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

the total strain on rigging lines and even on the balloon itself becomes excessive. With the thin polyethylene film of the General Mills' balloons, such a wind force causes the balloon first to billow, sail-like, as in Figure 25, then to tear.

To eliminate surface failures on days when the wind is not calm, the following release technique is employed: The equipment train is laid out parallel to the wind direction, with the balloon in the lee of a large building and the other components stretched out downwind. The central portion of the balloon rests on a platform balance and the lower portion rests on a sloping eleven-foot table whose top is level with the platform and whose bottom rests upon the ground. The upper portion of the balloon usually lies on another table, level with the platform. Except for this upper portion, the balloon is held down on the scales and sloping table by bags of sand and lead shot. In addition, one sand bag is fastened to the lead thimble of the balloon by a short line which is kept taut during inflation. This layout is shown in Figure 28.

When the balloon is inflated, it is held down at the weighing-off scales by the shot bags. Personnel required for the launching consist of two men at the hold-down shot bags (who lift the bags at the release signal), one man near the large sand bag (who cuts the line to the load thimble when the balloon rises above him), one man at each piece of sensitive equipment on the train (to support and protect the equipment until it is airborne), one man at the lower end of the hold down line (who fires the cannon severing the last line when the gear is all safely lifted).

If each operation is performed when the balloon is directly overhead and if the train has been accurately laid out downwind, the entire train is sent off with a minimum of oscillation of the load. Figure 29 shows successive positions of the balloon and gear during release.