Official REPORT OF AIR FORCE RESEARCH REGARDING THE "ROSWELL INCIDENT"

 July 1994



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The "Roswell Incident" refers to an event that
supposedly happened in July, 1947, wherein the Army Air
Forces (AAF) allegedly recovered remains of a crashed
"flying disc" near Roswell, New Mexico. In February,
1994, the General Accounting Office (GAO), acting on the
request of a New Mexico Congressman, initiated an audit
to attempt to locate records of such an incident and to
determine if records regarding it were properly handled.
Although the GAO effort was to look at a number of
government agencies, the apparent focus was on the Air
Force. SAF/AAZ , as the Central Point of Contact for the
GAO in this matter, initiated a systematic search of
current Air Force offices as well as numerous archives
and records centers that might help explain this matter.
Research revealed that the -Roswell Incident" was not
even considered a UFO event until the 1978-1980 time
frame. Prior to that, the incident was dismissed because
the AAF originally identified the debris recovered as
being that of a weather balloon. Subsequently, various
authors wrote a number of books claiming that, not only
was debris from an alien spacecraft recovered, but also
the bodies of the craft's alien occupants. These claims
continue to evolve today and the Air Force is now
routinely accused of engaging in a "cover-up" of this
supposed event.

The research located no records at existing Air Force
offices that indicated any "cover-up" by the USAF or any
indication of such a recovery. Consequmntly, efforts
were intensified by Air Force researchers at numerous
locations where records for the period in question were
stored. The records reviewed did not reveal any increase
in operations, security, or any other activity in July,
1947, that indicated any such unusual event may have
occurred. Records were located and thoroughly explored
concerning a then-TOP SECRET balloon project, designed
to attempt to monitor Soviet nuclear tests, known as
Project Mogul. Additionally, several surviving project
personnel were located and interviewed. as was the only
surviving person who recovered debris from the original
Roswell site in 1947, and the former officer whO
raillyson       i df      o   e~e   :dbalorlo   ined
indicated that the material recovered near Roswell was
consistent with a balloon device and mOst likely from
one of the MOgul balloons that had not been previously
recovered. Air Force research efforts did not disclose
any records of the recovery of any "alien" bodies or
extraterrestrial materials.
INTRODUCTION

Air Force involvement in the alleged UFO-related
incident popularly known as the "Roswell Incident" began
as the result of a January 14, 1994, Washington Post
article (Atch 1) which announced Congressman Steven

Schiff's intent to initiate a General Accounting Office
`(GAO) effort to resolve this controversial matter.
Having previously been involved in numerous Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) and Congressional requests on
"unusual aircraft," to include Unidentified Flying
Objects (UFOs), The Director, Security and Special
Program Oversight, Office of the Secretary of the Air
Force, (SAF/AAZ) believed the Air Force would become
involved in any GAO effort involving this subject.

Thus, in late January. 1994, SAF/AAZ directed its
research/declassification team, SAP/AAZD, to attempt to
locate any official records relative to this matter.
These initial research efforts focused on records at the
Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA), Maxwell
AFB, AL, the Air Force Safety Agency (AFSA) at Kirtland
AFB, NM, and the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA).

On February 15, 1994, the GAO officially notified
Secretary of Defense William J. Ferry that, it was
initiating an audit of the Department of Defense (Dof))
policies and procedures for acquiring, classifying,
retaining, and disposing of official government
documents dealing with weather balloon, aircraft, and
similar crash incidents catch 2). This notification was
sub- sequently passed to the Department of Defense
Inspector General who in turn officially notified the
Secretaries of the Services and other affected parties
of the audit in a February 23, 1994, memo (Atch 3). This
memorandum indicated that the "GAO is anxious to respond
to Representative Schiff_s request and to dispel any
concerns that the DOD is being unresponsive." These were
the first official US Government documents that
indicated that the purpose of the GAO was to review
"crash incidents involving weather balloons and unknown
aircraft, such as UFOs and foreign aircraft, and (2) the
facts involving the reported crash of an UFO in 1949
(sic, 1947) at Roswell, New Mexico ... (and an) alleged
DOD cover-up."

An entrance meeting of potentially concerned petties was
held in the offices of the DOD Inspector General on
February 28, 1994. During this meeting it was learned
that. while the audit officially would be reviewing the
records of a number of DOD (and possibly other Executive
Branch entities), the bulk of the effort would be
focused on Air Force records and systems. The audit was
officially given the GAO code 701034, and entitled
"Records Management Procedures Dealing With Weather
Balloon, Unknown Aircraft, and Similar Crash Incidents."
Although this official title appeared rather broad,
there was no misunderstanding that the real purpose was
to attempt to lo.Cate records and/or information on the
"Roswell Incident." This incident, explained later in
more detail, generally dealt with the claim that in July
of 1947, the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) recovered a
flying saucer and /or its alien occupants which
supposedly crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. When the
USAAF ultimately became the United States Air Force
(USAF) in September, 1947, the USAF inherited equiPment,
personnel, records, policies, and procedures from the
AAF. In this particular case, the Air Force also
inherited the allegation that it had "covered up" the
"Roswell Incident" and has continued to do so for the
next 47 years.

`Within the Air Force, the Office of the Administrative
Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force (SAP)AA) is
responsible both for information management procedures
CSAF/AAI) and security policy and oversight (SAF/AAZ).
Because of this organization, SAP/AA was the logical
entity to assist the GAO in its audit and SAF/AAZ was
officially named as the Central Point of Contact for
this endeavor CAtch 4). Subsequently, the then
Administrative Assistant, Mr. Robert J. McCormick,
issued a tasking memorandum dated March 1, 1994 (Atch
5), to a number of current Air Staff and Secretariat
offices that might possibly have records related to such
an incident if, indeed, something had actually occurred.
This search for records was purposely limited to Air
Force records and systems since:

Ca) The Air Force had no authority to compel other
agencies to review their records;

Cb) The Air Force would have no way to monitor the
completeness of their efforts if they did; and

Cc) the overall effort was the task and responsibility
of the GAO-not the Air Force.

