roswell

Flight 41: Released from Indiantown Gap Military Reaenation, Pennaylvania,
0956 EST, February 16, 1948
Not recovered
1'he balloon was or .oo1• polyethylene and had a fixed-leak: ballast
control set to provide a constant flow or 650 grams per hour. 'lhe principle
objective of this flight was to teat aircraft reception from a balloon-
borne transmitter. Using RDF equipnent, two B-1'7 planes were able to re-
ceive clear signals from the tranamitter at least 150 -miles .awaJ trom
it and 118re able to home in on the signal by using the radio compe.u. There
was a questionable zone of about a 15-mile radius beneath the balloon,
and it is probable that this represented a cone of silence from the verti-
cal antenna. The balloon was near 40,000 teet with the planes at about
10,000 teet.
On later flights, using a frequency of 1 '746 leo, reception range was ex-
tended to over 400 miles and no cone or silence was encountered. By flying
along the bearing indicated by the compass until it abruptly reverses ..
the position of the balloon mAy be determined. Visual observations confirmed
the presence of the balloon overhead.
On service flights •de fran this same base during this 118ek, two new
pieces of flight gear 118re added to the train. 7he first o£ these was a
cloth parachute, mounted upside down in the line to serve as a drag .. acting
against ~xcessive rates of rise. When mounted above the 'cloth identification
banner, this chute also acts to minimize rrwe.y and lateral oscillation of the
equipment.
The second unit was a new type of Ciestruction device--a preuure-activated
mechanism by which a large hole is ripped in the balloon upon descent into
the lanes of air traffic. In this device (Figure 14) the equipment is per-
mitted to fall freely for a few teet,jerking a length of line through the
balloon side. After this te.ll, the equipment again is carried by the main
load line, and the ruptured balloon acts as a parachute to lower the gear
to the ground at about 1000 teet per minute.
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