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. 5 …Additionally, historians Alfred Beck, William Heimdahl, Roger Miller, Eduard Mark, and Jacob Neufeld shared with us…
  • p. 10 …Security markings have been deleted from previously classified documents. The reader is advised that blacked-out…
  • p. 35 …covered the years 1945-1949, that were marked on the index as "destroyed." The researchers noted…
  • p. 39 …I do not recall any other types of material or markings, nor do I remember seeing…
  • p. 41 figures on the sticks, lavender or pink in color, appeared to be weather faded markings, with…
  • p. 51 …UFO buffs contend the incident marked the beginning of a government conspiracy to sup- press evidence…
  • p. 99 …Although we cannot be absolutely sure that the histories marked "no holding" in the above list…
  • p. 167 …No marks in the ground, dug up, anything hidden, or anything like that, just out on…
  • p. 201 …Some bush pilot had found some pock marks in dty snow in Alaska in 1950. So…
  • p. 219 …When this purplish-pink marking on the debris came up, I immediately remembered this sort of…
  • p. 220 …men, and they were joking about these markings on the tape. I have a letter that…
  • p. 224 …No, because he said it was balsa sticks and smoky rubber and had those curious markings…
  • p. 230 …White Sands to record Hermes." I've marked the key things here with red, and then…
  • p. 309 …in color, appeared to be weather faded markings, with no rhyme or reason. He did not…
  • p. 329 …the wreckage, also remembers the purple/pink marks. Newton stated that when he was called to…
  • p. 558 …On this flight re- cord, marked oscillations are observed at three points. Despite the presence of…
  • p. 563 …KENT, TEXAS Figure 25 On Flight 71 marked oscillations are seen at the fleeting level and…
  • p. 566 …From the height-t~e curve of this flight (Figure 29) the very marked effect of…
  • p. 567 …Pre- sumably the marked easterly flow then observed above 60.000 feet carried this second flight…
  • p. 667 …Figure 46 shows the train; figure 47 shows the time-altitude curve, Which exhibits a marked…
  • p. 910 …minute, the distance between successive re- ference marks will be 30 to 40 centimeters de- -56-
  • p. 915 …is measurable by the distance be- tween the reference marks. If there is a sudden -61-
  • p. 920 …are reached. (c) Check pressure of the marking pens. Too much pressure of the pens on…
  • p. 923 …This may be done by measuring the horizontal distance be- tween the temperature and pressure marks…
levels when the instrument is located out of doors.
For details of the use and care of theodolites.
see either the War Department publication TM-11-
423 or the U. s. Weather Bureau Circular "O".
(3) Aircraft Radio Compass
It has been found feasible to deter.mine the posi-
tion of the balloon by following the signal from a
balloon-borne transmitter. using an aircraft radio
compass as rece~ving unit. In this way it is possible
to fly along a path coward the balloon,·usually at
a much lower altitude. and. by noting the plane's
position where the compass reading is reversed. the
position of the tra-nsmitter is found. The main dis-
advantage of using this system is that aircraft is
n~eded. but there is no other method which will so
readily position the balloon over great distances
and periods of time. With this system. the limit
of tranamission time is a function of the weight of
transmitter batteries which can be carried rather
than distance. It is possible to power a trans-
mitter to supply 2 watts. for about 15 hours. using
15 pounds (7 kilograms) of batteries. Longer periods
of transmission may be achieved by intermittent opera-
tion of the transmitters or use of heavier batteries.
(4) Radar
If ground radar is available, accurate pod tioning
over a limited range can be made. It is helpful
but not strictly required to add radar targets
(corner reflectors) to the flight train for such
tracking. Using radar. the elevation angle • azimuth
angle and slant distance out are obtained, giving
a complete fix on the balloon with one set. The
maximum distance to which appropriate sets can reach
is about 65 miles; such sets are the SCR-584, the
SPM-1 and the MPS-6. V'lith good orientation and leveling
such seta have an accuracy of l.oo and about 500 feet
of slant range. Because of the limited range, radar
sets are not generally useful. Attempts to use
radar mounted atop aircraft for aeri~l observation
have been abandoned in favor of the radio compass.
B. Altitude Determination
In early attempts to utilize standard radiosonde
pressure modulators they were found to be unsatisfactory.
The Diamond-Hinman system of counting signal changes
-53-

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.