During the in-briefing process with GAO, it was learned
that this audit was, indeed, generated at the specific
request of Congressman Steven Schiff of New Mexico.
Earlier, Congressman Schiff had written to the
Department of Defense Legislative Liaison Office for
information on the "Roswell Incident" and had been
advised that it was part of the former UFO "Project
Bluebook" that had previously been turned over to NARA
by the Air Force. Congressman Schiff subseguently
learned from NARA that, although they did, indeed, have
the "Bluebook" materials, the "Roswell Incident" was not
part of that report. Congressman Schiff, apparently
perceiving that he had been "stonewalled" by the DoD,
then generated the request for the aforementioned audit.

It is within this context that the following research
and assistance efforts were conducted in support of the
GAO. This report is intended to stand as the final
official Air Force response regarding this matter.

THE "ROSWELL INCIDENT"-WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY REPORTED
IN 1947

The modern preoccupation with what ultimately came to be
called Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) actually.began
in June, 1947. Although some pro-UFO researchers argue
that sightings of UFOs gO back to Biblical times, most
researchers will` not dispute that anything in UFO
history can compare with the phenomenon that began in
1947. What was later characterized as "the UFO Wave of
1947" began with 16 alleged sightings that occurred
between May 17 and July 12, 1947, (although some
researchers claim there were as many as 800 sightings
during that period). Interestingly, the "Roswell
Incident" was not considered one of these 1947 events
until the 1978-1980 time frame. There is no dispute,
however, that something happened near Roswell in July,
1947, since it was reported in a number of contemporary
newspaper articles; the most famous of which were the
July 8 and July 9 editions of the Roswell Daily Record.


General Ramey's press conference and rancher Brazel's
-statement effectively ended this as a UFO=related matter
until 1978, although some UFO researchers argue that
there were several obtuse references to it in 1950's era
literature. Roswell, for example, is not referred to in
the official UBAF investigation of UFOs reported in
Project Bluebook or its predecessors, Project Siqn and
Project Grudge, which ran from 1948-1969 (which
Congressman Schiff subsequently learned when he made his
oriqinal inquiry).

In 1978, an article appeared in a tabloid newspaper, the
National Inquirer. which reported the former
intelligence officer, Marcel, claimed that he had
recovered UFO debris near Roswell in 1947. Also in 1978,
a UFO researcher, Stanton Friedman, met with Marcel and
beqan investigating the claims that the material Marcel
handled was from a crashed UFO. Similarly, two authors,
William L. Moore and Charles Berlitz. also engaged in
research which led them to publish a book. The Roswell
Incident, in 1980. In this book they reported they
interviewed a number of persons who claimed to have been
present at Roswell in 1947 and professed to be either
first or second hand witnesses to strange events that
supposedly occurred. Since 1978-1980, other UFO
researchers, most notably Donald Schmitt and Kevin
Banaler claim to have located and interviewed even more
persons with supposed knowledqe of unusual happenings at
Roswell. These included both civilian and former
military persons.

Additionally, the Robert Stack=hosted television show
"Unsolved Mysteries" devoted a large portion of one show
to a "re-creation" of the supposed Roswell events.
Numerous other television shows have done likewise.
particularly during the last several years and a
made-for-TV movie on the subject is due to be released
this summer. The overall thrust of these articles, books
and shows is that the "Roswell Incident" was actually
the crash of a craft from another world. the US
Government recovered it, and has been "covering up" this
fact from the American public since 1947. using &
combination of disinformation. ridicule. and threats of
bodily harm, to do so. Generally, the US Air Force bears
the brunt of these accusations.

From the rather beniqn description of the "event" and
the recovery of some material as described in the
oriqinal newspaper accounts. the "Roswell Incident" has
since qrown to mythical (if not mystical) proportions in
the eyes and minds of some researchers, portions of the
media and at least part of the American public. There
are also now several major variations of the "Roswell
story." For example, it was originally reported that
there was only recovery of debris from one site. This
has since grown from a minimal amount of debris
recovered from a small area to airplane loads of debris
from multiple huge "debris fields." Likewise, the
relatively simple description of sticks, paper, tape and
tinfoil has since qrown to exotic metals with
hieroglyphics and fiber optic-like materials. Most
versions now claim that there were two crash sites where
debris was recovered; and at the second site, alleged
bodies of extraterrestrial aliens were supposedly
retrieved. The number of these "alien bodies" recovered
also varied. These claims are further complicated by the

,fact that UFO researchers are not in agreement among
themselves as to exactly where these recovery sites were
located or even the dates of the alleged crash(es).

Consistently, however, the AAF was accused of securing
these sites, recovering all the material therefrom.
keeping locals away, and returning the recovered
wreckage (and bodies) to Roswell under extremely tight
security for further processing and later exploitation.

Once back at Roswell AAF, it is generally alleged that
special measures were taken to notify higher
headquarters and arrangements made to have recovered
materials shipped to other locations for analysis. These
locations include Ft. Worth, Texas. the home- of the
Eighth Air Force Headquarters; possibly Sandia Base (now
Kirtland AFB), New Mexico; possibly Andrews AAF,
Maryland, and always to Wright Field, now known as
Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. The latter location was the
home of "T-2" which later became known as the Air
Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) and the Air
Material Command (AMC), and would, in fact. he a logical
location to study unknown materials from whatever
origin. Most of the Roswell stories that contain the
recovery of alien bodies also show them being shipped to
Wright Field. Once the material and bodies were
dispersed for further analysis and/or exploitation, the
government in general, and the Army Air Forces in
particular, then engaged in covering up all information
relating to the alleged crash and recovery, including
the use. of security oaths to military persons and the
use of coercion (including alleged death threats) to
others. This, as theorized by some UFO researchers, has
allowed the government to keep the fact that there is
intelligent extra-terrestrial life from the American
public for 47 years. It also supposedly allowed the US
Government to exploit recovered extraterrestrial
materials by reverse engineering them. ultimately
providing such things as fiber optic and stealth
technology. The "death threats," oaths, and other forms
of coercion alleged to have been meted out by the Army
Air Forces personnel to keep people from talking have
apparently not been very effective, as several hundred
people are claimed to have come forward (without harm)
with some knowledge of the "Roswell Incident" during
interviews with non-government researchers and the
media.

