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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…
temperature recording is confined to the lower 2 inches of the drum so as to interfere as little as possible with the pressure record when the balloon floats above 30,000 feet.

Recording is accomplished by three pens which scratch carbon from a smoked aluminum foil. This method eliminates the need for liquid ink and applies a minimum of pressure to the recording drum.

The recording drum rotates once in twelve hours. Therefore, if a flight lasts over twelve hours, the trace will overlap. Such a record is shown in Figure 36. The clock runs for 36 to 40 hours on one winding.

Preparation of the barograph for use on a balloon ascension requires the following:

(a) Place an aluminum foil about 10 inches long by 3 3/4", .002" thick on the drum. Care should be taken to have the overlapping edge of the foil face in the direction of rotation of the drum so that the stylus slides off the edge instead of catching and tearing the foil. A few drops of rubber cement along each edge of the foil are sufficient to fasten the foil to the drum and will not interfere with removal of the foil after recovery of the barograph.

(b) Wind the clock. The clock should not be wound tightly since at the low temperatures encountered in the upper atmosphere the clock spring may snap. However, if the clock is wound an hour or so before release, it will be sufficiently relaxed by the time the low temperatures are reached.

(c) Check pressure of the marking pens. Too much pressure of the pens on the drum will introduce an error due to the frictional lag. When the drum is removed from the clock mechanism, and the pen lifter released, the stylus points should touch the clock housing lightly.

(d) Smoke the drum. A very thin, fine-grained carbon film should be deposited on the aluminum foil. The best result will be obtained by use of a bright yellow gas flame, although a kerosene flame gives a satisfactory coating. Solid or liquid

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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.