Documents / FOIA release

roswell

Office of the Secretary of Defense · 993 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

  • p. 143 …Robert Gross ar.d 't!r. Jlaher of Lockheed 11~ 55 A.'.!. Gen. Sam Anderson 12…
  • p. 481 …Balloon Volume x Gas Lift Gross Load · It may be noted from this equation that a…
  • p. 482 …Balloon Volume x 24.4 Gross Load K =-w K _ 08.o475Z In turn, w-in…
  • p. 483 …free lift in pounds and G is gross lift in pounds. Although this equation was derived…
  • p. 488 …By equation {10), with a gross load of 52 kg., the unbalance caused by loss of…
  • p. 500 …or a gross buoyancy of 450 lb. • the maximum allowable infle.tion of a 30' diameter…
  • p. 569 …accelerating force equal to 5% of the gross load (52 kg) was acting to bring the…
  • p. 643 …000 feet. In one step, this becomes: Gross Lift/Balloon = (Balloon Volume) x (Difference in molecular…
  • p. 650 (Approximate) where G • gross load A chart, Figure 24, has beendrawn up, based on this equation…
  • p. 652 …G = loss of lift G =gross load (balloon weight plus equipment load) AT : mean temperature difference…
  • p. 653 …not including balloon or its integral parts. Gross load: Load on the gas at release (Balloon…
  • p. 726 …Ballast • • .. • • '" • Total Equipment l~eight. • • • • ' Gross Load • • ' • • • • {56)
  • p. 727 …Balloon volwne x gas litt/mol gross load cu. ft. -----------------NAximum Altitude • • • ft, m.s.l…
  • p. 741 …altitude deter- mined by the displacement and gross load. 7. Control systems Two systems of control…
  • p. 777 …By adjusting th~ gross load to be supported by the gas to equal the total lift…
  • p. 787 …Computations A chart showi~ the relation between altitude, gross lift, and balloon size has been found…
  • p. 883 …The gross load reported should be accurate to the nearest 200 grams. The amount of lifting…
  • p. 885 …A L L 0 0 N 7300 ,, GRoss LoAD Fl G. 17 NYU BALLOON pROJECT I…
  • p. 887 …bubble length and resultant inflated volume, using gross lift as an expression of volume. It will…
  • p. 889 …in Appendix II summarizes the relationship between gross load and floating level for balloons of several…
  • p. 925 …A can of sand is made to weigh the same amount as the required gross lift…
  • p. 933 …the balloon with the equipment load attached. Gross Lift: Lift of all of the gas in…
  • p. 938 …description.______________ Drag chute ---------------------------- Banner description --------------- ---------- Ballast assembly - description -----------~-- Ballast • • • • • • Total Equipment i'ieight • • ' • • • • • • Gross Load • • • • • • • • • • • -86-
  • p. 939 …wnitin_,g________ grams Actual balloon lift • • • • • • • • ". . .• II AActunl gross lift (Balloon lift & balloon wt.) • Number Helium…
  • p. 943 …Gross Lift vs. Bubble Length • • • • • • .107 Graph 3: Buoyancy vs. Altitude • • • • • • • • • .108 Graph 4: Gross Load…
  • p. 955 …BALLOOO DA 'fA General Mills Actual Balloon Estimated Gross Altitude ~ominal Diiameter Volwne Weight Load Limit…
PROFESSOR MOORE - 6/8/94 16
have ambiguities. You don't know if it went up or down when you
get the next.pressure contact switch. You'll find that sort of
uncertainty in describing the report.
so I'm quite sure that as a result of the failure of the
radar tracking, I went back and started using radiosondes even
though I didn't have the right equipment.
Q: You mentioned a few moments ago the Watson Laboratory
gear, the microphones, and it was also Columbia that was
developing the low frequency microphones. You had all of that
gear on these balloons, is that correct?
A: No, not on all of them. That mention of a sonobuoy
microphone, in the early ••• While the improved low frequency
microphones were being designed and built, we flew on balloons,
believe it or not, sonobouy used to detect submarines. We were
flying sonobuoy microphones on the balloons.
Q: But the material that's been identified as Watson Lab
gear shows up as very generic in all of these reports and things.
That was all part of Mogul also, is that correct?
A: That's correct. I think what happened is because the
watson Laboratory radar wasn't very successful, I think we made a
number of flights like this. I think I sent a sketch like that
to you. We made a number of flights like that which was an
unorthodox use of radar targets, and it's my opinion that the
thing that caused the debris that was picked up was probably from
a cluster of meteorological balloons carrying a cluster of
targets.
When something like the idea of a cluster balloon was not
only to carry the weight, but was also to keep the target in the
air for a long time. If one balloon burst, we still would have
enough buoyancy for awhile to keep the thing airborne. When it
would come to the ground this would drag along the ground and get
shredded, but this would still be carried downwind until another
balloon would burst, whereupon this one would start getting
shredded. So I think the explanation of why things were over
such a large area was, indeed, because it was a cluster, it was
multiple targets and cluster balloons.
Q: Of course the issue of the large area has been
different in different reports. Different people have stated the
200 yards, Cavitt in his description, described it in terms of
his living room which was not that large.
A: Even a single target, if it came down, wouldn't have
filled a single living room, but a multiple target, begins
dragged sideways and then blown transversally by any later winds,
could have filled ~ reasonable area.
Q: And left pieces of debris everywhere. Depending on •..

Cases discussed

About this file

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.