Adding some measure of credibility to the claims that
have arisen since 1978 is the apparent depth of research
of some of the authors and the extent of their efforts.
Their claims are lessened somewhat, however. by the fact
that almost all their information came from verbal
reports many yea'rs after the alleged incident occurred.
Many of the persons interviewed were. in fact, stationed
at. or lived near Roswell during the time in question,
and a number of them claim military service. Most.
however, related their stories in their older years,
well after the fact. In other cases, the information
provided is second or thirdhand, having been passed
through a friend or relative after the principal had
died. What is uniguely lacking in the entire exploration
and exploitation of the "Roswell Incident" is official
positive documentary or physical evidence of any kind
that supports the claims of those who allege that
something unusual happened. Conversely, there has never

been any previous documentary evidence produced by those
`who would debunk the incident to show that something did
not happen; although logic dictates that bureaucracies
do not spend time documenting non-events.

SEARCH STRATEGY AND METHODOLOGY

To insure senior Air Force leadership that there were no
hidden or overlooked files that might relate to the
"Roswell Incident;" and to provide the GAO with the best
and most complete information available, SAP/AAZ
constructed a strategy based on direct tasking from the
Office of the Secretary, to elicit information from
those functional offices and organizations where such
information might logically be contained. This included
directing searches at current offices where special or
unusual projects might be carried out, as well as
historical organizations, archives, and records centers
over which the Air Force exerted some degree of control.
Researchers did not, however, gO to the US Army to
review historical records in areas such as missile
launches from White Sands, or to the Department of
Energy to determine if its forerunner, the Atomic Energy
Commission, had any records of nuclear-related incidents
that might have occurred at or near Roswell in 1947. To
do so would have encroached on GAO's charter in this
matter. What Air Force researchers did do, however, was
to search for records still under Air Force control
pertaining to these subject areas.

In order to determine parameters for the most productive
search of records, a review was first conducted of the
major works regarding the "Roswell Incident" available
in the popular literature. These works included: The
Roswell Incident, (1980) by William Moore and Charles
Berlitz; "Crashed Saucers: Evidence in Search of Proof,"
(1985) by Moore; The UFO Crash at Roswell, CI 99 1) by
Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt; The Truth About the UFO
Crash at Roswell, (1994) also by Randle and Schmitt; The
Roswell Report: A Historical Perspective, (1991), George
M. Eberhart, Editor; "The Roswell Events," (1993)
compiled by Fred Whiting- Crash at Corona (1992) by
Stanton T. Friedman and Don Berliner, as well as
numerous other articles written by a combination of the
above and other researchers. Collectively, the above
represent the "pro" UFO writers who allege that the
government is engaged in a conspiracy. There are no
specific books written entirely on the theme that
nothing happened at Roswell. However, Curtis Peebles in
Watch the Skies! (1994) discussed the development of the
UFO story and growth of subsequent claims as a
phenomenon. There has also been serious research as well
as a number of detailed articles written by so-called
"debunkers" of Roswell and other incidents, most notably
Philip J. Klass who writes The Skeptical Inquirer
newsletter, and Robert Todd, a private researcher. The
concerns and claims of all the above authors and others
were considered in conducting the USAF records search.

It was also decided. particularly after a review of the
above popular literature, that no specific attempt would
be made to try to refute. point by point, the numerous
claims made in the various publications. Many of these
claims appear to be hearsay, undocumented, taken out of
context. self-serving, or otherwise dubious.
Additionally, many of the above authors are not even in

agreement over various claims. Moot notable of the
confusing and now ever-changing claimo is the
controversy over the date(s) of the alleged incident,
the exact location(s) of the purported debris and the
extent of the wreckage. Such discrepancies in claims
made the search much more difficult by greatly expanding
the volume of records that had to be oearched.

An example of trying to deal with guestionable claims is
illustrated by the following example: One of the popular
books mentioned that was reviewed claimed that the
writers had submitted the names and serial numbers of
"over two dozen" personnel stationed at Roowell in July,
1947, to the Veterans Administration and the Defense
Department to confirm their military service. They then
listed eleven of these persons by name and aoked the
question "Why does neither the Defense Department nor
the Veteran's Administration have records of any of
these men when we can document that each nerved at
Roswell Army Air Field." That claim sounded oerious so
SAF/AAZD was tasked to check these eleven names in the
Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. Using only the
names (since the authors did not lint the oerial
numbers) the researcher guickly found records readily
identifiable with eight of these persons. The other
three had such common names that there could have been
multiple possibilities. Interestingly, one of the listed
"missing" persons bad a casualty report in hie records
reflecting that he died in 195 1, while the writers
claimed to have interviewed him (or a person of the
exact same name) in 1990.

While the historical document search was in progreoo, it
was decided to attempt to locate and interview oeveral
persons identified as still living who could posoibly
answer questions generated by the roooarch. This had
never been officially done before, although most of the
persons contacted reported that they had aloe been
contacted in the past by some of the liotod authoro or
other private researchers. In order to counter poooible
future arguments that the persons interviewed were still
"covering up" material becauoe of prior oecurity oaths.
the interviewees were provided with authorization from
either the Secretary of the Air Force or the Senior
Security Official of the Air Force that would officially
allow discussion of classified information, if
applicable. or free them from any prior restriction in
discussing the matter, if such existed. Again, the focus
was on interviewing persons that could address specific
issues, raised by research and no consideration was
given to try and locate every alleged witneos claimed to
have been contacted by the various authoro. For example,
one of the interviewees thought vital to obtain an
official signed,` sworn statement from wan Sheridan
Cavitt, Lt Col, USAF (Retired) who is the laot living
member of the three persons univeroally acknowledged to
have recovered material from the Foster Ranch. Others
were also interviewed as information developed
(discussed in detail later). Additionally, in some cases
survivors of deceased persons were also contacted in an
attempt to locate various records thought to have been
in the custody of the deceased.

