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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. 190 …Well, Boford was Navy, that was the Navy... Q: Like taking a Pi Ball reading now…
  • p. 191 …fabricate balloons for us. During that period we heard of the Navy project that was going…
  • p. 207 …But were any of those used as precursors to Mogul or... A: None whatsoever. That was…
  • p. 270 …Ewing had conducted considerable research for the Navy during World War II, studying, among other things…
  • p. 323 …f) Measurements of actual sound channel transmission using a small stratosphere balloon carrying sound receivers and…
  • p. 657 …At the present time this company cannot supply us with balloons until Navy clearance is obtained…
  • p. 693 …for six hours using a non-extensible envelope with the addition of a ballast valve to…
  • p. 704 …Met Gifford who has 90' sea rescue boat this project is planning to use. Stayed at…
  • p. 705 …Wyckoff, Hungerfield, Vaux and myself regarding Navy participation with us in Crossroads. Captain Kellogg of Weather…
  • p. 718 …Schneider up with O'Day to check use as NYU station. Alamoggrdo crew helped get helium…
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.