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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. 17 …of alien beings and elusive vehicles which never quite seem to manifest themselves. Regardless of one…
  • p. 31 …Conversely, there has never been any previous documentary evidence produced by those who would debunk the…
  • p. 32 …This had never been officially done before, although most of the persons contacted reported that they…
  • p. 40 …Lt Col Cavitt also stated that he had never taken any oath or signed any agreement…
  • p. 77 …Because this conclusion is based on the absence of documentation, the issue can never be definitively…
  • p. 99 …H written, there is good evidence through accessioning and microfilming records that the Agency never received…
  • p. 101 …histories and supporting documents, and it has never routinely received the kind of records which might…
  • p. 159 …I have never been sworn to any form of secrecy by anyone concerning this matter and…
  • p. 165 …It never crossed my mind that it could be anything but a radio sonde. RW: How…
  • p. 168 …as far as I knew, I never heard anyone say, "Don't talk about this and…
  • p. 169 …I never met LaPaz personally, but I knew what he was. RW: Did Rickett go with…
  • p. 170 …I forget since I was there in the Washington area for awhile but I never did…
  • p. 172 …To the best of my recollection, I never met the rancher, Brazel. RW: O.K., because…
  • p. 173 …rve never seen a Geiger counter myseU: but I didn't know if you knew what…
  • p. 174 …ordered Marcel to accompany the rancher back to Corona, •· You said you never saw... and then…
  • p. 175 …I never had any idea that it was anything with the V-2. They told us…
  • p. 177 …You and I never saw this. You don't see any military people or military vehicles…
  • p. 178 …said in a facetious way: "Lets make out like it never existed, because we're wasting…
  • p. 179 …to him the crash and recovery had never happened. There was no investigation on the Foster…
  • p. 182 …No, I never saw this. SC: I don't know what that is from. RW: "But…
  • p. 183 …So, some of there records were TS and still are.) That is because they have never…
  • p. 185 …Cav never told me anything. He said nl never tell you anything then you won't…
  • p. 189 …I am quite sure that we never gave it a thought until that book.
  • p. 190 …Now, we have never found the ftight records to substantiate that, so I don't know…
  • p. 202 …related to this inquicy and I have never been threatened by US Government persons concerning not…
  • p. 207 …related to this inquiry and I have never been threatened by US Government persons concerning refraining…
  • p. 213 …We never considered a ..planneq cover story; we were concerned with security. I was the project…
  • p. 214 …I never obsCJVed any of the balloon "trains" but I did see some of the early…
  • p. 225 …and subsequent models were brand new, had never flown anything like that in this area. A…
  • p. 228 …I'd never heard the name Mogul -- the classification was that high. I knew what we…
  • p. 240 …I just wanted to see if there had been anything stated to you never to discuss…
  • p. 242 …but I never knew Marcel. in my mind, and there are Yeah, I knew that guy…
  • p. 243 …I've never seen a Japanese balloon that I know of, I've never seen the…
  • p. 246 …No, I've never seen this. Trakowski argued that even the name Mogul was classified, and…
  • p. 249 …Out PM with several NYU men by weapons carrier, but we never located it. Rocket postponed…
  • p. 264 …As far as I know we just never interfaced with the military. Q: Where were you…
  • p. 266 …We never saw anybody in security. There was certainly nobody keeping us secure. If anything, we…
  • p. 273 …who was writing a story, and I never quite could determine whether he was on the…
  • p. 274 …I have never seen such a document nor have I ever heard of any effort to…
  • p. 277 …radar reflectors for tracking purposes-but it never comes out talking about MOGUL and the instrumentation…
  • p. 278 …I never met Richard Robert Crane. I knew him only by the path of debris he…
  • p. 282 …They never said it, but I know they did because they left me free to do…
  • p. 318 …Before now, however, a larger portion of the story was never told. Recent research indicates that…
  • p. 320 …and Project MOGUL as first conceived was never put into operational 1use. However, MOGUL did serve…
  • p. 321 …Moore, NYU Constant-Level Balloon Project Engineer, stated that they were never informed of the classified…
  • p. 567 …and this flight 11as never recovered. Pre- sumably the marked easterly flow then observed above 60…
  • p. 591 …ficienoy since on-ot.f' operation was never per- mitted. The temperature data of' these flights…
  • p. 740 …The theodolite lost the balloon in clouds earlier and the airplane observer never succeeded in seeing…
  • p. 815 …Out pm with several NYU by weapon carrier but we never located it. Rocket postponed until…
(although some researchers claim there were as many as 800 sightings during that
period). Interestingly, the "Roswell Incident" was not considered one of these
1947 events until the 1978-1980 time frame. There is no dispute, however, that
something happened near Roswell in July, 1947, since it was reported in a number
of contemporary newspaper articles, the most famous of which were the July 8
and July 9 editions of the Roswell Daily Record. The July 8 edition reported "RAAF
Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch In Roswell Region," while the next day's
edition reported, "Ramey Empties Roswell Saucer" and "Harassed Rancher Who
Located 'Saucer' Sorry He Told About It."
The first story reported that the Intelligence Officer of the 509th Bomb Group,
stationed at Roswell Army Air Field, Major Jesse A. Marcel, had recovered a
"flying disc" from the range lands of an unidentified rancher in the vicinity of
Roswell and that the disc had been "flown to higher headquarters." That same
story also reported that a Roswell couple claimed to have seen a large unidenti-
fied object fly by their home on July 2, 1947.
The July 9 edition of the paper noted that Brigadier General Roger Ramey,
Commander of the Eighth Air Force at Forth Worth, Texas, stated that upon
examination the debris recovered by Marcel was determined to be a weather
balloon. The wreckage was described as a " ... bundle of tinfoil, broken wood
beams, and rubber remnants of a balloon.... " The additional story of the
"harassed rancher" identified him as W.W. Brazel of Lincoln County, New
Mexico. He claimed that he and his son, Vernon, found the material on June 14,
1947, when they "came upon a large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber
strips, tinfoil, a rather tough paper, and sticks." He picked up some of the debris
on July 4 and " ... the next day he first heard about the flying discs and won-
dered if what he had found might have been the remnants of one of these."
Brazel subsequently went to Roswell on July 7 and contacted the Sheriff, who
apparently notified Major Marcel. Major Marcel and "a man in plain clothes" then
accompanied Brazel home to pick up the rest of the pieces. The article further
related that Brazel thought that the material:
12
... might have been as large as a table top. The balloon which held
it up, if that is how it worked, must have been about 12 feet long,
he felt, measuring the distance by the size of the room in which he
sat. The rubber was smoky gray in color and scattered over an area
about 200 yards in diameter. When the debris was gathered up the
tinfoil, paper, tape, and sticks made a bundle about three feet long
and 7 or 8 inches thick, while the rubber made a bundle about 18
or 20 inches long and about 8 inches thick. In all, he estimated, the
entire lot would have weighed maybe five pounds. There was no
sign of any metal in the area which might have been used for an
engine and no sign of any propellers of any kind. Although at least
one paper fin had been glued onto some of the tinfoil. There were
no words to be found anywhere on the instrument although there
were letters on some of the parts. Considerable scotch tape and

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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.