Even though Air Force research originally started in
January, 1994, the first official Air Force-wide tasking
was directed by the March 1, 1994, memorandum from

SAP/AA, (Atch S) and was addressed to those current Air
Staff elements that would be the likely repository for
any records, particularly if there was anything of an
extraordinary nature involved. This meant that the
search was not limited to unclassified materials, but
also would include records of the highest classification
and compartmentation.

The specific Air Staff/Secretariat offices gueried
included the following:

Ca) SAF/AAI, Directorate of Information Management

Cb) SAP/AQL, Directorate of Electronics and Special
Programs

Cc) AF/SE, Air Force Safety

Cd) AF/HO, Air Force Historian

Ce) AF/IN, Air Force Intelligence (including Air Force
Intelligence Agency-APIA, and the National Air
Intelligence Center, NAIC)

Cf) AF/XOW, Directorate of Weather

Cg) (added later) The Air Force Office of Special
Investigations (AFOSI)

In addition to the above Air Staff and Secretariat
offices, SAF/AAZ also reviewed appropriate classified
records for any tie-in to this matter. With regards to
highly classified records, it should be noted that any
programs that employ enhanced security measures or
controls are known as a Special Access Programn (SAPS).
The authority for such programs comes from Executive
Order 12356 and flows from the Department of Defenee to
the Services via DOD Directive 5205.7. These programs
are implemented in the Air Force by Policy Directive
16-7, and Air Force Instruction 16-701. These directives
contain detailed requirements for controlling and
reporting, in a very strict manner, all SAPS. This
includes a report from the Secretary of the Air Force to
the Secretary of Defense (and ultimately to Congress) on
all SAPs submitted for approval, and a certification
that there are no "SAP-like" programs being operated.
These reporting requirements are stipulated in public
law.

It followed then, that if the Air Force had recovered
some type of extraterrestrial spacecraft and/or bodies
and was exploiting this for scientific and technology
purposes, then such a program would be operated as a
SAP. SAP/AAZ, the Central Office for all Air Force SAPs,
has knowledge of, and security oversight over, all SAPs.
SAP/AAZ categorically stated that no such Special Access
Program(s) exists that pertain to extraterrestrial
spacecraft/aliens.

Likewise, the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief
of Staff, who head the Special Program Oversight
Committee which, oversees all sensitive programs in the
Air Force, had no knowledge of the existence of any such
program involving, or relating to the events at Roswell
or the alleged technology that supposedly resulted
therefrom. Besides the obvious irregularity and

illegality of keeping such information from the moet
senior Air Force, officials, it would also be illogical,
since these officials are responeible for obtaining
funding for operations, research, development, and
security. Without funding such a program, operation, or
organization could not exist. Even to keep such a fact
-cover-up" in some sort of passive "caretaker status"
would involve money. More importantly, it would involve
people and create paperwork.

The aforementioned March 1, 1994, SAP/AA tasking
generated negative responses (Atch 6-12) from all
recipients; i.e. all offices reported that they had no
information that would explain the incident.
Consequently, these negative responses led to an
increase in the already on-going historical research at
records centers and archives.

The extensive archival and records center search was
systematically carried out at by the SAF/AAZD
Declassification Review Team. This team is compoeed
entirely of Air Force Reserve personnel who have
extensive training and experience in large scale review
of records. (Previous efforts include the Southeast Asia
Declassification Review, declassification of POW/MIA
records, and the review of the Gulf War Air Power Survey
records). The team members all had the requieite
security clearances for classified information and had
the authority of the Secretary of the Air Force to
declassify any classified record they found that might
be related to Roswell. SAF/AAZf} conducted reviews at a
number of locations, including: the National Archivee in
Washington, DC; the National Personnel Records Center,
St. Louis, MO; the National Archives, Suitland, MD, the
National Records Center, Suitland, MD; Naval Research
Laboratory, Washington, DC; Federal Records Center, Ft
Worth, TX; the INSCOM Archives. Ft. Meade, MD; National
Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC; Air Force
Historical Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, AL; Center for
Air Force History, Bolling AFB, DC; Phillips Laboratory.
Hanscom AFB, MA, and Kirtland AFB, NM; Rome Laboratory,
Griffiss AFB, NY; and the Library of Congress,
Washington, DC.

A listing of the specific record areas eearched is
appended as Atch 13. The areas included all thoee
subject areas logically believed to possibly contain any
reference to activities at Roswell AAF during the period
of time in question. It is anticipated that detractors
from this effort will complain that -they did not eearch
record group x , box y, or reel z, etc.; that's where
the real records are!- Such complaints are unavoidable
and there is no possible way that the millions of
records under Ai  Force control could be eearched Page
by page. The team endeavored to make logical searches in
those places where records would likely be found. They
were assisted in this taek by archiviete, historiane,
and records management specialists, including
experienced persons who have continually worked in Army
and Air Force records systems since'1943. The team aleo
searched some record areas that were recommended by
serious private researchers such as Robert Todd, who had
independently obtained almost encyclopedic knowledge of
the complexities of Air Force records eystems,
particularly as related to this subject area.

Not surprisingly, the research team found the usual
-number of problems in many of the records centers
(particularly St. Louis) with misfiling, lost or
misplaced documents, mismarking of documents, or the
breaking up of record groups over the years and refiling
in different systems. This included, for example, a
small amount of missing "decimal files" from the 509th
Bomb Group at Roswell that covered the years 1945-1949,
that were marked on the index as "destroyed." The
researchers noted that there was no pattern to any
anomalies found and that most discrepancies were minor
and consistent with what they had found in the past on
similar projects.

