Documents / Report

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. 193 …overhead and followed the balloons out to sea. I have no idea about the results that…
  • p. 200 …the regular 334 that we had at sea level. From that they could deduce the temperature…
  • p. 243 …actually located on the jurisdictional lines between Sea Girt and Springlake, New Jersey. It was an…
  • p. 244 …The Sea Girt Inn? A: Exactly. That's where John had his office, and I was…
  • p. 320 …alone is about 24,000 miles at sea level, and about 4500 miles at 45,000…
  • p. 325 …twenty-five (25) feet at their largest sea-level diameter. The sonic unit was a combination…
  • p. 378 …per hour when one-fifth inflated at sea level). One other type of balloon which has…
  • p. 402 …Let us, then, compare the rate of leakage at any given altitude with leakage at sea…
  • p. 404 …The leakage at any altitude may be expressed as a function of leakage at sea level…
  • p. 405 Comparing rate of leakage at 40,000 feet with leakage at sea level: $$ \frac {L _ {4…
  • p. 407 …If a 20-foot diameter balloon $ \frac{1}{1 0} $ full were tested at sea level…
  • p. 408 …At sea level this is equivalent to 5.32 gm/hr. for a 20-foot diameter…
  • p. 414 …Using the rules of subsonic aerodynamics, Picard suggests that air at sea level escaping at 1333…
  • p. 415 …air at sea level (lb./ft. $ ^{3} $ ) 14.7 = pressure of air at sea level (psi…
  • p. 432 …to about 20 millibars and increased to sea-level pressure at different temperatures. The most comprehensive…
  • p. 563 …The height above mean sea level as determined from pressure measurements used in this work with…
  • p. 644 …point at which the radiosonde reaches the sea surface. ## 2. Earlier attempts There have been numerous…
  • p. 645 …The balloons floated between the surface and 30,000 ft above sea level; those which reached…
  • p. 704 …Met Gifford who has 90' sea rescue boat this project is planning to use. Stayed at…
  • p. 719 …Worzel working on gravity at sea. Saw Geo Woollard and the Ryders. Woollard after Guggenheim fellowship…
  • p. 779 …the launching site is markedly different from sea level, a shift in this curve is needed…
  • p. 817 …balloon at all times with respect to sea level. On this curve also it is customary…
  • p. 825 …The height above mean sea level as determined from pressure measurements used in this work with…
# DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE WASHINGTON DC

MEMORANDUM FOR SAF/AAZ ATTENTION: LT COL BUTLER

FROM: AF/SE

SUBJECT: GAO Review on Records Management Procedures Dealing with Weather Balloons, Unknown Aircraft, and Similar Crash Incidents (GAO Code 701034) - INFORMATION MEMORANDUM

In response to your memorandum dated 1 Mar 94, same subject, Air Force Safety has identified 2 directives concerning the investigating and reporting of air vehicle crashes. One is within our purview, while the other is managed by the Office of the Judge Advocate General.

AFR 127-4, Investigating and Reporting US Air Force Mishaps (attached), provides guidance for Air Force safety investigations, to include "air vehicle mishaps." The mishap report is used for mishap prevention purposes only and is not normally released outside Air Force channels. It does not cover the investigation of air vehicle crashes belonging to other branches of government or civilian crashes.

AFR 110-14, Investigations of Aircraft, Missile, and Nuclear and Space Accidents, provides guidance for Accident Investigation Boards, which are convened primarily to obtain and preserve available evidence for claims, litigation, disciplinary and administrative actions, and for all other purposes. The accident report is normally releasable to the public.

Normally, the safety investigation is done first, after which the wreckage/debris retention and disposition becomes the responsibility of the Accident Investigation Board. AFR 110-14, paragraph 10, Disposition of Wreckage and Other Evidentiary Materials, states "HQ USAF/JACC [now AFLSA/JACT] manages the retention of aircraft wreckage for anticipated litigation or in cases where there is a high degree of publicity. The Air Force is not under any general requirement to retain wreckage for long periods of time, but in some cases, it is advantageous to do while in others the wreckage can be disposed of quickly."

The Air Force Safety Agency searched the microfilm records (classified and unclassified) for air vehicle mishaps for the period 20 June through 31 July 1947. The only mishaps reported in New Mexico during that periods are as follows:

Cited by

Cases discussed

About this file

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.