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.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
The physical and chemical properties needed in a balloon material are: (1) chemical stability, (2) low permeability, (3) high tensile strength, (4) low brittle temperature, (5) high tear resistance, (6) high transparency to heat radiation and (7) light weight. In Table 1 the properties of 7 plastics and 2 coated materials are given. From this data polyethylene and saran appear to be the most suitable films. Table 1 Fabric Low Temperature Properties Permeability Tensile Strength Tear Resistance Ease of Fabrication Stability to Ultraviolet Polyethylene Good Medium Low Good Good Good Saran Fair Low High Poor Fair Fair Nylon Good Low High Low Good Good Vinylite Very poor Medium Medium Good Good Good Teflon Believed good Low High Good Cannot be fabricated Good Ethocellulose Good Very high Low Fair Good Good Pliofilm Poor High Poor Fair Good Poor Nylon or silk fabric coated with:Neoprene Fair Low High Fair Fair Fair Butyl rubber Good Low High Fair Fair Good Having decided upon the proper fabric to be used, an effort was made to interest a number of companies in the fabrication and production of balloons. The first supplier of balloons made of polyethylene was Harold A. Smith, Inc., Mamaroneck, New York. In these balloons, 4 and 8 mil sheets were heat sealed to form a spherical cell open at the bottom. Load attachment tabs were set into the fabric and loading lines ran from these tabs to a load ring. This method of supporting the load proved to be unsatisfactory.
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.