The Roswell Report: Case Closed

ST.-\TE~lE?\T OF \\TfNESS
Place : Date: 24 June 95
L Joseph W. Kittinger. Jr .. Col, CSAF (Ret). hereby state that James \IcAndn.::\\ was
identified as a Lieutenant, US :\FR on this date at my home and do hereby, voluntatily and
of my mvn fh.::c will. make the tollowing statement. This was done \Vithout having been
sul:>,jected to any coercion, unlawful intlucnce or unla\vful inducement.
I entered the U.S. Air Force in 1949 :.ts an ihiation C<ldct. From 1950 to 1953 1 flew
fighters in Europe before being assigned to the Fighter Test Section at Holloman AFB.
~~lin July. 1953. During my tour as a test pilot I conducted the tirst zero gravity tests
and was the balloon pilot of the first Project \Jan High high altitude research mission. In
1958 I \Vas assigned to the Escape Section of the Aero \ 1edical I .ahoratmy at \\'right
Patterson .-\FB, OH. Dming this tour I \Vas the Project Otiicer of Project Excelsior and
made three high altitude parachute jumps, the highest from l 02,800 feet. which today
remains a \Vorld rewrd. For these jumps I was awan.led the Hannon Trophy for 1960 by
President Eisenhower. Following Excelsior. I was the Project Ofiicer of Stargazer. a
project that made astronomical observations from a high altitude balloon. I Hew two
combat tours in Southeast Asia with the Air Commandos. I later Hew a tour in F-4s and
was the Squadron Commander of the 555 Tactical Fighter Squadron. I accumulated over
L 000 combat Hying hours and I am credited with one aerial victory. I spent ten months as
a PO\V in 1-Ianoi. Upon my return I attended Air \Var College. flew F-4s and retired from
the Air Force in 1978. In 1984 I became the first person to make a solo crossing of the
Atlantic by balloon.
In 1958 I was made the Project Officer of Excelsior by Col.Tohn Paul Stapp. the Aero
\Iedical Laboratory Commander. I supervised and was actively involved in the dropping
and recovery of anthropomorphic dummies from high altitude balloons at Holloman .\FB.
:'\'"\I for this project. We also dropped dummies, from air~.:raH only. at \\'tight-Patterson
. \FB. OH. The object of the Holloman tests were to study the free tall characteristics of
dummies dropped from balloons at altitudt.::s of 50.000 to I 00.000 fct.::t. Based on this data
vve designed a parachute that stabilized the dummies <md I later used this parachute on my
three high altitude jumps.
The balloons carrying the dummies \vere launched ti"om various locations in ~e\v \lex.ico
and often impacted off of the \\bite Sands Pro"\ing Ground depending on the \\ind
conditions. The dummies were outlined with clothing and equipment of an Air Force
pilot The t:1cial features of the dummies were not as pronounced as a human. The cars
and noses did not protrude. I do not recall any dummies with ears or noses. Som~ of the
dummies \vere not complete: they sometimes did not have arms or legs. To someone not
associated with the project or who vie\ved the dummies hom a distance, they could appear
to be human or with some imagination a space ·•alien." In fact I recall one incident at
Wright- Patterson where one of our dummies landed near the backyard of Gen. Rawlings.
Commander of the Air Research and Development Command. Gen. Rawling's vvife \Vas
entertaining officer's wives that afternoon when one of our dummy's parachute failed to
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