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

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

By December 1948, serious concerns had arisen regarding the feasibility of the project as first conceived. Even though the principle on which the project was based was determined to be sound, questions concerning cost, security, and practicality were discussed that ultimately led to the disbandment of the project, and Project MOGUL as first conceived was never put into operational use. However, MOGUL did serve as the foundation for a comprehensive program in geophysical research from which the USAF and the scientific community have benefited to the present time. These benefits included constant-level balloon technology, first developed by NYU for Project MOGUL.

## WATSON LABORATORIES

The organizational structure of Watson Laboratories Applied Propagation Subdivision, which was established primarily for MOGUL, as it appeared in January 1947, is shown in Attachment 2. Over the course of the project, MOGUL had three military project officers, or "chiefs": Maj Robert T. Crane, spring 1946-July 1946; Col Marcellus Duffy, August 1946-January, 1947; and Capt Albert C. Trakowski, January 1947-May 1949. Major Crane had been personally recommended by Dr. Ewing, originator of the project, but by June of 1947, MOGUL had not met the expectations of HQ USAAF, and Colonel Duffy replaced Major Crane. $ ^{8} $ Colonel Duffy was a respected, highly capable career Army Air Forces officer. During World War II, Colonel Duffy had reported directly to General Hap Arnold, Chief of Staff USAAF, as the Army Air Forces Liaison Officer to the US Army Signal Corps, with primary duties for securing meteorological equipment from the Army for use by the USAAF. Colonel Duffy had a reputation for accomplishing difficult assignments by getting the most out of his personnel—exactly what was desired by HQ USAAF to solve the numerous administrative and personnel problems that had arisen in Project MOGUL under Major Crane. In a short period, Colonel Duffy was able to make the necessary corrections and was reassigned to become the Assistant Chief, Electronics Plans Section, Electronics Subdivision, HQ AMC, at Wright Field, OH. Colonel Duffy also continued to monitor "the upper air research program" (i.e., Project MOGUL) in addition to his duties as the Assistant Chief of the Electronics Plans Section. $ ^{9} $ The primary scientist for MOGUL was Dr. James Peoples, assisted by Albert P. Crary, the Field Operations Director. Both scientists had previous associations with Dr. Ewing: Dr. Peoples at Columbia, and A.P. Crary at Woods Hole. Both scientists were assigned to MOGUL for the entire length of the project.

## NEW YORK UNIVERSITY "BALLOON GROUP"

From September 30,1946,until December 31,1950,the Research Division of the College of Engineering of NYU conducted research under contract for the Army