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.
“Gross”27 pages
## c. 1. GENERAL WORK ACCOMPLISHED Field tests were conducted at Alamogordo Army Air Base during the week of June 1, using clusters of meteorological balloons. The primary object of these tests was to perfect handling and launching techniques for large flights and to check the operation of the various altitude controlling devices developed for this project. At the same time, the tests afforded the opportunity to carry aloft payloads of Watson Laboratories equipment. In general, while the flights were successful in the sense of carrying Watson Laboratory gear aloft for an extended period of time, difficulties and material failures encountered served to emphasize the unsatisfactory characteristics of meteorological balloon clusters. A technical report under preparation will contain discussion of the flights. After the return from Alamogordo, the remainder of the month was occupied with preparations for a second field trip to Alamogordo Army Air Base for tests to be conducted in July. Twenty-five seven-foot diameter 1 mil. thick polyethylene balloons were received from General Mills. One each fifteen-foot diameter 8 mil. thick polyethylene balloons was received from H. A. Smith, Inc. A seven-man balloon crew departed for Alamogordo Army Air Base on June 27 to make the second series of launchings there. The plastic ballast reservoir used for the first flights in New Mexico was too fragile to take launching stresses. An aluminum reservoir, mounted on legs containing a built-in filter was designed and a supplier was located. The capacity of the new reservoir is 5 gallons (30#) though it will weigh only 2 pounds. It is believed that the aluminum reservoirs if recovered may be used repeatedly. ## 2. Specific Problems The greatest problem encountered during the field tests at Alamogordo was the unpredictable and highly variable effect of superheat on meteorological balloons. The unpredictable increase in lift of the cluster under the rays of the sun was as much as 25% higher than the initial lift. This in several instances resulted in the inability of altitude control balloon cut-offs to stop the ascent of the balloon train at the desired altitude. The extreme low temperatures encountered at high altitudes apparently has considerable effect on the operation of electrical equipment used in altitude control.
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.