 inches. The smallest triangle section measures 2 feet by
2 feet 10 inches. (Compare with descriptions provided by Lt Col Cavitt and
others, as well as photos of wreckage.)
Additionally, the researchers obtained from the Archives of the University of
Texas-Arlington (UTA), a set of original (i.e., first generation) prints of the
photographs taken at the time by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, that depicted
Ramey and Marcel with the wreckage. A close review of these photos (and a set
of first-generation negatives also subsequently obtained from UTA) revealed
several interesting observations. First, although in some of the literature cited
above, Marcel allegedly stated that he had his photo taken with the "real" UFO
wreckage and then it was subsequently removed and the weather balloon
wreckage substituted for it, a comparison shows that the same wreckage appeared
in the photos of Marcel and Ramey. The photos also depicted that this material
was lying on what appeared to be some sort of wrapping paper (consistent with
affidavit excerpt of crew chief Porter, above). It was also noted that in the two
photos of Ramey he had a piece of paper in his hand. In one, it was folded over
so nothing could be seen. In the second, however, there appears to be text printed
on the paper. In an attempt to read this text to determine if it could shed any
further light on locating documents relating to this matter, the photo was sent to
a national-level organization for digitizing and subsequent photo interpretation
and analysis. This organization was also asked to scrutinize the digitized photos
for any indication of the flowered tape (or "hieroglyphics," depending on the
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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.