The Roswell Report: Case Closed

ST.\TE.\lE;\T OF \\Tf\.l~:ss
Plai.o:e: Date: 20 June 95
I. Raymond .-\. \ladson. Lt Col. CSAF (Ret). hcrchy state that James \ lcAndrc\v \Vas
identified as a I jcutenant. CS:U:R on this date at my place of employment and do hereby.
voluntarily and of my own tree will. make the tollmving statement. This \Vas done \Vithom
!J;n·ing hccn su~jcctcd to any coercion. unhmiul influence or unl.:miul inducement.
I nas horn. r<tised. <md presently reside in :\e\V :\Iexico. I graduated trom Sen \Iexiw
. \&\1 College in 1954. I entered the .-\ir Force in 1955 and was assigned a shot1 time later
to th~.: .\ero .\kdical Laboratory at Wright Patterson AFR. OH. . \t the .\ero \kdi~.,:al
T.aboratory I \Vas assigned to the Escape Section as a projc..: t otli~.,:er and kst parachutist.
Duting this time I also had extensive pat1icipation in vatious aspe~.,:ts of the space program
and worked on the highly classiftcd t~-2 project. I served J tour of duty in .\laska and at
the S~.:hool of Aerospace ~kdicinc at ISrooks .u:n. TX. before being reassigned to the
. \ero \ kdical Laboratory at Wright Patterson. I rctinxl in trom the . \ir Fow.: in 1979 and
I am ~.,:um:ntly and Enviromnental Specialist for the State of ::.Jc\Y ~ kxico.
The first projei.o:l that I \Vas assigm:d at Wright Patterson \vas Proji.:~.:t 7218. later changed to
Project 7222. This pn~jed Wtls 1irst known by the name lligh Dive and then was known as
Excclsior. The object of this project \vas to study the free 1~1ll characteristics of
anthropomorphic dummies fi·om balloons at altitudes of 50.000 to 100.000 fed. Following
satist~1ctory dummy drops. Capt .Toe Kittinger made a sc:ties of high altitude parachutc
jumps that culminated \vith a jump trom 102.800 feet.
l assumed the duties of Projc:~.,:t Otllcc:r for the dummy drops in the spring of 1956. I made:
numcrous trips to Holloman .-\.FI3. :-:l\1. the site ofthe drops. from 1956 until the end of
the project in 1959 (dummies \Verc: also dropped tor thjs project at \\'tight Patterson .\FB
hy personnel trom the Parachute Dranch). I \\Tote two technical repot1s that des~.,:ri.hed thc
project in consickrahle detail. The type of anthropomorphi~.,: dummy used primatily \Vas
manufactured by . \lderson Laboratmies hut we also used Siena .\Janu1~taming type
dummies. Both of these dummies arc shown in the technical repons. Thi.! A.kkrson
dummy had t:1cial features th~1t \Ven; not life-like and cars that \Vcre not \Vel1 defined. The
dummies were outiittcd \Vith flight suits of vatious colors. fuchsia. olive drab. and sage
gn:cn Ut shade ofgnt~'). \Ve chose the .\Jderson dummy hccaus~..~ it was rdativc·Jy
inexpensive as compared to the SiciTa dummy.
\\ ·e encountered considerable difticulty dropping the dummies fhHn the balloons. I
designed the rack that suspended the dummies. l\vo at a time. ti·om the balloon. On
numerous oc~.,:asions tht: dummies \vere foukd during the rekas-.: sequeni.o:e and the dununy
rode a ··streamer"· all the \vay to the ground. Other times malfunctions occum;d that
caused the l\vo dummies and the entire rack assembly to descend to the ground as one
package. Both or these instances arc desctibed in th-.: technical reports.
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