WHAT THE ROSWELL INCIDENT WAS NOT

Before discussing specific positive results that these
efforts revealed, it is first appropriate to discuss
those things, as indicated by information available to
the Air Force, that the "Roswell Incident" was not:

An Airplane Crash

of all the things that are documented and tracked within
the Air Force, among the most detailed and scrupulous
are airplane crashes. In fact, records of air crashes gO
back to the first years of military flight. Safety
records and reports are available for all crashes that
involved serious damage, injury, death, or a combination
of these factors. These records also include incidents
involving experimental or classified aircraft. USAF
records showed that between June 24, 1947, and July 28,
1947, there were five crashes in New Mexico alone.
involving A-26C, P-5 IN, C-82A, P-80A and PQ-14B
aircraft; however, none of these were on the date(s) in
question nor in the area(s) in question.

One of the additional areas specifically set forth by
GAO in its efforts was to deal with how the Air Force
(and others) specifically documented ."..weather
balloon...and other crash incidents." In this area, the
search efforts revealed that there are no air safety
records pertaining to weather balloon crashes (all
weather balloons "crash" sooner or later); however,
there are provisions for generating reports of "crashes"
as ground safety incidents in the unlikely chance that a
balloon injures someone or causes damage. However, such
records are only maintained for five years.

A Missile Crash

A crashed or errant missile, usually described as a
captured German V-2 or one of its variants, is sometimes
set forth as a possible explanation for the debris
recovered near Roswell. Since much of this testing done
at nearby White Sands was secret at the time. it would
be logical to assume that the government would handle
any missile mishap under tight security, particularly if
the mishap occurred on private land. From the records
reviewed by the Air Force, however, ' there was nothing
located to suggest that this was the case. Although the
bulk of remaining testing records are under the control
of the US Army, the subject has also been very well
documented over the years within Air Force records.
There would be no reason to keep such information
classified today. The USAF found no indicators or even

hints that a missile was involved in this matter.
A Nuclear Accident

One of the areas,considered was that whatever happened
near Roswell may have involved nuclear weapons. This was
a logical area of concern since the 509th Bomb Group was
the only military unit in the world at the time that had
access to nuclear weapons. Again, reviews of available
records gave no indication that this was the case. A
number of records still classified TOP SECRET and
SECRET-RESTRICTED DATA having tO do with nuclear weapons
were located in the Federal RecOrds Center in St. Louis,
MO   These records, which pertained to the 509th, had
nothing to do with any activities that could have been
misinterpreted as the "Roswell Incident." Also, any
records of a nuclear related incident would have been
inherited by the Department of Energy (DOE), and, had
one occurred, it is likely DOE would have publicly
reported it as part of its recent declassification and
public release efforts. There were no ancillary records
in Air FOrce files to indicate the potential existence
of such records within DOE channels, however.

An Extraterrestrial Craft

The Air FOrce research fOund absOlutely no indication
that what happened near Roswell in 1947, involved any
type of extraterrestrial spacecraft. This, of course, is
the crux of this entire matter. "Pro-UFO" persons who
obtain a copy of this report, at this point, most
prObably begin the "cover-up is still on" claims.
Nevertheless, the research indicated absolutely no
evidence of any kind that a spaceship crashed near
Roswell or that any alien occupants were recovered
therefrom, in some secret military operation or
otherwise. This does not mean, however, that the early
Air FOrce was not concerned about UFOs. HOwever, in'the
early days, "UFO" meant Unidentified Flying Object,
which literally translated as some object in the air
that was not readily identifiable. It did not mean, as
the term has evolved in today's language, to equate to
alien spaceships. Records from the period reviewed by
Air FOrce researchers as well as those cited by the
authors mentioned before, do indicate that the USAF was
seriously concerned about the inability to adequately
identify unknown flying objects reported in American
airspace. All the records, however, indicated that the
focus of concern was not on aliens, hostile or
otherwise, but on the Soviet Union. Many documents from
that period speak to the possibility of developmental
secret Soviet aircraft overflying US airepace. This. of
course, was of major concern to the fledgling USAF,
whOse job it was' to protect these same skies.

The research revealed only one official AAF document
that indicated that there was any activity of any type
that pertained to UFOs and Roswell in July, 1947. This
was a small section of the July Historical Report for
the 509th Bomb GrOup and ROswell AAF that stated: "The
Office of Public Information was quite busy during the
month answering inquiries on the 'flying disc,' which
was reported to be in possession of the 509th Bomb
Group. The object turned out to be a radar tracking
balloon" (included with Atch I 1). AdditiOnally, this
history showed that the 509th Commander, ColOnel

Blanchard, went on leave on July 8, 1947, which would be
'a somewhat unusual maneuver for a person involved in the
supposed first ever recovery of extraterrestrial
materials.  CDetractors claim Blanchard did this as a
ploy to elude the press and go to the scene to direct
the recovery operations). The history and the morning
reports also showed that the subsequent activities at
Roswell during the month were mostly mundane and not
indicative of any unusual high level activity,
expenditure of manpower, resources or security.

Likewise, the researchers found no indication of
heightened activity anywhere else in the military
hierarchy in the July, 1947, message traffic or orders
(to include classified traffic). There were no
indications and warnings, notice of alerts, or a higher
tempo of operational activity reported that would be
logically generated if an alien craft, whose intentions
were unknown, entered US territory. To believe that such
operational and high-level security activity could be
conducted solely by relying on unsecured
telecommunications or personal contact without creating
any records of such activity certainly stretches the
imagination of those who have served in the military who
know that paperwork of some kind is necessary to
accomplish even emergency, highly classified, or
sensitive tasks.

An example of activity sometimes cited by pro-UFO
writers to illustrate the point that something unusual
was going on was the travel of Lt. General Nathan
Twining, Commander of the Air Materiel Command, to New
Mexico in July, 1947. Actually, records were located
indicating that Twining went to the Bomb Commanders'
Course on July 8, along with a number of other general
officers, and requested orders to do so a month before,
on June 5, 1947 CAtch 14).

