Documents / FOIA release
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.
“Nevers”49 pages
STATEMENT OF WITNESS
Date: 8 Jwt 94 Place: NM
C/3!_4
I, Charles B Moore, hereby state that Jeffrey Buder, was identified as a Colonel, USAF and fun
McAndrew, was identified as a Lieutenant, USAF on this date at my home and do hereby,
volwttarily and of my own free will, make the foDowing statement This is done without having
been subjected to any coercion, unlawful influence or unlawful inducement. 0 {!> Jv!.
GeNII was the Project Engineer for the NYU balloon project during the 1947 time frame. I was not
aware that the project had the name MOGUL until1992 when I was contacted by an individual
who was working on some research related to the "RosweD Incident" and the relationship to the
NYU balloon project. Our only purpose for the NYU group was to develop constant level
balloons. In the early flights at Alomorgodo, starting in June, 1947, we used radar targets to track
the balloons (not all the balloons had targets). Some of the targets were apparently manufactured
by a toy or novelty company. Ed Istvan was the procurement officer and he had contacted some
company that extruded toothpaste tubes as weD as radar chaff. The early balloons were made of
neoprene and manufactured primarily by the Dewey Almy company in Cambridge and 1M
Kaysam company. Dewey balloons were 'dip type and the Kaysam ones were cast in a mold. The
neoprene balloons were susceptible to degradation in sunlight turning from a translucent milky
white to a dark brown . Some of the material would ahnost look like dark gray or black flakes or
ashes after exposure to the sun for only a few days. The balloon material and radar target material
would be scattered after returning to the earth depending on the surface winds. The balloon
material also had a peculiar acrid odor due to plasticizers and anti-oxidants. There is a recoDection
from another procurement person (Peterson) that he had obtained radar reflectors from a toy
manufacturer. I have a specific recoDection of reinforcing tape appHed to the scams of the
reflectors that had some symboJs such as arcs, flowers, circles and diamonds. These were pinkish
in color. To my knowledge, there were no radar rctlectors in New Mexico in 19471ilce the ones
we used 1mtil the NYU group arrived. The Columbia group was primarily involved in developing
low frequency microphoocs for long rmge detection of explosions. There was intense preSsure for
these developments, the constant altitude balloons and the microphone gear. I was involved in
1945 in China-Burma-India for the installation and maintaining of weather equipment in the war
against Japan. Our subsequent work with the balloons and microphones was highly classified and
we didn't know that there was a project name until1992. Concerning the make up of the balloon
trains, we used braided or twisted nylon lines-there were no monofilament tines during the 1947
time frame. Some of the balloons in early J1me carried radar targets for tracking purposes since
we did not have radiosonde ~ with us. Some also carried sonobouys for detecting the
pressure waves where we didn't have the Watson Lab microphone gear. AD the radiosondes were
coverend in white painted cardboard; I don't recall the color of the sonobouys but I betievc they
were covered in metal. On review of the photos in the Randle/Schmitt book, the material looks
like one of our balloon and target assembHes. The wooden beams were made of a balsa wood that
had been coated in an Elmcrs-like glue. The targets had eyelets where the various strings were
attached. The 307(B) model was more of an alumin\DD foil material than thc 307(C) model,
which was more of an aluminized paper. The targets we used appeared more fragile than the later
c:rs,-vf 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.