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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. 118 …Robert Gross and Mr. Maher of Lockheed 11:55 A.M. Gen. Sam Anderson 12:00…
  • p. 393 …in the form of an altitude vs. gross load chart with helium as the lifting gas…
  • p. 394 …4}{\text {Gross Load}} = \frac {K}{W} $$ In turn, $ \frac{K}{W}=a e^{-0. 4…
  • p. 395 …free lift in pounds and G is gross lift in pounds. Although this equation was derived…
  • p. 400 …By equation (10), with a gross load of 52 kg., the unbalance caused by loss of…
  • p. 412 …or a gross buoyancy of 450 lb., the maximum allowable inflation of a 30' diameter, .001…
  • p. 479 …accelerating force equal to 5% of the gross load (52 kg) was acting to bring the…
  • p. 552 …000 feet. In one step, this becomes: Gross Lift/Balloon = (Balloon Volume) x (Difference in molecular…
  • p. 555 …of rise in feet per minute G = gross lift in grams For our purposes, we wish…
  • p. 559 …G) ^ {\frac {2}{3}} $$ (Approximate) where G = gross load A chart, Figure 24, has beendrawn up…
  • p. 561 …where $ \triangle G= $ loss of lift G = gross load (balloon weight plus equipment load) $ \triangle T…
  • p. 562 …not including balloon or its integral parts. Gross load: Load on the gas at release (Balloon…
  • p. 635 …Serial No. ___ description ___ ___ Line length ___ Banner description ___ ___ Ballast assembly - description ___ ___ Eallast. ___ Total Equipment Weight. ___ Gross Load ___
  • p. 636 …Gross Load . . . ___ Assumed Gross Lift (Gross Load + 10%) G ___ G 2/3 ___ Free Lift - F = $ (\frac…
  • p. 649 …theoretical altitude determined by the displacement and gross load. ## 7. Control systems Two systems of control…
  • p. 681 …By adjusting the gross load to be supported by the gas to equal the total lift…
  • p. 691 …A chart showing the relation between altitude, gross lift, and balloon size has been found necessary…
  • p. 775 …The gross load reported should be accurate to the nearest 200 grams. The amount of lifting…
  • p. 777 500 gm DRAG CHUTES 300 " BANNER 2000 " PAYLOAD 4500 " BALLOON 7300 " GROSS LOAD ## NOTE: Use low…
  • p. 779 …bubble length and resultant inflated volume, using gross lift as an expression of volume. It will…
  • p. 781 …in Appendix II summarizes the relationship between gross load and floating level for balloons of several…
  • p. 817 …A can of sand is made to weigh the same amount as the required gross lift…
  • p. 825 …the balloon with the equipment load attached. Gross Lift: Lift of all of the gas in…
  • p. 830 …Serial No. ___ description ___ Drag chute ___ ___ Banner description ___ ___ Ballast assembly - description ___ ___ Ballast ___ Total Equipment Weight . ___ Gross Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ___
  • p. 831 …waiting___ grams Actual balloon lift . . . . . . . . . . . ___ " AActual gross lift (Balloon lift & balloon wt.) . . . . . ___ " Number Helium tanks required…
  • p. 835 …Gross Lift vs. Bubble Length . . . . . . . 107 Graph 3: Buoyancy vs. Altitude . . . . . . . . . . 108 Graph 4: Gross Load…
  • p. 847 …Estimated Gross Load Limit kg. Altitude Range ft. 7 200 0.6 1.5 to 5…
The following statistics for a given pressure (1001.8 millibars) were computed:

 N.Y.J. Shop Model L-416	Brailsford Model B-501
on the mean	12.5%	34%
within 0.1% of mean	25%	50%
"	0.2%	"	41.5%	70.5%
"	0.3%	"	62.5%	85.5%
"	0.4%	"	75%	91%
"	0.5%	"	95.6%	100%

Other conclusions arrived at as a result of this test were:

(a) Since changes of speed of the motors did not occur simultaneously in the two instruments, the speed changes probably are not due to slight changes in pressure or temperature.

(b) Sensitivity varied from 0.1 to 0.9 millibars.

(c) Sensitivity increased with increase of rate of pressure change.

It was recommended as a result of these tests that the records of flights when the balloon is floating be read to the nearest two-tenths of a percent of a cycle, or approximately two-tenths of a millibar, for high accuracy. When using the instruments manufactured by Brailsford and Co., satisfactory accuracy will be attained, if necessary, when the record is read to the nearest one-tenth of a percent of a cycle.

In the second group of tests the pressure was reduced slowly to about 20 millibars and increased to sea-level pressure at different temperatures.

The most comprehensive series of calibrations was made with the first instrument made by Brailsford and Co. Two runs were made at room temperature (229C), one at -100C, one at -30 to 370C and one at -56 to -620C. On the last test at the lowest temperature, the unit was found to be completely unreliable. The cause of failure was the erratic motor operation at extremely low temperatures. This had been observed previously during flights when the Olland-Cycle was not thermally insulated.

The other curves were plotted on a single chart in order to study their spread (see Figure 31). The envelope of curves thus obtained showed no regular temperature effect over the range $ + 2 2^{\circ} \mathrm{C} $ to $ - 3 7^{\circ} \mathrm{C} $ . In general, the envelope was less than 10 millibars wide although at some higher pressures it was as much as 12 millibars wide. The curves at low pressures fell closest together and were all within 3 to 4 millibars apart between 50 and 150 millibars and 6 millibars apart between 150 to 200 millibars.

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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.