Documents / Official release
This is a 28 July 1995 report from the US General Accounting Office to Representative Steven H. Schiff about government records on the July 1947 crash near Roswell, New Mexico. It is filed with a Clinton Library NSC routing record. GAO found only two 1947 records: a 509th Bomb Group and RAAF history and an FBI teletype. Both describe the object as a radar-tracking or weather balloon. The report also notes that some RAAF administrative records and outgoing messages were destroyed without any stated authority.
B·262046 been prepared in accordance with Army regulations. According to an Army records management official, in 1947 Army regulations required that air accident reports be maintained permanently. An Air Force official said there was no similar requirement to report a weather balloon crash. According to an Air Force official who has worked in the records management field since the mid-1940s, air accident reports prepared in July 1947 under Army regulations should have been transferred to Air Force custody in September 1947, when the Air Force was established as a separate service. The Air Force Safety Agency is responsible for maintaining reports of air accidents. We examined its microfilm records to determine whether any air accidents had been reported in New Mexico during July 1947. We identified four air accidents during this time period.2 All of the accidents involved military fighter or cargo aircraft and occurred after July 8, 1947-the date the RAAF public information office first reported the crash and recovery of a "flying disc" near Roswell. According to the Army Air Forces' Report of Major Accident, these four accidents occurred at or near the towns of Hobbs, Albuquerque, Carrizozo, and Alamogordo, New Mexico. Only one of the four accidents resulted in a fatality. The pilot died when 'the aircraft crashed during an attempted take-off. In searching for government records on the Roswell crash, we were Search for Records particularly interested in identifying and reviewing records of military units assigned to RAAF in 1947-to include the 509th Bomb Group, the 1st Air Transport Unit, the 427th Army Air Force Base Unit, and the 1395th Military Police Company (Aviation). . . Document disposition forms obtained from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, indicate that in 1953, the Walker Air Force Base (formerly RAAF) records officer transferred to the Army's Kansas City records depository the histories of units stationed at Walker Air Force Base. These histories included the 509th Bomb Group and RAAF for February 1947 through October 1947; the 1st Air Transport Unit for July 1946 through June 1947; and the 427th Army Air Force Base Unit for January 1946 to February 1947. We could not locate any documentation indicating that records of the 1395th Military Police Company (Aviation) 2These records do not include information regarding mishaps of air vehicles belonging to civilian or other government agencies. These records also do not include mishaps involving unmanned air v.ehicles such as remotely piloted aircraft, low·speed cruise missiles, and most balloons. PageS GAOINSIAD·95·187 Government Records
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 26 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.