Similarly, it has also been alleged that General Hoyt
Vandenberg, Deputy Chief of Staff at the time, had been
involved directing activity regarding events at Roswell.
Activity reports (Atch 15), located in General
Vandenberg's personal papers stored in the Library of
Congress, did indicate that on July 7, he was busy with
a "flying disc" incident; however this particular
incident involved Ellington Field, Texas and the Spokane
(Washington) Depot. After much discussion and
information gathering on this incident, it was learned
to be a hoax. There is no similar mention of his
personal interest or involvement in Roswell events
except in the newspapers.

The above are but two small examples that indicate that
if some event happened that was one of the "watershed
happenings" in human history, the US military certainly
reacted in an unconcerned and cavalier manner. In an
actual case, the military would have had to order
thousands of soldiers and airman, not only at Roswell
but throughout the US, to act nonchalantly, pretend to
conduct and report business as usual, and generate
absolutely no paperwork of a suspicious nature, while
simultaneously anticipating that twenty years or more
into the future people would have available a
comprehensive Freedom of Information Act that would give
them great leeway to review and explore government
documents. The records indicate that none of this

happened (or if it did, it was controlled by a security
system so efficient and tight that no `one, US or
otherwise, has been able to duplicate it since. If such
a system had been in effect at the time, it would have
also been used to protect our atomic secrets from the
Soviets, which history has showed obviously was not the
case). The records reviewed confirmed that no such
sophisticated and efficient security system existed.

WHAT THE "ROSWELL INCIDENT" WAS

As previously discussed, what was originally reported to
have been recovered was a balloon of some sort, usually
described as a "weather balloons" although the majority
of the wreckage that was ultimately displayed by General
Ramey and Major Marcel in the famous photos (Atch 16) in
Ft. Worths was that of a radar target normally suspended
from balloons. This radar target, discussed in more
detail later, was certainly consistent with the
description of July 9 newspaper article which discussed
"tinfoil, paper, tape, and sticks." Additionally, the
description of the "flying disc" was consistent with a
document routinely used by most pro-UFO writers to
indicate a conspiracy in progress-the telegram from the
Dallas FBI office of July 8, 1947. This document guoted
in part states: . " . .The disc is hexagonal in shape and
was suspended from a balloon by a cable, which balloon
was approximately twenty feet in diameter. ...the object
found resembles a high altitude weather balloon with a
radar reflector. ...disc and balloon being
transported..."

Similarly, while conducting the popular literature
review, one of the documents reviewed was a paper
entitled "The Roswell Events" edited by Fred Whiting,
and sponsored by the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR).
Although it was not the original intention to comment on
what commercial authors interpreted or claimed that
other persons supposedly said, this particular document
was different because it contained actual copies of
apparently authentic sworn affidavits received from a
number of persons who claimed to have some knowledge of
the Roswell event. Although many of the persons who
provided these affidavits to the FUFOR researchers also
expressed opinions that they thought there was something
extraterrestrial about this incident, a number of them
actually described materials that sounded suspiciously
like wreckage from balloons. These included the
following:

Jesse A. Marcel, NM (son of the late Major Jesse Marcel:
11 years old at the time of the incident). Affidavit
dated May 6, 1991. " . . . There were three categories of
debris: a thick, foil like metallic gray substance: a
brittle, brownish-black plastic-like material, like
Bakelite: and there were fragments of what appeared to
be I-beams. On the inner surface of the I-beams there
appeared to be a type of writing. This writing was a
purple-violet hue, and it had an embossed appearance.
The figures were composed of curved, geometric shapes.
It had no resemblance to Russian, Japanese or any other
foreign language. It resembled hieroglyphics, but it had
no animal-like characters ......

Loretta Proctor (former neighbor of rancher W.W.
Brazel). Affidavit dated May 5, 199 1. ."..Brazel came

to my ranch and showed my husband and me a piece of
-material he said came from a large pile of debris on the
property he managed. The piece he brought was brown in
color. similar to plastic...'Mac' said the other
material on the property looked like aluminum foil. It
was very flexible and wouldn't crush or bum. There was
also something he described as tape which had printing
on it. The color of the printing was a kind of
purple..."

Bessie Brazel Schreiber (daughter of W.W. Brazel: 14
years old at the time of the incident). Affidavit dated
September 22, 1993. ."..The debris looked like pieces of
a large balloon which had burst. The pieces were small,
the largest I remember measuring about the same as the
diameter of a basketball. Most of it was a kind of
double-sided material, foil-like on one side and
rubber-like on the other. Both sides were grayish silver
in color, the foil more silvery than the rubber. Sticks,
like kite sticks, were attached to some of the pieces
with a whitish tape. The tape was about two or three
inches wide and had flowerlike designs on it. The
'flowers' were faint, a variety of pastel colors, and
reminded me of Japanese paintings in which the flowers
are not all connected. I do not recall any other types
of material or markings, nor do I remember seeing gouges
in the ground or any other signs that anything may have
hit the ground hard. The foil-rubber material could not
be tom like ordinary aluminum foil can be tom..."

Sally Strickland Tadolini (neighbor of WW Brazel; nine
years old in 1947). Affidavit dated September 27, 1993.
".. What Bill showed us was a piece of what I still
think as fabric. It was something like aluminum foil.
something like satin, something like welltanned leather
in its toughness, yet was not precisely like any one of
those materials. ...It was about the thickness of very
fine kidskin glove leather and a dull metallic grayish
silver, one side slightly darker than the other. I do
not remember it having any design or embossing on it..."

