The Roswell Report: Case Closed

experiments at Muroc (now Edwards) AFB, Celif., to measure the effects of
acceleration and deceleration during high-speed aircraft ejections.3” Stapp
required a dummy that had the same center of gravity and articulation as a
human, hut, unlike the Ted Smith dummy, was more human in appearance.
A more accurate external appearance was required to provide for the proper
fit of helmets, oxygen masks, and other equipment used during the tests.
Stapp requested the Anthropology Branch of the Aero Medical Laboratory
at Wright Field to review anthropological, orthopedic, and engineering
literature to prepare specifications for the new dummy.” Plaster casts of
the torso, legs, and arms of an Air Force pilot were also taken to assure
accura~y.‘~ The result was a proposed dummy that stood 72 inches tall,
weighed 200 pounds, had provisions for mounting instrumentation, and
could withstand up to 100 times the force of gravity or IOOGs.
In 1949, a contract was awarded to Sierra Engineering Company of
Sierra Madre, Calif., and deliveries began in lY50.3y This dummy quickly
became known as “Sierra Sam.”
In 1952, a contract for anthropomorphic dummies was awarded
to Alderson Research Laboratories, inc., of New York City.‘” Dummies
constructed by both companies possessed the same basic characteristics: a
skeleton of aluminum or steel, latex or plastic skin, a cast aluminum skull,
and an instrument cavity in the torso and head for the mounting of strain
gauges, accelerometers, transducers, and rate gyros.“’ Models used by the
Air Force were primarily perechutc drop and ejection seat versions with
center of gravity tolerances within one quarter inch.
Over the next several years the two companies improved and
redesigned internal structures and instrumentation. hut the basic external
appearance of the dummies remained relatively constant from the mid
1950s to the late 1960s. Dummies of these types were most likely the
“aliens” associated with the “Roswell Incident.”
Figs. 218~22. Examples
of a “Sierra Sam” i/effJ
and Alderson Laboratories
anthropomorphic dummies
(righr) of Ihe type dropped
from balloons at off-range
locations throughout New
Mexico during the 1950s.
(U.S. Air Fbre phom)