Witness Description
Air Force Equipment/Procedure
“Crash Site”
21. “It’s uniform was torn in a couple spots...their uniforms were in pretty sad shape.”186
Anderson
Dummy uniforms were often secondhand, rips and other defects were common but they remained in service (fig. 75).
Site 2
22. “Around the collar it [the suit] was trimmed in...maroon-like cording”187
Anderson
Reference to red duct tape used to prevent air from filling the dummy’s flightsuit (figs. 29, 30).
Site 2
23. “They looked like they had some sort of bandages on ‘em...over his [the crewmember’s] arm.”188
Anderson
Reference to tape and nylon webbing used to prevent arms and legs of dummy from flailing. Tape was also used to secure the removable back plate of head (figs. 29, 30, 35, 72-75).
Site 2
24. [bandages] “around his midsection and partially over his shoulder”189
Anderson
Reference to parachute harness that had chest and shoulder straps.
Site 2
The “Craft”
25. “It [the crewmember] felt dead when I touched it, it was very cold.”190
Anderson
Description of a high altitude balloon payload that was cold soaked at sub zero temperatures of the upper atmosphere.
Site 2
26. “it was a dirigible, a blimp that had crashed”191
Anderson
Reference to a partially inflated or deflated high altitude balloon (figs. 23, 70).
Site 2
27. “a flying saucer that had burst open”192
Maltais
Reference to the dummy suspension rack that did not have sides (figs. 35, 73-75).
Site 2
28. “clusters of thread like material in the form of a cable”193
Anderson
Numerous cables and wires were used in the dummy instrumentation kits and balloon control package.
Site 2
29. “others of those [cables] went from one kind of package of components to another kind of package”194
Anderson
Both balloon control package and dummy instrumentation kits were connected by cables (fig. 73).
Site 2
30. “some kind of container, a metal box”195
Anderson
Reference to balloon control package or dummy instrumentation kit (fig. 73).
Site 2
71