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The Roswell Report: Case Closed

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The Roswell Report: Case Closed was published by Headquarters United States Air Force and written by Captain James McAndrew, with a foreword by Secretary of the Air Force Sheila E. Widnall. It follows the 1994 Air Force report, which tied the 1947 debris to Project MOGUL balloons. This volume concludes that the reported alien bodies were most likely anthropomorphic dummies dropped from high altitude balloons. It attributes the hospital body claims to a 1956 KC-97 crash and a 1959 manned balloon mishap.

  • p. 53 …been plagued by failure with 10 unsuccessful missions in 1959 and 1960. With the eyes of…
  • p. 102 …on board, while on a refueling training mission, experienced a propeller failure four and one half…
  • p. 113 The three pilots, Kittinger, Kaufman and Fulgham, flew training missions together. Kaufman and Fulgham alternately flew…
  • p. 129 …Nenninger who died of injuries received in an aircraft crash during a balloon recovery mission on…
  • p. 171 …The recovery vehicles included, depending on the mission, a crane, weapons carriers, communications van, and occasionally…
  • p. 173 …I recall an overnight balloon training mission that was conducted in May, 1959. Capt Joe Kittinger…
  • p. 223 …ADA 323108 Gildenberg, Bernard G. "General Philosophy and Techniques of Balloon Control", in Lewis A. Grass…

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autopsied? To facilitate this examination, researchers reviewed official accident reports, organizational and base histories, individual personnel records of victims, and contemporary newspaper accounts of the accidents. Interviews of persons who participated in the aftermath of these accidents were also conducted. As a result, only one accident met the three criteria, the June 1956 KC-97 accident.

Table 2.3

Analysis of Air Force Aircraft Accidents by Year in the Vicinity of Walker AFB 1947-1960

Date of Accident	Aircraft Type	Fatalities
 Burned?	Taken to WAFB Hospital?	Autopsied?
8/12/48	B-29	Yes$^{96}$	No$^{97}$	No$^{98}$
5/16/49	C-47	Yes$^{99}$	No$^{100}$	No$^{101}$
12/15/49	B-29	No$^{102}$	Yes$^{103}$	Yes$^{104}$
6/1/50	KB-29	No$^{105}$	No$^{106}$	No$^{107}$
6/16/55	T-33	Yes$^{108}$	No$^{109}$	Yes$^{110}$
10/3/55	B-47	Yes$^{111}$	No$^{112}$	No$^{113}$
6/26/56	KC-97	Yes$^{114}$	Yes$^{115}$	Yes$^{116}$
2/3/60	KC-135	Yes$^{117}$	No$^{118}$	No$^{119}$

Upon detailed review of records of the 1956 accident and interviews with persons who participated in the recovery and identification of the victims, extensive similarities to the description the witness provided were apparent.

## Fatal KC-97 Aircraft Mishap

In 1956, Walker AFB, N.M. was the home of Strategic Air Command's 6th and 509th Bombardment Wings. $ ^{120} $ Additionally, Walker was home of the 509th Aerial Refueling Squadron (509th ARS) equipped with the KC-97G aircraft.

Fig. 7. A KC-97 similar this of the 509th Aerial Refueling Squadron crashed 8.8 miles south of Walker AFB on June 26, 1956 with the loss of 11 lives. Descriptions of the aftermath of this tragedy are believed to be the basis for some of the reports of "bodies" at the Walker AFB hospital. (U.S. Air Force photo)

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Report, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 232 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.