Documents / FOIA release
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.
“Headquarters”29 pages
Figures 2 and 3 shaw the tear-drop cell ot the stressed tape design developed by General Mills, Inc. The tilm is .001 inch polyethylene, but_t-welded, with scotch tape laid along the seam to reinforce the seal and to carry and distribute 1he load. These strips, which converge to the loaa ring at the bottom, actually support the load. The overloading ot a General Mills 20-tdot balloon on Flight 12 at Lakehurst kept the lower end of the balloon open during ascent. The ceiling was greatly reduced by the resulting dilution ot the helium with air. On later flights an unsuccessful attempt to minimize this mixing was made, using a 10-toot external appendix passing through the shroud lines. This appendix fouled ir1 the rigging and twisted completely shut, causing the balloon to burst at pressure-altitude. A moditicationwith a 10-foot appendix outside the shroud lines also tailed in actual flight. Figure 4 shows this appendix construction on a General M lls balloon which is being inflated. The final style is shown in Figures 5 and 6. It con- sists of a 2-foot external appendix stiffened with cardboard battens. This is taped on the outside of the load ring. It serves as a one-way valve which excludes air during ascent but allows the extra helium to valve freely when the balloon is full. No external appendix can be used Whenever the rate of rise exceeds 600 feet per minute. For optimum balloon performance, it has been determined that: 1) the equipment load for the General Mills 20-foot balloon should be held tinder 30 pounds; 2) ratEBot rise should be less than 900 feet per minute; and 3) for maximlml altitudes an external e ppendix is needed; hence 1he limiting rate of rise is about 600 feet per minute in this case. Several experimental flights have been made using shrouded Dewey and Almy neoprene balloons, as well as small and large experimental cells in - 5 -
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.