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The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert

USAF / The Black Vault · 1995 · 882 pages · text by OCR

The Roswell Report: Fact versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert was published by Headquarters United States Air Force in 1995. The Black Vault distributes this copy. It reproduces the report by Col. Richard L. Weaver and the synopsis by 1st Lt. James McAndrew, both written after a General Accounting Office inquiry requested by Representative Steven Schiff. The Air Force search found no evidence of an extraterrestrial craft or crew. It concluded that the Roswell debris most likely came from NYU Flight No. 4, a Project MOGUL balloon train.

  • p. 704 …Saw Bob Foster 731, also on way to NYC April 8 Mon. Arrived NYC 730 am…
  • p. 705 …I caught 550 train out of Penn Station to Red Bank, NJ April 29 Mon. Up…
  • p. 706 …1130 pm Owl to NYC May 6 Mon. Caught 625 train out of Penn Station to…
  • p. 707 Dec 2 Mon. Cakhurst. Cold wave hit about midnight - temperature down to $ 1 5^{\circ} $ - strong…
  • p. 708 …Dec 23 Mon. Oakhurst. Worked on Alamogordo and Flight 13. Had flight # 14 this pm. - 24…
  • p. 709 …Jan 13 Mon. Oakhurst. Working on sky wave curves. Made plans for Alamogordo this Thursday Jan…
  • p. 710 …Arrived AP about 1230 Feb 3 Mon Oakhurst. Peoples in Washington regarding balloon ascention in June…
  • p. 711 …Feb 24 Mon. Alamogordo. Waited for air transportation today but none available and may not be…
  • p. 712 …In Asbury Park 3 pm March 10 Mon Oakhurst. Vivian and I worked on Flight 25…
  • p. 713 …Cleaned out hanger and emptied trash out at East White Sands April 7 Mon Talked to…
  • p. 714 …April 21 Mon. Alamogordo Air Base. Bill Edmonston and I went out to Tularosa Range and…
  • p. 715 …May 19 Mon Reynolds and I left about 0946. May 19 Mon Reynolds and I left…
  • p. 716 …May 26 Mon. Worked on Tests 1 and 2 records today. No signals from Roswell - some…
  • p. 717 …Took Ireland, Mears, Winton, Olsen to Alamogordo to catch train this pm June 9 Mon. Bill…
  • p. 718 …July 7 (Mon) Alamogordo. Balloon Flight 11 A off at 0503. Big plastic with small auxiliary…
  • p. 719 …Aug 4 Mon. Up to Oakhurst. Hunt Aug 4 Mon. Up to Oakhurst. Went over developments…
apparatus and materials for the project, so if he said that it was debris from the project, I'm sure that's what it was. He was not concerned with a breach of security for the project.

Concerning the name Maj Pritchard, he may have worked for me but I don't recall him. I have no knowledge of any counterintelligence. or intelligence persons on the project or associated with my directorate at Watson or Cambridge Labs. When we took over the project, we were aware of the sensitivity of the project--we were aware that we were working in the open--it was a weakness of security because the activity could be observed. I never observed any of the balloon "trains" but I did see some of the early reflectors. Some of the reflectors were procured from sources out of normal channels. Some of the contractors lined up were not quite in concert with typical Signal Corps practices and procedures. Jack Peterson was very energetic and could make procurement actions take place. Ed Itsvan, who I believe actually arranged for production for some of the reflectors, actually went to a toy manufacturer in New York city to get some. It was kind of a standing joke. I remember that some of the prototype and preproduction targets had this pink or purplish tape holding the material to the balsa beam. This tape had flowers and other designs on it. The reflectors were probably made starting in late 1944 but I do not recall how long the production run was. I do not recall any other specific attributes but they were geometrically and structurally simple.

I am not part of any conspiracy to withhold information from either the US government or American public. There is no classified information that I am withholding related to this inquiry and I have never been threatened by US Government persons concerning refraining from talking about this situation.

SIGNED:

Albert C. Thakovich

WITNESS(s):

Subscribed and sworn to before me, a person authorized to administer oaths this

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28th day of June 1994 at VA

Butter

JEFFREY C BUTLER, COL, USAF

JAMES MCANDREW, 1LT, USAF

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Report, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 882 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.