Black Vault compilation, pp. 91-93

no indicators or even hints that a missile was involved in this matter.
A Nuclear Accident
One of the areas considered was that whatever happened near Roswell may have
involved nuclear weapons. This was a logical area of concern since the 509th
Bomb Group was the only military unit in the world at the time that had access
to nuclear weapons. Again, reviews of available records gave no indication that
this was the case. A number of records still classified Top Secret and Secret-
Restricted Data having to do with nuclear weapons were located in the Federal
Records Center in St. Louis, MO. These records, which pertained to the 509th, had
nothing to do with any activities that could have been misinterpreted as the
"Roswell Incident." Also, any records of a nuclear-related incident would have
been inherited by the Deparbnent of Energy (DOE), and, had one occurred, it is
likely DOE would have publicly reported it as part of its recent declassification
and public release efforts. There were no ancillary records in Air Force files to
indicate the potential existence of such records within DOE channels, however.
An Extraterrestrial Craft
The Air Force research found absolutely no indication that what happened near
Roswell in 1947, involved any type of extrateuestrial spacecraft. This, of course,
is the crux of this entire matter. "Pro-UFO'' persons who obtain a copy of this
report, at this point, most probably begin the "cover-up is still on" claims.
Nevertheless, the research indicated absolutely no evidence t1J any Jdnd that a
spaceship crashed near Roswell or that any alien occupants were recovered
therefrom, in some secret military operation or otherwise. This does not mean,
however, that the early Air Force was not concerned about UFOs. However, in
the early days, "UFO" meant Unidentified Flying Object, which literally translated
as some object in the air that was not readily identifiable. It did not mean, as the
term has evolved in today' s language, to equate to alien spaceships. Records from
the period reviewed by Air Force researchers, as well as those cited by the
authors mentioned before, do indicate that the USAF was seriously concerned
about the inability to adequately identify unknown flying objects reported in
American airspace. All the records, however, indicated that the focus of concern
was not on aliens, hostile or otherwise, but on the Soviet Union. Many documents
from that period speak to the possibility of developmental secret Soviet aircraft
overflying US airspace. This, of course, was of major concern to the fledgling
USAF, whose job it was to protect these same skies.
The research revealed only one official AAF document that indicated that there
was any activity of any type that pertained to UFOs and Roswell in July, 1947.
Titis was a small section of the July Historical Report for the 509th Bomb Group
and Roswell Army Air Field that stated: #The Office of Public Information was
quite busy during the month answering inquiries on the 'flying disc,' which was
reported to be in possession of the 509th Bomb Group. The object turned out to
be a radar tracking balloon" (included with Atch 11). Additionally, this history
showed that the 509th Commander, Colonel Blanchard, went on leave on July 8,
1947, which would be a somewhat unusual maneuver for a person involved in
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