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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. 190 …Well, Boford was Navy, that was the Navy... Q: Like taking a Pi Ball reading now…
  • p. 191 …fabricate balloons for us. During that period we heard of the Navy project that was going…
  • p. 207 …But were any of those used as precursors to Mogul or... A: None whatsoever. That was…
  • p. 270 …Ewing had conducted considerable research for the Navy during World War II, studying, among other things…
  • p. 323 …f) Measurements of actual sound channel transmission using a small stratosphere balloon carrying sound receivers and…
  • p. 657 …At the present time this company cannot supply us with balloons until Navy clearance is obtained…
  • p. 693 …for six hours using a non-extensible envelope with the addition of a ballast valve to…
  • p. 704 …Met Gifford who has 90' sea rescue boat this project is planning to use. Stayed at…
  • p. 705 …Wyckoff, Hungerfield, Vaux and myself regarding Navy participation with us in Crossroads. Captain Kellogg of Weather…
  • p. 718 …Schneider up with O'Day to check use as NYU station. Alamoggrdo crew helped get helium…
Hr. David Bushnell MDNH Air Force Missile Development Center Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico

Dear Mr. Bushnell:

It has taken me much too long in answering your inquiries of 9 October 1958 but I hope this information will be of some value to you in preparing a history of balloon operations at Holloman. Thanks also for the three reports which you sent me.

Answering your specific questions, my EDCMR to Holloman was 20 January 1948. I reported in about 1 February 1948. I immediately joined the Electronic and Atmospheric Projects Section and remained in this same basic organization through its various name changes for my entire tour at Holloman.

I attended the January 1950 Class at the Air Tactical School, Tryndall Air Force Base, Florida for sixteen (16) weeks and returned to Holloman by 15 May.

On 31 July 1950 I was assigned Chief, Geophysical Research Unit, (Balloon) Electronics and Atmospheric Branch, Technical Operations Section, O&P on Special Orders No. 152, par 24. This, I believe, was the first balloon organization. On 29 May 1951, S.O. No. 111, par 8 redesignated me without change of assignment as Chief, Balloon Atmospheric Unit, Electronics and Atmospheric Branch; Development and Test Section Base Directorate, Technical Operations. Then in S.C. No. 98, 13 November 1951, par 11, I was Chief, Balloon Sonde Sub- Unit, Electronics and Atmospheric Unit, Development and Test Section, Operations.

I was never the Holloman Base Weather Officer. Lt Colonel Maas was assigned as Base Weather Officer and as head of the E&A organization as a dual assignment for a while.

There was a continuity of organization from the earliest balloon activities up to the present. The name changed but the group continued. The radar research activities, the Aerobee rocket atmospheric investigations and the balloon activities were sponsored originally

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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.