Documents / Report
The Roswell Report: Case Closed was published by Headquarters United States Air Force and written by Capt. James McAndrew. It follows up the July 1994 report, which traced the 1947 debris to Project MOGUL balloon trains. The report says the reported alien bodies were probably anthropomorphic test dummies dropped from high altitude balloons. It also says the accounts of bodies at the Roswell Army Air Field hospital probably merged two separate events: a 1956 KC-97 crash and a 1959 manned balloon mishap.
“Low Earth orbit”1 page
balloon flights, none with characteristics similar to the testimony. However, detailed examinations of the records revealed that, in addition to the six high altitude balloon flights, there were also numerous low altitude balloon flights made to train and qualify the high altitude balloon pilots.‘h” Records of the training flights indicated that some of these were conducted at Holloman AF’B, N.M., and severalmishaps occurred resulting in injuries to the pilots.rh5 Further research revealed that one accident had taken place just northwest of Roswell.‘“6 The accident occurred on May 21, 1959, 10 miles northwest of Walker AFB, on a pilot training mission for the upcoming Project EXCELSIOR and STARGAZERflights scheduled to begin that fall. Analysis of the accident revealedactual eventsthat closely resembled the remaining portions of the establishedprofile. U.S. Air Force Manned High Altitude Balloon Projects In addition to unmanned high altitude balloon research flights, from 1957 to lY62 the U.S. Air Force conducted B series of seven manned high altitude flights. These forward-looking projects investigated the upper reaches of the earth’s atmosphere and laid the foundation for manned spacetight. Most tlights were conducted before rocket booster technology was available to propel a spacecraft into earth’s orbit. In this interim period, to “bridge the gap” while awaiting development\ in rocket technology, high altitude balloons were the only vehicles capable of reaching the altitudes required. All three of the USAF manned high altitude balloon projects, MAN HIGH. EX(.EI.SIOR,and STARGAZF.R utilized Holloman AFB balloons to transport men to the very edge of space, above approximately 99 per cent of the earth’s atmosphere, a region known BS “near space.” Project MAN HIGH. In 1955, a combined effort by the U.S. Air Force Aeromedical Field Laboratory, Winren Research International, and the Holloman Balloon Branch resulted in the first Air Force manned balloon program. Project MAN HIGH, officially known as the Biodynamics of Space Flight, directed by Lt. Cal. David Simons (MC). was the first of the three 102 Fig. II. CLefi) Test pilot Capt. JosephW. Kittinger, Jr. just before launch of MAN HIGHI at New Brighton. Minn. on June 2, 1957. Kittinger flew in all three USAF high altitude balloon projects and has accumulated more high altitude balloon flying hours than anyone else in the world. (U.S. Air Force yhoro) Fig. 12. (C~nrer, Lt.Col. David G. Simons (MC), a physician and pilot of the MAN HGH II high altitude balloon mission, is shown here boarding the recovery helicopter near Frederick, S.D. lollowing the successfulflight on August 19, 1957. This night lasted 33 hours and 10 minutes attaining a peak altitude of 101,500 feet. (US. Air FOKP photo) Fig. 13. (Right) Holloman AFB Balloon Branch Meteorologist and Engineer, Bernard D. Gildenberg, instructs high altitude balloon pilot 1st Lt. Clifton McClure, pilot of MAN HIGHIll, in the operation of B low altitude mining balloon on May 12, 1959 at Holloman AFB, N.M. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Report, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 246 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.