Robert R. Porter CB-29 flight Engineer stationed at
Roswell in 1947). Affidavit dated June 7, 1991 " On this
occasion, I was a member of the crew which flew parts of
what we were told was a flying saucer to Fort Worth. The
people on board included ... and Maj Jesse Marcel. Capt.
William E. Anderson said it was from a flying saucer.
After we arrived, the material was transferred to a
B-25. I was told they were going to Wright Field in
Dayton, Ohio. I was involved in loading the B-29 with
the material, which was wrapped in packages with
wrapping paper. One of the pieces was triangle-shapede
about 2 1/2 feet across the bottom. The rest were in
small packages,   out the size of a shoe box. The brown
paper was held with tape. The material was extremely
lightweight. When I picked it up, it was just like
picking up an empty package. We loaded the triangle
shaped package and three shoe box-sized packages into
the plane. All of the packages could have fit into the
trunk of a car. ...When we came back from lunch, they
told us they had transferred the material to a B-25.
They told us the material was a weather balloon, but I'm
certain it wasn't a weather balloon..."

In addition to those persons above still living who
claim to have seen or examined the original material

found on the Brazel Ranch. there is one additional
person who was universally acknowledged to have been
involved in its recovery, Sheridan Cavitt, Lt Col, USAF,
(Bet)   Cavitt is credited in all claims of having
accompanied Major Narc.l to the ranch to recover the
debris, sometimes along with his Counter Intelligence
Corps (CIC) subordinate, William Rickett. who, like
Mareel, is deceased. Although there does not appear to
be much dispute that Cavitt was involved in the material
recovery. other claims about him prevail in the popular
literature. He is sometimes portrayed as a closed-mouth
(or sometimes even sinister) conspirator who was one of
the early individuals who kept the "secret of Roswell"
from getting out. Other things about him have been
alleged, including the claim that he wrote a report of
the incident at the time that has never surfaced.

Since Lt Col Cavitt, who had first-hand knowledge. was
still alive, a decision was made to interview him and
get a signed sworn statement from him about his version
of the events. Prior to the interview, the Secretary of
the Air Force provided him with a written authorization
and waiver to discuss classified information with the
interviewer and release him from any security oath he
may have taken. Subsequently. Cavitt was interviewed on
May 24, 1994, at his home. Cavitt provided a signed,
sworn statement (Atch 17 ) of his recollections in this
matter. He also consented to having the interview
tape-recorded. A transcript of that recording is at Atch
18. In this interview. Cavitt related that he had been
contacted on numerous occasions by UFO researchers and
had willingly talked with many of them; however. ho felt
that he had oftentimes been misrepresented or had his
comments taken out of context so that their true meaning
was changed. He stated uneguivocally. however, that the
material he recovered consisted of a reflective sort of
material like aluminum foil, and some thin, bamboo-like
sticks. He thought at the time, and continued to do so
today, that what he found was a weather balloon and has
told other private researchers that. He also remembered
finding a small "black box" type of instrument, which he
thought at the time was probably a radiosonde. Lt Col
Cavitt also reviewed the famous Ramey/Marcel photographs
(Atch 16) of the wreckage taken to Ft. Worth (often
claimed by LITO researchers to have been switched and
the remnants of a balloon substituted for it) and he
identified the materials depicted in those photos as
consistent with the materials that he recovered from the
ranch. Lt Col Cavitt also stated that he had never taken
any oath or signed any agreement not to talk about this
incident and had never been threatened by anyone in the
government because of it. He did not even know the
incident" was claimed to be anything unusual until he
was interviewed .in the early 1980's.

Similarly, Irving Newton, Major, USAF, (Rot) was located
and interviewed. Newton was a weather officer assigned
to Fort Worth, who was on duty when the Roswell debris
was sent there in July, 1947. He was told that he was to
report to General Ramey's office to view the material.
In a signed, sworn statement (Atch 30) Newton related
that ."..I walked into the General's office where this
supposed flying saucer was lying all over the floor. As
soon as I saw it, I giggled and asked if that was the
flying saucer ... I told them that this was a balloon
and a RAWIN target..." Newton also stated that ."..while

I was examining the debris, Major Marcel was picking up
pieces of the target sticks and trying to convince me
that some notations on the sticks were alien writings.
there were figures on the sticks, lavender or pink in
color, appeared to be weather faded markings, with no
rhyme or reason (sic). He did not convince me that these
were alien writings. " Newton concluded his statement by
relating that ."..During the ensuing years I have been
interviewed by many authors, I have been quoted and
misquoted. The facts remain as indicated above. I was
not influenced during the original interview, nor today,
to provide anything but what I know to he true, that is,
the material I saw in General Barney's office was the
remains of a balloon and a RA\IN target."

Balloon Research

The original tasking from GAO noted that the search for
information included "weather balloons." Comments about
balloons and safety reports have already been made.
however the SAP/AAZ research efforts also focused on
reviewing historical records involving balloons, since,
among other reasons, that was what was officially
claimed by the AAF to have been found and recovered in
1947.

As early as February 28, 1994, the AAZD research team
found references to balloon tests taking place at
Alamogordo AAF (now Holloman AFB) and White Sands during
June and July 1947, testing "constant level balloons"
and a New York University (NYU)/Watson Labs effort that
used "...meteorological devices... suspected for
detecting shock waves generated by Soviet nuclear
explosions"-a possible indication of a cover story
associated with the NYU balloon project. Subseguently, a
1946 HQ AMC memorandum was surfaced, describing the
constant altitude balloon project and specified that the
scientific data be classified TOP SECRET Priority IA.
Its name was Project Mogul (Atch 19).

Project Mogul was a then-sensitive, classified project,
whose purpose was to determine the state of Soviet
nuclear weapons research. This was the early Cold War
period and there was serious concern within the US
government about the Soviets developing a weaponized
atomic device. Because the Soviet Union's borders were
closed, the US Government sought to develop a long range
nuclear explosion detection capability. Long range,
balloon-borne, low frequency acoustic detection was
posed to General Spaatz in 1945 by Dr. Maurice Ewing of
Columbia University as a potential solution (atmospheric
ducting of low frequency pressure waves had been studied
as early as 1900.).

