roswell

1~7 8
April 17 Thurs. V2 firing #24_ $Cheduled for 11 am. Chantz - Porter at Tulerosa Range;
Reynolds - 'l!oodruff at East White Sands, Woodruff with low frequency equipment for 1
trace GR3;0li·/a- Kabassa?, radio operator on E-29 at Dona Site, Bill :Sdmonston arrived
by car from Florida about 11 and went out to Dona -- 8aptain Lewis and myself at Launching
Area site. V-2 postponed from 11 to 1610. 9 explesives supposed to go off, SCEL, only 1
worked. Tularosa site - had bad instruments - had 3 working but in line; East White Sands
- one short roll, then paper jammed; Dona Site OK; Launching Area site - OK for first 2
rolls, paper jammed on third roll. McCurdy set up low frequency in hanger, north side, and
on Rubicon drum but recordings questionable - as SCEL radio transmitter interfered.
April 18 Fri. B-29 took off for Middletown and Newark about 730 from Alamogordo with all
personnel that came down with it. Wrote Peoples a letter regarding split-up of equipment
so that bombing runs could be continued on East Coast. Plans are to have Edmonston, Rey-
nolds here with 2 sets and take Oliva, Chantz w 2 sites for the East. Set up equipments -
Sprengnether & L&N galvanometers for Helgoland experiment & run equipment 1030 to J Pm,
Checked over all recordings. Oliva and Reynolds out to Dona and brought in all equipment
except wire.
April 19 Sat. Into El Paso with Bill E this am. Got reservations to Houston next weekend.
April 20 Sun. Worked on plans for bombing runs and V2 monitoring.
April 21 Mon. Alamogordo Air Base. Bill Edmonston and I went out to Tularosa Range and
checked 2 bombing targets, and located third bombing site 7-8 miles west of A1, near alkali
flats. Chantz and Porter worked on calculations '!2 -#24. Sal worked on equipment. Don
off today.
April 22 Tues. Alamogordo. Reynolds - Oliva out to East White Sands. Brought GRJ there in
for overhaul. Worked up calibration of GR 8. Got curves for settings of 8 and for changes
in attenuation. Talked to St. James, Ordnance Supply, re 500# bombs. Wire from Peoples -
Godbee ready to come back - plane ready to come down this week. Sent return wire to hold
plane off until after 1 May.
April 23 Wed. Alamogordo. Bill E. and I left Air Base at 0930 and drove to Roswell. Scouted
out area between Roswell and Denali? but all irrigated farm lands. Finally back with find-
ing suitable site, 129 miles from Air Base to Roswell. Chantz went Tularosa range GRJ back,
Oliva and Reynolds checking GR3 in base, Datn?on calculations April 1 rocket
April 24 Thurs. Phil and Ace working on V-2 recordings April 1 and 8 getting and
amplitudes. Sal and Don on GRJ, Bill E. on clock checks. Saw Pritchard about Roswell trips,
bombing. Saw Post Engineers and Major Mitchell.
April 25 Fri. Sal and I went to Motor Pool and got our driving licenses. Worked up sunshots
for Tower and Dona sites, OK within 10 minutes. Bill E and Phil got timbers from scrap pile
and went out on Tularosa Bombing Range to build shelters. Sal and Don working on GRJ. Left
Air Base 130 and left Alamogordo 3 pm. Got room in El Paso at Hotel McCoy.
April 26 Sat. Left El Paso on Continental Air Lines about 0930, went by way of Hobbs, Mid-
land, Odessa, San Angelo to San Antonio. Waited there about 2 hrs and caught Eastern Air
Lines out to Houston. Got in about 0630, tnok bus to Houston and taxi to see Donnie.
April 27 Sun. Houston with Donnie and family
April 28 Mon._Down to Sohio Geophysical office with Donnie and Roy Bennett. Went up to
Abbott and Stansell about a car. Caught bus out to airfield 1020 and caught Eastern Air
Lines to San Antonio, and Continental Air Lines to El Paso. Arrived El Paso 730 and caught
train to Alamogordo, then bus to Air Base. Chantz, Oliva and Bill E. checked over L&Ns,
got driving licenses and worked on calibration curves.
April 29 Tues. Alamogordo Air Base. Delayed trip to Silver City to talk over Signal Corps
Communication with Peoples, Ball this PM. Went out with Don to East White Sands to set up
GR3 and get it working. Lt Thompson in pm. Lt Stevens in on vacation trip. Sal and Bill E
got low frequency equipment together and ran test with it at hanger. Possibility rocket
will not be fired until Monday acct weather
April 30 Wed. Alamogordo. Phil and Don out to East White Sands and Tularose sites to get
equipment ready for test tomorrow. Set up Rubicon at Tularosa. Sal and Bill E. went to Dona
and Launching Area sites to set up equipment. All mikes got out ready for firing.
May 1 Thurs. Out at 2 am. Put up equipment for low frequency run at the north hanger. Out
to stations in field - Thompson with Phil at Tularosa - Don and Ace to East White Sands,
Sal and Bill E. to Dona and I went to Launching Area site. Rocket misfired at 050009 and
all equipment of Signal Corps 'explosions' lost. Picked up equipment from Dona, Launching
Area and East White Sands this pm. C-47 in this pm: Dubell, Mosher and Duff. Duff brought
in 2 100# bombs with some TNT charges. Bill Godbee in from R.B.