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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. 106 n1e Public Information Office was host during the mon~~ to the Senior Air Scouts of ~ie…
  • p. 801 …Up to Boston with Lt Frank Ryder with Navy and \.JHOI April 15 Mon. Contacted Doc…
  • p. 802 …I caught 5.50 train out of Penn Station to Red Bank, NJ April 29 Mon…
  • p. 804 …Dec 9 Mon. Oakhurst. Finished getting all equipment ready for Alamogordo. Chantz, Woody and I went…
  • p. 807 …Arrived AP about 1230 Feb 3 Mon Oakhurst. Peoples in Washington regarding balloon ascention in June…
  • p. 808 …Feb 24 Mon. Alamogordo. '.faited for air transportation today but none available and may not be…
  • p. 809 …In Asbury Park 3 pm March 10 Mon Oakhurst. Vivian and I worked on Flight 25…
  • p. 810 …Cleaned out hanger and emptied trash out at East White Sands April 7 Mon Talked to…
  • p. 811 …April 21 Mon. Alamogordo Air Base. Bill Edmonston and I went out to Tularosa Range and…
  • p. 812 …Took sleeper out of Canton for NYC May 12 Mon. Arrived NYC and caught 0940 out…
  • p. 813 …May 26 Mon. Worked on Tests 1 and 2 records today. No signals from Roswell - some…
  • p. 814 …Took Treland, Mears, Winton, Olsen to Alamogordo to catch train this pm June 9 Mon. Bill…
  • p. 815 …July 7 {Mon) Alamogordo. Balloon Flight 11 A off at 0503. Big plastic with small auxiliary…
  • p. 816 …July 1 Mon. To cabins near Geneva, N.Y. July 15 Tues. Stopped at Syracuse. Got…
PROJECT MOGUL
Project MOGUL was first conceived by Dr. Maurice Ewing of Columbia University,
NY, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA. Dr. Ewing had conducted
considerable research for the Navy during World War II, studying, among other
things, the "sound channel" in the ocean. He proved that explosions could be
heard thousands of miles away with underwater microphones placed at a
predetermined depth within the sound channel. He theorized that since sound
waves generated by explosions could be carried by currents deep within the
ocean, they might be similarly transmitted within a sound channel in the upper
atmosphere. The military application of this theory was the long-range detection
of sound waves generated by Soviet nuclear detonations and the acoustical
signatures of ballistic missiles as they traversed the upper atmosphere. He
presented his theory to General Carl Spaatz, Chief of Staff of the Army Air
Forces, in the fall of 1945.6 The project was approved, and research was begun by
the scientific research agency of the US Army Air Forces (USAAF), the Air
Materiel Command (AMC), early in 1946. The project was assigned to HQ AMC,
Engineering Division, Electronics Subdivision, which in turn assigned the project
to AMC's Watson Laboratories, Engineering Division, Applied Propagation
Subdivision, located in Red Bank, NJ.
SCOPE
Project MOGUL initially focused on three areas of technology: (1) an expendable
microphone, capable of detecting, at long range, low-frequency sound transmis-
sions generated by explosions and missiles; (2) a means of telemetering these
sounds to a ground or airborne receiver; and (3) a system from which to suspend
the microphone and telemetering device in the upper atmosphere for an extended
period of time. To meet these criteria, contracts were awarded by AMC to
Columbia University (AMC contract no. W28-099-ac-82) for the acoustical
equipment, and to New York University (NYU) for the development of constant-
level balloons (AMC contract no. W28-099-ac- 241). After the initial contracts
were awarded, Project MOGUL branched out into many areas related to the
geophysical properties of the upper atmosphere, including radiowave propaga-
tion, radar propagation, ionospheric physics, solar physics, terrestrial magnetism,
meteorological physics, and weather forecasting. Considerable resources were
devoted to Project MOGUL which included numerous bomber and transport
aircraft and two oceangoing vessels. At one point the staff, exclusive of contrac-
tors, numbered over 100 persons. To accommodate this sensitive, high-priority
project, facilities of the secluded Oakhurst Field Station of Watson Laboratories
were used. Balloon operations associated with Project Mogul were conducted at
various locations throughout the United States and the Pacific, the latter in
reference to acoustical detection research associated with the Sandstone atomic
tests at Entiwetok Atoll in April and May 1948.7
6. Rprt, Maurice Ewing for General Carl Spaatz, "Long Range Sound Transmission in the
Atmosphere," n.d.
7. Rprt, HQ Fitzwilliam Fwd, "Sonic Balloon Test Kwajalein," May 17, 1948 (hereafter "Sonic

Cases discussed

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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.