roswell

THE ROSWELL INCIDENT
On July 7, 1947, W.W. (Mac) Brazel, a rancher from approximately 75 miles
northwest of Roswell, NM, contacted the local sheriff and reported that sme
metallic debris had come to rest on the ranch on which he worked near the town
of Corona, NM. This was during the "UFO Wave of 1947," and he told the sh¢riff
that he thought this debris may be part of a "flying disc."1 The sheriff conta<;ted
Roswell (Army Air Field) AAF, which in tum sent intelligence officer, Maj J~sse
Marcel, and two Counterintelligence Corps Agents, Capt Sheridan Cavitt and
MSgt Lewis Rickett, to evaluate the debris. The officers collected a portion of the
material and brought it back to Roswell AAF on the evening of July 7. 2 The
following day, the Public Information Office released a statement saying that the
Army Air Forces had recovered a flying disc. This press release was provided to
local newspapers who sent it out to wire services. Meanwhile, Brig Gen Roger
Ramey, Eighth Air Force Commander, ordered that the debris be flown to Eighth
Air Force Headquarters at Fort Worth AAF, TX, for his personal inspection. Upon
viewing the debris, he and his staff recognized parts which looked similar to a
weather balloon. He then summoned the base weather officer, who identified 1
the
debris as the remnants of a weather balloon and its attached metallic radar target.3
General Ramey then invited the local press to view and take photographs oft the
materials and he declared the episode to be a misunderstanding (Atch 1).
The above summarizes the previously reported information of what happened on
July 7 and 8, 1947. Before now, however, a larger portion of the story was never
told. Recent research indicates that the debris recovered from the ranch on ]uly
7, 1947, was a weather balloon-but it was not being used strictly for wea~er
purposes; its real purpose was to carry classified payloads for a Top Secret US
Army Air Forces project. The project's classified code name was MOGUL.
The current investigation discovered that an experimental ba1loon project was
being conducted at nearby Alamogordo Army Airfield (now Holloman AFB, NM)
during the summer of 1947.4 An examination of unclassified technical and
progress reports prepared by the balloon project revealed that a highly classified
program, Project MOGUL was the ultimate reason for the balloon experiments.
Project MOGUL was classified Top Secret and carried a priority level of 1A.5 It is
Project MOGUL that provides the ultimate explanation for the "Roswell Incident."
1. Roswell Daily Record, Jul 9, 1947, p. 1.
2. Intvw, Col Richard L. Weaver with Lt Col Sheridan Cavitt, USAF (Ret}, May 24, 1994.
3. Intvw, Lt Col Joseph V. Rogan with Irving Newton, Jul21, 1994.
4. Ltr, Lt Col Edward A. Doty to Mr David Bushnell, Mar 3, 1959.
5. Ltr, Brig Gen E. O'Donnell, Deputy Chief, Engineering Division, HQ AMC, to Commanding
General, USAAF, subj: Change in Classification of MOGUL, Item 188-5, Jul 8, 1946.