Documents / Report
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.
“Headquarters”32 pages
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period of performance to 15 March 1950. A final report on development and testing of constant altitude balloon systems was to be submitted to the Air Force. Modification #9 revised the delivery address for reports.
Modification #10 of 1 May 1950, increased contract funds to continue field service and meteorological analysis work to 15 June 1950.
Modification #11 subsequently extended the period of performance to the termination date of 31 December 1950 and increased funds accordingly.
## B. Constant Altitude Balloon Systems
Development of a system to maintain balloons at constant altitudes for long periods of time was completed on 15 March 1949. This development has been completely reported in "Technical Report 93.02"(1) by this Research Division under "Section 1, General".
Essentially the system as developed at New York University consists of a constant volume balloon of thin polyethylene which, when filled with hydrogen or helium, furnishes the lift for the system. (Because of the increased safety to personnel and equipment, use of helium is to be recommended). The balloon is inflated with enough gas to balance the weight of the suspended equipment, plus a certain amount of "free lift" which will cause the system to ascend. When the balloon nears floating altitude and becomes full, the gas comprising the "free lift" will be expelled through an open appendix at the bottom of the balloon. The system is then at equilibrium at an altitude fixed by the balloon volume. The ratio of molecular weights of the lifting gas and air, density of the surrounding air, and the total balloon load are as follows:
$$
V _ {b} \left(1 - \frac {M g}{M _ {a}}\right) d _ {a} = L
$$
This state of equilibrium is broken, however, by changes in any of the above variables. Basically, losses of lift due to leakage and diffusion of gas, and changes of temperature of the lifting gas cause a change from equilibrium conditions.
Any variations causing an increase in altitude will result merely in a valving of gas from the fixed volume balloon and a slight increase in altitude. Changes in the reverse direction, however, Report, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 882 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.