As part of the research into this matter, AAZ[) personnel
located and obtained the original study papers and
reports of the New York University project. Their-
efforts also revealed that some of the individuals
involved in Project Mogul were still living. These
persons included the NYU constant altitude balloon
Director of Research, Dr. Athelstan F. Spilhaus; the
Project Engineer, Professor Charles B. Moore; and the
military Project Officer, Colonel Albert C. Trakowski

All of these persons were subsequently interviewed and
signed sworn statements about their activities. A cOpy


Flight A through Flight 7 (November 20, 1946-July 2,
`1947) were made with neoprene meteorological balloons
(as opposed to the later flights made with polyethylene
balloons). Professor Moore stated that the neoprene
balloons were susceptible to degradation in the
sunlight, turning from a milky white to a dark brown. He
described finding remains of balloon trains with
reflectors and payloads that had landed in the desert:
the ruptured and shredded neoprene would "almost look
like dark gray or black flakes or ashes after exposure
to the sun for only a few days. The plasticizers and
antioxidants in the neoprene would emit a Peculiar acrid
odor and the balloon material and radar target material
would be scattered after returning to earth depending on
the surface winds." Upon review of the local newspaper
photographs from General Karney's Press conference in
1947 and descriptions in popular books by individuals
who supposedly handled the debris recovered on the
ranch, Professor Moore opined that the material was most
likely the shredded remains of a multi-neoprene balloon
train with multiple radar reflectors. The material and a
"black box," described by Cavitt, was, in Moore's
scientific opinion. most probably from Flight 4, a
"service flight" that included a cylindrical metal
sonobuoy and portions of a weather instrument housed in
a box, which was unlike typical weather radiosondes
which were made of cardboard. Additionally, a copy of a
professional journal maintained at the time by A.P.
Crary. provided to the Air Force by his widow, showed
that Flight 4 was launched on June 4, 1947, but was not
recovered by the NYC| group. It is very probable that
this TOP SECRET project balloon train (Flight 4), made
up of unclassified components; came to rest some miles
northwest of Roswell, NM, became shredded in the surface
winds and was ultimately found by the rancher, Brazel,
ten days later. This possibility was supported by the
observations of Lt Col Cavitt (Atch 17-18), the only
living eyewitness to the actual debris field and the
material found. Lt Col Cavitt described a small area of
debris which appeared, "to resemble bamboo tyPe sguare
sticks one quarter to one half inch sguare. that were
very light, as well as some sort of metallic reflecting
material that was also very light . . . I remember
recognizing this material as. being consistent with a
weather balloon."

Concerning the initial announcement, "RAAF Captures
Flying Disc," research failed to locate any documented
evidence as to why that statement was made. However, on
July 10, 1947, following the Ramey Press conference, the
Alamogordo News published an article with photograPhs
demonstrating multiple balloons and targets at the same
location as the NYC group operated from at Alamogordo
AAF. Professor Moore expressed surPrise at seeing this
since his, was the only balloon test group in the area.
He stated. "It appears that there was some tyPe of
umbrella cover story to protect our work with Mogul "
Although the Air Force did not find documented evidence
that Gen. Karney was directed to esPouse a weather
balloon in his press conference. he' may have done so
because he was either aware of Project Mogul and was
trying to deflect interest from it, or he readily
perceived the material to be a weather balloon based on
the identification from his weather officer, Irving
Newton. In either case, the materials recovered by the
AAF in July, 1947, were not readily recognizable as

anything special (only the purpose was.special) and the
recovered debris itself was unclassified. Additionally.
the press dropped its interest in the matter as guickly
as they had jumped on it. Hence. there would be no
particular reason to further document what quickly
became a "non-event."

The interview with Colonel Trakowski (Atch 23-24) also
proved valuable information. Trakowski provided specific
details on Project Mogul and described how the security
for the program was set up, as he was formerly the TOP
SECRET Control Officer for the program. He further
related that many of the original radar targets that
were produced around the end of World War II were
fabricated by tOy or novelty companies using &
purplish-pink tape with flower and heart symbols on it.
Trakowski also recounted a conversation that he had with
his friend, and superior military officer in his chain
of command, Colonel Marcellus Duffy, in July, 1947.
Duffy, formerly had Trakowski's position on Mogul, but
had subsequently been transferred to Wright Field. He
stated: . " . .Colonel Duffy called me on the telephone
from Wright Field and gave me a story about a fellow
that had come in from New Mexico, woke him up in the
middle of the night or some such thing with a handful of
debris, and wanted him, Colonel Duffy, to identify it.
... He just said 'it sure looks like some of the stuff
you've been launching at Alamogordo and he described it.
and I said 'yes, I think it is.' Certainly Colonel Duffy
knew enough about radar targets, radiosondes,
balloon-borne weather devices. He was intimately
familiar with all that apparatus."

Attempts were made to locate Colonel Duffy but it was
ascertained that he had died. I-Es widow explained that,
although he had amassed a large amount of personal
papers relating to his Air Force activities, she had
recently disposed of these items. Likewise, it was
learned that A.P. Crazy was also deceased; however his
surviving spouse had a number of bis papers from his
balloon testing days, including his professional journal
from the period in question. She provided the Air Force
researchers with this material. It is discussed in more
detail within Atch 32. Overall, it helps fill in gaps of
the Mogul story.

During the period the Air Force conducted this research.
it was discovered that several others had also
discovered the possibility that the "Roswell Incident"
may have been generated by the recovery of a Project
Mogul balloon device. These persons included Professor
Charles B. Moore, Robert Todd, and coincidentally, Karl
Pflock, a researcher who is married to a staffer who
works for Congressman Schiff. Some of these persons
provided suggestions as to where documentation might be
located in various archives. histories and libraries. A
review of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
revealed that Robert Todd, particularly, had become
aware of Project Mogul several years ago and had
doggedly obtained from the Air Force, through the FOIA.
a large amount of material pertaining to it: long before
the AAZD researchers independently seized on the same
possibility.