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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. 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…
levels when the instrument is located out of doors. For details of the use and care of theodolites, see either the War Department publication TM-11 423 or the U. S. Weather Bureau Circular "O".

## (3) Aircraft Radio Compass

It has been found feasible to determine the position of the balloon by following the signal from a balloon-borne transmitter, using an aircraft radio compass as receiving unit. In this way it is possible to fly along a path toward the balloon, usually at a much lower altitude, and, by noting the plane's position where the compass reading is reversed, the position of the transmitter is found. The main disadvantage of using this system is that aircraft is needed, but there is no other method which will so readily position the balloon over great distances and periods of time. With this system, the limit of transmission time is a function of the weight of transmitter batteries which can be carried rather than distance. It is possible to power a transmitter to supply 2 watts, for about 15 hours, using 15 pounds (7 kilograms) of batteries. Longer periods of transmission may be achieved by intermittent operation of the transmitters or use of heavier batteries.

## (4) Radar

If ground radar is available, accurate positioning over a limited range can be made. It is helpful but not strictly required to add radar targets (corner reflectors) to the flight train for such tracking. Using radar, the elevation angle, azimuth angle and slant distance out are obtained, giving a complete fix on the balloon with one set. The maximum distance to which appropriate sets can reach is about 65 miles; such sets are the SCR-584, the SPM-1 and the MPS-6. With good orientation and leveling such sets have an accuracy of 1.00 and about 500 feet of slant range. Because of the limited range, radar sets are not generally useful. Attempts to use radar mounted atop aircraft for aerial observation have been abandoned in favor of the radio compass.

## B. Altitude Determination

In early attempts to utilize standard radiosonde pressure modulators they were found to be unsatisfactory. The Diamond-Hinman system of counting signal changes

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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.