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
EXCELSIOR project officer, Kittinger was the pilot and project engineer of STARGAZER which also utilized high altitude balloons. By 1959, Kittinger was an integral part of both EXCELSIORand STAKGAZERand one of only three individuals in the Air Force with high altitude balloon pilot experience. Due to the hazardous nature of these important projects, Stapp was concerned that an injury to Kittinger might result in the cancellation of one or both of them. Therefore, Stapp determined there was a need for backup pilots. Selectedas backup pilots were Captains Dan D. Fulgham and William C. Kaufman. Both men were rated aircraft pilots, parachutists,and research and development officers assigned to the Aero Medical Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB. During the third week of May 1959,a seriesof low altitude manned balloon flights were flown to train Fulgham and Kaufman.“” These flights were launched by the Holloman AFB Balloon Branch. To satisfy safety requirements, the flights were closely monitored by medical personnelat all times. A helicopter with medical personnel followed the flights during daylight hours, a C-131 aircraft followed during hours of darkness, and at all times medical personnel followed in an ambulance.“’ Balloon recovery and communications technicians also followed the missions on the ground in a communications vehicle and a balloon recovery vehicle.“? The safety requirements were a result of several recent balloon mishaps that resulted in serious injuries to the pilots. To meet the training schedule,Kittinger, Kaufman and Fulgham were assignedtemporary duty (TDY) from the Aero Medical Laboratory at Wright- PattersonAFB to the Balloon Branch at Holloman AFB, N.M. Fig. 16. In 1958 whilr training for the upcoming U.S. Air Farcr Aero Medical Laboratory high altitude Mu HIGHIII balloon flight, balloon designer Otto C. Winren (righl) and space physiologist Capt. Grover &hock (I$), were seriously injured in a balloon accident ne;lrAshland, Wise. Additionally, two training flights at Holloman AFB a160 resultedin injuries to pilots. Theseinjuriespmmpti Air Face o&ids to requireClosemedical supervisionduringfuturetraining flights (phornrnur7r.s~0~Mike Smith. Ravm Inrlusrri~s) 105
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.