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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…
SYNOPSIS OF ROSWELL INCIDENT
I am writing to request a clarifica-
rion of the U.S. Government's cu~nt position concerning
events which occurred in and around Roswell. New Mex-
ico; in July 1947.
According to newspaper accounts and eyewitness reports.
a local rancher. William W. Brazel. discovered pieces of
d bris from an object which crashed on the property he
managed outside Corona. on or about July 2. 1947. He
brought some of this material to the :mention of Chaves
County Sheriff George Wilcox. who called the Roswell Ar-
my Air Field. The base Intelligence Officer, Jesse A. Marcel.
and a Counter Intelligence Corps Officer, Sheridan Cavitt,
went to the ranch to inspect the material.
They discovered a gre:~t deal of lightweight debris which
couldn't be cut. burned, or even dented with a sledgeham-·
mer. On orders from the base commander, Col. William
Blanchard. the Public Information Officer, Walter G. Haut,
issued a news release that the Amry Air Force had recovered
''lying disc." Some of the debris was flown to Fort Worth,
..as where the Commander of the Eighth Air Force, Gen.
Roger Ramey. identified the m.aterial for the press as the
remains o.f a weather balloon and its r2dar target.
However, subsequent investigation has I'Oiised considei.lble
doubt about the weather balloon explanation. For e:wnple:.
• According to his son arid neighbors, Brazel was held
incommunicado by officials at the Roswell base for nearly
a week, questioned extensively :md ordered not to say
anything about his experience; however, in a newspaper in-
terview, he said that the material he recovered "did not in
any way resemble a weather balloon," many of which he
had recovered on his property.
• Sheriff Wilcox. to whom Brazel initially reported find-
ing the debris. also was .ordered by the military not to say
anyt~ing. but members of his family say that not only did
he see debris at the crash site - he :llso saw four "space"
beings," one of whom was alive. Moreover, his gi.lnd-
daughter, Barbara Dugger, was told by her grandmother, Inez
Wilcox, that the entire family was threatened with death by
the military if they discussed the incident.
• The former manager of KGFL Radio in Roswell, Jud
Roberts, says the station was threatened with loss of its
license by government officials in Washington, DC, if it
broadcast the story about the "flying saucer." In addition,
·rding to Lydia Sleppy, a secretary at KOAT Radio in
Jquerque, a wire transmission of the news story on the
event was interrupted by a message something like: "CEASE
TRANSMISSION. NATIONAL SECURITY ITEM."
• According to Brig.. Gen .. Thomas 1. DuBose .(USAF,.
ret.), who was Gen. Ramey's Chief of Staff, Maj Gen.
Clements McMullen. the Deputy and Acting Commander.
Str.~tegic Air Command, at Andrews ·Army Air .Field,
ordered that some of the debris recovered on the ranch be
brought directly to him in Washington. Gen. DuBose says
officials at the Headquarters of the Eighth Air Force were
directed to tell the press that the material was from a weather
balloon I'Oidar target, and that the weather balloon explana-
tion was a "cover story" to divert the attention of the press.
• The pilot who transpOrted some of the wreckage, Oliver
W. Henderson, said he saw the bodies of alien beings at the
Roswell base, according to his widow, Sappho Henderson,
his daughter. Mary Kathryn Groode, and his friend, John
Kromschroeder.
• A mortician who worked for the funCr.ll home in
Roswell, Glenn Dennis, says an:Arrr.y nurse friend told him
about participating in the autopsies of three alien bodies at
the base.
Therefore, [ am formally requesting that you seek to deter-
mine whether the highly unusual material recovered near
Corona was from a "flying disc," a weather balloon, or
something else.
Please advise me. at your earliest opportunity, of the
United States Government's current position on the nature
of the material recovered outside Roswell, New Me.""tico, in
July 1947, and its current explanation for all official actions
taken with respect to this event.
Sincerely,

Cases discussed

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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.