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

The objective of this trip, so far as NYU was concerned, was to perfect the handling of large flight trains of meteorological balloons and to evaluate the operations of altitude controlling and telemetering devices. $ ^{24} $ Already established before the trips to Alamogordo was that the use of the standard, 350-gram meteorological balloons, constructed of neoprene, was, at best, a "stop gap" method of achieving constant-level flight. $ ^{25} $ Balloons most suitable for this type of work were made of polyethylene, a very thin, translucent plastic. These balloons, however, had just been developed, and, although the NYU group had contracted for some of them, the balloons had not been received until after the group departed for Alamogordo. $ ^{26} $ For Watson Laboratory scientists Peoples and Crary, the purpose of this trip was to experiment with different types of equipment to collect and transmit sound waves in the upper atmosphere. Therefore, just as the "balloon group" was using meteorological balloons as a stopgap method in attaining constant-level flight, the Watson Laboratory scientists utilized an AN/CRT-1A Sonabuoy while awaiting the delivery of acoustical equipment specifically designed for Project MOGUL. $ ^{27} $ The NYU personnel developing the telemetering equipment experimented with components of the sonabuoy, which was cylindrical, nearly 3 feet long and 4 3/4 inches wide, and weighing 13 pounds (Atch 4). The sonabuoy contained both the acoustical pickups, known as hydrophones, and the means of telemetering the sounds by use of a FM transmitter, the T-1B/CRT-1.

Soon after arriving at Alamogordo AAF, a problem developed. Dr Peoples, Project Scientist, decided not to bring the radiosonde recorder (an AN/FMQ1 weighing approximately 500 pounds), due to the weight and space limitations of the B-17 aircraft originally scheduled to transport the equipment from Olmstead Field. Radiosondes were a widely used and accurate method of tracking weather balloons consisting of a transmitter, which was carried aloft by the balloon, and a ground-based receiver/ recorder. Radiosondes, along with aircraft, were to be the primary method to track the Project MOGUL balloons. $ ^{28} $ Dr. Peoples, however, believed that the radar currently in place at Alamogordo for tracking V-2 firings would be sufficient for tracking the balloons trains. However, this radar did not work well and often lost contact with the balloon while it was still within visual range. Accordingly, Moore, the project engineer, experimented with an "unorthodox" method, in the absence of a radiosonde recorder. He tried to track the balloons using multiple radar targets. $ ^{29} $ A radar target was a multisided object, which, in appearance, resembles a box kite constructed of balsa wood and metallicized paper (Atch 5). Moore and his technicians conducted test flights, attempting to obtain a better radar return by attaching additional targets. They