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. 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…
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

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.